Envir SustainabilityBus Strat

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The goal of this course is to explore interactions between business and economic activities and the natural environment. The focus is on Earth systems and how economic activities overlap with, depend upon, and affect these systems. We will examine the business case for environmental sustainability including motivations, incentives, regulatory frameworks, reporting requirements, and bottom line issues that corporations consider in their decision making processes. Our economic dependencies upon Earth systems such as water, carbon, and nutrient cycles, energy flow, and climate will be examined. Specific environmental impacts and limitations of economic activity will be considered such as energy use, carbon emissions, water depletion and degradation, global transport of persistent pollutants, agricultural dynamics, impact of invasive species, and non-sustainable exploitation of fisheries and forests. We will end the term with an exploration of environmental challenges facing businesses and explore strategies for addressing these challenges moving forward.