The pursuit of sustainable solutions to living in our contemporary world is a global endeavor. In this course, the concept of living sustainably is explored from a broad international perspective. Global scale issues impacting sustainable resource use are considered, including population growth, economic globalization and development, social equity, and cultural values. We will expand our awareness of alternatives to those current practices that impede the sustainability of human societies as part of the earth's natural systems. We will also pursue an understanding of the interrelated socio-economic conditions, combined with social and personal ethics and values necessary to move toward a more sustainable future. And each of us will come to value what sustainable living means for our own lives.

This course engages students in advanced topics in sustainable energy. Course reviews basic structures of our energy system, energy markets and economics, and the environmental, economic and technological of energy landscape. Focus is on electricity and building use with introductions to the transportation system. Students gain the knowledge to evaluate innovations in technology, policy and financing necessary to implement sustainable energy goals from conservation and efficiency to renewables and energy storage.

Honor/thesis students conduct an independent research project, relevant to the student's area of specialization in the major, under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Students submit a research proposal, write a final report, and provide an oral presentation. One or two semester sequence.

Students examine policies for managing human activities to sustain the health of regional ecosystems and planetary life-support systems. Selected problems of the international commons (oceans, marine resources, atmosphere, migratory species); global and regional carrying capacity (population, resource consumption), internationally shared ecosystems (trans-boundary watersheds, water-bodies, tropical forests); and the relevant international institutions and politics for policy formation, conflict resolution, and implementation. Using a policy-analytic framework, students develop case studies to assess international policies and institutional arrangements to achieve the objectives of Agenda 21--Earth Summit Strategy to Save the Planet.