Sustainability

SUST 2000. Intro Envir Sustainability. 3-0-3 Units.

Environmental sustainability examines how society-environment interactions in the present ca be maintained for the needs of future generations. Topics include population, climate change, renewable energy, water, waste, and food.(F,S)
Prerequisites: ENGL 0999 unless exempt.

SUST 3000. Political Ecology. 3-0-3 Units.

Political ecology examines how political, economic, and cultural factors influence human-environment relationships. Topics include environmental degradation, conservation, knowledge and discourse, identity, and regional case studies.(S even years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 3100. Environmental Security. 3-0-3 Units.

Global social, political, economic and environmental instability has created a world that is increasingly focused upon security. This course will specifically examine geographic approaches to environmental security from the scale of global geopolitics and economics to individual households. Topics include collapsing ecologies and ecosystem services, resource consumption and conflicts, disease and biosecurity, natural disasters, and technological risk.(F odd-numbered years as needed)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 3200. Sustainable Cities. 3-0-3 Units.

More than half the population of the planet now reside in cities. In the United States, more than eighty percent of the population live in urban areas. This course will examine the potential sustainability of urban growth. Topics include rural to urban migration, urban population, settlement patterns, urban ecology, and governance.(S odd years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 3300. Climate and Society. 3-0-3 Units.

Contemporary debates over climate change illustrate that climate is as much a social as a physical phenomenon. The focus of this course is to gain a better understanding of how societies understand and react to climate change. Climate will therefore be examined in its historical, social, cultural, economic, and political contexts.(S even years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 3400. Sustain. Transport & Mobility. 3-0-3 Units.

We are living in a hyper-mobile world. People, goods, and ideas flow around the planet at ever-increasing numbers and speeds. This course aims to combine the traditional transport geographies approach (i.e., objective) with the newer mobilities paradigm (i.e., subjective) to examine the possibilities of sustainable transportation. The course will focus upon various modes of mobility (e.g., walking, bicycling, driving, public transit, trains, ships, planes, spacecraft) and their attending social, economic, political and environmental impacts.
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 3500. Environ Policies, Rules & Regu. 3-0-3 Units.

The goal of this course is to examine and better understand the history, institution, and implementation of environmental laws and policies in the US. The course will include discussions of the organizations and agencies responsible for laws related to land and water usage and care for the environment, as well as those governing interactions with the organisms in the ecosystem.(F even years)
Prerequisites: ENGL 0999, unless exempt.

SUST 4000. Senior Seminar. 2-0-2 Units.

This course offers an experiential approach to applying key sustainable business principles to current business challenges and opportunities. Topics examined each week will focus on a different issue related to recreating a sustainable management system for a fictional business. Writing, research and presentations will assess students' reading readiness as sustainable business professionals and agents of change.(Spring)
Prerequisites: Student should have at least 15 hours of 3-4000 leve SUST courses.

SUST 4100. Water Resources. 3-0-3 Units.

This course is an introduction to water-society relationships. Focus will be placed upon hydrological problems (e.g., drought, flooding), water use (e.g., consumption, energy, agriculture) and conflict (e.g., local management, state and international boundaries).(F odd years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 4200. Energy Sustainability. 3-0-3 Units.

This course will examine energy geographies and sustainability. Specifically, the themes of energy environments (e.g., global and regional environmental impacts, landscapes of production), spatiality (e.g., energy geopolitics, global and regional flows of natural resources, unequal distribution of natural resources) and sustainability (e.g., energy conservation, new technologies).(S odd years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 4300. Waste and Recycling. 3-0-3 Units.

This course examines waste from a social, political, economic, and environmental perspective. Topics include waste creation (e.g., household waste, industrial waste), management (e.g., storage, landfills, garbage communities), movement (e.g., geopolitics and trade), re-use (e.g., land reclamation, industrial recycling), and aesthetics (e.g., art and design, cultural heritage).(F even years)
Prerequisites: SUST 2000.

SUST 4860. Internship Environmental Susta. 0-0-1-4 Unit.

A supervised, credit-earning work experience of one academic semester with a previously approved business firm, private agency or government agency. Repeatable for a maximum of 4 credit hours. (F,S,M).
Prerequisites: Permission of department chair.

SUST 4900. Spec Top Envir. Sustainability. 1-0-1-4 Unit.

Advanced concepts in sustainability will be presented, the detailed content varying from year to year. Course may be repeated for credit when topic differs.(Offered as Needed) Prerequisites: SUST 2000

SUST 4960. Research: Environ Sustainabili. 0-0-1-4 Unit.

Research project conducted by a student under guidance of a faculty member. Approval of a faculty supervisor required before registration. Variable 1-4 hours. Repeatable for a maximum of 4 hours.(F,S)
Prerequisites: 9 hours of sustainability courses and permission of the instructor and chair.