Sustainable Development & the Environment
By minoring in sustainable development and the environment, you’ll examine whether transnational corporations can be both competitive and responsible by pursuing a strategy of sustainable development. Coursework is based on the premise that sustainable development means reconciling the need for economic growth, particularly in developing nations, with the need to protect both natural resources and quality of life.
You’ll gain an understanding of the basic principles of environmental protection and sustainability along with the emergence and consequences of globalization. Along the way, you’ll explore the increasing role of international cooperation in managing environmental problems and analyze recent attempts to measure and evaluate sustainable development.
What You Will Learn as a Sustainable Development & the Environment Student
The interdisciplinary Sustainable Development and the Environment minor starts from the premise that the world faces two interlocking and immediate moral crises; 1) the need to provide a decent quality of life for all the world’s inhabitants and 2) the need to protect the earth’s natural systems upon which all life depends. In all likelihood, the earth cannot physically tolerate the spread of the pattern of “development” present in the now developed countries. Indeed, many vital ecosystems are already overstressed and near collapse. This minor prepares you to tackle the issue of sustainability from a number of disciplinary perspectives and cultural contexts.
Global Citizenship
The minor promotes global citizenship through coursework that requires your examining questions of sustainability and development faced by people in communities and nations around the world. Experiential learning is promoted by field studies, which enable you to visit sustainable development projects in other countries and to engage in community service by working alongside local practitioners.
Responsible Leadership
Responsible leadership requires that we, as a global community, develop an alternative path to economic and human development that is consistent with, rather than contrary to, the laws of nature; a development strategy that is both regenerative and sustainable. This is the fundamental dilemma of our age. Untying this Gordian knot requires a deep understanding and execution of both global citizenship and responsible leadership. As Alexander von Humboldt once said, “The most dangerous worldviews are the worldviews of those who have never viewed the world.”The Sustainable Development curriculum provides an interdisciplinary foundation of knowledge that will enable you to play a leadership role in solving problems of sustainability at differing scales - from that of the individual to that of the global community.
Productive Careers
In combination with a related major (e.g. Environmental Studies, Political Science, Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, among others), you will well equipped and positioned to join a rapidly expanding field. Governments at all levels, businesses large and small, as well as not for profit organizations in many fields are all adding sustainability as a major area of concern.
Meaningful Lives
The Sustainable Development minor strives to help you develop into a thoughtful, creative graduate with the skills, knowledge, and ethics you need to lead a meaningful life. This minor will broaden your horizons and introduce you to a deeper relationship with both society and the natural world.
Expert Faculty
Department of Environmental Studies
Telephone:407.646.2392
Fax:407.646.2364
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Barry Allen, PhD
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Research interests: National-park policy and sustainable development
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Leslie Kemp Poole, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Research interests: History of the environmental movement, particularly the grassroots organizers who in Florida and across the country included many women
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Lee Lines, PhD
Professor of Environmental Studies
Research interests: Physical geography, food and sustainability, sustainable development, climate change impacts, and western North America
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Emily Nodine, PhD
Department Chair, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Research interests: Links between climate and the biosphere, aquatic and coastal ecosystems, wetland ecology and restoration, and scales of disturbance
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Bruce Stephenson, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies
Research interests: Intersection of regional planning, environmental protection, and urbanism
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Ann Francis
Sustainability Program/Environmental Studies Coordinator
Research interests: Promotes environmental and sustainable responsibility and awareness on campus