Scaling Sustainability Solutions

Catalog description

SDSS launched a new course in the Fall of 2024: "Scaling Solutions for Sustainability." We are expanding this course in AY 2025-2026. This is not just a theory class; it's a behind-the-scenes look at how big ideas become global realities. This interdisciplinary course examines pathways to scale solutions for sustainability so that they reach planetary scale. Specifically, the course will "look back" at three scale-ups: (1) nuclear fission (2) solar and (3) batteries. In all three examples, you will see how science, technology, commercialization, and government policies came together to deliver the solution to the whole planet. The course also examines one of the most successful environmental interventions in history - the Montreal Protocol - and how global policy eliminated chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) at scale. The course is designed to be an immersive learning experience where students interact with some of the most eminent practitioners in these fields. The teaching team and speaker roster includes experienced scientists, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders from the field.