HONR 229L: Climate Change: Science, Economics, and Governance

1. HONR 229L: Climate Change: Science, Economics, and Governance China, The Lurching Giant Your name here 17 September 2019

2. Feel free to alter, ad lib, change in any way you’d like provided the presentation draws upon the reading. You are welcome to use the Admission Ticket questions heavily, not at all, or somewhere in between. You have 45 mins to use as you see fit! Use the maps and figures as you see fit. If you don’t use, you are welcome to delete from the PPT file you provide. And, you can almost certainly easily find better, color maps and figures on line. Good luck!

3. If you’d like, welcome to start by asking students to describe the geography and diverse habitat of China and relate the geography and diverse habitat of China to the themes of Diamond's book. If so, try to promote a discussion of the contrasting role of forest cover and deforestation in China to that of the other societies we’ve read about. Whether you lead with this first AT question, or in some other manner, do your best to start with a discussion of something related to the reading, rather than a lecture. The reading is very rich so can start the discussion in many ways. Your choice!

4. It is widely known that the government of China had implemented rather strict measures to limit population growth. Less widely known is the evolution of the China’s households during the time of low population growth. You could also the students to describe the evolution of China’s households and the impact on society and the environment. I am suggesting this not only because it is am AT question, but also because I think city / urban planning are interesting topics. Again, do your best to include and engage the class. Population control by a government is a topic ripe for interesting discussions within a college class, that can go in many directions.

5. Diamond quotes impressive statistics on the scale and growth of China’s economy. But behind this growth lurks the fact that much of it is based on ____ First, fill in the blank  (for the class discussion, try to get straight from book) Then, ask the students expound on this “statement”: i.e., describe the potential impacts of China’s rise to First World standards Great if you can ask the students to use “energy efficiency” in their replies. See if you can get the class to relate what Diamond states about China's economic growth to the themes of this class. This can again lead to interesting discussions: one possible avenue could be to conduct your own small scale, web search research on improvements in energy efficiency in the US and Europe, and related your findings to what might be expected in China. You might find info on this webpage to be of use: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1140056180380905474.html Take in whatever direction you’d like.

6. Using the material in the book as a starting point, and supplementing based on your own short internet-based research, briefly summarize some promising signs emerging from China during its current rapid growth phase. Here in particular, of course, there is no “right answer”. Great opportunity to engage the class, asking students to state what they found, certainly before giving your own research. This can take a fair amount of time 

7. Finally, the last three sentences of this chapter are: Because of China’s size and its unique form of government, top-down decision-making has operated on a far larger scale there than anywhere else…. My best-case scenario for the future is that China’s government will recognize that its environmental problems pose an even graver threat that did its problem of population growth. It may then conclude that China’s interests require environmental policies as bold, and as effectively carried out, as its family planning policies. Consider preparing a slide that includes these sentences (can of course use the exact material written above) to facilitate a discussion as to whether or not the class believes China’s growth can indeed be addressed successfully, at least from an environmental point of view, using the top-down approach to decision making.

8. Feel free to alter, ad lib, change in any way you’d like provided the topic is about China and bears some relation to climate change, sustainability, or the reading. You have 45 mins to use as you see fit! Use the maps and figures as you see fit. If you don’t use, you are welcome to delete from the PPT file you provide. And, you can almost certainly easily find better, color figures on-line. Good luck!