Title

Science and Society in Search of Sustainable Development:  20 Years after the Brundtland Report

Course Description

In 1987 Our Common Future was published by the Commission on Sustainable Development, chaired by Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. This report was a landmark document which set forth the framework of sustainable development for the coming decades. The report outlined the challenges and needs for a new approach for development that incorporated the need to consider issues of equity, security, and environmental integrity. Our Common Future defined a development pathway and evaluated multiple goals associated with meeting a triple bottom line: economic development, environmental conservation, and social justice.
 
The course will explore the historic context that brought the report forward, actions taken and not taken during the past 2 decades in addressing the Brundtland challenges, and seek to propose additional strategies needed to fully meet the goals of sustainable development in today’s world and the world in the near future.

Instructor (s)

Dennis Ojima and Michele Betsill

E-mail

dojima@nrel.colostate.edu  

Phone Number

491-1976

Credits

3

Academic Restrictions or Recommendations

None

Meeting Times

Tuesdays, Thursdays 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Classroom

B215 NESB

First Meeting Date

August, 21, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.

Section ID/CRN

65730

Will this course be cross-listed or cross-enrolled

Yes

Enrollment Limit

8 Ecology students/8 Political Science students

Background

None

Text to be used

Our Common Future and Global Environmental Governance: Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies by James Gustave Speth and Peter M. Haas. Additional readings will be required and made available through e-reserve. Students will be required to lead discussions, to submit summaries of discussions and readings, and to write and present an extensive term paper.