ECST 3850 - Sustainability Strategies

Goals: Students focus on problem-based, community-engaged action research projects around sustainability strategies, action education, and storytelling, such as: waste and nutrient flows and energy and transportation systems, and the development of active learning strategies (including field trips, outdoor classroom spaces, community-engaged programming, and action research). This course also helps prepare students to work in various Sustainability Systems – on and off campus.

Content: Learning is the central function of colleges and universities. By learning through a strategic sustainability lens, higher education institutions can continue to help the world understand sustainability challenges and develop new technologies, strategies, and approaches to address those challenges. As individuals and groups, we can use sustainability research and education methods to learn what’s happening in the world around us, and to assess how our interventions are working. Campuses provide wonderful real-world classrooms for actively exploring how to measure and improve the sustainability of the various processes that support our everyday lives. Students that actively participate in making their communities more sustainable are well prepared to continue that work in their careers and communities after graduation. In this course, students learn how to frame, develop, and explore environmental and climate questions, conducting group intervention projects and field-trip based field study.

Note: This course may be repeated. Students may earn up to 8 credits across ESTD/ECST 1850 and 3850.

Credits: 2