Students in SJSU's Geology 285, click here.
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For Students in SJSU's Geology 171
Hey everyone, welcome to "The End of the World (as you know it)." Use this Web site to find links (directions to links) to the reading and viewing assignments for this course.
The reading/viewing assignment for each class are listed on this page. For other course materials, including the final exam, visit the course's Blackboard pages.
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NO CLASS Thur 13 May (RS furlough day)
For Tues 11 May (final class meeting): What will the future be like? Optimistic speculations dominate mainstream media and utopian “green” literature; no doubt you’ve seen some of them, without even trying. Here are some more realistic (and far less sanguine) projections:
(1) Read Richard Heinberg's Dilemma and Denial.
(2) Read John Michael Greer's Daydreams of Destruction.
(3) Skim (read through if time permits) Richard Duncan's The Olduvai Theory.
(x) One final work, not formally assigned but highly recommended (particularly for your personal financial world) is Stoneleigh's How to Build a Lifeboat at The Automatic Earth.
This assignment is part of the (optional) final exam (up to 3 points): What is your reaction (intellectual, emotional, both, other) to these writings? Double-spaced.
NO CLASS Thur 6 May (RS furlough day)
For Tues 4 May: In Heinberg's Searching for a Miracle (see 4/29): Read p. 31 and "your" parts of chapter 4 (specific energy sources; see below). Read Ch. 5 (p. 57-62), then write a 1-page double-spaced paper that evaluates Heinberg's evaluation of "your" 3 or 4 energy sources. Are his evaluations valid? Does his reasoning seem fair? biased? Explain, and be ready to discuss in class. No hand-written work; must be done before class.
Also read his concluding comments in Ch. 6 (p. 65-69).
Assignment of "your" energy sources (numbers correspond to energy sources in Ch. 4 of Searching for a Miracle): SB: 1, 9, 15;
JC: 2, 9, 13;
WF: 3, 7, 10;
EG: 3, 8, 17;
TK: 5, 8, 13;
PL: 4, 12, 16;
AM: 2, 10, 14; JM: 1, 9, 12;
HM: 6, 10, 13;
NM: 5, 11, 15;
WN: 6, 8, 15
RR: 6, 11, 18;
AR: 4, 7, 17, 18; CR: 4, 14, 16;
DS: 5, 11, 16;
JT: 1, 6, 12;
RV: 2, 7, 11;
JW: 3, 8, 14
For Thur 29 April: Download the long PDF file of Richard Heinberg’s Searching for a Miracle (Energy/EROI page). Skim p. 1–9: Foreward & Overview.
(Consult as needed p. 10–12: Glossary of Terms.)
Read p. 15–22: Nine Key Criteria.
Read p. 23–28: The Tenth Criterion: EROEI.
For Tues 27 April:
Read Lenton & Vaughan, 2009 (climate change/mitigation/geo-engineering; click on link at bottom of abstract to download entire PDF). Read Abstract and Ch. 1, 4, 5; skim Chapter 3 while consulting Tables 1 and 2 at end of paper; OK to skip Chapter 2.
For Thur 22 April: Read Chapters 18–20 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air. We will also discuss chapters 21 and 22; read them if you have time.
For Tues 20 April: (1)
Read Chapter 13 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air. (2) Read this brief summary of Weber & Matthews' 2008 article about "food miles." (3) Read the article African Land Grab (March 2010, U.K. Guardian).
For Thur 15 April: Read Nate Hagens’ Psychological and Evolutionary Roots of Resource Overconsumption, TOD May 2009 (Human Predicament/Choice-Making). Outline this article, print on a computer (ONLY: hand-written not accepted) and turn in at the end of class on 15 April. Bonus points will be awarded for thorough, insightful work.
Yes, the article is long and sprawling, and Nate’s writing isn’t succinct. Nevertheless, the article is packed with provocative ideas..
For Tues 13 April: Watch Part 1 of The Century of the Self. This 2002 BBC documentary is available in many places online, including here. Or try elsewhere for larger or cleaner-looking presentations.
For Thur 8 April: (1) Read Chapter 7 through 12 of the online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air by David MacKay. (2) Detective work: What is a feed-in tariff? How is such a tariff relevant to any of the MacKay chapters assigned for today?
NO CLASS Tues 6 April (RS furlough day)
NO CLASS Thur 1 April (Spring break)
NO CLASS Tues 30 March (Spring break)
For Thur 25 March: Read Hall et al., 2008: Peak Oil, EROI, Investments, and the Economy in an Uncertain Future (On Blackboard / Reading Assignments).
Your goals:
• understand EROI
• explain the balloon graph and the cheese-slicer graphs
• explain their evaluation of alternative fuels from an EROI perspective
For Tues 23 March: Watch/read Chapters 17a, 17b, and 17c of The Crash Course.
NO CLASS Thur 18 March (RS furlough day)
For Tues 16 March: Read Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air by David MacKay (late post—sorry).
For Thur 11 March: (1) Read Kevin Phillips' article Numbers Racket
(Economics: Real Numbers page). (2) Read/review Crash Course Chapter 16 (as needed).
For Tues 9 March: Read
“How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America,” The Atlantic, March 2010 (Economic Crisis: Outlook).
For Thur 4 March: Read Chapter 1 (“Motivations”) of the online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air by David MacKay.
For Tues 2 March: Read/watch chapters 13 and 14 of The Crash Course (sorry, late posting).
For Thur 25 Feb:
(1) Read Revisiting the Limits to Growth
After Peak Oil by Charles Hall et al. (2008) (Possible Futures / Ecological page).
For Tues 23 Feb: Read “Peak Oil—Believe It Or Not?” by Nate Hagens
(Human Choices)
For Thur 18 Feb: (1) Read at least one of the three “recommended” introductions to Peak Oil (Fossil Fuels/Peak Oil page). (2) Read USGS finds new Saudi Arabia! Oh, Wait…
For Tues 16 Feb: (1) Read Joseph Tainter: Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies (1996) (Possible Futures/Past Societies page). (2) Read this article in the Denver Post about developments in Colorado Springs (3 Feb 2010).
For Thur 11 Feb:(1) Watch Chapters 10 and 12 (plus Ch. 11 if you wish) of The Crash Course. (2) Read The Solution...is the Problem (Economics page).
For Tues 9 Feb: (1) Watch Chapters 8 and 9 of The Crash Course. (2) Read the very brief Shell
CEO's e-mail to employees, 22 Jan 2008 (Peak Oil page).
For Thu 4 Feb: (1) Watch Chapters 6 and 7 of Chris Martenson's The Crash Course. (2) Read The Anti-Ecology of Money by John Michael Greer (Economics page).
For
Tues 2 Feb: Read the following two articles by Garrett Hardin (Population page):
(1) The Tragedy of the Commons
(2) Extension of the Tragedy of the Commons
For Thur 28 Jan: (1) Watch Chapters 1–5 of Chris Martenson's The Crash Course (go to chrismartenson.com, click in the upper left). (2) Watch the 8-minute video Are Humans Smarter Than Yeast? on the Population page (here on teotw.net; explore the links at left to find it).
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Fall 2009
For Thur 3 Dec: What will the future be like? A cross-section of realistic analyses.
(1) Read Richard Heinberg's Dilemma and Denial.
(2) Read John Michael Greer's Daydreams of Destruction.
(3) Skim (read through if time permits) Richard Duncan's The Olduvai Theory.
(x) One final work, not formally assigned but highly recommended (particularly for your personal financial world) is Stoneleigh's How to Build a Lifeboat at The Automatic Earth.
For Tues 1 Dec:
Read Lenton & Vaughan, 2009 (climate change/mitigation/geo-engineering; click on link at bottom of abstract to download entire PDF). Read Abstract and Ch. 1, 4, 5; skim Chapter 3 while consulting Tables 1 and 2 at end of paper; OK to skip Chapter 2.
Thur 26 Nov: NO CLASS (Happy Thanksgiving)
Tues 24 Nov: NO CLASS (personal furlough day)
For Thur 19 Nov:
Read Chapters 18, 19, 22, and 30 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air. If you do not attend this class, be sure to download "The List" and the (optional) Final Exam assignment from the Blackboard site.
For Tues 17 Nov: (1) Watch Part 1 of The Century of the Self (~1 hr). (2) Read Nate Hagens’ Psychological and Evolutionary Roots of Resource Overconsumption, TOD May 2009 (yes, it's long and sprawling, but packed with provocative ideas. If your eyes glaze over, switch to skim mode until the next section of the post).
For Thur 12 Nov: (1)
Read Chapters 13–17 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air (OK to skim 14, 16, and 17). (2) Read this brief summary of Weber & Matthews' 2008 article about "food miles."
For Tues 10 Nov (modified 5 Nov 09 at 5 pm): (1) Read The Quiet Coup by Simon Johnson; (2) Watch 29-minute Bill Moyers interview with Marcy Kaptur and Simon Johnson; (3) Read Dave Cohen's The End of the Empire: Now What?; (4) (lowest-priority, optional) Read The Global Collapse: An Unorthodox View by Walden Bello. [1, 2, and 4 are at Economics/ Current Crisis: History; 3 is at Economics/Outlook.] These will take a while, but they're worth it: these actions are shaping your life and opportunities.
For Thur 5 Nov: (1) Read Chapters 9 and 10 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air. (2) Read The Cost, Price, and Value of Wind Energy (Energy/Alternative, TOD May 2009, about 1/3 of the way down); compare its conclusions about wind with MacKay's, and know what a feed-in tariff is and how it works.
For Tues 3 Nov:
(1) Read Chapters 5 and 6 of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy— Without the Hot Air. (2) Read the Wikipedia entry for San José International Airport, specifically the “History” and “Terminals” sections.
For Thur 29 Oct: Parts of MacKay's online book Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air:
(a) Skim Chapter 2 (p. 22–28).
(b) Read Chapter 3 (p. 29–31); how would a typical American’s result differ?
(c) Read Chapter 4 (p. 32–34)
For Tues 27 Oct:
Read Hall et al., 2008: Peak Oil, EROI, Investments, and the Economy in an Uncertain Future (on Blackboard / Reading Assignments). Your goals:
• understand EROI
• explain the balloon graph and the cheese-slicer graphs
• explain their evaluation of alternative fuels from an EROI perspective
For Thur 22 Oct: Watch Chapters 17a, 17b, and 17c of The Crash Course.
For Tues 20 Oct: Watch Chapters 17a and 17b of The Crash Course.
Thur 15 Oct: No Class (RS on 5-day field trip w/Structural Geology class).
For Tues 13 Oct: Select an online item to share (3 minutes; bring or send to me for on-screen projection during class). Topic is completely open, as long as it connects with this course (which means just about anything).
For Thur 8 Oct: Read Kevin Phillips' article Numbers Racket (Economics / Real Numbers page), plus review Crash Course Chapter 16 if needed.
For Tues 6 Oct: Watch Chapters 15 and 16 of The Crash Course.
For Thur 1 Oct: Chapter 1 (“Motivations”) of the online book Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air by David MacKay
For Tues 29 Sept: (1) Explain how the “Jevons paradox” affects the goal of reducing global petroleum consumption. (2) Watch Chapter 14 of The Crash Course.
For Thur 24 Sept: (1) Read Revisiting the Limits to Growth
After Peak Oil by Charles Hall et al. (2008) (Possible Futures / Ecological page). (2) Watch Chapter 13 of The Crash Course.
Tues 22 Sept: NO CLASS! Campus-wide faculty furlough day (excludes staff & TAs)
For Thur 17 Sept: Read Peak Oil—Believe It or Not? by Nate Hagens (Human Predicament / Choices page)
For Tues 15 Sept: (1) At least one of the three “recommended” introductions to Peak Oil on teotw.net (Fossil Fuels/Peak Oil page). (2) Joseph Tainter: Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies (1996) (Possible Futures/Past Societies page)
For Thur 10 Sept: (1) Watch Chapters 10 and 12 (and Ch 11 if you wish) of The Crash Course. (2) Read The Solution...is the Problem (Economics page).
For Tues 8 Sept: (1) Watch Chapters 8 and 9 of The Crash Course. (2) Read the very brief Shell CEO's e-mail to employees, 22 Jan 2008 (Peak Oil page). (3) Briefly investigate the Millenium Project: What/who is it? What are their goals? What have they produced/accomplished?
For Thur 3 Sept: (1) Watch Chapters 6 and 7 of Chris Martenson's The Crash Course. (2) Read The Anti-Ecology of Money by John Michael Greer (Economics page).
For
Tues 1 Sept: Read the following two articles by Garrett Hardin (Population page):
(1) The Tragedy of the Commons
(2) Extension of the Tragedy of the Commons
For Thur 27 Aug: (1) Watch Chapters 1–5 of Chris Martenson's The Crash Course (get your disc in class, or watch online). (2) Watch the 8-minute video Are Humans Smarter Than Yeast? on the Population page (here on teotw.net).