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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Understanding Food And Climate Change: A Systems Perspective, Megan Brockelbank Jan 2021

Understanding Food And Climate Change: A Systems Perspective, Megan Brockelbank

Sustainability Education Resources

Climate change will profoundly affect our lives in many ways, even down to the very food we eat. Food is essential for survival and our complex food system, and all that depends on it, face a big threat with climate change. Throughout the semester we will explore the links between the food system and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking. In science we tend to segregate, looking at just one part of a system, while systems thinking looks at the whole picture. Using this approach, we will think critically about how to build a more resilient food …


Food And/As Communication, Leda M. Cooks Jan 2020

Food And/As Communication, Leda M. Cooks

Sustainability Education Resources

This is a two-semester, eight-credit Communication Honors Thesis Seminar focusing on the ways we create and reflect meanings made about food. The seminar delves into the material and social meanings of food and implications for identity, culture and social justice. Students will have the opportunity to research food in the context of the meanings made about it in various institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, neighborhoods, cultures and communities. The first semester HONORS 499 CL (Fall 2020) will 1) introduce students to food as a vehicle through which society and social life is communicated; 2) introduce methods and tools for conducting survey …


Sustainable Grape Production, Elsa Petit Jan 2020

Sustainable Grape Production, Elsa Petit

Sustainability Education Resources

I am excited for you to join me and your colleague students (Sustainable Food and Farming, Sustainable Horticulture, Mathematics, Food Science, Biology, Individual concentration) on this course in Sustainable Grape Production. The course is fully remote with synchronous meetings offered through Zoom. The industry of cool climate viticulture is growing thanks to newly bred varieties adapted to our local conditions. A number of small, family-run vineyards have been opening in New England. You will learn the principles and practices governing the establishment and management of an organic or sustainable vineyard. You will learn practices such as pruning, grafting, and vineyard …


Pigs And Poultry, Nicole Burton Jan 2020

Pigs And Poultry, Nicole Burton

Sustainability Education Resources

This course provides students with a farmer’s perspective on the management, production and marketing of poultry and pigs on a small farm. This course will address the advantages of having pigs and poultry and will review basic care, processing options, regulations, marketing and finances. The course will be structured around lectures, farm visits, guest lectures and acquiring hands on skills. We will explore different alternative farming systems that utilize animals to enhance their production. At the end of this course, students will be able to utilize pigs and poultry as an integral part of their small farm plan.


Small Farm Husbandry: Cow, Sheep And Goat For Meat Production, Nicole Burton Jan 2020

Small Farm Husbandry: Cow, Sheep And Goat For Meat Production, Nicole Burton

Sustainability Education Resources

This course provides students with a farmer’s perspective on the sustainable management of cows, sheep and goats on a small farm. The course provides students with a clear understanding of how to think through the planning and management of cows, sheep and goats for meat production. All aspects from purchasing and nutrition to marketing and finances will be addressed. This course also brings awareness to the U.S. meat industry and supports students in becoming educated consumers and producers. Students will walk away with a rudimentary plan on how to incorporate ruminants into their small farm plan.


Food Writing, Carol Ann Connare Ms Jan 2019

Food Writing, Carol Ann Connare Ms

Sustainability Education Resources

This advanced writing four-credit course approaches food writing from a news reporting perspective. The Pioneer Valley is home to a network of food producers, from farmers and cheesemakers to brewers and beekeepers. Students will travel into the field to meet people who make and grow what we eat, conducting interviews and collecting information to synthesize into multimedia stories for publication around themes such as health, history, travel, ecology, animal welfare, social change, nutrition, and home cooking. Students will experience the full spectrum of food writing—blogs, magazine articles, personal essays, reviews, recipes, social and cultural commentary—and create stories in a variety …


Wildlife Habitat Management, Paige Warren Jan 2019

Wildlife Habitat Management, Paige Warren

Sustainability Education Resources

The primary goal for this course is to help you put into practice tools you have been acquiring in your other Natural Resources Conservation courses. We will explore wildlife-habitat relationships in depth, through the lenses of basic field zoology and natural history, evolutionary biology, and ecological theory. We will introduce you to quantitative tools used to explain ecological processes and their influence on wildlife and their environment. We will examine the dynamics and management of various habitats in New England, North America, and elsewhere through field visits and use of primary literature. But most importantly, we will ask you to …


Syllabus: Drinking Water, Sanitation, And Global Development, Emily Kumpel Jan 2018

Syllabus: Drinking Water, Sanitation, And Global Development, Emily Kumpel

Sustainability Education Resources

Within the past three decades, more than 2.6 billion people have gained access to an improved water source and 2.1 billion have gained access to an improved sanitation facility. However, improved does not always mean people have safe, reliable, accessible, or equitable water and sanitation services. Waterborne diseases continue to cause and estimated 500,000 deaths each year. What causes waterborne diseases, and what is the role of engineered systems in their spread or prevention? How can we evaluate interventions to improve health and well-being? How can research address these challenges?


Syllabus: How To Recover A Truly Sustainable Food System: A Look At Food Waste And Recovery, Mary Bell, Angela Roell Jan 2017

Syllabus: How To Recover A Truly Sustainable Food System: A Look At Food Waste And Recovery, Mary Bell, Angela Roell

Sustainability Education Resources

This course is an introduction to food waste, and the impact waste has on our food system. We will introduces the current food recovery hierarchy, and examines how consumers, producers and distributors waste food. We will explore the environmental and social impact of food waste in our food system, and introduce social and policy initiatives employed to recover food. Students will read, refect and discuss the actionable steps being taken to shift our local food system's food waste into food recovery.


Contemplative Practice In Sustainable Food & Farming, Sarah Berquist Jan 2016

Contemplative Practice In Sustainable Food & Farming, Sarah Berquist

Sustainability Education Resources

PowerPoint presentation at the Institute of Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development at UMass Amherst. Offers contemplative practices applied in the Sustainable Food and Farming program including yoga; breathwork; reflective writing and dialogue; stories and poetry; and exploring personal values.


Syllabus: Introduction To Permaculture, Lisa Depiano Jan 2015

Syllabus: Introduction To Permaculture, Lisa Depiano

Sustainability Education Resources

The Permaculture Design Course is a three-credit course that offers students a foundation in permaculture history, ethics, principles, design process, and practical applications. The framework behind the theory and practice of permaculture is rooted in the observation of natural systems. By observing key ecological relationships, we can mimic and apply these beneficial relationships in the design of systems that serve humans while helping to restore the natural world. This course trains students as critical thinkers, observers, and analysts of the world(s) around them, and then goes on to provide students with the tools needed to design for inspired and positive …


Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Lena Fletcher Jan 2015

Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Lena Fletcher

Sustainability Education Resources

In this innovative interdisciplinary course you will work with your peers to research and understand how sustainability in different contexts presents solutions to many problems facing modern society. You will work in teams to investigate, evaluate, communicate, and reflect on the multifaceted challenges associated with natural resource use, food systems, energy, transportation, waste, the built environment, water quality, and climate change. You will also research case studies, debate controversies, assess political and cultural contexts, investigate technological advances, and identify gaps in scientific knowledge. Using these resources, you and your peers will be tasked with developing your own sustainable solutions for …


Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Laurie Simmons Jan 2015

Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Laurie Simmons

Sustainability Education Resources

Your generation has been handed an opportunity: the opportunity to change the story of our culture from one of blind consumption to one of conscious ecological living. As individuals, as a society and as a species, we are facing challenges related to sustainability including economic stability, social justice, resource depletion and waste management, biodiversity preservation, climate adaptation and food and agricultural resilience. In this interdisciplinary course you will learn how to seize this opportunity by working with your peers to research and understand how sustainability in different contexts presents solutions to many of these challenges facing modern society. “Sustainable Living” …


Syllabus: Wildlife Habitat Management, Paige Warren Jan 2014

Syllabus: Wildlife Habitat Management, Paige Warren

Sustainability Education Resources

This course provides an in-depth exploration of wildlife-habitat relationships, illustrated through basic field zoology and natural history, evolutionary biology, and ecological theory. We introduce you to quantitative tools used to explain ecological processes and their influence on wildlife and their environment. We will examine the dynamics and management of various habitats in New England, North America, and elsewhere through field visits and use of primary literature. We will place particular emphasis on managing wildlife habitat in an urbanizing world. By one estimate, roughly 9% of the land area of the United States is in a zone of wildland-urban interface, but …


Syllabus: College Of Natural Sciences, Junior Year Writing, Deborah Mccutchen Jan 2013

Syllabus: College Of Natural Sciences, Junior Year Writing, Deborah Mccutchen

Sustainability Education Resources

CNS JYW is a multidisciplinary professional writing course. Every discipline comes complete with instructions on how to think, talk, and write in order to act like a member of that discipline and to recognize and comprehend others within that field. This writing course brings these distinctions to life by focusing on both formal and informal argumentative and technical writing for different genres and audiences. Writing intensive, the course presents the methods of inquiry, evidentiary procedures, genres, and text conventions that characterize the way scholars and professionals craft written texts. The course reinforces college-level vocabulary, critical analysis, and textual evidence and …