Course overview
This course examines the interface between human economic activities and contemporary environmental issues. The course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to explore a variety of alternative pathways to green economies. The course critically analyses the mainstream economic way of thinking from philosophical and ethical perspectives. The course considers community-based natural resource management, Buddhist economics and ecology, and sustainable agriculture. In addition to academic resources, the course uses newspapers, novels, lyrics and movies to communicate the subject matter.
Course learning outcomes
- Develop a sound understanding of the basic economic concepts, such as opportunity costs, prisoners' dilemmas, gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, and their relevance to human-induced contemporary environmental problems.
- Develop an understanding of public disputation over the choice of economic policy instruments in response to market failure.
- Examine the economic dimension of sustainability, using the concept of GDP and unemployment.
- Examine the limitations associated with GDP measurement, and understand various indices of human well-being.
- Compare and contrast the ecocentric and anthropocentirc views of sustainability, making use of the conceptual framework of the I=PAT (Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology) equation.
- Examine the contested meaning of the utilitarian doctrine, 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'.