Being Human: The Food-Energy-Ecosytem-Water Nexus

3 units

This course examines a trilogy of resources that are essential to producing human life: food, water and energy. These resources are inextricably linked not only to the most common and necessary of our day-to-day activities, but impact each other in profound ways. Until recently, the study of these resources was fragmented in separate sectors, ultimately leading to lack of institutional coordination, infrastructural lock-in and incomplete modeling systems. These incomplete systems overlook the complex overlaps of natural systems and render sustainability planning more tenuous than it could be. In response, these core resources are being studied together as a nexus to enhance synergies and prevent trade-offs across sectors. However, this nexus further requires astute attention to the all too human questions of resource use, waste and justice. If water, energy and food security are to be simultaneously achieved, social scientists must be at the forefront, contributing holistic research that brings the human back into socio-natural systems.