In this course, you will have the opportunity to explore and research issues relating to the impact of environmental issues, changes and policies, both locally and globally. This is an interdisciplinary course which will explore environmental issues principally from an Economic and Sociological perspective, as well as from the perspectives of other disciplines, such as  Architectural technology, Psychology, and Hospitality management. The course is co-taught by both an Economist and a Sociologist.

In the course, you will have the opportunity to conduct research on a wide range of topics relating to the economic challenges posed by current environmental issues. This research ideally will be guided by a particular issue or question you are interested in exploring in more depth.

Open Lab will be used for much of our work. This includes posting of the course syllabus, posts and links to weekly reading assignments, PowerPoint presentations, specific questions for commenting on assigned readings, and your notations of progress with the semester research project on the course Blog site.

To prepare for weekly discussions, you should visit the course site weekly to link to and complete the assigned readings and enter your responses to the posted questions from the readings on the blog site. Reminders will be announced in class. All assigned readings for the course (or links to them) will be posted here. The comments and thoughts you post on discussion questions related to the readings, guest lecturers, films, etc. will be an important resource for class discussions. This is also a great opportunity to begin creating a dialog on the issues.

There will also be one group (class) scheduled tour of a site that is relevant to current environmental issues. The resources of the Brooklyn waterfront are viewed as a vital resource and laboratory for studying current environmental challenges, new technological innovations, and community progress toward addressing large environmental problems on a local scale. The purpose of the trip is to introduce students to some of these resources and to illustrate the concept of ‘place-based’ research, which will be an important focus of the research you will conduct. As such, the information the visit provides is of much value in planning your own place-based research for the semester research project.The SIMS Municipal Recycling Center in Sunset Park will be the site for the group tour this semester.

The course site also features daily RSS news feeds on issues relevant to environmental economics from the New York Times and other sources, which can offer additional informative perspectives and updates on current environmental initiatives.

Open Lab will also be used for posting midterm and final exam reviews sheets.