This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to sustainability and examines the essential interdependence between environmental, human, and economic systems. The class focuses on the theories and practices that respect the Earth's ecological limits so that these systems remain viable now and into the future. Students will explore the interrelated environmental, social, and economic problems that we currently face at the local, national, and global scale and the solutions that individuals, governments, and institutions are implementing in an effort to ensure a sustainable future.

Sustainable development has become a crucial concept in international initiatives worldwide. It attempts to foster policies that balance the need for economic development with practices that promote healthy communities and ecosystems. This course is based on the instructor's theoretical and practical experience gathered in developed and developing countries under market and command economies conditions. Special emphasis is placed on the role of institutions, both governmental and non-government, in shaping economic policies that are compatible with environmental health. The course pursues the objective of preparing students to understand main environmental problems and to generate solutions for these problems from a multidisciplinary perspective.

This course focuses on the interactions between urban areas and the environment. It is a discussion of the physical setting of cities; the water, energy, air and waste disposal needs of urban areas; and the effects of urban areas on the air, water and land environment.

This course is designed to provide students with the scientific tools necessary to understand and critically evaluate both personal and policy decisions regarding the variety of options (e.g. fossil fuel, solar, wind, etc.) for energy generation and use. The course also focuses on the environmental impacts of all forms of energy, from the extraction of fossil fuels and mineral resources from the earth, to the generation, distribution and consumption of energy, and ultimately emission of fossil fuel combustion products, notably carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gasses, to the atmosphere. Course fee applies.

This course introduces the student to the general principles of climate change and how it affects weather, agriculture, ocean levels, etc. In recent years, the problem of global climate change became one of the most important issues in science and politics. This course will cover topics like natural and human made climate changes, the handling of proxy data and data methods, and social behavior.

Conservation biology is an interdisciplinary endeavor concerned with the protection and management of biodiversity. It employs insights from the biological sciences, from the theory and practice of natural resource management, as well as from the social sciences and humanities. The reach of the discipline is vast ? ranging across all organismal groups and the landscapes and processes that sustain them ? we will therefore restrict ourselves to a general overview and draw upon a series of case studies in Chicago area. Lab fee applies.

In this course we examine the way ecological ideas can increase our understanding of cities in ways that assist us in making cities more habitable ? cleaner, healthier and more biodiverse. We will pay considerable attention to the ways in which ecology can be broadened by its encounter with disciplines that have historically paid more attention to the city ? urban sociology, anthropology, economics, demography, architecture and planning.This course has a required lab; some Saturday field trips.

This course concerns theoretical concepts and empirical research relating to administrative behavior in organizations with special reference to educational organizations. Concepts are examined within the typical decisional framework of supervisors, chief school business officers, principles, and superintendents, and similar positions in the helping professions. Assignments are individualized.

Introduces students to the critique of our consumer culture. Teaches students how to be critical consumers and understand how to be critical consumers and understand how we consume lifestyles, images, aesthetics, and desire through our shopping patterns. Provides theoretical, observational, and critical tools that allow students to critique patterns of consumption, the production of culture through consumption, and how consumption is a means of communication. (Formerly CMNS 324)

Provides a foundation in the communication skills necessary for achieving conservation goals. Introduces communication approaches such as social marketing, citizen participation, public campaigns, and environmental interpretation that have proven effective in the work of conservation professionals. (Formerly CMNS 325 - ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP)

Rhetorical perspective on environmental public discourse. Course also explores the relationship between rhetorically constituted ideas about nature and the development of political and social ideas, institutions, and practices that inform our understanding of the human place in the environment. (Formerly CMNS 326)

A theoretical and applied investigation of the social, political, and economic processes influencing the spatial distribution of environmental amenities and harms across the U.S. urban landscape, with particular focus on urban structure and the role of environmental justice struggles in shaping urban policy and the urban landscape. Formerly GEO 120.

This course looks at public policies pertaining to urban sustainability. Low-carbon transportation, green building policies, locally produced renewable energy, and storm water management policies are among the topics discussed.

This course is an introductory history of the ideas of nature that emerged over the last two and a half centuries in Europe and the United States. We examine how the conceptions, meanings, and values of nature today have been influenced by the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, Romanticism, and evolutionary theory; notions of the sublime, the frontier, and wilderness; and the practices of conservation, preservation, and restoration. Also discussed are the ideological commitments of current environmentalisms, in particular sustainability.

The environmental issues that confront us are both global and local; they involve political, economic and ethical decision-making by governments, corporations and citizens. Students will explore and evaluate diverse approaches to a range of such issues, as well as the ways different thinkers and different cultures have envisioned the relationship between human beings and the natural world-all with a view to understanding their own relationships to the natural world, their own environmental ethics.

Issues in Environmental Design is an introductory course that will examine concepts, theories and practices across multiple scales of design, including architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Students will discuss and evaluate the design decisions that compose our built environment with a focus on contemporary ideas of ecological sustainability. Examples of excellence will be explored through the examination of case studies. The underlying theme is the connection between culture and nature, and how we may reduce our negative impact on systems that support all life while building positive systems that support all life.

This course will acquaint students with the challenges, opportunities, practices, and transformative potential of urban agriculture. Taking an interdisciplinary, integrative, case-study approach, this course will explore issues such as food access, food security, food deserts, community gardening, farmers markets, locavore food movement, entrepreneurial aspects of urban agriculture, method of food production, community nutrition, and food consumption patterns. The course will meet both in the classroom and on-site at an urban farm, where students will work in all aspects of the farm as well as learn to organize communities in an effort to help them create food security and access to healthy food systems.

This course will acquaint students with the challenges, opportunities, practices, and transformative potential of urban agriculture. Taking an interdisciplinary, case-study approach, this course will explore issues such as food security, community gardening, farmers markets, the locavore food movement, entrepreneurial aspects of urban agriculture, methods of urban food production, and food consumption patterns. The course will meet in the classroom and on-site at the DePaul urban farm and greenhouses. In addition, students are expected to spend several hours each week outside of class time engaged in hands-on experience in urban farming at DePaul or at local sites arranged with the instructor.

In this course students will engage issues central to the design of landscapes, examining the complex exchange between social perception, ecological function and physical form in landscape architecture. Students will evaluate the formal character of particular landscapes and how this expression contributes to the overall experience of a place. The literary perspective of the course will focus on the rich tradition of associations between landscape design and social ideologies. Students will be asked to apply concepts from the literature to landscapes from their own personal experience to understand how meaning is both deeply personal and culturally derived. Students will extend this interpretation to creating their own landscape design for transforming an existing site in Chicago.

This course offers a critical analysis of the concept of community food systems as it has been employed as an alternative to the global agro-food system. Readings, lectures, films, guest speakers, site visits, and field projects will provide students with an overview of emerging community-driven efforts at producing, distributing and consuming food. Emphasis will be placed on (1) local, community-based food projects within urban contexts in North America; (2) whether or not these projects constitute more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable approaches to provisioning households, neighborhoods, towns and cities; and (3) the degree to which such projects enhance the control over, accessibility to, and healthiness of food. Students will gain an understanding of the current global food system in relation to producing, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, eventually discarding of food. Comparisons will be drawn with emerging local production, distribution and procurement processes driven by the interests of community groups and organizations concerned with health and nutrition, the environment and social justice. There will be a specific focus on the application of community food systems in urban sectors where access to fresh food is challenged, for example, as a result of historical patterns of racial segregation and social exclusion. Students will gain an understanding of such challenges through engaging in field projects in support of local food production and distribution within Chicago communities.

This course explores the roles of individuals and organizations in advocacy through the lens of environmental justice, particularly as power arrangements facilitate or impede consensus building. The course examines how legislation is written and how this process has impacted communities of color. Special attention is paid to advocacy techniques such as lobbying, movement-building, public education and litigation.