RCC 410E-RU08 – Global Environmental Awareness: Human Ecology 

 
Spring Semester, 2019 | January 15​th​ – April 25​th​ | TR 12:30p – 1:45p | Loyola Hall, Room 15 
Instructor: Gregory J. Grobmeier, Philosophy Dept. | ​ggrobmeier@regis.edu 
Office Hours: MW 12p–1:30p; and TR 11a–12p | Carroll Hall 232 
 
 

 
“For it is because we are kept in the dark about the nature of human society––as opposed to 
nature in general––that we are now faced (so the scientists concerned assure me) with the 
complete destructibility of this planet that has barely been made fit to live in.” 
– Bertolt Brecht 
 
Course Description 
 
In response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter, ​Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home​, 
this course takes up the human meaning of “ecology.” The word itself, which comes from the 
Greek ​oikologia,​ admits of multiple concerns: ​oikos​, the Greek root for “home,” and ​logos​, which 
means many things, including “speech,” “discourse,” “reason,” and even “meaning.” In the 
broadest sense, then, “ecology” pertains to reasoned and meaningful discourse about our 
common home and the nature of our place in it. To this end, we will consider the ethical, social, 
economic, and political dimensions of the global ecological crisis in which we currently find 
ourselves. Our task is to reconceive of human action and agency as a force of planetary 
transformation on par with those extra-human forces at work in the natural world. 
 
 
RCC 410E-RU08: Human Ecology – G. Grobmeier – Spring 2019 

Course Materials 
 
All required course readings will be assigned electronically as PDFs on WorldClass. One of our 
key texts is Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter, ​Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home​. A 
physical copy of the text is available in the bookstore. A digital copy and additional resources 
are also available on the ​Vatican website​. 
 
Course Outline 
 
I. Contesting the Technocratic Paradigm (Weeks 1 through 4) 
 
1. The Human Meaning of Ecology 
 
Francis, ​Laudato Si’​, Chapter 1 
 
2. The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis 
 
Francis, ​Laudato Si’​, Chapter 3 
 
3. The Altered State of Human Action 
 
Hannah Arendt, ​The Human Condition​, selections 
Hans Jonas, ​The Imperative of Responsibility,​ Preface and Chapter 1 
 
4. Ecology of Dominion: The Rise of Western Christianity and the Retreat of the Sacred  
 
Lynn White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis” 
 
II. Welcome to the Anthropocene (Weeks 5 through 10) 
 
1. Human Action as a Force of Planetary Transformation 
 
Will Steffen, et al, “The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives” 
 
2. Who is the Anthropos? The Myth of an Undifferentiated “Humanity” 
 
Christophe Bonneuil and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, ​The Shock of the Anthropocene​, selections 
Rob Nixon, ​Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor,​ selections 
 
3. How did we get here? Confronting Evolutionary and Economic “Realism” 
 
Elizabeth Kolbert, ​The Sixth Extinction​, selections 
John Gray, ​Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals​, selections 
Christophe Bonneuil and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, ​The Shock of the Anthropocene​, selections 

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RCC 410E-RU08: Human Ecology – G. Grobmeier – Spring 2019 

 
 
III. From Political Economy to Political Ecology (Weeks 11 through 15) 
 
1. The Ideological and Political Origins of the Fossil Economy 
 
Terry Eagleton, ​Ideology: An Introduction​, selections 
Andreas Malm, ​Fossil Capital​, selections 
–––, ​The Progress of This Storm,​ selections 
 
2. A Third Industrial Revolution?  
 
Jeremy Rifkin, “The Third Industrial Revolution,” Film 
–––, ​The Third Industrial Revolution​, selections 
–––, ​The Zero Marginal Cost Society​, selections 
–––, ​The Empathic Civilization​, selections 
 
3. Free Market Fundamentalism and the Cult of “Growth” 
 
Donella H. Meadows, et al, ​The Limits to Growth​, selections 
Herman Daly, “Economics for a Full World” 
 
4. The Politicization of Anthropogenic Climate Change: An American Tragedy 
 
Robert Kenner, “Merchants of Doubt,” Film 
Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, ​Merchants of Doubt,​ selections 
Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Film 
Nathaniel Rich, ​Losing Earth: A Recent History,​ selections 
 

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