A general project of the seminar is to undermine the security of the distinction between universal and particular, human and cultural, and to undertake a critical investigation of the meanings of culture today. Discussion will focus on close readings of a broad range of materials, from literature, film and video to legal proceedings, international treaties and declarations, commission reports, theoretical and philosophical arguments, scholarly writings, and journalistic accounts. Global Environmental Issues Francesca T. Grifo, Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, former director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Expansion of the scale of human activity in recent years has put strain on the natural environment of the planet. In some cases we have exceeded the limits of nature's ability to recuperate and the damage or harmful effects in one part of the world do not stop in the that area, but go beyond national borders and become environmental problems on a global scale. Global environmental issues are not independent and separate from each other, but are mutually linked together in complex ways.
Human beings are the victims of global environmental problems, and also the culprits.
This course will analyze the mechanisms of a healthy planet, benefits derived from functioning ecosystems, threats to the environment, and alleviation of these global environmental problems. The barriers to mitigation caused by the international politics of the environment will be analyzed through close examination of United States policies, the roles played by the World Bank, United Nations, and non-governmental and other institutions and the processes of negotiating international environmental agreements. Global climate change, pollution and contamination, biodiversity loss, habitat loss and degradation, population and consumption, and other transboundary environmental issues are among the threats considered in this context. Mitigation, biodiversity, management of ecosystems, education and outreach, reducing resource demand, and regulatory frameworks. Emphasis will be placed on addressing each of these from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and institutional settings with examples drawn from both developed and developing countries.