Introduction to Sustainability Learn more

Sustainability is an economic concept where monetary and financial aspects are integrated with social aspects including cultural, environmental and health related matters. Moving towards sustainability is a social challenge that involves national and international law as well as cautious urban planning, ethical consumerism and modifications in local and individual lifestyles.
The target of living more sustainably can be achieved through a number of ways, from reorganizing living conditions to reappraising economic sectors and making adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. Sustainability can also be achieved by using science to develop new technologies that are not only cost effective but also environment friendly. Having that said, the possibility that human societies will be able to achieve economical and environmental sustainability sometime in future has been and continues to be questioned.
If you want to learn various effective ways for achieving environmental and economical sustainability then take this free online course, Introduction to sustainability. Some key issues that will be discussed in this course are:
- Is there enough water and food for the 21st Century?
- What are the physical and social constraints behind water stocks?
- Can economists lead the way to sustainability?
Table of Contents:
- Introduction to the course
- Pessimism vs. optimism
- Neo-malthusians
- J-curves, S-curves and the IPAT equation
- Demographics and the disappearance of the third world
- Demographics, population trends
- Tragedy of the Commons
- Fisheries, pastures, public vs private solutions
- Climate Change – The climate of the near future: hot, hotter, or hottest?
- Weather vs. Climate, Proxy and data climate evidence, Climate projections
- Energy
- Peak Oil/Fossil Fuel, Energy survey, availability, and density, EROI
- Agriculture and Water
- GMOs and the Green Revolution
- Energy and water efficiency metrics,
- Environmental Economics and Policy
- Environmental Evaluation,
- Ethics and Culture and Measurement
- NeCarbon Footprints
Author Bio:
This course has been prepared by Dr. Jonathan Tomkin, who is the Associate Director of the School of Earth, Society and Environment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also research Associate Professor in the department of Geology.

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