New College Course

New College Course on the Future of Humanity

By Dr. Ross McCluney
Principal Research Scientist, Florida Solar Energy Center

Long time Indian River Audubon Society member Dr. Ross McCluney of the Florida Solar Energy Center will be teaching a course of interest to SCAS members on the UCF-Cocoa campus in the Spring semester 2004.

PHI 3033, Philosophy, Religion, and the Environment, is a three credit course dealing with the philosophical and religious issues underlying our deepening environmental crisis. It examines the world views and belief systems leading to the current precarious situation, and it offers philosophical and practical suggestions for taking the action needed to reverse the destructive trend. The popular class includes field trips, demonstrations, lectures, and class discussions.

It examines the wide variety of difficult environmental and socioeconomic problems facing humanity as it struggles toward a sustainable future.
Powerful forces are driving us to degrade Earth’s life-support system—the biosphere. These assaults are taking their toll, resulting in a daily barrage of news reports of environmental decline and ecosystem breakdown, all of which threaten Earth’s ability to support its growing human population.

The issues involved are imbedded in the industrial world’s economic and business theories, lifestyles, development policies, religious philosophies, and educational and political structures. They extend to developing countries, many following similar patterns of growth, development, and economic advancement.

The course is scheduled to meet Monday evenings at 6:00 p.m. starting January 5, 2004. If you are unable to take the course, perhaps you know someone else who might be interested. For more information about the class and the textbooks by Dr. McCluney, see http://www.futureofhumanity.org. For class registration instructions, visit: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~enrsvc/schedweb/pages/REG1.htm.