Environmental destruction of our planet over the last three centuries has been a product of radical political and economic shifts in the world. This course examines how our world’s economic and political systems, and the livelihoods they engender in the Global South, have produced catastrophic local and global environmental conditions. What we produce, sell, buy, how we consume goods, and how we dispose of the waste are at the heart of the world’s deteriorating environmental conditions. The current global world order has produced a world in which overconsumption and poverty have led to an environmental disaster that is endangering all species. Example of the topics we will explore include the state of global fisheries and forests, the struggle over scarce water resources, and the responsibility each of us has as an individual and a citizen in reversing the lone planet’s ability to support the lives of all humans and other species.
prereq: Soph or jr or sr