Afghan Poppies, Climate Change and US Heroin: Thinking Systemically About Us and Them
Karen Litfin, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
This very simple contemplative exercise is rooted in my "Person/Planet Politics" approach, which invites students to into an experiential relationship with a global socioecological phenomenon: in this instance, Afghan poppy production. It can be adapted to a range of courses and a range of topics within those courses. The basic question is: "Who am I in relation to this?"

Critical Thinking on Sustainable Food Production and Consumer Habits
Michael Faucette, Seattle Central Community College
Students are assigned to research, write, take a position and present it on the complex issue of sustainable food production and consumer habits.

Building a Public Knowledge Base: The Wikicadia Node Assignment
Todd Lundberg, Cascadia Community College
The center of this sequence of assignments is a collaborative, "New Media" writing project that involves publishing to a wiki a synthesis of knowledge about how humans inhabit places. Writers work in groups with others interested in a common sub-topic and develop information related to local places that local audiences who are invited to join the wiki may use.

Delocalized Diets: Globalization, Food, and Culture
Mary L. Russell, Pierce College
This assignment addresses cultural sustainability by asking students to go beyond distinguishing between five subsistence strategies to examining the impact of globalization on diet and culture.

Transportation: Waterways to Interstate Highways
Charles Luckmann, Skagit Valley College
Students practice open-ended inquiry, guided inquiry, synthesis and expository writing as they explore personal and public modes of transportation, past and present, in the Puget Sound bioregion. This activity can be adapted to any region.

Indigenous Food Relationships: Sociological Impacts on the Coast Salish People
Ane Berrett, Nothwest Indian College
In this unit, students will analyze the macro level of societal influences which have interrupted micro level ecological relationship between plant and man. Sociological concepts such as sub culture, dominant culture, stages of historical change (Hunter Gatherer societies to Technological societies), stratification and poverty will be addressed through the sociological perspective. Students will experience solutions of sustainability which are interdependent with local place and people. Learning activities involve using the "citizen's argument," oral presentations, portfolio creation, written reflections and experiential service learning projects.

Visualizing Social Justice in South Seattle: Data Analysis, Race, and The Duwamish River Basin
Eunice Blavascunas, University of Washington
We examine the factors of race and environmental contamination, starting from the premise (and data proving) that race is not a biological, scientifically valid category, but a social, historical construction with real world consequences for equal access to health, resources, and power.