This course introduces the academic approach of Sustainability and explores how today’s human societies can endure in the face of global change, ecosystem degradation and resource limitations. The course focuses on key knowledge areas of sustainability theory and practice, including population, ecosystems, global change, energy, agriculture, water, environmental economics and policy, ethics, and cultural history. This subject is of vital importance, seeking as it does to uncover the principles of the long-term welfare of all the peoples of the planet. As sustainability is a cross-disciplinary field of study, this foundation requires intellectual breadth: as I describe it in the class text, understanding our motivations requires the humanities, measuring the challenges of sustainability requires knowledge of the sciences (both natural and social), and building solutions requires technical insight into systems (such as provided by engineering, planning, and management).
提供方
教学大纲 - 您将从这门课程中学到什么
Orientation and Introduction
In this module, you will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and the learning environment. The orientation also helps you obtain the technical skills required for the course. In the introduction, we will examine some of the central ideas that underpin the Earth as a system, and their consequences for environmental sustainability.
Population
In this module, we will see how human populations have evolved over time and get a sense of where the next century of change will take us.
Ecosystems and Climate Change
In this module, we will see that the Earth faces many environmental pressures that result from human exploitation of natural resources. We will also look at the issue of climate change.
Energy
In this module, we will look at energy use. We will also consider what the trend of energy use means for the planet, and how we might transition to a more sustainable pattern of use.
Water and Agriculture
In this module, we will explore the connection between water and food, and see what will be required to feed the planet over the course of the century.
Environmental Policy
In this module, we will examine some of the common tools used by policy-makers, and some of the forces that shape (or misshape) policy.
Measuring Sustainability
In this module, we will examine what tools are available to measure sustainability. Finally, I will make some predictions on global sustainability for the 21st century, based on the models we have spoken about in this course and the trends that have been observed in the early part of this century.
Conclusion
Welcome to the end of the course! This module has a final, comprehensive quiz that covers all of the topics that we’ve seen in the previous seven modules. You’ll want to be familiar with the goals and objectives, key phrases, concepts, and guiding questions from the earlier modules to do well on this final quiz.
31%
26%
来自可持续发展导论的热门评论
It is a well prepared course. Contents are carefully organized and plenty of concepts and examples are included and analyzed. Overall, it is a excellent course to get an overview of sustainability.
This was my first Coursera course, and I wasn't sure what to expect; but was very pleased with the organization, timescale things were run on, and overall neutrality of the course. Very well done!
讲师
Dr. Jonathan Tomkin
Associate Director关于 伊利诺伊大学香槟分校
常见问题
我什么时候能够访问课程视频和作业？
注册以便获得证书后，您将有权访问所有视频、测验和编程作业（如果适用）。只有在您的班次开课之后，才可以提交和审阅同学互评作业。如果您选择在不购买的情况下浏览课程，可能无法访问某些作业。
我购买证书后会得到什么？
您购买证书后，将有权访问所有课程材料，包括评分作业。完成课程后，您的电子课程证书将添加到您的成就页中，您可以通过该页打印您的课程证书或将其添加到您的领英档案中。如果您只想阅读和查看课程内容，可以免费旁听课程。
退款政策是如何规定的？
有助学金吗？
还有其他问题吗？请访问 学生帮助中心。
