ENVIRON 215
Sustainability: History, Concepts, and Practice
Description
Seminar, three hours. History of sustainability and sustainable development, and how those concepts have come to be so widely inscribed in policies, programs, and financing across the globe. Examination of current iteration of sustainability in the UN Sustainable Development Goals to understand how, and if, the concept of sustainability has evolved from 1987. Question whether there is a right scale for sustainability programs and policies (urban, rural, national, international), or, whether sustainability is an oxymoron. Discussion of theories such as ecological modernization, political ecology, sufficiency, and sustainability science to understand how sustainability is framed across different viewpoints. Examination of methods for ascertaining sustainability such as industrial ecology, materials flows analysis, and carbon accounting. Analysis framed within social and environmental justice, both within the global north, but importantly between the Global North and Global South. S/U or letter grading.
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