The Sustainability Studies curricular theme kicks off its introductory course in spring 2015.
CAS 1415 Introduction to Sustainability is a multi-disciplinary course that introduces students to sustainability concepts, issues, and trends from the local to the global levels. Students investigate the interrelationships between biophysical limits, human welfare, and social justice by analyzing several major sustainability problems of the 21st century.
Team-taught by professors from the natural and social sciences, the course equips students with the foundational knowledge to explore the social, economic and environmental sustainability challenges and opportunities of the Anthropocene Epoch.
Electives Also Offered
Consistent with the multidisciplinary, multifaceted nature of sustainability, students interested in sustainability can select from a broad and diverse range of elective courses that will fulfill the Arts & Sciences breadth of knowledge requirements.
About the Sustainability Studies curricular theme: Sustainability has become the dominant framework for understanding the challenges of the Anthropocene Epoch, the geological epoch in which humans significantly have altered the functioning of Earth’s biological, chemical and physical systems. These changes in Earth’s biophysical systems pose a major threat to both humans and non-humans. As a curricular theme, Sustainability Studies invites critical exploration of a multitude of complex issues from the local to the global levels, including resource management and sustainable development; climate change; global capitalism and industrial agriculture; social and environmental resilience; inter-generational equity; environmental justice, ethics and citizenship; social change; consumption, and personal sustainability.
Comments