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 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Teaching sustainability through project based learning
James Stone, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
James Stone, Civil and Environmental Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology My approach to teaching sustainability revolves around an interdisciplinary sustainable design senior/graduate level ...

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 ...

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 ...

Interdisciplinary Environmental Science Reflection and Communication
Kathleen Phillips, Stanford University
Kathleen Phillips, Earth Systems, Stanford University My approach to teaching sustainability in an interdisciplinary context is to engage the students as both active learners and teachers in class. I teach ...

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, ...

Sustainability, Collaboration and Complexity Science
John Motloch, Ball State University
John Motloch, Landscape Architecture & Land Design Institute, Ball State University We are living in an exciting, unprecedented time, when the world within the mind (of an individual or culture) and the world ...

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 ...

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 ...

The imperative for chemists to teach about sustainability
Scott Cummings, Kenyon College
Scott Cummings, Chemistry, Kenyon College Chemistry plays a central role in many of the global and local aspects of sustainability: with problems of continued dependence on fossil fuels, and with the promise of ...

Teaching Sustainability: Students & Professors
Bill Stigliani, University of Northern Iowa
Bill Stigliani, Center for Energy & Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa My approach to teaching an introductory course in sustainability is to help students envision a sustainable future they ...

Questions about application, theory, and engagement with sustainability
Mary Ann Cunningham, Vassar College
Mary Ann Cunningham, Earth Science and Geography, Vassar College The issues that currently puzzle me about teaching sustainability are (1) what seems like a gulf between those who are enthusiastic and those who ...

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 ...