Overview of Course

The goal of this course is to focus on how variables such as economics, infrastructure, politics, cultures and historical use of resources affect sustainability practices and the use/abuse of resources worldwide. In particular, we will focus on how these issues play out within the countries we will visit on our voyage. We will use multi-disciplinary data to study and develop potential solutions to complex human-societal-environmental challenges at multiple scales, and look at how individuals to multi-national consortiums use, interact, and deal with the complexities of resource use and impacts on the environment. We will investigate current resource and sustainability issues, evaluate alternative scenarios to current practices and policies, and discuss interventions to achieve more sustainable behaviors and practices.