Syllabus (Tentative)
EM SC 100S
First Year Seminar
Resource Wars
Terry Engelder, Instructor
Fall 2015
Meeting Time: T/Th 9:45 – 11:00
Meeting Place: 8Deike
Resource Wars is a semester-long analysis of natural resources and how competition for them shapes contemporary and historical geopolitics. The Gulf War of 1991, the explosive conflict between the United States and Islamic extremists, and present engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan are manifestations of such foreign policy that comes from a desire for resource security. There are many examples of past resource wars in American and world history. While the present conflict in the Middle East is about oil, past conflicts involve the entire spectrum of natural resources from gold and diamonds to rubber and tea to water, clean air, and living space. American conflicts involve a number of cultures including native American (the gold wars of 1870s), Hispanic (the copper wars of Poncha Villa in 1916-1917), Asian (construction of the Transcontinental Railroad), Irish (Potato famine and Boston), and Jewish (Making of the Atomic Bomb). Some of these issues will be studied during the semester.
Intent of this course:Resource Wars is intended to expose students to both contemporary and historical conflicts over land, water, gold, diamonds, petroleum and the human mind. A combination of lectures, class discussion, and student presentations will show not only current geopolitics involving resources, but also how past and present conflicts shape and are shaped by cultural and historical influences. Most of the readings were selected with the intention that students think critically about the link between the natural environment and violent conflict.
Instructor: Terry Engelder
334A DeikeBuilding
Phone:5-3620
E-mail:
Office Hours: by appointment
Class Participation: As you will notice from the schedule, a good number of class periods are devoted to class discussion of the readings. At the end of the semester you will be graded both in terms of how frequently you participate and the quality and thoughtfulness of your participation. Part of your daily assignment is to read the material before class and jot down either some questions you have, questions you think would be helpful to pose before the class, or general comments or reactions you have to the readings. This material can be downloaded from PSU Angel.
Mid-semester Presentation: Bryce, R., 2010, Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future: Public Affairs, New York, 394 p.
(Angel)
Each member of the class will be assigned one or two chapters at random from Bryce’s book. Prepare a Power Point presentation of 10 minutes to discuss your chapters with the class. Please incorporate extra material that supports Bryces’s arguments. Your presentation can vary from as few as four slides to as many as ten. We will spend three class periods with six presentations per class period to cover the material in this important book.
Mid-semester Response Paper: Huber, P.W., and Mills, M.P., 2005, The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy: Basic Books, New York, 214 p. (purchase from Amazon)
Submit printed double spaced but single sided paper – digital attachments to e-mail will not be graded.
Reviewers have written that Peter Huber and Mark Mills wrote one of the best-ever books on energy technologies. Huber and Mills have caused something of a sensation with the contention that the oil is not being depleted while trying to counter claims that the planet is now drinking its final drops. In a four page essay, spend about a page explaining what Huber and Mills are arguing regarding the Earth’s supply of energy. Then spend the balance of your paper discussing whether you agree or disagree, Huber and Mills point of view and why. Which points of their argument do you find the most compelling (if any) and which do you find least compelling (if any)? Make your argument as nuanced as possible. You may agree or disagree with what Huber and Mills are saying. This response paper is left purposely open ended so you all have the opportunity to run with a topic.
Class Log: Buy two 24-page blue books to serve as class logs for the Bryce exercise and the final book presentations. The first blue book will be used to take notes from the Bryce presentations. One each page, identify the presenter, the chapter titles, and the most important lesson from each chapter (one or two sentences). These logs will be turned in at the end of the third set of presentations. The second blue book will be used to take notes during the book report presentations. Again on one each page, identify the presenter, the book title, the author, and the most important points concerning the book (one or two sentences only). These will be turned in after the final presentation.
Academic Integrity (Senate Policy 49-20):
Definition and expectations: Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University's Code of Conduct states that all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others.
Final Book Report: The final book report will consist of both a term paper of 6 pages (printed paper: double spaced and single sided – digital attachments to e-mail will not be graded), and a presentation during the last half of the semester. Both the presentation and final book report shall be based on a selection by choice or lottery of one of the following 20 books. These books are available at either Pattee Library or on line at Amazon.com.
Presentation: Student presentations based on your final book report will be given during the last half of the semester. The presentations should be about 25 minutes long with visual aids (power point or overheads), leaving 10 minutes for questions/discussion.
Class Schedule: Note that there are a few times during which the instructor will be out town. Other people will stand in for the instructor as indicated in the Syllabus. There will be a couple of classes during which you are to work on your reading assignments.
Resource Wars Reading List for End of Semester Reports:
1.. Engdahl, W., 1992, A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order: Pluto Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 303 p.
2.. Klare,M.T., 2001, Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict: Henry Holt and Company, New York, 289 p.
3.. Heinberg, R., 2003, The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies: New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, 274 p.
4.. Clark,William R., 2005, Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar: New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, 265 p.
5.. Bryce, R., 2008, Gusher of Lies: The dangerous delusions of “Energy independence”: Public Affairs, New York, 393 p.
6.. Maass, Peter, 2009, Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil: Adolph A. Knopf Publishers, New York, 276 p.
7.. Hefner, R.A., 2009, The Grand Energy Transition: The rise of energy gases, sustainable life and growth, and the next great economic expansion: John Wiley & Son, Inc., New York, 270 p.
8.. Hofmeister, John, 2010, Why we hate the oil companies: Palgrave – MacMillian, New York, 249 p.
9.. McGraw, S., 2011, The End of Country: Random House, New York City, 245 p.
10.. Warburg, P., 2012, Harvest the Wind: America’s Journey to Jobs, Energy Independence, and Climate Stability: Beacon Press, Boston, 244 p.
11.. Etherington, J., 2009, The Wind Farm Scam: An Ecologist’s Evaluation: Stacey International, London, 198 p.
12.. Levi, M., The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America’s Future: Oxford University Press, New York, 260 p.
13.. Mann, M.E., 2012, The Hockey stick and the climate wars: Columbia University Press, 395 p.
14.. McKibben, B., 2010, Eaarth: Making a life on a tough new planet: St. Martin’s Griffin, New York, 261 p.
15.. Powers, Bill, 2013, Cold, Hungry, and in the Dark: New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, 312 p.
16.. Morriss, A.P. et al., The False Promise of Green Energy; Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., 289 p.
17.. Epstein, A., 2014, A Moral Case for Fossil Fuels: Portfolio/Penguin, New York, 210 p.
18.. Pielke, R., 2010, The Climate Fix: Basic Books, New York, 214 p.
19.. Funk, M., 2015, Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming: Penguin Press, New York., 310 p.
20.. Smil, V., 2010, Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, New York, 213 p.
Grading: The grading scheme breaks down as follows…
Class Participation= 20%
Attendance= 5%
Log Books= 10%
Mid-semester response paper = 20%
Final Paper = 20%
Presentation = 25%
Midterm Exams= None
Final Exam= None
Class Schedule
I. Resource Wars: Background Theories
1 - (T) August 25th:Introductory Lecture:
“The Fracking Debate”
2 - (R) August 27th: Introductory Lecture:
“Energy and Resource Wars”
3 - (T) September1st: Class Discussion “Environmental Security”
Reading: Homer-Dixon (1999); Pp. 12-37.
4 - (R) September 3rd: Class Discussion “Tragedy of Commons”
Reading: Hardin (1968)
II. Gold, Land, Water, Diamonds:
5 - (T) September 8th: Lecture/Discussion: 19th Expansion of the Western US
An account of American treatment of Native Americans
6 - (R) September 10th: Class Discussion: Gold and Little Big Horn
Reading: Ambrose (1975) Crazy Horse and Custer
7 - (T) September 15th: Lecture/Discussion: The Battle of the Little Big Horn
8 - (R) September 17th: Class Discussion: “Intrastate Conflict: The LA Basin”
Reading:Kaplin (1994)
9 - (T) September 22nd: Using EMS Library
Linda Musser: EMS Library
10 - (R) September 24thClass Discussion “Anarchy”
Reading: Reisner (1993); Chapter 2, The Red Queen
11 - (T) Sepember29th: Class Discussion “Blood Diamonds”
Reading: Campbell (2002); Prologue and chapter 2
III. Energy: Mid-semester Response Paper:Huber, P.W., and Mills, M.P., 2005, The Bottomless Well (2003). Due October 20th
12 - (R) October 1st: Class Reports: Chapters from “Power Hungry” Bryce (2010)
13 - (T) October 6th: Class Reports: Chapters from “Power Hungry” Bryce (2010)
14 - (R) October 8th: Class Reports: Chapters from “Power Hungry” Bryce (2010)
15- (T) October 13th: Writing Skills:
Del Bright: 8 Deike Building
16 - (R) October 15th: Class Discussion of Huber, P.W., and Mills, M.P., 2005, The Bottomless Well (2003).
IV. Book Reports:
17 - (T) October 20th: Book Reports #1 & #2
18 - (R) October 22nd: Book Reports #3 & #4
19 - (T) October 27th: Open
Make progress on your assigned book!
20 - (R) October29th: Media Commons
W140 Pattee Library
21 - (T) November 3rd: Book Reports #5 & #6
22 - (R) November 5th: Book Reports #7 & #8
23 - (T) November 10th: Open
Make progress on your assigned book!
24 - (R)November 12th: Book Reports #9 & #10
25 - (T)November 17th: Book Reports #11 & #12
26 - (R)November 19th: Book Reports #13 & #14
27 - (T) December 1st: Book Reports #15 & #16
28 - (R) December 3rd: Book Reports #17 & #18
29 - (T) December 8th: Book Reports #19 & #20
30 - (R) December 10th: Book Reports Open
*** - these open dates may be moved forward
Note: Final Book Reports are due Tuesday of finals week (December 15th at noon)
Bibliography of class readings this semester:
Ambrose, S., 1975, Crazy Horse and Custer : the parallel lives of two American warriors: Doubleday, 486 p.
Campbell, Greg. 2002. Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World’s Most Precious Stones. Westview Press.
Hardin, 1968, Tragedy of Commons: Science v. 162, p. 1243-1248.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas. 1999. Environment, Scarcity, and Violence. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Kaplin, 1994, Violent Environments: The Atlantic Monthly
Reisner, M., 1986, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Penguin Press, New York, 582 p.