Sustainable Communities, Policy and Planning

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SYLLABUS FOR PPD 461 Sustainable Communities, Policy and Planning (Sustainability Planning, Sustainable City Planning) Sol Price School of Public Policy – Spring 2012 University of Southern California Los Angeles, California

Note: This syllabus will be periodically updated. Please check Blackboard for the most current version.

Monday and Wednesday, 4:00 – 5:50 PM, with short break during class. Room: Lewis Hall 100 Instructor: Richard H. Platkin, AICP E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Telephone: 213-308-6354 (cell) Teaching Assistant: (To be announced.) Office: Lewis Hall Adjunct Office, Room 107A Office Hours: After class and by appointment. Section 51129D

PPD 461 CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: As taken from the USC course catalog: “Planning as shaped by sustainability theories; sustainability indicators; topics include water resources, air quality, land use regulations, environmental design, carrying capacity, ecological footprint analysis.”

COURSE THEME: This course will focus on the role of urban planning in creating sustainable cities as one component of broader efforts to plan for and promote sustainability, defined as the intersection of natural science, social science, and public policy to understand and address a broad range of environmental problems through political-economic analysis, as well as technical improvements related to land use, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Based on the maxim of thinking globally and acting locally, the first half of the course will survey important literature and debates on macro environmental crises underlying discussions of sustainability, in particular climate change and peak oil. The second half of the course will then focus on identifying and evaluating local sustainability efforts, especially at the municipal level, through lectures, guest speakers, and student research on Southern California cities.

Part of the connection between thinking globally and acting locally is an analysis of the direct and indirect impacts on environmental trends and processes, including related political and economic forces, on cities. The course will then examine a broad range of policy prescriptions, best practices, and implementation barriers -- with a careful look at the Los Angeles metropolitan area -- to make urban life more aligned with the quickly changing natural environment.

Because two environmental issues, climate change/global warming and peak oil, are new, controversial, and rapidly unfolding, in the first half of this course we will examine several approaches to these interlocking phenomena. This means a careful examination of the scientific debates regarding climate change/ global warming and peak oil, including underlying political and economic mechanisms, as well as a review of the debates over the best policies and programs to address the causes, problems, and alternatives to an advanced civilization dependent on oil and gas for energy, transportation, chemistry, and commerce.

1 Among those who support the scientific consensus that climate change/global warming and peak oil are valid and dangerous trends, there are disagreements over consequences and remedies. For example, Michael Klare, Director of Peace and Security Studies at Hampshire College, argues that peak oil is rapidly unfolding and that the primary response of most governments, including our own, is not sustainable planning, but the use of armed forces for wars to secure energy resources and shipping routes. In contrast, Al Gore, Lester Brown and James Kuntsler, author of several “dooms-day” volumes on peak oil and climate change, focus on the deterioration and collapse of modern life, in particular cities and suburbs, with little emphasis on energy wars. One analyst, University of Oregon environmental sociologist John Bellamy Foster, attempts to synthesize both approaches and argues that technical solutions to a broad range for environmental crises will not succeed unless they are folded into a comprehensive program of political and economic restructuring.

The remedies to the current environmental crisis, including its climate change and peak oil components, presented by these authors include broad, macro, global changes in energy production and consumption; national legislation; local municipal and non-profit initiatives, such as changes in building codes; and many bottoms up community efforts focused on life-style changes, such as biking, gardening, and recycling.

The second part of the course will carefully examine the full range of these local solutions, the theories behind them, their likely effects, their limitations, and policy and program gaps which must be addressed, with case studies drawn from the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In addition to lectures, films, and several guest lecturers, the study of local initiatives will also include student reports on the policies and program of Los Angeles area cities.

The course will attempt to present alternative views on issues, policies, and programs related to sustainability. Students are encouraged to participate in these discussions through classroom questions and debates, research projects, supplementary readings, news items, and take-home essay exams.

Please remember to respect those views that are new to you or with which you disagree. While debate is strongly encouraged, intolerant remarks are not.

QUESTIONS WE HOPE TO ANSWER IN THIS COURSE:

1. How does global warming/climate change accelerate or intensify environmental and/or socio-economic processes already underway? How do these same process, in turn, accentuate climate change?

2. What do we mean by “Think globally and act locally” when applied to issues of sustainability at the local level? How do the issues express themselves locally, and how can solutions be localized?

3. What are the large global (macro) trends and debates that set the context for any local discussion, program, and research on sustainability?

4. In addition to climate change and global warming, what other environmental issues should we be aware of?

5. Why is oil so important for current societies: Is its irreplaceability for energy, transportation, and chemistry? Is its enormous profitability? Is its strategic role in geo-political and military conflict? Or, is it a combination of all three?

2 6. How do two important consequences of peak oil interact with each other: higher costs that foster social dislocation and dwindling resources that become a trigger for political and military conflict?

7. What is happening at the local level in the Los Angeles area to develop sustainable cities among municipalities, as well as non-profits, private companies, and individual projects?

8. How formalized are these local efforts; are they based on adopted policy documents and plans? How are the plans implemented, adopted as ordinances, and then monitored? How effective are these plans and programs? How will they be augmented in the near future?

9. What should be done at the local level that is not yet folded into plans, policies, and programs? What are the political and economic barriers to implement available programs and technologies?

10. In terms of measurable benefits to sustainability, how significant are changes to adopt a “green” personal life style, such as eating lower on the food chain, biking, using public transit, home gardening, washing your clothes in cold water, and shopping with tote bags?

WEB SITE:

In addition to assigned books, additional readings will be posted through Blackboard on the course web-site, mostly in PDF format. If you need a hard copy of these readings, please contact the instructor. In addition, some exemplary exams or student reports may be posted – with permission – for others to review as an example of model assignments.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Richard Platkin is a Los Angeles based city planning consultant and writer whose professional experience includes 20 years as a city planner for the City of Los Angeles. He also worked for the City of Seattle, as well as several non-profits and a small private sector planning firm in Los Angeles. In addition to teaching at USC, he also works as a city planning consultant, primarily as an advocate planner for community organizations.

His education includes a BA in history from the University of Michigan, a Master of City Planning from the University of Washington, and an MA and subsequent graduate work in sociology at UCLA.

Mr. Platkin is active in the Planners Network and on the board of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Association and East Hollywood Neighborhood Council Planning Committee.

Copies of his current Resume and Curriculum Vita are posted on the course website.

He is interested in meeting with students interested in current internships, volunteering, and careers and/or graduate work in city planning and related professional fields.

3 COURSE TEXTS:

In addition to the USC bookstore, these books are available as new or used books through such on-line booksellers as Amazon and ABE books, usually without sales tax and shipping charges.

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, Bill McKibben, Times Books, 2010. (This is one of the most important recent volumes on the dangers of and need to address the causes of climate change.)

The Vulnerable Planet: A Short History of the Environment, John Bellamy Foster, 1999, Monthly Review Press. (Foster has several more recent books on the economic and political aspects of sustainability, but this one is the most accessible. More recent Foster essays will be posted though Blackboard in cases where this older book needs updating.)

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, James Howard Kuntsler, Grove Press, 2009 edition. (Kuntsler is a novelist and prose writer, not an academic. He has a provocative writing style that makes his work engaging.)

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, David Owen, Riverhead Books, 2009. (This is a well-received book on the latest policies and programs to establish compact, sustainable cities.)

These books are recommended, but not required:

Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester R. Brown, Norton, 2009. This text is also available for a free download at www.earthpolicy.org. (One of the best and most current books outlining the current environmental crisis and how a vast array of political changes and technical innovations can address it. It was used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011.)

The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet, John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review Press, 2009. (One of the best current books on the inadequacy of technical solutions to environmental crisis and the need for comprehensive alternative political-social-economic approach. It was also used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011). A larger and updated successor volume, also edited by Foster, has recently been published: The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth, Monthly Review Press, 2010.

The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community, Tim Beatley, Island Press, 1997. (A classic text on the planning of sustainable cities. Its focus is the overall quality of life, not just climate issues. It, too, was used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011, and is still highly useful despite its dated references.)

COURSE DOCUMENTARY FILMS:

The 11 th Hour: Turn Mankind’s Darkest Hour into its Finest, Leonardo Dicaprio, 2007

Gasland: Can You Light your Water on Fire? Josh Fox, 2010

Who Killed the Electric Car? Chris Paine, 2006. (Backup)

4 SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS:

In addition to assigned book and recommended books, a number of companion articles are listed on the syllabus and will be uploaded through Blackboard. Furthermore, students are strongly advised to track down other articles and monitor local environmental news stories, as reported through on-line blogs and news services, as well as by the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, and the LA Weekly. These newspapers are all available as hard copies or, for free, on line.

Two national magazines also have excellent articles, usually with a scientific slant, on environmental issues: Discover and E -The Environmental Magazine.

Unlike assigned chapters and uploaded articles, these supplementary readings are not required, but recommended for students who want a deeper understanding of the causes, consequences, and sustainable remedies for the environmental crises examined in the course at the global, national, regional, and especially municipal and neighborhood scales. The most important volumes are highlighted below.

Asset Building and Community Development, Haines and Green. Blood and Oil - The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, Michael T. Klare, Metropolitan Books, New York, 2004. Blood of the Earth – The Battle for the World’s Vanishing Resources, Dilip Hiro, Nation Books, New York, 2007.

Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices, by Peter Newman and Isabella Jennings.

Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments, Yenna Chen and Alicia Kennedy.

Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

Earth in the Balance – Ecology and the Human Spirit, Al Gore, Rodale, New York, 1992 and 2006.

Ecology against Capitalism, John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review Press, New York, 2002.

Edens Lost and Found -- How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Great American Cities, Harry Wiland and Dale Bell, Chelsea Green, 2006

Environmental Land Use Planning and Management, by John Randolph.

Ethical Land Use Planning, Tim Beatley. Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Al Gore, Rodale Books, New York, 2009. Resource Wars – The New Landscape of Global Conflict, Michael T. Klare, Metropolitan Books, New York, 2001.

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet – The New Geopolitics of Energy, Michael T. Klare, Metropolitan Books, New York, 2008.

The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden, Ivette Soler, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2011,

5 The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture, Alana Stang and Christopher Hawthorne.

The Green Studio Handbook: Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design, Allison Kwok and Walter Grondzik.

The End of Oil – On the Edge of Perilous New World, Paul Roberts, Houghton Miflin, New York, 2004.

The Party’s Over – Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, Richard Heinberg, New Society Publishers, British Columbia, Canada, 2004.

The Sustainable Urban Development Reader by Stephen Wheeler and Timothy Beatley (eds.), Routledge, New York, NY, 2004.

Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning, Daniel E. Williams.

Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature, Douglas Farr.

GUEST LECTURERS (Subject to change)

Paul Borracio, SGI (Soka Gakkai/Nichiren Buddhist); John Cobb, Theologian, Claremont School of Theology; Ignacio Castuera, Methodist Minister; John Forney, Episcopal Priest, and Jonathan Klein, on Faith Communities and the Environment. David Robinson and Sandra O’Neill, on Promoting Sustainability in South Los Angeles Ryan Snyder, Planning Consultant, on The Role of Bicycle Planning in Local Sustainability Jeff Warner, Ph.D., Geologist, on The Science behind Peak Oil Ron Lorenzen, City of Los Angeles Arborist, on LA’s Urban Forest. Faisal Roble, Los Angeles City Planner, on Sustainable Land Use Planning in Los Angeles Monica Gilchrist on the General Plan Process and the Environment in Southern California Sami Wassef, Yadi Hashemi, and Susan Bok, Transportation Planners, on the role of Transportation in Promoting Sustainability.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

Course Engagement: 05% 1st Team Assignment: 15% Mid-Term: 30% 2nd Team Assignment 15 % Final: 35 % TOTAL 100 %

Course Engagement: Five percent (5%) of your final grade will be determined by a subjective factor called Course Engagement. It will be based on your participation in class discussions, meeting with the instructor during office hours of by appointment to discuss the course and related materials, and presentations of current news articles at the beginning of class. If you have a viewpoint on sustainability not presented in class, you can have the floor for a short presentation as long as you agree to submit to questions from other students.

6 Not attending class or using class time for personal email, Facebook, Twitter, texting, or web- surfing is not considered Course Engagement. But, you can use your netbook, laptop, or tablet to take notes, as long as you do NOT use class time for anything else. If you don’t find that the classroom materials are interesting or require your full attention, then please ask questions or raise points that you think have been overlooked. You are also strongly encouraged to let the instructor know how the class sessions can be improved.

Students who abuse these privileges and choose to surf, e-mail, or text during class, will be asked to stop these practices as a condition of class participation. If you don’t think you can abide by these rules, then you should consider enrolling in other courses.

Team Assignments: There will be two team assignments, which together will account for 30 percent of your grade. Teams are encouraged -- but not mandatory -- and can have two or three members. You can also work alone, or if you need help in assembling a team, please contact the instructor.

Both reports will be in writing that is accessible to a non-specialist reader, free of jargon and mechanical errors, and presented in a professional, not academic, writing style. Based on comments, the first team report can be resubmitted for regrading.

Team Assignment # 1: (15 percent of the final grade). Rain or shine, we will undertake a field trip on Saturday, February 11, 2012, to the LaBrea Tar Pits, Hancock Park, Park LaBrea housing complex, Pan Pacific Park, and the Farmers Market. Students should use public transit to reach the site. Students unable to join the field trip can propose an alternative field trip for the same number of points, such as a Departmental field trip to the City Heights District of San Diego, details to be announced.

The instructor must approve the alternative field trip in advance.

Questions to be addressed in your report of about five pages on the field trip include:

 What could be done to improve your transit trip to and from the field trip location?  What design features distinguish these areas from other Los Angeles neighborhoods?  What design features could be improved to make these neighborhoods more sustainable?  How could the sustainability features of these areas be grafted onto other Los Angeles neighborhoods?

Team Assignment #2: (15 percent of final grade). Review the policy documents and programs of a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, on-line and/or on-site. Answer the following questions in a short essay written with a suggested length of five pages.

 What sustainability-related policy documents, such as General Plan Elements, has the city adopted?  What are the major sustainability policies of the city, including the General Plan’s elements and other policy documents?  How have the policies been implemented, such as by ordinances and action programs, even if they are called plans?  Does the city have other sustainability programs or practices that you can identify?  Is their any evidence, including formal monitoring, to regularly determine if the policies, programs, and practices are effective?

7  How effective do you think they are, and are there any obvious omissions?

Mid-Term and Final Exams: There will be two essay exams, one in the form of a take home mid-term essay exam based on the course readings and discussions (Please limit exams to 1500 words for @ 30 % of the total grade) and one as a final take home essay exam (Please limit essay to 2000 words for 35 % of the total grade). You may resubmit a revised take home mid-term essay based on grading comments. You must submit an electronic version of each essay to the Instructor and Teaching Assistant as a Word (.doc) document by the exam deadline.

The mid-term and final exam essay will be based on assigned readings. Additional material and interpretations of these readings presented in lectures and classroom discussions should also be addressed in the essays. Material from supplemental readings, such as news items, is strong encouraged, but not required. There is no curve, and the grading scheme is based on the following criteria:

A level work: Clear, well written answers to questions demonstrating a mastery of all course readings, lectures, and class discussions, including outside materials and arguments, as well as ability to critically support or rebut the positions of the authors and interpretations presented in lectures. Writing without mechanical errors is required for A level work.

B level work: Mastery of all course readings, lectures, and class discussions. In other words, if you can competently repeat back what you have read, as well as heard in lectures, you will at least get a B in this class. Clear writing without mechanical errors is expected for B level work.

C level work: Weak essays with writing errors and partial mastery of all course readings, lectures, and discussions.

D level work: Failure to understand assignments, course readings, lectures, and discussions despite attending class and submitting team projects and mid-term and final exams.

F level work: Failure to attend class and submit team projects and mid-term and final exams responding to the description of the assignment.

The purpose of the assignments is to not only demonstrate a mastery of all course materials, but to learn how to make professional reports as preparation for potential work in a planning or related public policy position. This means that all assignments must be typed, double-spaced, and printed in a standard font, such as Arial 11 point. Do not use colored inks. You should leave a 1.25 inch left and right margin, two spaces after every period, and use informative sub- headings to structure your papers. References should be used for all mentioned articles not covered in assigned readings, lectures, or classroom discussions.

Each essay must carry your name (s), e-mail address(es), course number, and the date on the first page. Subsequent pages should have your name(s). Your exam essays must have page numbers and should be stapled, not clipped. Be sure to carefully edit all your work and to use your word processor’s spelling and grammar checker to catch all errors. If possible, have a friend or relative read over your draft to catch errors that you and your word processor may have missed. Based on USC requirements, you must also submit an electronic copy of all written assignments, preferably in Word (.doc).

In general, you are strongly urged to make use of the course web-site, campus library, and scholarly Internet resources, in-class discussion, as well as office-hour meetings, to further your interests in sustainable cities. There is a vast storehouse of articles and reports potentially

8 available, with this field rapidly expanding, so please feel free to chat with the instructor before or after class, explore ideas, and discuss options and obstacles. Furthermore, USC has a writing center. Its staff will not only review work, but offer coaching and training in writing, an essential skill that is now poorly taught in most K-12 schools, but which is essential for all policy-related professions.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

Students should maintain strict adherence to standards of academic integrity, as described in http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/). For more information also see the “Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism,” from USC’s Expository Writing Program, http://www.usc.edu/student- affairs/student-conduct/ug_plag.htm. All reference to the work of others must be properly cited using APA citation standards. This includes work made public on the Internet. Please be aware that the University has strict sanctions for plagiarism, including preliminary drafts. If you have any questions about academic integrity or citation standards, please ask in advance.

POLICY REGARDING DISABILITY SERVICES AND PROGRAMS:

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to the instructor as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open early 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

COURSE SCHEDULE FOR LECTURES, READINGS, PROJECTS, AND EXAMS

9 Week 1: Monday, January 9, Overview of Course, including the city planning context of sustainability initiatives. Discussion of syllabus, including readings and assignments, and questions about the course and instructor. Reading from course website: Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change does not Equal Political Change

Wednesday, January 11: Introduction to Thinking Globally Documentary film The 11 th Hour: Turn Mankind’s Darkest Hour into its Finest, Leonardo Dicaprio, 2007 Reading from course website: Al Gore – We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change – NY Times

Week 2: Monday, January 16, No class. Martin Luther King Day, university holiday.

Wednesday, January 18, Theme I: Oil and Climate Change Lecture and discussion of McKibben, Preface, Chapter 1, A New World, and Chapter 2, High Tide, pages xi – 101. Reading from course web-site: James Kuntsler, Washington Post Ed-Op, We’re Driving toward Disaster

Week 3: Monday, January 23, Guest Lecture by David Robinson and Sandra McNeill on Sustainability Possibilities and Barriers in South Los Angeles. Reading: From web-site: Mike Davis, How Eden Lost its Garden: A Political History of the Los Angeles Landscape

Wednesday, January 25, Lecture and Discussion of McKibben, Chapter 3, Backing Off, and Chapter 4, Lightfully, Carefully, and Gracefully, pp. 102-212 From course website: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge. Chafee Memorial Lecture

Week 4: Monday, January 30, Theme 2: Oil and the Economic System Lecture and discussion of Foster, Preface, Chapter 1, The Ecological Crisis, and Chapter 2, Ecological Conditions Before the Industrial Revolution, pp. 7- 49.

Wednesday, February 1, Lecture and discussion of Foster, Chapter 3, The Environment at the Time of the Industrial Revolution and Chapter 4, Expansion and Conservation, and pp. 50-107.

Week 5: Monday, February 6, Lecture and discussion of Foster, Chapter 5, Imperialism and Ecology, and Chapter 6, The Vulnerable Planet, pp. 85-124. Articles from course website by Michael Klare: The Oil Rush to Hell, Obama’s Energy

10 Challenge, Rising Commodity Prices and Extreme Weather Threaten Global Stability

Wednesday, February 8, Lecture and Discussion of Foster, Chapter 7, The Socialization of Nature, and Afterward, pp. 125-150. Discussion of first written assignment, field trip to the Miracle Mile area, including related articles on the course web-site.

Saturday, Feb 11, 2011, Field trip to LaBrea Tar Pits, Hancock Park, Park LaBrea Housing Complex, Pan Pacific Park, and Farmers Market. Readings will be posted on Blackboard.

Week 6: Monday, February 13, Theme Three: Peak Oil and its Consequences Review of field trip Lecture and discussion of Kuntsler, Chapter 1, Sleepwalking into the Future, and Chapter 2, Modernity and the Fossil Fuel Dilemma, pp. 1-60, Reading from course website:

Wednesday, February 15, Guest lecture by geologist, Dr. Jeff Warner, on the science and implications of peak oil. Readings from course website: Warner PowerPoint on Peak Oil in PDF George Monbiot, Peak Oil Cannot be Prevented Submit write-ups of first team assignments in both hard copy and electronic copy. Indicate if you are you are interested in responding to grading comments for a rewrite.

Week 7 Monday, February 20, No class, President’s Day, university holiday.

Wednesday, February 22, Lecture and discussion of Kuntsler, Chapter 3, Geopolitics and the Global Oil Peak, pp. 61-99, Reading from course web-site: Reuters on Cancun Climate Conference Green Strategy Now, Parenti in The Nation on Big Green vs. Little Green First written assignment returned.

Week 8 Monday, Feb 27, Lecture and Discussion on Kuntsler, Chapter 4, Beyond Oil: Why Alternative Fuels Won’t Rescue Us, and Chapter 5, Nature Bite Back: Climate Change, Epidemic Disease, Water Scarcity, Habitat Destruction, and the Dark Side of the Industrial Age, pp.100-184. Rewritten essays due in class in both hard copy and electronic version.

Wednesday, Feb. 29 (Leap Day), Lecture and Discussion on Kuntsler, Chapter 6, Running on Fumes: The Hallucinating Economy, pp.185-234

Week 9 Monday March 5, Lecture and discussion on Kuntsler, Chapter 7, Living in the Long Emergency, Epilogue, and Afterward, pages 235-339. Distribution of take-home mid-term exam.

11 Wednesday, March 7, Documentary film Gasland: Can You Light your Water on Fire? Josh Fox, 2010 Discussion of take-home mid-term exam.

Friday, March 9, Take-home mid-term exam to be submitted in hard copy to Department office by close of business and in electronic copy to instructor ([email protected]) and Teaching Assistant no later than 11:59 PM.

Week 10 March 12 - 17 Spring Break. (Be sure to take the David Owen book, Green Metropolis, with you, so you can begin reading it for the second half of the semester.)

Week 11 Monday, March 19: Introduction to Thinking Locally Return of mid-term exams Lecture and Discussion of Timothy Beatley’s Ecology of Place Lecture and Discussion on Climate Change in California Readings posted on Blackboard: Prof. Dan Kammen on UC Alternative Energy Research Dr. Kelly Redmond on Climate Change Impacts Observed in California Dr. Dan Cayan on Observable Climate Change in California Dr. Michael Haneman on Climate Change in Context of Other Stresses on California’s Future Dr. Daniel Sperling on California Transportation Improvements to Address Climate Change Executive Summary 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy Discussion Draft Institute for Good Government, California Climate Action Best Practices Alternet_California’s Water Woes Threaten Food Supply

Wednesday, March 21, Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 1, More Like Manhattan, pp. 1- 48

Week 12 Monday, March 26, Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 2, Liquid Civilization, pp. 49-100

Wednesday, March 28, Guest Lecture by Monica Gilchrist, Southern California Director of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives -- ICLEI/Local Governments for Sustainability on local municipal sustainability policies and programs. Readings from course website: ICLEI materials on local climate policies and programs.

Week 13 Monday, April 2, Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapters 3, There and Back, pp.101-162.

12 Introduction to second written assignment, a review the policy documents and programs for a city or major institution in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, on- line and/or on-site. Readings: Network, Mander and Cavanaugh, Ten Principles for a Sustainable Society, USC Regents State of the Campus Report

Wednesday, April 4, Guest lecture by Ryan Snyder of Ryan Synder and Associates, a planning firm specializing on municipal bicycle plans and programs. Readings from website on Los Angeles with focus on municipal bicycle plans: Introduction to Draft LA Bicycle Plan LA Bike Plan Supplemental Staff Report Only 12.07.10 LABMP LA City Draft Bike Plan June 2010 Exec Summary

Week 14 Monday, April 9, Lecture and Discussion of Owen, Chapter 4, The Great Outdoors, pp. 163-202.

Wednesday, April 11, Lecture and discussion by Ron Lorenzen on the Los Angeles Urban Forest Readings on course website: Urban Forest Program of LA Rec and Parks Managing a Sustainable Urban Forest by LA City Urban Forestry

Week 15 Monday, April 16, Lecture and Discussion of Owen, Chapter 5, Embodied Efficiency, and Chapter 6,The Shape of Things to Come, pp. 203 - 324.

Wednesday, April 18, Guest Lecture LA City Transportation Engineers and City Planners of Sustainability-Related Plans and Programs in Los Angeles: Susan Bok, Sami Wassef, Yadi Hashemi, and Faisal Roble Readings from course website: Villaraigosa LADWP Action Plan to Lead the Nation in Fighting Global Warming Edens Lost and Found, chapter about Los Angeles

Week 16 Monday, April 23, Interfaith Panel connecting religion and the environment. Readings from course web-site: Dr. Ariyante, Transforming the Land Ikeda, Life and the Environment: A Buddhist Perspective Khalid, Reviving Traditions of Stewardship (Islam) Paranjape, Hindu Ecology

Wednesday, April 25, Final lecture to summarize the course. Distribution and discussion of Final Exam.

Week 17 Monday, May 7, 4:30 – 6:30. Final exam to be submitted in hard copy and electronic copy. Please indicate if you would like comments on your final exam.

13 If you are graduating, a non-USC email would be appreciated for follow-up discussion on environmental issues raised in the course.