Stanley J. Kabala, Ph.D., Associate Director
Center for Environmental Research and Education
Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA. 15282 USA

• Course Origins
▫ University Academic Sustainability Committee
▫ First offered in Spring 2012
• Course Goal
▫ To prepare students to become informed and engaged decision makers on sustainability and bring a multidisciplinary approach to this decision-making
• Course Aims
▫ Basis in Triple Bottom Line (TBL) & the 3 E’s
(Environment, Economy, Equity)
▫ Serve the University Core Curriculum in the
Social Justice theme area
▫ Become a permanent elective for all students at Duquesne

• Overarching Themes
▫ Learning how to engage in constructive discourse on issues of sustainability with constituents from varying backgrounds and disciplines
▫ Using multi-disciplinary communication & reasoning to resolve TBL dilemmas
• Conceptual Framework: 3 Levels
▫ Global, macro, world, conceptual
▫ Institutional/organizational, regional, national
▫ Micro, personal, local

Course Development
• Faculty: 9 instructors, 7 disciplines, 5 schools
• 11 meetings of 2 - 3 hours over Fall 2011
• Pro bono instruction in Spring 2012
• Teaching teams of two, with others joining

• Michael Irwin
• Stanley Kabala
• Lenore Resick
Sociology
Envir. Sci. & Mgmt.
Nursing
• Khlood Salman
• David Seybert
Nursing
Chemistry
• Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam Business
• Robert Sroufe
• John Stolz
• James Ulrich
Business
Biological Sciences
Leadership and
Professional
Advancement

Unit 1 The Big Picture
• Systems thinking basics: events, patterns, structure (Business)
• Social science, material elements of society and sustainability (Sociology)
• Introduction to major geophysical and biophysical systems (Environmental Science)

Course Structure and Content
Unit 2 The System Around Us
• Recognizing systems, systems dynamics
(Business, Environmental Science)
• Activity: Simulation exercise

Course Structure and Content
Unit 3 “The Data”
• Indicators of System
Limits
(Business,
Environmental Science)

The figure above shows the amount of warming influence (red bars) or cooling influence (blue bars) that different factors have had on Earth’s climate over the industrial age
(from about 1750 to the present). Results are in watts per square meter. The longer the bar, the greater the influence on climate. The top part of the box includes all the major human-induced factors, while the second part of the box includes the Sun, the only major natural factor with a long-term effect on climate. The cooling effect of individual volcanoes is also natural, but is relatively short-lived (2 to 3 years), thus their influence is not included in this figure. The bottom part of the box shows that the total net effect (warming influences minus cooling influences) of human activities is a strong warming influence. The thin lines on each bar provide an estimate of the range of uncertainty. Image Reference: Forster et al.
1

Course Structure and Content
Unit 4 The “A” in IPAT
Beliefs, Behavior, and Lifestyle
• Humans and nature: Society, culture, ideology, constructs (Sociology)
• Consumption as a driver of environmental degradation (Environmental Science)
• Activity: Personal ecological footprint calculations (Students)

• Source: Global Footprint Network http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/

Course Structure and Content
Unit 5 Ecosystem Sustainability (Biology)

Course Structure and Content
Unit 6 Business systems
• Industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis
(Business)
• Business, environment, and ethics
(Leadership)
• Activity: Natural Step simulation (Students)

Course Structure and Content
Unit 7 Business Systems, continued
• Natural Capitalism (Environmental Science)
• Valuing and reporting sustainability
(Business)

Course Structure and Content
Unit 8 New Industrial Systems
• Green Chemistry (Chemistry, Biology)
Unit 9 How to see it:
• Social Science and Public Policy
(Sociology; Environmental Science)

EPACT
FFCA
CERFA
CRAA
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
AM FA
ARPAA
AJA
ASBCAA
ESAA-AECA
FFRAA
FEAPRA
IRA
NWPAA
CODRA /NM SPAA
FCRPA
MM PAA
APA
SWDA
CERCLA
CZM IA
COWLDA
FWLCA
M PRSAA
CAAA
CWA
SM CRA
SWRCA
SDWAA
BLBA
FWPCA
M PRSA
CZMA
NCA
FEPCA
PWSA
MM PA
ESA
TAPA
RCRAA
WLDI
ARPA
HM TA
NWPA
WQA
AQ
A
NAWCA
M PRSAA
50
FRRRPA
SOWA
DPA
40
30
20
10
RHA
YA
0
1870 1880 1890 1900
NBRA
WA
IA
AA
1910
NPS
1920
TA
FWCA
BPA
M BCA
1930
AQA
FOIA
WRPA
AFCA
FCM HSA
FHSA
NFM UA
AEPA FIFRA PAA
FAWRA
NLRA
WPA
NH PA
WLDA
FWCAA
AEA
FWA
1940 1950 1960 1970
WSRA
EA
RCFHSA
1980 1990 2000
NEPA
EQIA
CAA
EPA
EEA
OSHA
FAWRAA
NPAA
PPA
PPVA
IEREA
ANTPA
GLCPA
ABA
CZARA
WRDA
EDP
OPA
RECA
CAAA
GCRA
GLFWRA
HM TUSA
NEEA
SDWAA
SARA
BLRA
ERDDAA
EAWA
NOPPA
PT SA
UM TRCA
ESAA
QGA
NCPA
TSCA
FLPM A
RCRA
NFM A
CZMAA

Course Structure and Content
Unit 10 How to get at it: Taking Action
• Approaches and points to intervene in systems
(Business)
• Tools and strategies
(Sociology; Environmental Science)
Unit 11 Health and the environment (Nursing)
• Patterns of health and illness
• Environmental justice

Course Structure and Content
Unit 10 How to get at it: Taking Action
• Approaches and points to intervene in systems
Business)
• Tools and strategies
(Environmental Science, Sociology)
Unit 11 Health and the environment (Nursing)
• Patterns of health and illness
Environmental justice

Environmental Health Assignment

Course Structure and Content
Unit 12 Health and the Environment, cont.
(Nursing, Chemistry)
Unit 13 Emerging Systems and Synthesis
(All Instructors)
Unit 14 Sustainability Action Plans
(Students)

Challenges
• Defining terms and clarifying meanings so as to merge differing disciplinary usages
• Providing content vs. offering frameworks
• Ensuring adequate and consistent course management
• Making sure the reading gets done
• Ensuring consistent grading

Status quo 2012
• Currently an Honors College offering
• Eventual University Core Curriculum elective
• Honors College single stipend for faculty in
2013
• Reliance on revolving instructional team

• Multi-disciplinary teaching team is a big plus: providing numerous points of view
• Each instructor begins tied to a disciplinary framework of concepts, terms, usages
• “Labels were different”
• Toys as ice breakers
• End-of-session “takeaways”

• the “people” part of the fractal triad
• environmental toxins and health

Learnings/Takeaways/Reflections III:
Critical Success Factors
• Grasp of the typical student’s knowledge base
• Exams/quizzes to ensure student responsibility
• The importance of a single person coordinating and facilitating
• End-of-session “takeaways”