Environmental Economics

Catalog description

This course examines the interactions between people and the environment by addressing the challenge of meeting the increasing demand for goods and services while simultaneously conserving natural resources for future generations. This course will also look at several current environmental issues including the effects of climate change, land tenure, globalization and trade, natural resource management, food waste, eco-labelling, and environmental justice. Since human numbers are increasing more rapidly in poor countries than anywhere else, special attention is paid to population growth and the prospects for environmentally sound agricultural development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There is a writing component to this course that requires students to write a technical paper on a developing country of their choice. This course will also utilize geographic information systems (GIS) software to apply economic theory to examine global environmental issues; no prior experience with GIS is required.