PHI THETA KAPPA International Honor Society of the Two Year College

How does the global environment reflect the paradox of affluence?

Study Questions

1. To what extent is the world on the verge of environmental collapse?
2. To what degree does environmental policy affect health?
3. To what extent does a nation’s affluence affect international policy on the environment and climate change?
4. How might affluence affect a person’s ability and willingness to embrace a “one child per human mother” policy to help reduce human impact on the global environment?
5. To what degree is conflict over natural resources (i.e., water, natural gas) more likely to break out in less affluent nations?
6. In what ways does affluence determine the environmental consciousness of an individual or community?
7. To what degree is it true that affluent nations pollute to a greater extent than poorer nations?
8. In what ways is global warming a result of the paradox of affluence?
9. How can individuals, families, and communities work to neutralize their carbon footprints? Does affluence affect a person’s ability and willingness to do so?
10. Why, despite our potential overuse of the Earth’s resources as global affluence increases, do scholars argue life will go on?

Honors in Action

Project description: Create an environmental steering committee comprised of students, faculty, and staff on your campus to research issues related to your campus’ environment. From that research, develop projects for your campus that will beautify and improve your environment. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: Track weather patterns in your community and research those patterns over time. Has the weather changed considerably in your community? Are temperatures higher, lower, or similar to what they have been for the last fifty years? Are there more extreme patterns such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes? What are the factors that contribute to the stability or change in your community’s weather? Share your findings over a semester at your chapter meetings. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship

Project description: Research your carbon footprint and the collective footprint of everyone on your college campus. What factors are most prevalent in terms of causing environmental damage in your college community? What will it take to erase those carbon footprints? Work with a team of students, faculty, and staff on your campus to develop and implement a project on campus to erase your collective carbon footprint. Invite members of the local National Honor Society to work with you. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: Read Juliet Schor’s The Overspent American. Contemplate your own spending and its impact on the environment. Write an op-ed piece on the connection between consumerism and the environment for your college or community newspaper. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: Invite a biologist, a sociologist, a geographer, and an anthropologist to speak from the perspectives of their disciplines on the future of life as it relates to the environment. Ask the scholars to consider the conflicts that arise from their different perspectives (i.e., scientific vs. humanist) and among groups coming from different perspectives regarding the environment, such as the conflicts between Native Americans and the United States government as expressed by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce*. Invite fellow Phi Theta Kappa members to join in a dialogue about the presentations, the issues the scholars raise, and the leadership insights the leaders in these fields can provide. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: Investigate educational materials about taking care of the environment. Set up an environmental display in your college or community library that offers books and other educational materials that highlight your research. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: Form a geocaching club on your campus. Create caches that deal with the paradox of affluence as it relates to the environment, and place them in locations around your community that will highlight the ten issues related to the Honors Study Topic. Follow the progress of your caches online and share your findings at chapter meetings. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Project description: The Great American Cleanup is sponsored each year by Keep America Beautiful to address specific needs such as beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling collections, planting trees and flowers, or conducting educational programs on the environment. Research your community’s needs and organize a Great American Cleanup event to be held between March and May. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship

Bibliography

Ekins, Paul. Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability: The Prospects for Green Growth. 1999.

Ekins argues that “green growth” is economically achievable and he proposes environmental and economic policies needed for this to happen.

Hawken, Paul. The Ecology of Commerce. 1994.

Hawken explores the environmentally destructive aspects of many business practices and proposes ways businesses can adopt new practices to promote environmental conservation and restoration.

Houghton, John. Global Warming: The Complete Briefing. 2004.

Houghton explores the scientific evidence for global warming and impact of climate change on societies. He also proposes actions that governments, industry, and individuals can take to mitigate this problem.

McKibben, Bill. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. 2007.

McKibben’s thesis is that we need to move beyond an economic growth model of prosperity and globalization, and adopt a more community-centered perspective with cities, suburbs, and regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their energy, and creating more of their own culture and environment. He offers a way out of our increasing environmental problems by focusing on the impact of local changes.

McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. 1989.

McKibben’s thesis is that survival of the Earth requires a paradigm shift in the way we think about nature. He argues that we should stop thinking about the potential of irreversible environmental change and consider two paths of living on the planet: develop better ways of managing the world, or adopt a more humble way of living so that mankind does not need to be in control.

Myers, Norman and Jennifer Kent. The New Consumers: The Influence of Affluence on the Environment. 2004.

Myers and Kent explore the impact of the “new consumers” of developing countries on the earth’s resources. The authors examine the environmental impacts of increased global consumption and the far-reaching effects of consumption patterns in different countries, with particular emphasis on China and India.

Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. 2007.

Weisman speculates on the ecological recovery of the earth if humans became extinct. His approach provides a view of where we stand as a species and the impact of our rise and fall on the planet’s ecosystems.

Wilson, Edward O. The Future of Life. 2002.

Wilson argues that the central challenge of humanity in the new millennium is to increase the standard of living of the world’s growing poor, while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible. During this century, mankind and the rest of life must pass through a population ecology bottleneck created by intensifying environmental pressures. He is optimistic that by 2100 mankind’s impact on the biosphere will decrease because of population decline.

* material is included in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies: A Humanities Approach. This book is available online at www.ptk.org/recognitions/catalog/.