|
Environmental Policy Roundtable
Fall 2003
Dec 5 Dennis Pirages/Professor of Government and Politics,
University of Maryland on Ecological Security
Traditional approaches to security studies stress violent foreign
threats to state power and privilege. Just as it is critical
to insert ecological thinking into economics, there is a similar
need to rethink national security in ecological terms. The most
serious threats to human well-being historically have not come
from military violence, but from disease and malnutrition. Thus,
while the eyes of the world focused on battlefield casualties
during World War I, more than 20 million perished in an influenza
pandemic. The growing pace of globalization makes it imperative
to apply ecological thinking to security policy. Such a theoretical
framework will be presented and applied to the likely impact
of globalization on the spread of infectious disease.
Dennis Pirages
is Harrison Professor of International Environmental Politics
at the University of Maryland. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford,
after research at the University of Warsaw. He is a lifetime
fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Pirages has published fourteen books and over fifty essays,
in which he coined the terms
"sustainable society" (1977) and "ecopolitics"
(1978). His most recent books are Building Sustainable Societies:
A Blueprint for a Post-Industrial World and Ecological Security:
An Evolutionary Perspective on Globalization.
November 14 "Is Organic Farming America's Seed for Sustainable
Family Agriculture?" with Evaggelos Vallianatos, Visiting
Professor of Agrarian Policy & The Global Environment, Department
of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Maryland.
Organic farming throughout the world is the survival of a version
of the old, traditional agriculture. The organic version of the
agrarian tradition surviving in each country reflects the culture
of the people and country practicing it. Thus, for instance, the
organic farming of California differs to some degree from the organic
farming of Maryland and those American methods differ from that
of France for more than agroclimatic reasons and weather differences
between these regions.
Traditions are always in the methods people use to raise food.
The real name of how people grow food mirrors the culture of
the agros, land, hence agriculture (= agros + culture, which
means land and society). Only the name, "organic,"
is new in organic agriculture. But even the name, "organic,"
is connected to land, life, and work. The Greek roots of the name "organic" have
a variety of meanings: a tool for doing a thing; an organ of sense;
a musical or surgical instrument, a work or product; and swelling
with moisture, which, in the case of fruit, would mean ripening;
and, in relation to persons, the understanding is to be eager,
ready to be excited. The name "organic" is not universal.
In some countries, organic farming is known as ecological or
biological farming.
Organic farming has the promise of becoming an alternative to
conventional industrialized agriculture, which is a factory form
of agriculture a little over 100 years old. The promise of organic
farming is necessary because factory agriculture is unsustainable.
We can facilitate the transition from conventional agriculture
to sustainable family farming by eating primarily organic food
produced locally, and by turning the talent of the land grant universities
to the service of sustainable family farming. Such a transformation
will sow the ground for good food, outstanding science, a revitalized
rural America, and stronger democracy for the United States and
the world.
Oct 31 Roger Stone, Director and President of the Sustainable
Development Institute http://www.susdev.org/ “The
promise and problems of local community management of tropical
forests”
Roger D. Stone’s talk will focus on the promise and the
problems related to local community management of tropical forest
properties. In his extensive travels to remote corners of the
developing world, Stone has gathered much information on this
topic. His talk will draw on these experiences to show how the
empowerment of local people can benefit them economically while
also enabling them to protect rather than destroy their forests.
Mr. Stone will then turn to policy considerations: how governments,
private industry, and NGOs can all help local forest communities
achieve better control of their principal resource to the benefit
of all.
Director and President of the Sustainable Development Institute
since 1993, a small nonprofit organization specializing in communications
about environmental issues, Roger D. Stone continues a diverse
career in the communications field. After graduation from Yale
(1955) and military service as a US Naval Aviator, he joined Time
magazine and served as news correspondent and bureau chief in San
Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, and Paris. Later assignments included
vice president for international communications for Chase Manhattan
Bank and vice president for communications for World Wildlife Fund-US.
Mr. Stone has written many articles and five books on economic-environmental
relationships. The most recent of these is Tropical Forests and
the Human Spirit: Journeys to the Brink of Hope (University of
California Press, 2001).
Oct 3 Bruce Hannon/Univ. of Illinois Professor of Geography
and Honors Faculty for the National Center for Supercomputer
Applications. (in conjunction with the "Smart Growth and the Environment" lecture
series.
Oct 17 "Twenty-nine
Days: the History of Environmental Policy" Ken Cousins, Department
of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Although it is commonly believed that concern for the environment
is a product of 1960s social movements, environmental policies
actually date back many centuries. Come see an overview of this
history and a discussion of the changing character of environmental
regulation. The presentation will conclude with an open discussion
of the "nature" of environmental policy and its relation
to ecological economics.
Ken Cousins is a doctoral candidate in Political Economics and
Environmental Politics. His dissertation concerns the development
of voluntary, market-based resource management systems, with
a case study of the Chilean forest industry.
Sep 5 Double Bill: Short Film "Shoveling Fuel On A Runaway
Train" by Brian Czech, and brief discussion of biodiesel by
Doug Belling, graduate student in the School of Public Affairs.
Formally trained as wildlife ecologist, Czech draws revealing
parallels between the economy of nature and the human economy.
He offers a sophisticated yet accessible critique of the principles
of economic growth theory, then points to the new discipline of
ecological economics as a sustainable alternative.
Combining insights from economics, psychology, and ecology with
a large dose of common sense, Czech drafts a blueprint for a more
satisfying and sustainable society. His ideas reach deeply into
our everyday lives as he asks us to re-examine our perspectives
on everything from our shopping habits to romance.
"Biodiesel: The Stealth Alternative Fuel"
Doug Belling, University of Maryland School of Public Affairs
Come discover why biodiesel is an easy way to reduce fossil fuel
use
while reducing air pollution. Biodiesel is a drop-in technological
solution which is already used in more places than you might imagine.
Could it come to the University of Maryland next?
Doug is an Environmental Policy Masters' candidate at the University
of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and is a member of the
US
Society for Ecological Economics and the Ecological Society of
America. His research interests include water resources, renewable
energy, environmental compliance and small business, and ecological
economics.
Join
the EESG Listserv
|
