Sustainable Development: From Theory to Practice I

Course Description:

ENVR 545: This course will take students beyond the theory of sustainable development in order to discuss the difficulties of the practice of sustainable development. The topic is introduced historically, and current debates over the meaning of sustainable development are addressed. Longstanding discussions concerning economic growth and common resource allocation are explained, and the difficult task of measuring human impact is introduced. These theoretical concerns are then applied to the issue of climate change in Canada, with particular focus on how we generate and consume energy. The course then concludes with a look at the promise of ecologically grounded technologies such as those proposed by proponents biomimicry and industrial ecology. (3 credits)