SUSTAINABILITY IN THE 21st CENTURY:
BIOSM 225 
dates: AUGUST 11 – AUGUST 25, 2008
credit hours: 4 semester credits
total cost: $3,768 (includes room, board and tuition)
Prerequisites: Open to all undergraduate and graduate students.
Sustainability in the 21st Century begins by asking: What is sustainability? Can an organization or institution legitimately call itself sustainable? What are the hard choices inherent in maintaining quality of life for humans while protecting a fragile environment and minding the budget? Students will examine common definitions of sustainability, generate their own definition for use throughout the course, and at the end of their two weeks on Appledore, evaluate its strengths and shortcomings.
The course introduces the concept of “systems thinking” and then applies tools for modeling and analyzing system dynamics in such island systems as food, island ecology, climate change, and energy. Guest lectures will provide overviews of thinking in the field, suggest techniques for measuring impact and remediating damage, introduce historical and policy insights, and challenge students to think critically. Fieldtrips to a Gulf of Maine lobstering operation; a small, integrated farm in Portsmouth, NH; to UNH’s Open Ocean Aquaculture Program’s fish pens; and a local fish processing plant will provide further grist for conversation as students see how the intellectual theory and scientific data introduced in lectures play out in operating systems.
Lecture topics include: systems thinking, alternative energy, waste management, food systems and policy, history of fishing and marine environmental stewardship, sustainable fisheries in New England, the science of climate change, and more.
In 2007, student worked on four projects; they worked in small teams to complete the projects and present their findings. Options included: analysis of island waste management and overhaul of pre- and post-consumer composting system; creation of a sustainable island menu plan; calculation of Shoals Marine Lab’s carbon footprint; development of a carbon-neutrality program.
Required PRE-COURSE Readings (from 2007):
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus
- Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- Capitalism at the Crossroads by Stuart Hart
Course coordinator: Sharon Tregasksis , Shoals Marine Laboratory
Faculty and Teaching Staff:
Charles F. Nicholson, Cornell University, Applied Economics and Management
Dean Koyanagi , Cornell University Sustainability Coordinator
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