Schedule

Syllabus Main page Schedule Assignments Printable Syllabus

Tom's Office Hours:

• Tuesday, 10 AM - 1 PM
• Thursday, 1 PM - 5 PM

Check my schedule for updates

Please email me to set up an appointment

Class 1: Sept. 4

• Introductions & Key themes
• Assignment:
  • take the ecological footprint quiz. Try CarbonCounter's version as well.
  • Take the Big Here quiz. Note your score on your introduction (next step)
  • Introduce yourself on the class member page.
• Reading:
  • Worldchanging's 21 Principles for the 21st century
  • Ecosystem Goods and Services Series: Valuation 101
  • Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce, preface, chapters 1 & 2 (handout)
  • Brand, Clock of the Long Now, chapter 7 (handout)

Class 2: Sept. 11

• Ecological economics
• Assignment: make a timeline of your personal tech since your first computer. Include all the major electronic appliances you can remember. Put them on paper, we'll post them around class for the next class exercise Due for class 3.
• Reading:
  • Grossman, ch. 2, 8 (handout)

Tom out of town Sept. 18

Class 3: Sept. 25

• Dead/Dying/Discarded Tech
• In-class exercise with timelines
• Reading: TBA

Class 4: Oct. 2

• Guest: Wendy Brawer, Green Map
• Product Service Systems
• Assignment: Pick an aspect of your own life or work that could benefit from a product service system. Design the system.
  • Include in your presentation:
    • Description of the product system, including material goods, telecommunications systems, and energy systems involved.
    • Plan for recovery and re-use of material goods used
    • Discussion of energy usage and other non-renewables involved
    • Analysis of what it saves. Include a rough numerical analysis
• Reading:
  • Product Service Systems and Sustainability

Class 5: Makeup class: sometime around Oct. 5, but TBA

• Product Service System initial presentation - research and feedback

Class 6: Oct. 9

• Guest: David Bianciardi, Audio, Video & Controls
• Product Service System presentations
• Reading:
  • Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village
  • TBA

Class 7: Oct. 16

• Guest: Cecil Scheib, NYU Director of Sustainability
• Reading:
  • McDonough & Braungart, chapter 1 (handout)

Class 8: Oct. 23

• Life cycle analysis and cradle-to-cradle
• Guest: Jennifer Van Der Meer, O2 NYC
• In-class project review. This will be your first presentation of your final project, to classmates only. It can be rough, but should be clear, so we have something to critique. The more guidance you give the class on where you need help, the more help you will get.

Class 9: Oct. 30

• Project abstracts due
• Guest project review. This will be a more formal presentation featuring invited guests. Hopefully some of these guests will

also make the final presentations as well.

Class 10: Nov. 6

• Continue in-class project crit as necessary, review guest reactions
• Reading:
  • City-Scan
  • ComNet
  • Feral Robotic Dogs
  • Open Source Biology and more of it
  • Open WetWare

Class 11: Nov. 13

• Open source, crowdsourcing, and environmental change. Participatory media is gaining ground in social justice cirlces. Can it work for the environment too?

Class 12: Nov. 20 TBA

Class 13: Nov. 27

• Final Project workshop and in-class crit. This is a chance to present your work one last time to just your classmates and get feedback on finishing touches.

Class 14: Dec. 4

• Final presentations
• Final reports due