Monday, January 9, 2012

Welcome to Economics 255

Good morning everyone and welcome back to Lexington. We will be using this blog to conduct a conversation outside of class. Once or twice a week I will post an article (typically from the popular press) and you will be required to read and comment on the article. The best posts are usually critical of something in the article, draw on something discussed in class, or build on a previous comment by one of your classmates.

Your first assignment is to open an account (if you don't already have one), then introduce yourself to the class. Tell us a little about yourself, if you have any relevant experience in the area of resource economics/policy/management, and what you hope to learn throughout the semester.

Stay tuned.....

20 comments:

Nick_Zanetis said...

Hey my name is Nick Zanetis. I'm a sophomore and plan on majoring in Economics and minoring in Environmental Studies. I have taken a few geology courses focusing on climate change, the history of the study of geology, and general geology (Intro class). I don't have much experience with the relationship between economics and natural resources though. I hope to gain more experience in this area and grasp a better understanding of how economic policies affect the environment. I would also like to better understand how these policies develop and are ultimately used. I also hope to learn about different views on solving economic/ environmental problems or challenges.

Ali_Pedersen said...

Hi, my name is Ali and I'm a junior Environmental Studies major. I have taken a few geology classes, one of which focused on global climate change, as well as a few environmental ethics classes. When looking at case studies in the ethics classes, we look at a variety of values to determine the best course of action. The economic side of the discussion is rarely explored so I am looking forward to developing my knowledge of economics of natural resources and how economic policies impact environmental decisions.

zazzerak13 said...

Hi, my name is Katy Zazzera and I'm a junior double majoring in Environmental Studies and American Politics. I want to tackle both of these majors so that I can better understand the science between the policies being implemented and written in Washington. I've taken classes in Geology and Biology that have been challenging but interesting since I usually look at issues from a political point of view. I'm also excited to explore environmental topics from an economic point of view. I haven't taken an econ class since freshman year, so my skills are a little rusty, but I think an economic approach will show the practical benefits of certain policy initiatives. While they generally are not achievable in the political arena, better understanding the economic benefits of environmental reform, particularly climate change, can help strengthen our arguments pushing for that reform.

Lizzie_Weston said...

Hi my name is Lizzie Weston, and I am a sophomore planning on majoring in environmental studies. I have taken environmental studies classes and am currently in environmental ethics. I am excited to see how that class and this economics class will decide on ideal solutions to environmental issues by using very different processes. I am looking forward to learning how economics can help make policy decisions in the many different subjects we will focus on, and how difficult those proposals might be to put into place.

Colleen said...

Hi, I am Colleen Moore and I am a junior History major with an Environmental Studies minor. I have had a few biology classes pertaining to various topics in the field. These classes have deepened my interest because I have learned that there are so many smaller components within the environment that are extremely important to its health and are often overlooked. I also travelled abroad to Brazil last spring term studying environment and economic development in the Amazonas. I hoped this class would offer a new perspective to what is so pertinent in our time. Economics and the environment are strongly intertwined and I wanted to learn more about that connection.

Danny Jasper said...

Hey, my name is Danny and I'm a junior Economics and Psychology major. I haven't taken any environmental studies courses and don't have much knowledge at all in the field. I'm hoping that this class will change that by helping me take an economic approach to environmental problems. I'm also hoping that it will prepare me for my Spring Term trip to Belize, where I'll continue studying environmental resources.

DT said...

My name is Daniel Tomm and I am a junior. I am double majoring in Business and East Asian Studies with an emphasis on Chinese. I have not taken an environmental studies course before, but have peered over the rocks at Marineland to get a glimpse of the famous dolphins and have also helped with the movement of manatees found on shore to figure out the causes of death. I look forward to learning about the challenges the changing economy has on the environment and ways to fix these problems.

Mac Means said...

Hi, my name is Mac Means. I'm a Junior Business Administration major and plan to minor in Environmental Studies. I have taken one geology class as well as an environmental studies and an environmental ethics class. I have really enjoyed learning about the pressing issue of global climate change and am really intrigued to get a stronger economic perspective on the matter. I hope this class will teach me that there is a middle ground between full environmental and ecological protection and the way that we currently deplete our non renewable resources. I also haven't taken Econ 101 since first semester freshman year so I'm also taking this class to get a refresher on basic economic principles.

Harrison said...

Hey my name is Harrison Claud. I am a junior Economics major with a minor in Environmental Studies. I have taken a few Environmental Studies and found them extremely interested, and am very excited for a course applying economic analysis to issues with in the environment or with natural resources. I am very much hoping to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the issues in the environment with an unbiased and uninfluenced economic perspective.

Kerriann Laubach said...

Hi, my name is Kerriann Laubach and I'm a junior double majoring in Environmental Studies and Biology with a minor in Poverty. I have taken a number of biology courses and a few environmental ethics courses. I'm also working on research on fecal pollution in local waterways with Tal Jacobs and Becca Bolton, and I've been able to attend various stakeholder meetings in Rockbridge County about water use. I have also tried to incorporate environmental issues into the poverty courses that I have taken; I wrote a term paper on environmental racism for a course in the fall. I'm interested in environmental law, so I'm also hoping to better understand how science, economics, ethics, politics, and other fields all coordinate and contribute to policy decisions and legal action. I hope that this class will help me grasp the economic side of environmental problems and solutions as well as how economics is linked to other fields in shaping policy and attitudes toward the environment.

LukeH said...

Hey, y'all, my name is Luke Heinsohn and I am a Junior Accounting & Business major and Environmental Studies minor. The externalities sections of previous economics classes caught my attention and I have since taken courses in geology, philosophy, and even accounting to learn more about these market failures and how they may be "accounted" for. I believe that this class will demonstrate the best theories of such solutions and that is precisely what I am interested in.

Via Láctea said...

I am Tal Jacobs and I am a senior Biology and Environmental Studies major. I enjoy the outdoors and hiking and am active in the Outing Club here at school as well as the Student Environmental Action League. During my spring term sophomore year I took a course on Land Use Management with particular focus on forests. I have also taken a seminar course on decision making in environmental policy. I have gained a strong understanding of the value systems that can shape management and policy decisions, and am particularly interested in the role of aesthetic preference and utility in our evaluation of the environment. I think the weight of aesthetic reception in dictating human behavior can be a powerful tool for understanding how to design effective environmental policy but is often underappreciated. I hope that this course provides an avenue for me to understand and support aesthetic value as a serious force in academics and in our lives. This may be possible by placing it in the economic context of revealed preferences. Most of all I hope to gain a solid grasp of the realities behind how economics can consider the environment so that I can more accurately analyze environmental issues, form and support positions about these issues and effectively advocate sound management policies.

Molly Ortiz said...

Hi, my name is Molly Ortiz and I am a junior English and Environmental Studies double major. I have taken a few biology and environmental ethics classes which have briefly touched on many of these issues, but my previous experience, especially with the economic side of things, is limited. Nevertheless I find these issues immensely interesting. Along with Colleen, I took Professor Kahn's economic development in the Amazonas class in Brazil last spring term, which offered a lot of different perspectives on how economic theories are being used to support policies that both harm and protect the environment. I hope that from this class I gain a deeper understanding of some of the things I experienced there, and also a greater understanding potential economic solutions to certain environmental/ natural resource problems.

Anonymous said...

Hi, my name is James and I am a sophomore Economics major. This is my first environmental studies course so my experience is very limited in that area. I am part of the Outing Club and really enjoy the outdoors, which explains a portion of my interest. More significantly, I think the management of our resources and the environment is a very important issue that must be addressed yet does not seem to get the attention it deserves. I would like to learn more about it so I can draw more informed conclusions about policies that may be implemented.

mvardaman13 said...

Hey, I'm MaryAnne Vardaman, and I am a junior Economics major. I haven't taken any environmental classes before, so I'm really looking forward to this one! I think it is important to protect our environment, but, as of right now, I feel pretty ignorant about how to do that, in terms of public policy. I'm hoping that this class will provide some answers and give me a deeper understanding of the interaction between economic policy and the preservation of the environment and natural resources.

Katie D'Innocenzo said...

Hi, my name is Kate D'Innocenzo and I am a sophomore double major in Economics and Environmental Studies. Since high school I have been interested in closing the gap between the competing fields of economics and environmental action through public policy. I will be traveling to Brazil this spring in a similarly focused economics class and hope to gain insight, experience and knowledge from this class which i can expand upon while abroad.

Margaret Womble said...

Hey my name is Margaret Womble, and I am a junior majoring in both Economics and Spanish. I have not taken any Environmental Studies courses or other courses related to natural resources. I am excited to learn more about environmental studies, as this area will continue to be relevant in the coming years. In this class I hope to become more informed about various environmental changes as well as gain experience in using economics to make policy decisions.

Sam Campbell said...

My name is Sam Campbell, and I'm a senior majoring in English and Politics. I don't have very much experience with environmental issues, but I took Dr. Tuchler's spring term course on climate change and really enjoyed it. I'm also taking Professor Warren's English capstone on Environmentsl literature this term, which will hopefully overlap nicely with this class.

I also saw an interesting article in this month's Harvard Business Review on marine reserves as a way to prevent overfishing. Link below:
http://hbr.org/2012/01/tackling-science-challenges/ar/2

Ali Hamed said...

Hello, my name is Ali Hamed. I'm a junior from Jordan; I'm double majoring in Economics and Engineering. This is the first environmental studies class I take. From this class, I hope to learn about how different countries - especially developed vs. developing countries- view the environment and the responsibility towards it. In engineering classes the issue of environment rarely comes up, so I hope to build a better understanding of the relation between industry and the environment. I also would like to learn about environmental policies and their affect on industries, and ways to make the industry more environmentally friendly.

Libby Cloos said...

H,i I'm Libby Cloos. I'm a sophomore Economics major with a minor in environmental studies. I've only taken a few environmental studies classes so far, including environmental ethics. I look forward to seeing how economic models affect environmental policy and decisions.