1. Energy • Energy supply & demand as a “social project” • What energy does • Why we want & need energy • Forms & uses of energy, & energy quality • Explaining energy costs • Relation of energy to “lifestyle” • Energy & related economic growth • Energy transitions • What motivates an energy transition • Political economy of energy, & relation to war

2. Fossil fuels, oil, geopolitics • Fossil fuels as geologic legacy • Supply of fossil fuels, demand & distribution • Supply of oil & geographic distribution • Demand for oil & determinants of price • Potential problem of peak oil • Why oil is “still the one” • History of oil & markets (esp. Middle East) • Geopolitics of oil since 1900 • Oil & automobility

3. The Resource Curse • Paradox of plenty I (producing countries) • Paradox of plenty II (consuming countries) • Effects of resource curse on economies • Effects of resource curse on politics & peace • Effects of resource curse on society & livelihood • Impacts of decline in demand for resources • Example of Nigeria • Avoiding the resource curse

4. Energy Futures • Global issues: supply, demand, distribution • Energy scarcity: myths & realities • Substitution & alternatives (innovation) • Business as usual • Intensive conservation • New sources & supplies • Nuclear power • Renewables & characteristics • Possible surprises

5. The Environmental Problematic • Growing impact of human activities on Earth • Degradation of critical ecosystems • Externalities imposed on others • Decline in available “pollution space” • “Tragedy of the Commons”: myth vs. reality • Reluctance to cooperate on shared problems • Low cost/no cost value of nature • Failure to internalize ecological & social costs • Role of power & wealth in consumption

6. Population & Demography • “Population problem”: numbers & impacts • Population growth patterns over history • Demographic profiles & explanations • Demographic transition & life expectancy • Family size, child mortality & labor demands • Rural to urban migration; labor mobility • Malthusianism vs. Cornucopianism • Production, movement & distribution of food • Potential & limits of agricultural innovation • Factors that slow & limit population growth rates

7. Climate Change • Greenhouse gases & global climate change • Atmosphere as a “global commons” • Sources of GG & projected growth rates • Projected consequences of climate change • UN Framework Convention on Climate Change • Major issues in climate negotiations • Cap & trade • Other GG control strategies • Potential scenarios & outcomes

8. Consumption & Sustainability • Concepts & their significance to society • Levels of consumption & “limits to growth” • Ecological footprints • Resource depletion: myths & realities • Access to resources & goods & their costs • Income, employment & lifestyle • Treadmill of production & consumption • Definition of sustainability • Habitus & its transformation • The politics of getting to sustainability