Environmental Sustainability

SOPHOMORE INQUIRY DESCRIPTION (UNST 224)

This course introduces the Environmental Sustainability Cluster. A sustainable human society is one that satisfies its needs without jeopardizing the opportunity of future generations to satisfy theirs.  The challenge of how we achieve a sustainable society is a vital theme that unites the various disciplines within environmental studies.  A balanced combination of natural and social sciences is required if an adequate understanding of human interactions with environmental systems is to be achieved.  The course is designed to help students bridge the scientific approach to analyzing and solving environmental problems, the socioeconomic concerns involved in formulating and administering environmental policy, and the historic and philosophical basis of humanity’s relationship to ecosystems.  With the common goal of defining, characterizing and understanding environmental sustainability, the course identifies how each participating discipline can creatively contribute towards this end.