MAN vs. NATURE: ADVANCES AND COLLAPSES

This course will look first at the history of human societies that developed in the different environments of various parts of the world and will consider the part that natural resources played in their relative success.  We shall try to evaluate the specific changes made by man to elements of his natural environment in order to increase the benefits he could obtain.  These changes facilitated advanced societies, but many of them altered or depleted important natural resources, creating the need for large portions of the population to migrate to less developed areas of the world.

In our contemporary world man has learned how to make more extensive changes to the environment and to many forms of life itself.  We shall discuss the perceived costs and benefits of some of the most prominent examples – many of which are still subject to speculation and debate.  In particular, we shall discuss the difficulty of balancing present benefits and long-term costs.

Participants will be invited to give reports on their own evaluation of subjects that will be brought up for discussion.

Class is limited to 25 members.

CHARLES CAREY earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an MBA from New York University.  He started his career in credit and banking and then worked for a number of years in the pulp and paper industry before becoming president and CEO of the National Food Processors Association, which represents that industry in Washington, D.C., and conducts scientific food studies in its three research laboratories.