Students will study many of the "gifts of nature" and how these scarce resources are used, and sometimes abused, by human activity. Students will review a wide variety of topics, primarily through the lens of economic analysis, learning the methods and tools necessary to measure resource flow and value. Most ecological issues, however, are inherently interdisciplinary; therefore social, political, scientific, moral, and theological perspectives will also be part of integrated learning. Integrated throughout the course will be filters to discover how markets allocate natural resources, why and how governments intervene in markets on environmental grounds, the appropriateness and effectiveness of public policies in this area, and testing knowledge and learning against benchmarks of overall and global sustainability. Prerequisite: ECON 201 or ECON 211 or ECON 212, or consent of the instructor. (Spring 2023)
Offered in alternate years