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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
E SD002.
Course Title (CB02)
Introduction to Sustainability
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
An introduction to sustainability through environmental, social, and economic evaluation. Students will learn the influence of societal resource use, distribution, and waste on earth. Climate change, power dynamics, and leadership are observed as influences on sustainability.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course if CSU and UC transferable. This course meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSUGE and IGETC. Students are provided an introduction to sustainability in this course.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GBX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area B - Natural SciencesApproved
2GC2°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
2GES°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE - Environment Sustainability and Global CitizenshipApproved
2GEX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area E - Personal DevelopmentApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGEXCSU GE Area E - Lifelong Learning and Self-Development (Non-Activity)Approved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class essays

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Field observation and field trips

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects (Stewardship activities)

Assignments

  1. Assignments including reading, videos, and podcasts for assessment of information literacy.
  2. Assess and evaluate assigned content in group discussions
  3. Reflect and build upon in class group based activities, including stewardship activities in the Kirsch Center community.
  4. Writing assignments involving summary, synthesis and critical analysis of assigned content.
  5. Final assessment of a group project with deliverable such as presentation, poster, or digital submission.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Completion of written assignments and group work evaluated for student comprehension and reflection.
  2. Completion of team project evaluated for student comprehension.
  3. A final assessment requiring students to demonstrate the ability to summarize, integrate and critically analyze principles and concepts examined throughout the course.
  4. Successful completion of in class participation in group based activities, including stewardship activities in the Kirsch Center community.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • Kirsch Center and surrounding gardens

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation - OpenStax CNX. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://cnx.org/contents/F0Hv_Zza@43.5:HdWd2hN5@2/Foreword

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Fleischman, P. (2014). Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines. Candlewick Press.
Diamond, J. M. (2011). Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Viking.
Barnosky, A. D., & Hadly, E. A. (2016). Tipping Point for Planet Earth: How Close Are We to the Edge? Thomas Dunne Books.
McNeill, J. R. (2000). Something new under the sun: An environmental history of the twentieth-century world. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Agyeman, J., Bullard, R. D., & Evans, B. (2003). Just sustainabilities: Development in an unequal world. London: Earthscan.
Chevat, R., & Pollan, M. (2009). The omnivore's dilemma: The secrets behind what you eat. New York: Dial Books.
Best, J. (2018). American nightmares: Social problems in an anxious world.
Fleischman, P. (2014). Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines. Candlewick Press.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Evaluate the components of sustainability studies.
  • Analyze different human societies through a sustainability lens.
  • Explore how individual choices are limited by institutionalized powers with regards to natural resources such as air, water, nutrients and energy.
  • Examine the human dimensions of sustainability, including history, culture and ethics.
  • Examine sustainable infrastructure.
  • Analyze theories of societal collapse.
  • Examine the relationship between resource degradation, climate change, and the role of humans in society.
  • Compare and contrast human land use ethics in world cultures.
  • Formulate recommendations on policy direction for sustainable societies at a local, national, or international level.
  • Analyze and explore sustainable solutions at a local, federal, and global level through case studies.

CSLOs

  • Analyze an environmental (or societal) issues through the lens of sustainable development theory.

  • Analyze the connection between sustainability and food production.

Outline

  1. Evaluate the components of sustainability studies.
    1. Explore sustainability development theory.
    2. Assess the environmental, economic, and social spheres and influence on sustainability studies.
    3. Analyse problem-solving, metrics, and tools for sustainability.
    4. Assess the challenges for sustainability.
  2. Analyze different human societies through a sustainability lens.
    1. Explore resources use and consumption, inputs.
    2. Examine waste outputs, including solid and liquid waste.
    3. Analyze food, housing, and transport accessibility and equity.
  3. Explore how individual choices are limited by institutionalized powers with regards to natural resources such as air, water, nutrients and energy.
    1. Analyze the structural power dynamics and the human and natural resouce based energy demands of global production of goods, including food.
    2. Assess institutional water processes, including impacts of privatization, utilization of public lands for acquisition, and inequities that result from leadership decisions, such as the case of Flint, Michigan.
    3. Examine power systems influencing energy, pollution, and climate.
  4. Examine the human dimensions of sustainability, including history, culture and ethics.
    1. Assess our habits of consumption to the long history of human social development on evolutionary time scale, including the period of industrialization of nature (1500 to present).
    2. relate our habits of consumption to the long history of human social development on evolutionary time scales.
    3. Explore systems literacy, how it is tailored specifically to the understanding and remedy of environmental problems, and the ways in which it differs from traditional disciplinary approaches to academic learning.
  5. Examine sustainable infrastructure.
    1. Explore components necessary in achieving sustainability, such as energy, transportation, food, and waste practices.
    2. Assess the barriers to achieving sustainable cities.
  6. Analyze theories of societal collapse.
    1. Identify factors that contribute to collapse such as climate change, hostile neighbours, collapse of essential trading partners, environmental problems, and failure to adapt to environmental issues.
    2. Analyze theory of geographic determinism.
  7. Examine the relationship between resource degradation, climate change, and the role of humans in society.
    1. Examine developed versus developing societies environmental impacts.
    2. Assess the correlation between lifestyle and the impact on natural resource consumption and global environmental impacts.
  8. Compare and contrast human land use ethics in world cultures.
    1. Examine ethics associated with developed and developing societies.
    2. Assess environmental elitism.
  9. Formulate recommendations on policy direction for sustainable societies at a local, national, or international level.
    1. Investigate ideologies necessary for sustainable strategy implementation.
    2. Investigate policies and programs necessary for sustainable strategy implementation.
  10. Analyze and explore sustainable solutions at a local, federal, and global level through case studies.
    1. Explore case studies at each level.
    2. Compare and contrast sustainable approaches to counter the degradation of the earth's natural resources
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