Our human society consists of many intertwined Large Scale Socio-Technical Systems (LSSTS), such as infrastructures, industrial networks, the financial systems etc. Environmental pressures created by these systems on Earth’s carrying capacity are leading to exhaustion of natural resources, loss of habitats and biodiversity, and are causing a resource and climate crisis. To avoid this sustainability crisis, we urgently need to transform our production and consumption patterns. Given that we, as inhabitants of this planet, are part of a complex and integrated global system, where and how should we begin this transformation? And how can we also ensure that our transformation efforts will lead to a sustainable world?

LSSTS and the ecosystems that they are embedded in are known to be Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). According to John Holland CAS are "...a dynamic network of many agents (which may represent cells, species, individuals, firms, nations) acting in parallel, constantly acting and reacting to what the other agents are doing. The control of a CAS tends to be highly dispersed and decentralized. If there is to be any coherent behavior in the system, it will have to to arise from competition and cooperation among the agents themselves. The overall behavior of the system is the result of a huge number of decisions made every moment" by many individual agents.

Understanding Complex Adaptive Systems requires tools that themselves are complex to create and understand. Shalizi defines Agent Based Modeling as "An agent is a persistent thing which has some state we find worth representing, and which interacts with other agents, mutually modifying each other’s states. The components of an agent-based model are a collection of agents and their states, the rules governing the interactions of the agents and the environment within which they live."

This course will explore the theory of CAS and their main properties. It will also teach you how to work with Agent Based Models in order to model and understand CAS.

Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen argues that reducing humanity's ecological footprint is incredibly vital now, as the western consumer lifestyle spreads to developing countries. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 10-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.

Paper submitted and presented as part of the Open Ed 2010 Conference.

Students will learn that there is a finite amount of carbon on earth, which moves around in the environment, from one place to another. Activity is scaleable from elementary to high school with options to introduce advanced content. Wrap up includes role playing the carbon cycle with the addition of human influences (e.g. burning of fossil fuels). Activity can be done in classroom or outside, includes working in a group and role playing. Grades 3-12. This resources is part of the Our Changing Ocean and Estuaries Series

This course focuses on the complexities associated with security and sustainability of states in international relations. Covering aspects of theory, methods and empirical analysis, the course is in three parts, and each consists of seminar sessions focusing on specific topics.

This course on sustainability will cover the implications of this topic on engineering, design, and architecture. The course will begin with a general survey and discussion of current trends, followed by the introduction of the life cycle assessment (LCA) method as a rigorous, quantitative alternative to current popular sustainability measures for the built environment.

The course considers the growing popularity of sustainability and its implications for the practice of engineering, particularly for the built environment. Two particular methodologies are featured: life cycle assessment (LCA) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The fundamentals of each approach will be presented. Specific topics covered include water and wastewater management, energy use, material selection, and construction.

Course provides undergraduate students with an in-depth exploration of energy policy development, implementation, and assessment at multiple governmental and corporate scales. The course utilizes contemporary real-world problems and actions to provide students context for the drivers, frameworks, and assumptions of energy policy.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' The Lorax as an example of how over-development can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

Examines theories and practice of environmental justice, concerns about race, poverty, and the environment in both domestic and international contexts, exploring and critically analyzing philosophies, frameworks, and strategies underlying environmental justice movements. Examines case studies of environmental injustices, including: distribution of environmental quality and health, unequal enforcement of regulations, unequal access to resources to respond to environmental problems, and the broader political economy of decision-making around environmental issues. Explores how environmental justice movements relate to broader sustainable development goals and strategies. This class explores the foundations of the environmental justice movement, current and emerging issues, and the application of environmental justice analysis to environmental policy and planning. It examines claims made by diverse groups along with the policy and civil society responses that address perceived inequity and injustice. While focused mainly on the United States, international issues and perspectives are also considered.

This course explores the proper role of government in the regulation of the environment. It will help students develop the tools to estimate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations. These tools will be used to evaluate a series of current policy questions, including: Should air and water pollution regulations be tightened or loosened? What are the costs of climate change in the U.S. and abroad? Is there a "Race to the Bottom" in environmental regulation? What is "sustainable development"? How do environmental problems differ in developing countries? Are we running out of oil and other natural resources? Should we be more energy efficient? To gain real world experience, the course is scheduled to include a visit to the MIT cogeneration plant. We will also do an in-class simulation of an air pollution emissions market.

This Farmers' Agribusiness training course has been developed to help both farmers and farmer organisations. Its intention is to provide access to additional skills and knowledge that will allow farmers to move from a 'farm' to a 'firm'. Module 2 looks at sustainable agriculture. This lesson deals with vital agricultural inputs and resources, balancing of output and input requirements and helps the learner to understand improvement measures for agricultural resources available to them.

This Farmers' Agribusiness training course has been developed to help both farmers and farmer organisations. Its intention is to provide access to additional skills and knowledge that will allow farmers to move from a 'farm' to a 'firm'. This lesson discusses novel technologies for adoption by farmers in their production systems and explains various options in the drive for sustainable agriculture.

This Farmers' Agribusiness training course has been developed to help both farmers and farmer organisations. Its intention is to provide access to provide access to additional skills and knowledge that will allow farmers to move from a 'farm' to a 'firm'. In this lesson participants are asked to look at various online businesses to determine if any of the firm's advantages are sustainable.

Review of IPE field covering previous and core research focusing on dual national objectives in a global context, namely pursuit of power and pursuit of wealth. Surveys major paradigms of international political economy, including neoclassical economics, development and ecological economics, lateral pressure, and perspectives and structural views of power relations. Examines interaction of politics and economics on international trade, capital flows, foreign investment, intellectual property rights, international migration, and select issues in foreign economic policy in global context. Examines the evolution of international economic institutions and attendant political implications. Open to undergraduates by permission of instructor.

Multiple factors influence the success or failure of change efforts. The outcome depends on the nature of the innovation and how it is introduced (Evans, 1996; Fullan, 1993; Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999) or the strategies used to implement the innovation (Fullan, 1999, 2003a; Hall & Hord, 2001; Short & Greer, 1997). It also depends on what training opportunities and structural support are provided to those required to implement the change (Hall & Hord, 1987; Schlechty, 2001).

The studio will focus on the district of Gaoming, located in the northwest of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) - the fastest growing and most productive region of China. The District has recently completed a planning effort in which several design institutes and a Hong Kong planning firm prepared ideas for a new central area near the river. The class will complement these efforts by focusing on planning and design options on the waterfront of the proposed new district and ways of integrating water/hydrological factors into all aspects and land uses of a modern city (residential, commercial, industrial) - including watershed and natural ecosystem protection, economic and recreational activities, transportation, and tourism.

" The world is changing in two fundamental ways. First, the development of a truly global market in products, services, capital, and even certain types of labor is changing the basic terms of competition for an array of different firms and industries. Second, the rules and institutions governing the new international economic order are still in flux. National regulations are no longer adequate yet international accords over trade, intellectual property, labor standards, and a host of other issues are fiercely and frequently contested by competing interests. The final results of these debates will determine who wins and who loses in the new global economy. Understanding the interaction between environment and business around the world is the key to understanding both the possibilities for and constraints on either managing an existing or starting a new business in today's fast-changing economy."

These units, and the supporting resources of Global Words, aim to build the essential knowledge, skills and values young people need to participate actively, critically and creatively as global citizens. This curriculum integrates the teaching and learning of English, across strands of language, literature and literacy, with Global Citizenship Education, using explicit and exploratory teaching and learning activities. The four units use a range of text and text-types to address the themes of Sustainability, Refugees and migration, Neighbours, Asia/Pacific, and Indigenous peoples, with a focus on literacy with Geography and Human Society and its Environs curricula. All units of work include an overview, description of focus, four teaching and learning activities, and links to the curriculum content, strands, outcomes and indicators.