Sustainability Courses

Environmental Assessment
Maureen Padden, McMaster University
Students in this fourth-year course explore the policy and requirements of environmental assessment in both a Canadian and international context. Students gain familiarity with the environmental assessment process ...

Science and Other Stories: Reading the Mississippi River
Julie Maxson, Metropolitan State University
This course is an exploration of the nature of science and sustainability, focusing on the local system of the Upper Mississippi River.

Sustainable Land Systems
John Motloch, Ball State University
This interdisciplinary course explores regions and sites as parts of complex adaptive systems; and the integration of economic and community development within these systems in ways that promote sustained ...

Humans and Nature: Living in the Anthropocene
Brooke Crowley, University of Cincinnati-Main Campus
This is a lecture-based interdisciplinary introductory course. We focused on current social and environmental issues that emphasize the links between raw materials, waste, and products used in day-to-day life. I ...

Energy, Power and Transportation
Tom Termes, Black Hills State University
This course provides an understanding of the principles of energy, power, transportation, and applied technology. Topics, among others, include technological literacy, history, and industrial uses of energy, power, ...

Sustainable Watersheds and Communities
Cailin Huyck Orr, Carleton College
Water and land use are explicitly linked through a complex set of challenges surrounding water quantity and quality. In the world today, water scarcities due to economic growth, ecosystem demands, and climate ...

Earth Science in Arizona and the Southwest
Steven Semken, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
ESAS is a place-based course in which students apply Earth system sciences to interpret the rocks, landscapes, geologic history, climate, resources, and natural hazards of Arizona and the surrounding ...

Sustainability Science
Lisa Harrington, Kansas State University
A mid-level lecture-based undergraduate course that focuses on sustainability concepts, approaches, and decision-making. Includes use of videos, and relation of sustainability to environmental, economic, and ...

Environmental Science, with Lab
Dan Vaughn, Vincennes University
This course focuses on the basic parameters of, and human interaction with, the natural environment. Labs involve environmental testing, field observations, review of case studies, and various "hands on" ...

Hydrotopia: Toward a Hydraulic Society in the American West
Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
Interdisciplinary case study analysis of historical and emerging water issues in the western United States. Students learn the fundamental concepts and major issues related to water resources planning and ...

Sustainable Buildings and Planning
Lori Troxel, Vanderbilt University
This is an interdisciplinary, 4-week, study-abroad course. Seminars and field trips in Northern Ireland and Barcelona provide students an international perspective of urban planning, sustainable building design, ...

Solar Energy
Scott Cummings, Kenyon College
Solar Energy (CHEM 108) is a one-semester chemistry lecture and discussion course designed for students majoring outside of the natural sciences. With an emphasis on quantitative reasoning, the course explores the ...

Introduction to Sustainability Science
Tracey Holloway, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This course aims to develop a solutions-oriented understanding of environmental and energy issues. Through interactive lectures, field trips, and problem-based homework sets, the class introduces basic quantitative ...

Soils and Sustainable Agriculture
Jeff Walker, Vassar College
This intermediate-level lecture/lab earth science course explores the relationships between the geological parent and the character of the resulting soils. The lecture portions discuss the theoretical background ...

Science, Society, and Sustainability
Ellen Metzger, San Jose State University
The participation-intensive course is an elective for teachers pursuing an MA in Science Education and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students drawn from geology and other disciplines. Teaching strategies ...

Natural Hazards and Risk Communication
Kathleen Phillips, Stanford University
This course will provide an introduction to the science behind natural hazards, the risks associated with these hazards, and effective methods of communicating those risks to a variety of audiences. Recent research ...

Climate and Global Change
Katherine Straub, Susquehanna University
The objective of this course is to analyze the issue of global warming from multiple perspectives, including science, policy, law, and economics, with a particular emphasis on critical reading and writing skills. ...

Wilderness Philosophy
Thomas Beery, University of Minnesota-Duluth
This is an interdisciplinary field/lecture/discussion based course with a focus wilderness in an American context. The goal of the course is to deepen student understanding of the constructs wilderness and ...

Sustainability Workshop: Green Building Seminar
Derek Larson, Saint Johns University
This class explores the environmental impacts of the construction, operation, and disposition of commercial and residential architecture with an emphasis on best practices as determined through a sustainability ...

Petrology
Laura Webb, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
The course is an introduction to the scope and methods of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic petrology. Through lecture, class discussions, and laboratory exercises, students learn about the classification, ...