Sustainability Summer Minor/Certificate

In-Person｜Summer Session D

This course introduces students to the many ways in which our lives are intertwined with the ecosystems around us. Topics will include ecological limits to growth, climate change and other threats to biodiversity, the value of ecosystem goods and services, the ecology of disease, ecotoxicology, the evolution of cooperation in ecosystems, industrial ecology, and the epistemology of ecology.

In-Person｜Summer Session D

What is the history and evolution of environmental thinking and writing in the USA? How have certain ‘environmental classics’ shaped the way in which we think about nature, society and progress? Why did these become ‘classics’ and why/how did they influence environmental thought and policy? What is their relevance today? This course includes substantial reading assignments.

Synchronous Online｜Summer Session A

The story of water development in California provides compelling examples of water politics, the social and environmental consequences of redistributing water, and the relationships between water uses, energy, and climate.This course provides the historical, scientific, legal, institutional, and economic background needed to understand the social and ecological challenges of providing water for California’s growing population, agricultural economy, and other uses—all of which are made more complex by climate change.

Synchronous Online｜Summer Session D

Although change is often equated with progress, that view is not universal. This course examines how competing visions of progress and sustainability shape human flourishing within planetary limits. We explore how socio-technical imaginaries and contested futures influence decisions, linking planetary boundaries with the technological, cultural, and economic forces that shape societal choices. Topics include doughnut economics, techno-optimism, ecomodernism, behavioral economics, measures of progress, and human ecology.

Asynchronous Online｜Summer Session A

Explore the many manifestations of water and sanitation justice and injustice on interlocking scales (i.e. local, national, transnational) while illustrating analytical ideas connecting to a range of social processes including claims for human rights, deprivation and exclusion, urbanization and infrastructure development, and privatization of land and water. We will look at various case studies in high-income and low-income countries and use key technical and social concepts to examine rights, equity, and justice with respect to water and sanitation.

In-Person｜Summer Session D

As corporations have grown in influence, concerns over their impact on people and the planet have also grown, pushing sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and the wider impact of business into the spotlight. This course focuses on business ethics, supply chains, resource constraints, labor issues, innovation, and environmental externalities, as well as the internal challenges, competitive pressures, external stakeholders, and other issues that businesses must consider while trying to act responsibly.