THE McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT

OFFERS TWO GRADUATE COURSES ON

LIVING IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

ENVR 610 Foundations of Environmental Policy;
and
ENVR 630 - Civilization and Environment

FALL 2014


Human activity is overwhelming and degrading natural systems
on local and global scales and this process is accelerating. (This
era is now being called the Anthropocenethe age of
mankind.) These activities have dramatic negative implications
for the future of humans and other forms of life. It is likely that
one or more major collapses are already underway and that
they are likely irreversible. Yet our responses at the personal
and institutional level remain almost nonexistent, fragmented,
and mainly ineffective. We lack a coherent way to
conceptualize the issues and to evaluate the success and/or
failure of responses. Although our institutions and economic
systems as currently constituted are at direct odds with
conservation and sustaining the essential elements of the
biosphere, there is much that can be done, from the personal to
the global scale.

Our aim in ENVR 610 and 630 is to understand how human
activity and belief systems affect the environment, to anticipate
and understand collapses or unraveling of planetary systems,
and to fashion alternative philosophies and structures that are
respectful of life on the earth. 610 concentrates on the causes
of the decline in Earths life support systems such as
population and consumption growth and the rise of the fossil
fuel era. 630 is concerned with exploring how thought systems
such as law, governance, ethics, and economics and finance are
systematically misleading due to the fact that they are not
reconciled with contemporary science, nor suited to the
circumstances of the Anthropocene.

These courses will comprise lectures, discussions, papers, and presentations. Students are encouraged to take
these courses to broaden their perspectives for their research. These seminars are under the direction of Peter G.
Brown (Geography), Mark Goldberg (Medicine), Tom Naylor (Economics), and Steve Quilley (Waterloo
Institute of Complexity and Innovation) and others. Enrollment in both courses is capped.

ENVR 610 is offered from 2:35 to 5:25 on Mondays. ENVR 630, subtitled From the Big Bang to the
Anthropocene, is offered on Wednesdays from 2:35 to 5:25, and is open over the internet to a limited number
of students from York University and the University of Vermont who are part of the Economics for the
Anthropocene project.

For more information about registering for the courses and other matters contact peter.g.brown@mcgill.ca; with
a cc to: mark.goldberg@mcgill.ca. Permission of the instructors is a pre-requisite for ENVR 630.



Erik Johansson, Stockholm, Sweden
Photographer and Retouch Artist
Website:
erikjohanssonphoto.com/work/vertical-turn