Food, Population and
the Environment
Fall 2001
Time:
MW: 230-4pm
Room
9 AH
Prof. Thomas
R. DeGregori
Office:
209D M
Office
hrs: MW (TBA) or by appointment
Email: trdegreg@uh.edu
Required Readings:
Vaclav Smil, Feeding
the World: A Challenge for the Twenty-first Century, MIT Press.
Thomas R. DeGregori, Agriculture
and Modern Technology: A Defense, Iowa State University Press
James L. Watson, ed. Golden
Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
UNICEF. The State
of the World's Children 2001: Early Childhood, United Nations Publications.
UNFPA. The State
of World Population: Lives Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of
Change United Nations Publications.
Gabrielle J. Persley,
and M.M. Lantin, Eds. Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor: An
International Conference on Biotechnology, US National Academy of Sciences.
Optional for Special
Topic
Endymion Porter
Wilkinson. Chinese History: A Manual. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia
Center, Distributed by Harvard University Press.
Jun Jing. ed. Feeding
China's Little Emperors: Food, Children, and Social Change. Stanford:
Stanford University Press.
Asian Development
Bank. Asian Development Outlook 2001. Oxford University Press.
1) Genetic
Modification of Food
2) Globalization of
Food Production - Implications
3) Feeding 9 Billion
in 2040.
4) Water for 9
Billion People
5) Trends in World
Population - 1950-2040
6) Population -
Issues of Child and Maternal Mortality
7) Environmental
Implications and Potential of Biotechnology
8) Technology and the
Future (with the past as a guide)
9) Global
Environmental Issues
10) Clean, Safe,
Environmentally Friendly Food Production: Meaning?
Pick four topics. On
the first three, do papers of between 5 to 7 pages with a total of about 20
pages. The fourth and final paper should be between 20 to 30 pages.
Optional topics -
Those who have taken my Asian Economic Development class, have taken any
development class from me and/or have been on the China trip with Dr. Zou, may
do all of the papers on China but must cover the major issues in the above
topics as they relate to China. Those who have both taken my Asian Economic
Development course and been to China with Dr. Zou, may do one 35 to 40 page
paper on China, again covering the above issues. Optional books are required
reading for these papers.
Students wishing to
sign up for an additional one or two hours credit as a special problems course
may make arrangement with the instructor to do additional papers.
This course may also
be taken as a special problems course for 1, 2 or 3 hours credit or for
graduate credit. You may take it any time up to May 1, 2002. For special
problems, please see Marion Foley in 208B M. Final due date for all papers,
December 1, 2002.
Those who wish to
take this as an International course for Business, may seek permission for it
to so count from Dr. Frank Kelley. Arrangements can be made for some of the
above topics to have the necessary regional focus. Those taking the course for
1 hour credit will do one 10 to 15 page paper. Those taking it for 2 hours
credit, will do one 20 to 25 page paper. Graduate students will do two papers
of 10 and 30 to 40 pages each. Please see me for details and assignment.
The syllabus is being
made available and posted in the summer of 2001 to allow students who wish to
do so, to begin the research for their papers.
ALL PAPERS MUST
INCLUDE SUBSTANTIVE REFERENCES TO THE ASSIGNED MATERIAL. ALL MATERIAL PRESENTED
MUST HAVE A SOURCE. THE FINAL PAPER MUST ALSO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FROM
RESEARCH IN THE LIBRARY OR THE WWW. USE OF INFORMATION FROM THE WWW IS REQUIRED
FOR AT LEAST ONE PAPER. HYPER LINKS TO SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SITES ARE
PROVIDED ON MY HOME PAGE (http://www.uh.edu/~trdegreg). PLEASE GIVE AS COMPLETE A CITATION AS
POSSIBLE INCLUDING THE URL. THOSE
WHO HAVE NOT TURNED IN ALL THEIR PAPERS BY THE NEXT TO LAST DAY OF CLASS WILL
HAVE THE CHOICE OF AN "I" OR A FINAL EXAM!