Fundamentals of Sustainability, a course offered through the Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics program, provides students with a broad and deep introduction to sustainability concepts and challenges through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs).
Throughout the course, students are presented with case studies highlighting scalable sustainability practices and examples of organizational leadership for sustainability while also engaging directly with several global thought leaders. Students collaborate in groups to research a sustainability issue, and with the UN-SDGs as a guide, they discuss challenges, propose solutions, and explore global, national, and local impacts of positive progress toward goal achievement.
In fall 2022, students formed 2-person teams to develop blog posts that allowed them to draw on course material and points of inspiration in a creative way. Each team chose a UN-SDG topic of interest and included takeaways from class readings, the news, and personal observations. Then, they wrote short, impactful blog posts with recommendations for change. Here are two examples from the class:
Nutrients and Climate Change: This blog post, developed by Allison Sloan (MPH) and Alina Stolten (MSEd) investigates the relationship between climate change and nutritious food—covering concepts such as food availability, food waste, and food quality. “We need to discuss hunger in the midst of the [climate change] crisis, not solely with the idea of access or a future concept in mind. Climate change is actively affecting the food we eat.”
- Download Nutrients and Climate Change to read it in full (pdf).
Discard Nation: Jacqueline Varoli (MSOD) and Linda M. Kardos (MES) wrote a blog about fast fashion and its environmental implications. Noting the amount of clothing thrown out every year, in addition to the greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals these garments release into the environment, they make the case that “each of us has an opportunity to consider the impact of our purchases—and set new trends. How? First, we can think before purchasing… and we can think before tossing.”
- Download Discard Nation to read it in full (pdf).
Read more about other projects developed for this course:
Foundations of Sustainability is offered to students enrolled in the Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics, Master of Environmental Studies, and Master of Science in Applied Geosciences programs. Read more about the course Fundamentals of Sustainability >
