Sustainable Development in a Changing World

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

World population has doubled in the last 50 years, and sustainable development in the face of global change is the greatest challenge of our time. Through readings, lectures and class discussions by topic (water, energy, resources, waste, environment and related topics), this class provides an overview of the origin, scale and complexity of the challenge, and discusses how we can contribute, as engineers, scientists and professionals to help address it. We will learn the fundamental quantitative tools to measure and evaluate environmental and resources problems, which will be applied in class projects focusing on specific sustainability issues. The course will conclude by studying how environmental and resources policy decisions are made, and discuss the tradeoffs and ethical dilemmas involved.