Reading to be done before Class: AE Article 7 Robert Kates "Population and Consumption" and Article 5 Lester R. Brown "Rescuing a Planet Under Stress"
Come to class with a basic familiarity with the following concepts and ideas: population growth, consumption, I=PAT, affluence, technology, political power, Be familiar with arguments concerning ways to reduce consumption and with the challenges that people living in "slums" face in gaining access to security and services.
Additional Assignment: Proposals for your case study papers are due today in class.

Today's readings focus on the issues of population growth and consumption. As Robert Kates argues in "Population and Consumption" we know quite a bit about how populations work but we do not know as much about consumption patterns. As a result we have made much more progress in reducing population growth than we have done in reducing the growth of consumption. The relationship between population and consumption has been best expressed in the equation I=PAT in which impact is equal to population, affluence, and technology. This is a complex equation and not all of its elements are easily reduced to numbers. Technology, for instance, can be used to reduce consumption. Technologies may allow us to substitute information for materials or energy, as when someone telecommutes rather than driving to work.

Our second reading argues that the increase in population coupled with excessive resource use means that we are "asking more fo the Earth than it can give on an ongoing basis" (Brown 43). While contolling population growth is important, making better use of resources is perhaps more important.

Today in class we will discuss the complex interrelationships between population and consumption in the context of both the most affluent places and the poorest places on Earth. The following questions will guide our discussion.

1. How does uneven development contribute to environmental degradation?

2. How has technology been used both to increase and to reduce consumption?

3. What substitutions might be made to shift consumption to less harmful and material and energy depleting activities?

4. What can we do to reduce the use of energy and materials per unit of consumption?

5. How can we substitute information for energy and materials?

6. What can we do to reduce consumption by making people more satisfied because they have enough?

7. What can we do to do to encourage having more satisfaction with less (sublimation)?

8. How can consumption be reduced in a society in which making and selling things (sometimes things that people don't really need) provides the basis for wealth and opportunity?

Possible activities

Do a inventory of the GEO/Met and Schnabel Hall buildings and look for technologies that both reduce and increase consumption.

Draw up a plan to reduce consumption in our community.

Draw up a plan to increase the standard of living in places like Nairobi by helping people gain access to the materials, energy, and information they need to satisfy their needs.