Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Decision-Making, Ezra Markowitz

Sustainability Education Resources

Over the past 30 years, there has been a growing recognition amongst environmental advocates, resource managers, policymakers and researchers that the underlying cause of most environmental, conservation and sustainability issues is human behavior. As NRC and ENVIRSCI majors, you have received extensive technical training in how natural systems operate yet relatively little training when it comes to influencing or understanding how people make environmental decisions that affect those natural systems. Recognizing the fundamental role that human decision-making plays in shaping the environment reveals a new set of tools and approaches for both understanding the challenges we face and confronting those …

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 …

Analytical Methods For Energy And Climate Policy, Dwayne Breger

Sustainability Education Resources

Course Description

The course will introduce students to analytical methods applicable to the evaluation of energy and climate problems and policy solutions. The methods include ethical analysis, spreadsheet analysis, lifecycle analysis, optimization and systems analysis. While applicable across many fields, the methods will be applied through class and assignments to current issues in clean energy and climate policy.

Learning Objectives

The course will provide students with the understanding and skills to analytically address issues of policy pertaining to clean energy and climate policy. Students will understand the theory and practice associated with conducting economic cost benefit analysis, optimization under constraints …

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” …