Assignment 1 (Due June 1) – Looking at your home country, a country you most associate with, or a country in which you really have an interest, write a 750-word paper describing what you (and others for that matter) perceive to be the country’s most serious environmental concern (other than climate change). Be sure to describe the issue in detail and provide a summary how the problem is currently being addressed (if it is at all). Be sure to cite at least five (5) references.

May

25, 26

Evaluating Trade-Offs: Benefit-Cost Analysis and Other Decision-Making Metrics

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Lecture - Evaluating Trade-Offs: Benefit-Cost Analysis and Other Decision-Making Metrics (PPT)

Handout-The Equimarginal Principle of Cost Effectiveness

Required Readings: Cost Benefit Analysis of a Net-Zero Energy Housing in Qatar Environmental Impacts of Food Production

Additional Reading: How to Perform a Cost Benefit Analysis The Economics of Regulatory Repeal and Six Case Studies

Websites: Resources for the Future-Topics/Environmental Economics

Videos: Intro to Cost-Benefit Analysis (Conservation Strategy Fund Series)

May

27, 30

Valuing the Environment: Methods

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Lecture - Valuing the Environment: Methods (PPT)

Required Readings: Hedonic Pricing Method The Cost of a Human Life, Statistically Speaking

Websites: Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory (EVRI) (easy to register an account)

Videos: Economics: How to Calculate the Value of Life Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Intro to Valuation Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Contingent Valuation Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Travel Cost Method

May 31

June 1

Dynamic Efficiency and Sustainable Development

Depletable Resource Allocation: The Role of Longer Time Horizons, Substitutes, and Extraction Cost

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5 Lecture - Dynamic Efficiency and Sustainable Development (PPT)

Chapter 6 Lecture - Depletable Resource Allocation: The Role of Longer Time Horizons, Substitutes, and Extraction Cost (PPT)

Websites: Our World in Data

Videos: Economics of Sustainability What is Sustainable Development?

June

2, 3

Energy: The Transition from Depletable to Renewable Resources

Recyclable Resources: Minerals, Paper, Bottles, and E-waste

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapters 7 and 8

Chapter 7 Lecture - Energy: The Transition from Depletable to Renewable Resources (PPT)

Chapter 8 Lecture - Recyclable Resources: Minerals, Paper, Bottles, and E-waste (PPT)

Required Readings: When Fossil Fuels Run Out, What Then? What is Fracking and Why is it Controversial? How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled

Videos: Animation of Hydraulic Fracturing – One View Fracking 101: Why Fracked Gas is Dirty and Dangerous (Another View)

Assignment 2 (Due June 13) – Although Qatar’s gas reserves are considered quite substantial, several other countries face the situation of no longer being able to rely on the export of their once substantial natural resource to contribute to economic growth. Choose a country (we exclude Qatar) in such a situation and write a 750-word paper describing 1) current and future projection of the supplies of the natural recourse; 2) the contribution of that resource to the economy; and 3) what, if any, plans the country (or the industry) has made to address the situation (diversification, substitution, etc.). Be sure to cite at least five (5) references.

Sunday, June 6 – Exam 1

June

7, 8

Water: A Confluence of Renewable and Depletable Resources

A Locationally Fixed, Multipurpose Resource: Land

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapters 9 and 10

Chapter 9 Lecture - Water: A Confluence of Renewable and Depletable Resources (PPT)

Chapter 10 Lecture - A Locationally Fixed, Multipurpose Resource: Land (PPT)

Required Readings: Environmental Problems of Modern Cities Experts Name the Top 19 Solutions to the Global Freshwater Crisis Water Statistics in the State of Qatar 2015

Additional Reading: High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy (Read Executive Summary) 10 things to Know About the Impacts of Urbanisation

Websites: UN-Water Water.org

Videos: Are Future Water Wars Inevitable? Countries Are Building Economic Empires by Controlling Water Supply Journey 2050: Land Use Journey 2050: Water Sad, but True

June

Common-Pool Resources: Commercially Valuable Fisheries

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Lecture - Common-Pool Resources: Commercially Valuable Fisheries (PPT)

This chapter will rely heavily on the following videos. Please make sure to watch outside of class too!

Videos: Fishing (Sustainable Yield) Fisheries Economics & Policy: Maximum Economic Yield The Simple Economics of an Open-Access Fishery

June

Ecosystem Goods and Services: Nature’s Threatened Bounty

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Lecture - Ecosystem Goods and Services: Nature’s Threatened Bounty (PPT)

Required Reading: MDG Monitor Role of Tourism in Sustainable Development

Additional Reading: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Report Crop Production in the USA is Frequently Limited by a Lack of Pollinators

Videos: Can Eco-tourism Help Save the Ocean? Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Classes of Values

June

Economics of Pollution Control:

An Overview

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Lecture - Economics of Pollution Control: An Overview (PPT)

Required Reading: Carbon Tax - Pros and Cons What is Carbon Offsetting? Qatar Airways Launches Voluntary Carbon Offset Programme for Passengers

Videos: Carbon Offsets The Story of Cap & Trade The Love Canal Disaster: Toxic Waste in the Neighborhood The Japanese Town That Was Poisoned

Assignment 3 (Due June 20) – Write a 500-word paper proposing a policy initiative you would recommend be implemented to address an air pollution problem that you perceive to be extremely harmful to society. Be sure to describe the problem and use economic tools in your policy proposal. Be sure to cite at least three (3) references.

June

14, 15

Stationary-Source Local and Regional Air Pollution

Mobile-Source Air Pollution

Climate Change

In class Presentations of Assignment 2

Text: (TL) Reading: Chapters 15, 16 and 17

Chapter 15 Lecture - Stationary-Source Local and Regional Air Pollution (PPT)

Chapter 16 Lecture - Mobile-Source Air Pollution (PPT)

Chapter 17 Lecture - Climate Change (PPT)

Required Reading: The Facts on Fuel Economy Standards Volkswagen: The Scandal Explained

Websites: Transport and Environment