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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The Relevance of Place and Sense of Place to Sustainability
Steven Semken, Arizona State University Campus Immersion
This academic essay page explores the role of place-based education in promoting environmental and cultural sustainability, emphasizing how sense of place fosters ecological integrity and community attachment in contested landscapes, with applications in geoscience and interdisciplinary teaching. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Demonstrating why sustainability is complex
Cailin Huyck Orr, Carleton College
This essay page from the InTeGrate project discusses the complexity of teaching sustainability, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches, adaptive management, and scenario planning through water resource case studies to help students grasp the multifaceted challenges of achieving sustainability. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Teaching Approaches for Sustainability Education
Bruno Borsari, Winona State University
This webpage is an academic essay discussing a sustainability education model centered on ecology, evolution, and ethics, advocating for systems thinking, hands-on learning, and interdisciplinary integration to foster ecological literacy and transformative, humility-based education. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Modeling Interdisciplinarity
Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the importance of modeling interdisciplinary collaboration in sustainability education, emphasizing how faculty from disparate fields—such as philosophy and engineering—can co-teach effectively by building professional relationships and demonstrating respectful dialogue, thereby preparing students for complex, real-world problem-solving. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Sustainability, Collaboration and Complexity Science
John Motloch, Ball State University
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the intersection of sustainability, collaboration, and complexity science, emphasizing humanity's role within complex adaptive systems, the need for co-adaptation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and systems-based approaches to global environmental challenges, authored by John Motloch for the InTeGrate initiative. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Teaching sustainability through project based learning
James Stone, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
A standalone essay page from the InTeGrate project detailing an interdisciplinary, project-based course on sustainability in engineering education, covering water conservation, renewable energy, and life cycle assessment, authored by James Stone of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Sustainability in an Oceanography Course
Katryn Wiese, City College of San Francisco
A pedagogical essay page detailing how sustainability is integrated into an oceanography course through interdisciplinary case studies, local environmental data labs, and active learning strategies to foster student engagement and real-world application. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Economics, Sustainability and Teaching Interactive Approach
Nelson Altamirano, National University
This essay page discusses integrating geosciences into economics education through interactive, game-based learning to teach sustainability, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches for business students and providing a downloadable PDF of the full text. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Making Sustainability Real
Dan Vaughn, Vincennes University
This webpage is an educational essay in a mini-collection from the InTeGrate project discussing pedagogical strategies for teaching sustainability, focusing on connecting students to environmental realities through interdisciplinary methods, quantitative reasoning, and ethical reflection to foster environmental responsibility. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Making Connections between Geoscience and Sustainability
Laura Rademacher, University of the Pacific
Essay page from an InTeGrate workshop discussing interdisciplinary strategies for integrating geoscience and sustainability in undergraduate education, emphasizing quantitative literacy, real-world applications, and student behavior analysis through fingerprint activities. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Geosciences in Sustainability: Upstream, Downstream, and in Between
Laura Webb, University of Vermont
An academic essay page discussing integrating geoscience education with sustainability themes, emphasizing upstream/downstream impacts of technology, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary teaching strategies within the InTeGrate project framework. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

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
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the integration of sustainability within market-based economies through an interdisciplinary economic lens, emphasizing teaching methods, active learning games, and data-driven topics like energy, food, water, and environmental policy, authored by Chris McIntosh for the InTeGrate project. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Value of Co-Teaching, Project-Based Learning, and Common Communication for Teaching Sustainability to an Interdisciplinary Class
Steven Burian, University of Utah
This academic essay page discusses interdisciplinary sustainability education, emphasizing co-teaching, project-based learning, and shared communication as key strategies, authored by an engineering educator reflecting on pedagogical successes and challenges. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Service Learning in Interdisciplinary Courses
Maureen Padden, McMaster University
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the integration of service learning in interdisciplinary sustainability courses, highlighting pedagogical challenges, student outcomes, and real-world application in higher education. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Sustainability and Understanding Time
Mary Savina, Carleton College
Sustainability and Understanding Time is an academic essay page from the InTeGrate collection that explores how geoscience education can reframe sustainability by emphasizing deep time, paleoclimate analysis, and historical context to better understand human impacts on natural systems and inform future societal resilience. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Feeding the World - Teaching Sustainability in a Plant Biology Course
Susan Singer, Carleton College
This essay page from the InTeGrate project details how plant biology is taught through a sustainability lens at Carleton College, emphasizing interdisciplinary learning, food security, soil science integration, and long-term student projects analyzing agricultural sustainability and policy. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Sustainability: Teaching for a Moving Target
Julie Maxson, Metropolitan State University
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the challenges and evolution of teaching sustainability in higher education, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches, climate change impacts, and the need for solution-oriented, systems-based curricula amid institutional resistance to environmental topics. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Productive sustainability discourse through insisting on diverse perspectives
Hitesh Soneji, City College of San Francisco
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the importance of fostering interdisciplinary sustainability education by intentionally incorporating diverse student perspectives and multiple disciplinary viewpoints to avoid groupthink and enrich discourse. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.