Climate change in Canada
GEO 108 and CGEO 108 ESSAY PROJECT — Fall 2016
The course project will be a critique and application of the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), arguably a more complex and inclusive ecological measure of progress and well being than the current measures being used to characterize economic and social well-being such as Gross Domestic Product and the Human Development Index.
The following articles include arguments for applying GPI and offer examples of comprehensive applications of GPI; these should serve as the basis of your own examination and critique of the GPI approach to achieving sustainable development:
Hamilton, Clive, 1999, "The genuine progress indicator methodological developments and results from Australia", Ecological Economics, Vol. 30, pp. 13-28; and Wilson, J. and Peter Tyedmers, 2013, "Rethinking What Counts. Perspectives on Wellbeing and Genuine Progress Indicator Metrics from a Canadian Viewpoint", Sustainability, Vol. 5, pp187-202. …and Beyond GDP
In defence of why GPI is a necessary ‘political’ strategy as well as being socio-economically and environmentally wise?!?!?
The major written paper for the course asks you to consider the following:
(a) keeping in mind course concepts and lecture materials;
(b) supported by authoritative materials you have found on your own; and
(c) offering your own informed opinion;
…each student will
(1) critique the GPI’s approach to achieving a sustainable society…
(2) by incorporating some of the issues and recommendations described in the documentary The End of Poverty IF APPROPRIATE TO YOUR TOPIC;
(3) along with ANY environmental concerns associated with the global village that we will be discussing in class;
(4) to make a thoughtful and convincing argument for applying the GPI as a way of addressing ONE of the following topics in one of the following locations OR ANY TOPIC OF YOUR OWN:
– climate change in Canada
– over-fishing in the Atlantic Ocean
– marine or fresh water pollution in the Philippines
– urban air pollution in South-east Asia
– agriculture in the age of global warming in India
– illegal and/or corporate mining in South or Central America
– deforestation in South-East Asia or China
– water scarcity in the American South-west
– realizing the MDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa
– global economic growth and development
– United Nations governance and sustainable development
– slavery and/or child labour in either the cocoa or clothing industry anywhere
During the workshop sessions we will be discussing the following:
…on some different approaches to developing ecological analyses:
* Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness agenda (and from the GNH website, A short guide to Gross National Happiness (not really very short but take a look at the highlites of the report;
* a visual description of GNH in Bhutan (viewed during one of the first tutorials).
* conceptualizing and comparing different ecological metrics;
On GPI specifically…
* a general introduction to the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI);
* the GPI Atlantic experience (viewed during one of the first tutorials);
* the GPI as Hamilton (1999) applied it to the Australian economy
* Here are some questions about the GPI for review.
There will be plenty of time during our in-class one hour workshop sessions to discuss this important ecological accounting concept, its strengths and its weaknesses.
The written project should consist of an essay of approximately 2000 words that clearly and concisely presents your arguments and conclusions regarding the usefulness of applying this ecological measure to help achieve some level of sustainable development relevant to the topic you have chosen to investigate. Refer to the course outline regarding research resources, in-text referencing and bibliographic requirements.
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A VERY WELL WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED ESSAY CONCERNING AN EVALUATION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY OF PUBLIC TRANSIT USING GPI.
Please submit your project in WORD .docx format by emailed attachment to the instructor’s email address —- jmaurer@ryerson.ca — no later than 5 PM on Sunday, November 27, 2016. Identify your attached file using the following format with YOUR NAME — 108F16yourfirstname_
The one hour sessions each week will be devoted to discussing aspects of the course project including: essay development, research strategies, referencing, bibliographic formatting and plagiarism, as well as discussions of relevant course materials when needed. More details about the project will be supplied during these workshop sessions.
GENERAL COURSE POLICIES
It is the responsibility of the student to submit all work in a timely enough manner so that all deadlines are met and that any submissions, attachments or emails, are both openable and readable. You can do this by checking your ‘sent’ folder in your email application, opening it and ensuring that your files have indeed been sent and are readable. Any submissions that cannot be opened will receive late penalties until the instructor receives a submission that can be evaluated.
Any work submitted for grading must conform to a recognized referencing and bibliographic format such as APA and MLA. The final written content will be judged according to the quality of (a) the research effort; (b) writing, referencing and presentation styles; and (c) the general content and organization of your essay (including the coherency, breadth and originality of your discussion and conclusions) and, of course, the relevance of your report to the topic.
Ensure that all requirements of the project are satisfied as detailed in the project outline and during class discussions and workshop sessions.
Always include at the beginning of your essay a title page with your name, student number, course number and title, instructor’s name and the title of your project.
Any essay that is plagiarized in ANY way or not referenced adequately will be given a grade of ‘0’ and NO re-submissions will be allowed. It is the responsibility of students to acquaint themselves with what constitutes plagiarism, and what are appropriate bibliographic and referencing formats.
To help students in these areas, please read the course and Ryerson policies included on the electronic copy of your course outline and refer to the course website outline for links to Ryerson’s plagiarism policy and Ryerson’s Writing Centre. We will also be discussing many of these issues during the one hour workshop sessions.
………………..Answer Preview………………
Climate Change in Canada
Its clear that climate change is one the greatest threats not only in Canada but across the world. This problem is characterized by coastal flooding, expanding melt of ice on the sea in the Arctic region and droughts. In 2006, scientists recorded warmer-than-average temperatures across the globe for the 30th consecutive year. Increased average global temperatures have led to an increase in the melting of polar and glacier ice caps. This aspect is in turn leading to rising sea levels, something that is putting coastal areas at a huge risk of flooding. These aspects clearly show that the climate change problem has not been……
APA
1798 words
