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Our program aims to give students the breadth of wisdom to be able to
make a real difference in their own lives and the life of society. All
students are required to take a set of core courses that cover the full
range of Sustainable Living.
In addition, students interested in going deeper into one area of
sustainability have the option of following an educational
track/concentration within a key area of concern to sustainable
communities. Each track is comprised of at least four classes, designed
to build on each other and give students a greater level of expertise in
that particular subject.
(click each track below for details) |
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| Fundamentals of Sustainability -> | | The Fundamentals of Sustainability track starts from the awareness that
“sustainability” is a concept that is used differently by different
people, institutions, and governments. In fact, it is a normative
concept, meaning that it is based on human definitions of “norms.”
Another way of putting this is that the various definitions of
sustainability come from various ways of answering, “what is it that we
are choosing to sustain?” How a person, institution, or government
answers this question depends upon their understanding of equity,
ethics, philosophy, and spirituality. Therefore, the Fundamentals of
Sustainability track focuses on these foundational belief structures as a
way of understanding the myriad conceptions of “sustainability” at work
in the world today. Perhaps a more eloquent way of putting it comes
from Wendell Berry:
Before going further, we had better ask what is it that we humans need to know. We
need to know many things, of course, and many kinds of things. But let
us be merely practical for the time being and say that we need to know
who we are, where we are, and what we must do to live. These questions
do not refer to discreet categories of knowledge. We are not likely to
be able to answer one of them without answering the other two. And all
three must be well answered before we can answer well a further
practical question that is now pressing urgently upon us: How can we
work without doing irreparable damage to the world and its creatures,
including ourselves? Or: How can we live without destroying the sources
of our life? (“The Way of Ignorance” p. 59)
Courses
SL-F151 Deep Ecology
SL-F305 Spirituality and Sustainability
SL-F310 Social Justice and Sustainability
SL-F401 Philosophies of Sustainability
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| Applied Soil Ecology -> | | The conventional agriculture that we’re so familiar with produces high
yields, but at the cost of an unsustainable impact on human health, the
environment, the economy, and the social fabric. Surprisingly, even
organic agriculture is usually not fully sustainable. Enter the concept
of the living soil, as developed by Dr. Elaine Ingham, one of the
world’s leading soil biology experts. Basically, it holds that with the
proper balance of soil bacteria, protozoa, fungi, nematodes, and
microarthropods, any soil in the world can provide all the nutrition
required for a healthy crop. This track teaches students how to prepare
the compost and compost tea required to restore that nutrition to
soils, first through hands-on class work and then fieldwork on a
practicing farm.
Courses
- SL-G195 Living Systems
- SL-g201 Ecology
- SL 5350 Plant Biology
- SL -A301 Living Soil
- SL – 401 Planning a Family Farm (recommended)
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| Renewable Energy -> | | The energy track is for students who want to go into greater depth about
energy and sustainability. Currently, Energy 101 is offered every year,
and Energy 201-203 are offered in two year rotations. Good basic math
skills, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division,
working with decimals and fractions, basic trigonometric relation of
angles, areas, and volumes, basic algebra, and simple statistics like
averages and mean, are needed for deep understanding and success in
these courses. The suggested sequence of courses for the energy track
and descriptions of each course are listed below:
Courses
- Energy 101: Energy and Sustainability: The Energy Basis of Humans and Nature
- Energy 201: Renewable Energy Technology: Solar, Wind, Water Prerequisites: Energy 101, Math for Sustainable Living, Physics and Chemistry for Sustainable Living or permission of Instructor
- Energy 202: Renewable Energy Technology: Biomass,
geothermal, fuel cells, batteries, Power electronics, transportation
technologies, other misc energy conversion pathways Prerequisites:
Energy 101, Math for Sustainable Living, Physics and Chemistry for
Sustainable Living or permission of Instructor NOTE: It is recommended,
but not required, that students take Energy 201 before taking Energy 202
- Energy 203: Modeling and Monitoring Energy Flow Prerequisites: Energy 101, Math for Sustainable Living, Physics and Chemistry for Sustainable Living or permission of Instructor
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| Policy and social change -> | | There are ample technical solutions available to transform society to
sustainability. But all too often there are blocks to implementation. In
the Policy and Social Change track students seek to understand how
those blocks are rooted in human consciousness and psychology. Students
study the strategies that can be adopted to shift society’s mindsets and
what policies large organizations, especially corporations and
governments, can adopt to create a sustainable future. In the process,
issues of food and water security, energy and climate stabilization, and
many others are addressed from local to international levels. Here the
main courses of the track. The core course is offered every year. The
others are offered at least every other year.
Courses
- SL P101 Global Sustainability (core course): a big picture analysis of global systems and how sustainability can be created.
- SL P202 Policy for Food Security: an in depth look at food and water security, especially in developing nations.
- SL P303 Energy Policy for Sustainability: how to gear up human
society with clean energy for less pollution and a stable climate.
- SL P404 How to Create Social Change: a study of high powered change makers and how you can join this critical field.
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| Agriculture and food -> | | The agricultural track is for students interested in working to create
food systems that nourish and sustain communities. Students learn about
sustainable agriculture, organic agriculture and going beyond organic to
food production that is regenerative – an agriculture that renews the
land, people and communities. Students learn about the living soil,
taught by world-renowned soil biologist Elaine Ingham. Season extension
is another important subject for temperate climates; students learn
about greenhouses, passive solar hoop-houses, low tunnels and other ways
to grow food earlier and later in the season. A farm planning course
enables student to create a business plan for an economically
sustainable farm. Practical hands-on courses and internships on organic
farms give students real life experience. Possible job opportunities for
graduates of this track include: organic farmer, farm manager or
assistant farm manager, community garden manager, Farm to School
coordinator, Buy Fresh Buy Local coordinator, School Garden Program
Manager.
Courses
Organic Agriculture SL-A101
Season Extension SL-A201
Living Soil SL-A301
Planning a Sustainable Farm SL-A401
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| Sustainability and the built environment -> | | Everything we humans create or affect using physical
materials—buildings, roads, bridges and landscapes, from urban sprawl to
industrialized agriculture—can be considered part of the built
environment. Gaining a holistic view of the environmental and social
impacts of our constructed world is an important part of sustainability.
The track’s primary focus is on buildings. In their constituent
materials, their construction, and in the course of their useful life,
buildings are responsible for a large percentage of all energy and
resource use. Yet, even in the face of increasing energy costs and the
depletion of global resources, most buildings built today are
constructed to technological standards set fifty years ago. The four
courses in this track are designed to give students practical experience
in the newest methods, materials and design philosophies of “green”
construction—how to build energy efficient, healthy, affordable homes
and other structures to support the vision of sustainable community
living.
Courses
- SL—B101 Sustainability, Buildings and the Built Environment
- SL—B201 Natural Building
- SL—B202 Eco-cities
- SL—B301 High Performance Green Building: Shaping the Future with Regenerative Design
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