Principles of Sustainability

Catalog description

What is sustainability? Can any fundamental concepts, principles or framework be constructed that adequately describes the search for sustainability? Is there a meaningful methodology? Sustainability science is a trans-disciplinary approach in which the quantitative and qualitative, natural and social,and theory and practice are reconciled and creatively combined. The objective of this course is to provide an in-depth analysis of the foundational concepts, principles, processes and practices of sustainability science. The course will explore three foundational laws governing sustainability:the law of limits to growth, the second law of thermodynamics, and the law of self-organization. Students will examine how these laws operate in biological, ecological, and physical systems, and then apply them to social, economic and political systems.