Course Code: SOCI 1001
Academic Year: 2025-2026
What is climate change? How has it come about? Is it possible to map a course toward a safer, more equitable, more sustainable future? How do Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing facilitate progress toward this goal? In this course, students learn to distinguish between entitlement-based philosophies (nature is ours to take and use) vs. obligations-based philosophies (we are a part of nature). Students develop a bird's eye view of important systems such as food, energy, housing, manufacturing, consumption, and transportation. They practice 21st-century key sustainability competencies (e.g., systems thinking, strategic thinking, values thinking, anticipatory thinking, collaboration, etc.) to identify both the problems and opportunities in these systems. As a broad introduction to many issues relating to sustainability, this course invites students to develop and hone these critical skills and grow their knowledge in the interconnected global challenges and proposed solutions in the field of sustainability.