Considering the usual campus diatribes on the environment, it’s refreshing to see this course in the “Community Classroom Series” at the Friday Center:
Biodiversity and Conservation in the Face of Poverty
Environmentalists around the world are trying their best to preserve nature and wildlife in places where impoverished locals need resources from wilderness areas. The poor can seldom afford to put conservation and its long-term benefits above their dire immediate needs, and conservationists often overlook the poor in their desperate battle to preserve the world?s disappearing ecosystems. The result is a conflict in which the welfare of both humanity and biodiversity hang in the balance. Based largely on Nitin Sekar?s travels and studies in Russia, South Africa, and India, this course will explore various aspects of the conflict and look towards the ultimate goal: preserving biodiversity while improving the lives of the poor.
I’m suspicious of how the professor might want us to go about “improving the lives of the poor,” but at least this course recognizes that there are costs to “fixing” environmental problems.
