Global Economy Mr.

Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 27November 14, 2014


In this brief, three week block, we will study the worlds economy, the habits and systems of
production and trade through which the worlds wealth is created and distributed, and its
impact on life around the world. We will look at the concept of globalization, the organization
of todays global economy, the concepts of wealth and abundance on which it is based, and the
lifeworlds it has created. We will study current planetary crises climate change, resource
depletion, environmental damage, changes in food and water supplies, increasing poverty,
rising disparities of wealth, demographic growth, nancial instabilityand emerging ideas and
practices for solving them. We will examine the roles played by corporations, governments,
non-governmental organizations, and individuals in these crises and their solution. Finally, we
will will consider how, as individuals and groups, we can best lead a civilized, sustainable life
in todays global economy.

Requirements Your work will be evaluated in several required areas:

Participation (35%) This block is an introduction to the global economy and a bridge to further
study that may continue throughout your life. We will survey a good deal of reading, research,
and discussion around a few common questions and themes. Each student is expected to
complete reading assignments, and all other assignments, on time, and to come to class each
day well prepared for the days work. Every student is expected to participate fully and readily
in class discussions and activities.

Quizzes (15%) There will be three quizzes on the material we study during the block, one each
week. The purpose of the quizzes is to measure each students familiarity with key terms and
ideas from the weeks study.

Reports (50%) One of the purposes of this block is to practice sharing knowledge with each
other for a common good. Each student will prepare several reports and present them in class.
(see the handouts for each assignment). Assignments include:
1. A study of the economy and wealth of a specic country or region.
2. A biography of a trade good: follow the life history of this trade good, through design,
manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal.
3. Prepare a report on a corporation.
4. Working alone or in tandem with another student, research and prepare a report on an issue
in the global economy (peak oil, food, water, corporations, trade policy, population growth,
urbanization) and design a solution and an organized means to achieve this solution.
5. Identify Prepare your personal plan for living justly and sustainably in the global economy.

Deadlines: All deadlines are nal. Failure to meet deadlines will result in an F for the
assignment.


Global Economy Mr. Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 28November 15, 2013

Schedule of Topics

Week One: The Global Economy

Monday, October 27 Introduction: global economics

Tuesday, October 28 Unhappy outcomes: the end of the carbon economy
>>After Growth, by Bill McKibben
World Health Organization, The Happiness Effect
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/4/11-020411/en/
index.html
The Happy Planet Index: http://www.happyplanetindex.org

Wednesday, October 29 Countries and their economies: research (see assignment)

Thursday, October 30 Research

Friday, October 31 The modern business corporation (see assignment)
Quiz

Week Two: Global Problems

Monday, November 3 Trade goods and their biographies (see assignment)
Country prole assignment Due

Tuesday, November 4 Commodifying the world: sh, water
>>Paul Greenberg, Cod, from Four Fish
Viewing: Blue Gold

Wednesday, November 5 The struggle over the commons: companies, ngos and citizen
movements
>>Rav Patel, We are all commoners
Corporation assignment due

Thursday, November 6 Imagining solutions to global problems
Trade good assignment due

Friday, November 7 Reection: how to live responsibly in a global economy
Quiz



Week Three: Global Solutions

Monday, November 10 No Class: In Service

Tuesday, November 11 No Class: Veterans Day

Wednesday, November 12 In class presentations

Thursday, November 13 In class presentations

Friday, November 14 Quiz
Global Solutions Report Due


Global Economy Mr. Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 27November 14, 2014

Country prole


Much of our experience of globalization is conned to our perspective as Americans. Despite
all the political rhetoric around globalization, most of us know very little about the economies
of actual countries around the globe. The purpose of this assignment is to learn about the
economic life of a specic country (or region.

First, choose a country to study, preferably one that is not very familiar to you. Then, try to nd
answers to the following questions:

What are some of the basic facts about the country? (Location, size, climate)
What is the countrys population and GDP (gross domestic product)?
What are the principal characteristics of its society?
What are its most important resources?
What are its most important business enterprises?
What are its principal imports and exports?
What is the relative standard of living and wealth in this country?
What roles does the country play in the global economy?

Present a brief global prole of the county in class on Thursday, November 30

Make a global economic map of the countrys trade

Write a nal report (2-3 pages), due on Monday, November 3

Resources:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/0,,pagePK:180619~theSitePK:
136917,00.html

http://www.un.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/





Global Economy Mr. Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 27November 14, 2014

The Corporation

Report: a global corporation (23 pages). Due Wednesday, November 5

Choose your corporation from the Fortune 500 Global Listan annual ranking of the
worlds 500 largest corporations.

Go to www.fortune.com/global500

Write a brief report describing the companys basic corporate identity, sphere of
operations, and products.

Here are some questions to consider in preparing your report:
What does the selected corporation do or make?
Where is it located?
How is it organized and governed?
What size is it, in relation to other companies or nations?
What is its impact in the global economy?
Is the company facing ethical or legal challenges? What are they?

Global Economy Mr. Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 27November 14, 2014

Biography of a Trade Good


Your assignment is to prepare a 24 page biography of a manufactured good traded in the
global economy. In writing this biography, you should follow the life of this good through its
conception, use of natural and human resources, manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal.
Your biography should describe the ways in which this trade object connects with the natural
and human worlds. Its advisable to choose a manufactured good that is relatively simple and
widely available, reecting global economies of scale, but use your own judgment. Questions
for you to consider in your research include: What is the purpose of this object? Where does it
come from? Who makes it, where, and under what circumstances? How is it made? How long
has it been made and traded, and under what circumstances? What components and processes
are used to make it? Are there unique ideas, concepts, or methods that are important to it? How
much does it cost to make? Is it expensive? Widely available? What is its value to you and to
others? What social and political conditions are involved in its manufacture?

You should also look for ways to determine the value and price of the good, not only in
monetary terms, but in terms derived from alternative economics, such as human happiness
and ecological footprint. You will present your biography in a written report, along with a
hand-made drawing of your object, on Thursday, Nov. 6

Some sites to begin your research:

http://www.madehow.com
http://www.productfrom.com
Secret Life of things
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-stuff.html
sourcemap
http://www.epa.gov
Buy Use Toss
Water Footprint
Ecological Footprint Quiz
Good Guide
Good Stuff? - Sources
How Stuff Works
How Products Are Made
How Everyday Things Are Made
UN Sustainable program
Design for Sustainability UN
Global Exchange
How It's Made
EPA
Global Economy Mr. Zinn
12th Grade Main Lesson October 27November 14, 2014

Global Solutions Assignment

Background In this block we hope to familiarize ourselves with some of the large scale trends in
todays global economy, beginning with the evidence suggesting that several planetary systems
are at risk of irreversible change and declining viability. The causes of this decline include the
long terms effects of industrialism, the behavior of corporations, the growth of world
population, and the failure of governments to recognize and act on the evidence presented to
them by their experts and in many cases by their citizens. Expert opinion and popular concern
are focused on a wide range of global problems: climate change, species extinction, population
growth and stress, pollution, agricultural decline, food shortages, water scarcity and pollution,
decline of sheries and other ocean systems, loss of environment, deforestation, rise of
autocracies, growing violence, rising poverty, wealth disparity, oppression of women, risks to
children, urbanization, public health crisesand all of these have a global impact.

Some observers claim that the global economy is in the midst of change, that we have entered,
by necessity, the transition from a growth-based economic environment to a sustainability-
based economic environment. In this new economy, it will be necessary to produce goods and
services with the least amount of energy and resources possible, to be the stewards of a world of
limits. There are different views of how difcult this transition will be, and whether it will
succeed. Its also expected that new forms of democratic decision making will emerge from
and be required in this changed economic environment.

Indeed, it might be said, as Paul Hawken claims, that the solutions to our global economic
challenges are being evolved and enacted through the work of non-governmental organizations,
civil society movements, and global networks of activists. These entities act, he says, as the
planets immune system, responding adaptively to diverse threats to the planets welfare.
Concepts such as resilience are crucial to the argument that its not too late to repair the
damage, and that we can work to nd solutions on a local, regional, and global level.

Like any real world problem, repairing and renewing our global economy will require
tremendous effort taking many forms around the world. The greatest challenge we face may be
to capture the sense that problems can be identied and solved.

Assignment The purpose of this assignment is to identify problems and nd solutions. You
will work alone or with a partner to familiarize yourself with the scope of one global economic
problem, and you will search together to nd some of the solutions underway or planned. You
will be asked to evaluate the solution: does it really address the problem? If so, in what unique
or important way? And does it do so at a scale that could be effective in proportion to the
problem? Will it work?

Select a topic and reading from the list below. Read the materials together, then conduct some
research into solutions, underway or planned, by consulting the website www.wiser.org or
www.wiser.org/issues. This website should lead you to ngos, organizations, movements, and
institutions that are developing solutions to the problem. Investigate at least two of these and
evaluate their success in meeting the problems you identied. You may want to consult other
websites as well. Facing the Future is one recommendation. You are welcome to nd other
sources as well.

Present your ndings to the class on Wednesday, November 12, or Thursday, November 13.

Submit your written report (3-pages) no later than Friday, November 14.

Global Solutions Topics and Readings
Here are some global challenges and solutions. All readings from The Post Carbon Reader, edited
by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch. Copies of each chapter will be available.

Topic: Climate Change
Reading: The Ecological Decit, by David Orr
Topic: Water
Reading: Water: Adapting to a New Normal, Sandra Postel
Topic: Biodiversity
Reading: Peak Nature?, Stephanie Mills
Topic: Food
Reading: Growing Community Food Systems, Erika Allen
Topic: Population
Reading: Population: The Multiplier of Everything Else, William N. Ryerson
Topic: Energy
Reading: Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy, David Fridley
Topic: Wealth
Reading: Ecological Economics, Joshua Farley
Topic: Cities
Reading: The Death of Sprawl, Warren Karlenzig
Topic: Transportation
Reading: Transportation in the Post-Carbon World, Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl
Topic: Waste
Reading: Climate Change, Peak Oil, and the End of Waste, Bill Sheehan and Helen
Spiegelman
Topic: Health
Reading: Human Health and Well-Being in an Era of Energy Scarcity and Climate Change,
Cindy L. Parker and Brian S. Schwartz
Topic: Education
Reading: Smart Nature: Schooling for Sustainability, Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow