NREM 494 Course Justification

 Sustainability

 

NREM 494, Environmental Problem Solving, will achieve the following underlined course outcomes related to sustainability:

  1. In talking with multiple diverse stake holders connected to their environmental problem that is the focus of their semester, students will understand how individual perspectives fit into wider environmental problems.  In doing so, they will demonstrate a holistic understanding of how the individual related to the wider issue of sustainability.
  2. Through readings of case studies where structured decision making has been applied around the world, and using the case studies and understandings to inform their own research and approach in Hawaii, students will demonstrate how concepts of sustainability are connected to local, regional, and global issues.
  3. By solving an environmental problem in Hawaii using a structured decision-making framework that requires that they consider everything that is important to stakeholders (including the environment, economy, and socio-cultural issues), students will apply concepts of sustainability to a local challenge.
  4. By working with stakeholders in the Hawaii community and considering the multiple values and perspectives of these groups and individuals, and then incorporating these values into a decision-making framework, students will identify the socio-cultural values and attitudes that facilitate sustainable living at the local, regional and global levels.
  5. Through readings about case studies of decision-analysis that take into account traditional forms of knowing, and through working on environmental problems in Hawaii that often require consideration of native Hawaiian values and understandings, students will demonstrate a knowledge of traditional and indigenous methods and perspectives of sustainability.

NREM 494 also incorporates several sustainability core concepts.  Specifically, we tackle Sustainable Economics by jointly considering economies, livelihoods, and the environment in setting objectives in the structured decision-making framework; consider Ecosystem Services in quantifying the impact of a proposed alternative on the value of the environment to people; and engage with Environmental Justices through readings and discussions of the importance of identifying stakeholders and incorporating their values and attitudes into the decision-making process.