SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY

ENVIRST/ILS 255

Explore the foundations of sustainability using the UW-Madison campus as a living laboratory. Ground your feet on the UW-Madison campus and ask questions about the energy we use, the food we eat, the air we breathe, the land we occupy, the goods we purchase, and the waste we create. A blend of environmental sciences and studies. Use principles of chemistry, physics, and biology to understand the dynamics of our human and earth systems, but also explore societal issues like public health and social justice, all through the context of sustainability and the UW-Madison campus community.

ENVIRST 215

An introduction to the dynamic and emerging transdisciplinary field of sustainability. A broad survey of the global sustainability science challenges and their potential solutions using an integrated social-environmental systems approach. Applies a sustainability and systems thinking lens to various topics, such as complexity, resilience, ecological literacy, global climate change, economics, food systems, energy, sustainable development, and social equity. Facilitates the exploration of complex interrelationships among contemporary environmental, social, and economic problems and the solutions to support more sustainable systems. Focuses on the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to implement sustainable practices and to enact sustainable development through sustainability science and education.

ENVIRST/ILS 126

Relates principles of environmental science to our daily activities, with an eye to sustainability, conservation, and systems thinking. Introduces science as a process of inquiry and discovery rather than just a pre-established set of facts. Topics relate to energy, water, and land use, and include food, electric power, materials, buildings, transportation, and waste.

ENVIRST 326

Explores fundamentals of systems thinking and how to apply a systems-based approach to understanding and addressing sustainability issues ranging from climate change to environmental racism. Systems content is complemented with foundational skills in life cycle assessment (LCA), an inherently systems-based application of sustainability science that considers the full measure of resources used and waste created throughout the cradle-to-grave supply chain of a product or process. Life cycle and systems-based approaches are used to characterize both human and natural systems in local and global contexts. These approaches also will be integrated with sustainability concepts including the triple bottom line, industrial ecology, and the circular economy. Concepts include: life cycle stages, supply chains, stocks, flows, feedback loops, and unintended consequences.

ENVIRST 401

Topics covered within the scope of the physical environmental sciences, such as issues in energy resources, environmental measurement and analysis, modeling, remote sensing and GIS, environmental engineering and transportation, air and water resources, and global climate change.