Sustainability Essays

These essays were submitted by faculty in preparation for the Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences workshop in July 2012. Participants were asked to share their approaches to teaching sustainability in an interdisciplinary context and ideas for exploring opportunities for enhancing the integration of geoscience and sustainability.



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Value of Co-Teaching, Project-Based Learning, and Common Communication for Teaching Sustainability to an Interdisciplinary Class
Steven Burian, University of Utah
Steve Burian, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Utah Teaching sustainability to students from different disciplines requires new approaches to course planning, lesson planning, pedagogy, student ...

Geoscience is by its nature interdisciplinary
David Kobilka, Central Lakes College-Brainerd
David Kobilka, Earth Science, Central Lakes College-Brainerd Geoscience classes, especially those with an environmental component, are by nature interdisciplinary. For example, introductory Oceanography involves ...

Demonstrating why sustainability is complex
Cailin Huyck Orr, Carleton College
Cailin Huyck Orr, School of the Environment, Washington State University - Pullman Promoting sustainability is complicated and I am not convinced that we always understand how to do it well. This makes teaching ...

Sustainability: The Key To Student Engagement
Ben Fackler-Adams, Skagit Valley College
Benjamin Fackler-Adams, Physical Sciences, Skagit Valley College As an "Instructor of Interdisciplinary Science" at a community college that teaches numerous interdisciplinary, team-taught learning ...

The Relevance of Place and Sense of Place to Sustainability
Steven Semken, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
Steven Semken , School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University In response to sprawl and globalization that challenge integrity of ecosystems and diversity of cultures (i.e., environmental ...

Using process-focused assessments for teaching sustainability
Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota
Meghann Jarchow, Interdepartmental - sustainability, University of South Dakota Thinking about how we assess students is as important as the methods that we use to convey the course content. I think that most ...

Service Learning in Interdisciplinary Courses
Maureen Padden, McMaster University
Maureen Padden, School of Geography Earth Sciences, McMaster University I began to teach sustainability when I started my present position at McMaster University. Because I was moving from a different province, ...

How Should We Teach 'Sustainability Science'?
Tracey Holloway, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tracey Holloway, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison My main motivation for teaching sustainability is to promote solutions-oriented thinking about environmental challenges. ...

The Waldo Canyon wildfire: A case study of the western urban-wilderness interface
Mari Lee, Colorado College
Mari Titcombe Lee, Environmental Program, Colorado College I feel the need to premise my essay with an acknowledgement - I am a novice when it comes to teaching sustainability in a formal educational setting. My ...

Economics, Sustainability and Teaching Interactive Approach
Nelson Altamirano, National University
Nelson Altamirano, School of Business and Management, National University My discipline is economics and of course I teach microeconomics or macroeconomics most of the time but working at the School of Business ...

Making Sustainability Real
Dan Vaughn, Vincennes University
Daniel Vaughn, Earth Science, Vincennes University I have found in teaching this course (an advanced introductory course open to majors and the non-majors alike), in addition to other classes at VU and other ...

Sustainability and Hanford Reach
Tracy Lai, Seattle Community College-Central Campus
Tracy Lai, Humanities/Social Sciences, Seattle Central Community College The struggle over Hanford Reach, the last wild stretch of the Columbia River, is difficult to understand unless we take an interdisciplinary ...

Fundamentals of Sustainability at the University of Arkansas - Emphasizing Institutional Strengths
Stephen Boss, University of Arkansas Main Campus
Stephen K. Boss, Environmental Dynamics, University of Arkansas Main Campus Fundamentals of Sustainability is an interdisciplinary course designed to introduce undergraduate students to basic concepts and theories ...

Geosciences in Sustainability: Upstream, Downstream, and in Between
Laura Webb, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
Laura Webb, Geology, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College I am relatively new to teaching about sustainability and one year ago I wouldn't have predicted being on this path. The inspiration to ...

Teaching Sustainability Through History
Derek Larson, Saint Johns University
Derek Larson, Environmental Studies, The College of St. Benedict/St. John's University Our environmental studies department was created 20 years ago with the specific intention of interdisciplinarity in its ...

One economist's approach to interdisciplinary teaching and exploration of sustainability
Morris Coats, Nicholls State University
Morris Coats, Management, Marketing and Business Administration, Nicholls State University "The Theory of Economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a ...

Market Based Economies and Sustainability
Chris McIntosh, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Chris McIntosh, Economics, University of Minnesota-Duluth Sustainability must be taught in an interdisciplinary context due to the three major perspectives it encompasses: environmental, financial, and social. I ...

Modeling Interdisciplinarity
Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
Ed Barbanell, Philosophy, University of Utah Any sensible discussion about "sustainability" must, by its very nature, be inclusive, requiring interactive dialogues with a broad array people about a great ...

Sustainability and Understanding Time
Mary Savina, Carleton College
Mary Savina, Geology, Carleton College When I'm talking with students in geology courses about sustainability, I don't use the word much. As one of my colleagues, Aaron Swoboda, puts it, we know ...

Feeding the World - Teaching Sustainability in a Plant Biology Course
Susan Singer, Carleton College
Susan Singer, Biology, Carleton College Plant Biology at Carleton is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of plant anatomy, morphology, evolution, biochemistry, physiology, and development in the ...