Summer School on Global Sustainability-Readings

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Preface

The Global Sustainainability Summer School co-directors have recommended the following speech by President Barack Obama as a preface to your time at the program.

• President Obama's speech to the National Academy of Sciences, 4 April, 2009.

• Video

Partha Dasgupta

The following papers should be read as supplemental to those lectures given, and for the program at large:

• Common Property Resources: Economic Analysis
• A Matter of Trust: Social Capital and Economic Development
• The Place of Nature in Economic Development

Arnulf Grübler

• Industrialization as a Historical Phenomenon
• Time for Change: On the Patterns of Diffusion of Innovation

Dennis Meadows

Please review the Fishbanks Game Manual for Professor Meadows' second lecture on Thursday July 23. Hard copies will be available that day.

• Fishbanks Game Manual

Chuck Kutscher

Please read the appendix and "Overview and Summary of the Studies" from the ASES "Tackling Climate Change" report as well as the coal phaseout paper and the column on Concentrating Solar Power.

• Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.
• Coal Phaseout Paper
• CSP Article

For those interested, here is the paper by Jim Hansen and his colleagues arguing that atmospheric CO2 must be brought below 350 ppm:

• Hansen 350 target paper

For those interested, student posters from my "Climate Change Solutions" class are on the web at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ChuckGCO/ClimateChangeSolutionsClassPosters122608517PM?pli=1#

Participant-Suggested Readings

Climate Change

David Archer at the University of Chicago wrote a great primer on climate change science, Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. --Danny

Economics

Small is Beautiful by E.F. Shumacher and its supplemental essay A Guide for the Perplexed. Very much in the philosophical spectrum of ecology and economics. A bit dated perhaps, but the material is still very relevant to much of the movement today. -JP

Population

"The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World" - Robert William Fogel

Technology & Technological Change

Gil Masters wrote an excellent textbook, Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems. The book covers wind, solar PV, and energy efficiency technology analysis comprehensively. Gil's book is great for professional engineers, but also incredibly approachable, requiring no background beyond high school math. Among other things, it gives the tools needed to design home power systems. --Danny

Alexandra Von Meier has a primer on the electricity sector, Electric Power Systems: A Conceptual Introduction. Written for the general post-college audience, it's a must-have for anyone who wants to understand the electricity industry. --Danny

Transportation

"Two Billions Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability" - Daniel Sperling, Deborah Gordon

"Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World" - Andreas Schafer, John B. Heywood, Henry D. Jacoby, Ian A. Waitz