This semester I am co-teaching the first year course Society and the Environment in the McGill School of Environment. I teach a diverse set of lectures that are mainly focussed on commons, urban ecosystems, and resilience, but also include cost-benefit analysis and ecological futures. My colleagues cover a whack of other topics. Below are the assinged readings for my sections of the course.

Making environmental decisions: Assessing costs & benefits (1)

• Leung, B., Lodge, D.M., Finnoff, D., Shogren, J.F., Lewis, M, Lamberti, G. 2002. An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure: bioeconomic risk analysis of invasive species. Proceedings: Biological Sciences 269:2407-2413

Managing the Commons (3)

• Hardin, G. 1968. Tragedy of the commons.. Science, 162(1968): 1243-1248.
• Feeny, D, et.al. 1990. The Tragedy of the Commons Revisited: Twenty Years Later. Human Ecology. 18:1-19
• Dietz, Thomas., Elinor Ostrom, Paul C. Stern. 2003. “The Struggle to Govern the Commons.” Science. 302(5652): 1907-1912.

Urban Ecosystems (3)

• Davis, M.. 2004. Planet of slums. New Left Review 26, March-April.
• Lee, K. N. 2006. Urban sustainability and the limits of classical environmentalism. Environment and Urbanization; 18(1) 9-22
• Jannson et al 1999 Linking Freshwater Flows and Ecosystem Services Appropriated by People: The Case of the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin. Ecosystems 2(4) 351-366.
• Colding, Johan, Jakob Lundberg, and Carl Folke. 2006 Incorporating Green-area User Groups in Urban Ecosystem Management AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment: 35(5) 237–244.

Resilience and Surprise (4)

• Walker, BH and D Salt 2006 Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Chapters 1,2, and 3 and Case studies 1 & 2 pages 1-63 Island Press, Washington, DC

Ecological Futures (1)

• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board. 2005 Living Beyond our Means: natural assets and human well-being: statement from the board. Island Press.
• Dietz, T. et al. 2007. Driving the human ecological footprint. Frontiers in Ecology 2007; 5(1): 13–18.