Course Outline


                        For a week-long course at Masaryk University, Brno


Climate change, financial crisis and out-of-control globalisation—all the major problems facing the
world have their root in the economic system. The system is broken: we need something radically
different. This is what green economics offers. It is a coherent and wide-ranging set of policy
prescriptions for a just and sustainable economy that has been developed over the past 30 years.
Starting out with a recognition of planetary limits and an understanding of the importance of using
resources wisely, green economics address key economic issues such as work, money, land, energy and
climate change.


Course objectives:


  * To understand that the economy is limited by the ecological system of planet earth;
  * To begin to consider the implications of these limits in terms of their impact on systems of
provisioning and the existing economic model which relies on economic growth;
  * To consider how an economy without growth might challenge the structures of the prevailing
economic model in terms especially of the way money is created and the use of energy;
  * To consider how respecting the limits of the planetary system implies a reconsideration of
issues of allocative justice;
  * To explore the impact of the process of globalisation on natural resources and ecological
systems and to consider the options for more local systems of provisioning.


Course content:


1. Land and why it matters to a green economist—plus film about LVT

2. Energy: Why do we worry so much about money, when energy is the scarce resource?

3. Money: What is money? How does it create instability and unsustainability? What can we do to
change this?

4. Climate change and social justice

5. Economics of Transition—including German Energiewende










                                             Timetable

1

Tuesday 29th

10:00-11:40 M011


Land and why it matters to a green economist

Bioregional mapping

2

Tuesday 29th

14:00-15:40

M011

Land Value Tax: film and discussion/debate


3

Wednesday 30th

12:00-13:30 U32

Climate Change

Talking energy budgets

4

Thursday 31st

14:00-17:40  M011

Money

Designing local currencies

5

Friday 19th

10:00-11:40 Studio 527


Two is Company; Three’s a Co-operative

Drawing governance structures; planning for bad news