Sustainability involves meeting basic human needs without undermining human communities, culture, or natural environments. This difficult goal requires recognition of the complex interrelationships among environmental, economic, and social forces and reexamination of our relationships to technology, natural resources, natural science, human development and/or local to global politics. Topics could include climate change and environmental pollution, economic globalization, north-south disparity, local and global strategies, agriculture and sustainable food production, environmental ethics and history, and social justice.

Themes in General Education are Designed to: assist students in making systematic and deliberate connections between the ways various disciplinary perspectives address the same topic. provide a framework for faculty in different departments to collaborate on research projects and share innovative teaching strategies. encourage students to explore areas of specific interest at a deeper level.

FCS 2110 – Global Awareness: Examining the Human Condition 3 hours A human ecological approach to the issues related to hunger, child and maternal mortality, access to primary education, and reproductive health. Economic, social, political, and geographic concepts will be related to current indicators of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in order to analyze impacts on individuals and families. Students will develop and evaluate strategies that enhance living conditions for families in local and global contexts. Emphasis will be directed toward families most affected by negative living conditions. Lecture three hours.

PHL 2015 – Environmental Ethics 3 hours This course is an introduction to ethical dimensions of environmental issues. Students will have the opportunity to study theoretical perspectives such as deep ecology, ecofeminism, Native American views of the land, and social ecology. The course will also consider environmental ethical issues such as the moral status of nature, pesticide use, environmental racism, the treatment of animals, deforestation, world population growth, and what it means to live an ecologically responsible life.

PHY 1830 – The Physical Principles of Energy and Sustainability 3 hours An introduction to the physical principles governing energy and renewable technologies. Topics will include: thermal, geothermal, electrical, magnetic, wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, and other sources of energy as well as other sustainable technologies such as conservation of material resources. PHY 1830 is not open to students who have credit for PHY 1102.

SD 2400 – Principles of Sustainable Development 3 hours This course is the foundation course for students interested in pursuing a major or a minor in Sustainable Development. The course will introduce students to the concepts and history of “development,” the origins of concerns about “sustainability,” and the marriage of these two ideas in the contested notion of “sustainable development (SD).” From that basis, the course will then examine the understanding and use of SD principles in and from various disciplinary and multi/interdisciplinary perspectives.

TEC 2029 – Society and Technology 3 hours This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the symbiotic relationship between technology and society. Examples of these relationships will be taken from historical accounts and from analyses of contemporary societies both in industrialized and non- industrialized countries. Lecture three hours.

GHY 1010 – Introduction to Physical Geography 3 hours A comprehensive study of our physical earth emphasizing the distributional patterns and inter- relatedness of its land, soils, natural vegetation and habitat, and weather and climate. Examinations of environmental issues including hazardous wastes, acid rain, floods, droughts, deforestation and air pollution.