Classroom Resources: Green Aftershocks

Dispatches from the Front Lines of Ecology and Economic Meltdown

Winter 2012 / Vol. 12 No. 4

Read the article

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways do the conservation benefits of economic troubles put conservationists at odds with the public? What might be some ways for conservationists to respond to this?
2. In what ways does economic growth contribute to conservation efforts? In what ways does it hurt conservation?
3. What alternatives might there be to economic growth and resource consumption as the dominant global economic paradigm?
4. What changes to economic systems should conservationists pursue as the global economy begins to improve? Why?

 Websites for Further Information

• The Trust for Public Land: http://www.tpl.org/
• Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy: http://steadystate.org/
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: http://www.lincolninst.edu/
• Save the Elephants: http://www.savetheelephants.org/
• American Water Works Association: http://www.awwa.org/index.cfm

Economics/Environment in the News

• Global warming and climate change (New York Times, December 21, 2011)
• Peru: mine protest resumes (New York Times, January 2, 2012)
• An epidemic of rhino poaching (New York Times, August 17, 2011)

Key Concepts

• Economics
• Property value
• Mining
• Poverty
• Urban-rural migration
• Poaching
• Water use
• CO₂ emissions