Links, Envs 4950, Spring 2015, ETSU

Envs 4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies, O'Donnell, Spring 2015

Links
last update: March 25, 2015

Notes:

- Here are various texts and sites that will interest students in the course. These are not all necessarily assigned readings. For week-by-week reading assignments, see "Calendar," above.

- I will update this site periodically throughout the semester. If you have any suggestions for additional links, please send me an email. -- KOD, instructor --odonnell@etsu.edu

I. Readings, Organized Loosely by Topic

A. Environmental Studies

- "What is Environmental Studies?" Michael E. Soule and Daniel Press. BioScience 48, 5 (May 1998): 397-405. webpub.allegheny.edu/employee/m/mmaniate/es/soule.pdf

- "Environmental Studies" Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_studies

B. Conservation

- "Can the World Really Set Aside Half of the Planet for Wildlife? The eminent evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson has an audacious vision for saving Earth from a cataclysmic extinction event."

By Tony Hiss. Smithsonian Magazine, September 2014. Online: www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-world-really-set-aside-half-planet-wildlife-180952379/

C. Fossil Fuels / Climate

- "Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher. By Justin Gillis and John Schwartz." The New York Times, February 21, 2015. www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html

- "The Climate Science Behind New England’s Historic Blizzard." By Joe Romm. Posted on January 26, 2015. At "Climate Progress," the climate blog at Thinkprogress.org, a liberal web site funded by the Center for American Progress. thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/26/3615330/blizzards-climate-scientists/

- "In January, U.S. Saw Vastly More Daily Warm Records Than Cold Records. February, Too." By Joe Romm Posted on February 20, 2015. At "Climate Progress," the climate blog at Thinkprogress.org, a liberal web site funded by the Center for American Progress. thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/20/3625194/climate-change-records/

- "Why Not Frack?" By Bill McKibben. The New York Review of Books. March 8, 2012. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/08/why-not-frack/

- "Global Warming's Terrifying New Math: Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe - and that make clear who the real enemy is." Bill McKibben. Rolling Stone Magazine, July 19, 2012. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719

- "Review of the must-read book: Merchants of Doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from smoke to global warming." By John Atcheson. Posted July 14, 2010, at "Climate Progress," the climate section edited by Joe Romm at ThinkProgress.org, a blog site sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a nonpartisan, liberal organization. thinkprogress.org/romm/2010/07/14/206422/merchants-of-doubt-naomi-oreskes-review/

- "Climate of Doubt: Frontline goes inside the groups who shifted the direction of the climate change debate." Runtime: 53:46. October 23, 2012. WGBH Blueridge PBS. www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/climate-of-doubt/

- "Robert Brulle: Inside the Climate Change 'Countermovement'." Edited transcript of an interview with a sociologist who researches funding patterns of groups who oppose action on global warming, conducted on Sep 30, 2012. PBS Frontline, October 23, 2012. www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/environment/climate-of-doubt/robert-brulle-inside-the-climate-change-countermovement/

D. Food Systems

- "Stop Making Us Guinea Pigs [about GMO Agriculture and the WHO study of glyphosate]." By Mark Bittman. The New York Times Opinion Pages. March 25, 2015. www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/opinion/stop-making-us-guinea-pigs.html

- "Why Do G.M.O.’s Need Protection?" By Mark Bittman. New York Times online, April 2, 2013. opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/why-do-g-m-o-s-need-protection/

- "Should You Eat Chicken? [Contributing Op-Ed Writer]." By Mark Bittman. The New York Times, October 15, 2013. www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/opinion/bittman-should-you-eat-chicken.html

E. Rachel Carson

- "Denial Rides Again: The Revisionist Attack on Rachel Carson." Chapter 7 of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. By Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. Bloomsbury Press, 2010. Pages 216-239. Posted online at a private blog: beforeness.tumblr.com/post/97396882093/denial-rides-again-the-revisionist-attack-on

- "Margaret Atwood: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, 50 years on." By Margaret Atwood. The Guardian [Manchester, England]. Friday, December 7, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/07/why-rachel-carson-is-a-saint

- "Rehabilitating Carson: Why do some people continue to hold Rachel Carson responsible for millions of malaria deaths?" By John Quiggin. Prospect Magazine, May 24, 2008. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/rehabilitatingcarson/

- ''Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?: The creation of an anti-environmental myth.'' Aaron Swartz, ''Extra!'' [F.A.I.R.], September/October, 2007.

- RachelWasWrong.org. "Uncovering Silent Spring's Deadly Consequences," by the Competitive Enterprise Institute

F. Other Issues

- "Researchers Propose Earth’s ‘Anthropocene’ Age of Humans Began With Fallout and Plastics." By Andrew Revkin. New York Times online, January 15, 2015. dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/researchers-propose-earths-anthropocene-age-of-humans-began-with-fallout-and-plastics/

- "Genetically Modified Forest Planned for U.S. Southeast: International Paper and MeadWestvaco are planning to transform plantation forests of the southeastern U.S. by replacing native pine with genetically engineered eucalyptus." By Paul Voosen. Scientific American, Jan 29, 2010. www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eucalyptus-genetically-modified-pine-tree-southwest-forest

- "Officials Don’t Really Know How Dangerous the Chemical Spilled in West Virginia Is: Authorities have virtually no way of regulating many industrial chemicals. The latest spill could change that." By Bryan Walsh. Time Magazine online, Jan. 14, 2014. science.time.com/2014/01/14/how-dangerous-is-chemical-spilled-in-west-virginia/

- "No One’s Job: West Virginia’s Forbidden Waters." Posted by Jedediah Purdy, January 14, 2014. "News Desk" blog at the New Yorker Magazine online. www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/01/a-chemical-spill-along-the-elk-river-in-west-virginia.html

- "Our Toxicity Experiment in West Virginia." Posted by Deborah Blum, January 18, 2014. "Wired Science Blogs," at Wired Magazine online. www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/chemistry-experiments-west-virginia-dont-try-home/

II. Important Web Sites and Blogs

- Climate Progress. "A liberal blog on the science, solutions, and politics of climate change. Also offers related links." Edited by Joseph Romm. climateprogress.org

- Grist.org. Environmental journalism.

- Orion Magazine. One of America's premier venues for nature writing and environmental policy essays.