Scarcity and choice are the sum and substance of economics. Less often than some think, economists talk about how to allocate scare resources to maximize profit. At our best, we talk about how to allocate resources to maximize social welfare. When we do so with appropriate consideration for flora, fauna and the future, our topic is environmental economics.

At present, too few environmental economics courses are offered, and too few teaching and learning resources are available to those that exist. One purpose of this project is to address the need for widely accessible educational support in the field of environmental economics. In the process of soliciting and sharing contributions among ACS economics faculty members, collaborative relationships will be established and strengthened, another major Rasmussen objective.

This website devoted to the assistance of all environmental economics teachers and students, including teachers who have previously considered teaching environmental economics but do not yet have adequate course development materials and know-how. The site would feature downloadable visual aids and course syllabi, instructions for hands-on service activities, active learning exercises, examples and pictures of environmental success stories and failures, teaching tips and tricks, links to the best of the web, textbook information, and other assorted tools for teachers and students.

The inclusion of enabling materials and information on the web site will provide benefits beyond direct learning. The site will lower the barriers for faculty with an interest in the environment that face an otherwise insurmountable startup cost for course development. At present, even within the ACS, there are at least five schools with no environmental economics courses on the books. New and invigorated courses will expose larger numbers of students to environmental concerns. The economics behind planetary management is compelling; it is our hope and expectation that students brought to this realization will act more responsibly in regard to the earth throughout their lives.

The Teaching Resources section was originally created by Fahd Arshad under the guidance of Jill Hendrickson and David Anderson. We wish to thank all the faculty members whose input made this site possible.