The following selection of sustainability courses offered next spring includes a variety of course levels and subject areas. The list is not comprehensive, but instead offers an entry point to show how sustainability applies to many fields of study.
See something that sparks your interest? Look for these and other sustainability courses in the Course Guide or contact your academic advisor to inform your enrollment decisions. Many of these courses count toward the Sustainability Certificate – find more information through the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Challenges and Solutions in Business Sustainability
This course, Management and Human Resources 310/710, considers inherent sustainability challenges and opportunities in markets while also exploring the frameworks by which we deem organizations “sustainable.” Offered at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
As the saying goes, money can’t buy happiness — but in modern America, we certainly try. One of the “most talked-about” courses on campus, Consumer Science 173 questions modern consumer culture and explores alternative habits that can help us flourish. Students will also be invited to test the principles learned in class in their daily lives.
Environmental Studies: The Social Perspective
Environmental problems are fundamentally social, linked to human interactions with nature – and so are the solutions needed to address them. Environmental Studies 112 looks at the social origins, impacts, and responses to environmental challenges, including environmental injustice.
Environmental Studies 126, Principles of Environmental Science, explores campus as a living laboratory of sustainability. Students will learn about food, energy, and waste by studying campus systems. Watch videos about the food and energy portions of the course.
Climate Change and Sustainability Education
Educational Policy Studies 150 is for anyone interested in education, science communication and outreach, public policy or sustainability planning. It will examine how educational policies and practices at all levels (from preschool through higher ed) affect how people relate to climate change and other sustainability issues.
Food Systems, Sustainability, and Climate Change
This trans-disciplinary course, cross-listed in seven departments, delves into the biological, social, and agricultural sciences underpinning food production systems as related to climate mitigation and adaptation. Students will develop multimedia case studies exploring the links between food production and climate change.
Living in the Global Environment
The global and local nature of environmental problems – climate change, resource scarcity and access, economic globalization, deforestation and land use change, environmental justice – can feel daunting. Geography 139 uses an interdisciplinary perspective to break global challenges into context-specific conflicts that can be approached at a human scale.
Interdisciplinary Design for Energy and Sustainability
In this capstone course, Engineering 601, interdisciplinary teams will design a device or system that solves an energy sustainability problem proposed by a real-world client or identified through background research. No previous design experience is necessary, and all majors are welcome.
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