Applied Sustainability

While it might seem easier to seek out rapid technological or institutional solutions, true sustainability is complex and multifaceted. Creating a sustainable future requires an integrated approach occurring at multiple levels and across many domains. The liberal arts, which encapsulate diverse ways of knowing and problem solving, provides an ideal incubator for sustainable solutions for today (and tomorrow’s) environmental problems. In this course, you will learn how faculty from across the liberal arts are contributing to this global conversation while also using the initiatives and resources of the Carleton campus, Northfield community, and the Twin Cities Metropolitan area as working laboratories of innovation, reflection, and creative problem solving. The program culminates with a research symposium in which students will exhibit how different disciplines are applied to approach sustainability issues relevant in their own local spaces.