ENVE3000EVST3000: Borrowing the Earth from Our Children
Instructors: Mingming Lu & Teri Jacobs
Why take this course?
We are facing global challenges of urbanization, pollution and pandemic, etc. in addition to climate change. These highly complex issues involve many stakeholders and calls for sustainable practices by everyone in the community. That said, actions must often be considered from the personal perspective of “What can I do as an individual and as a member of my local community to have a positive effect on what comes next?”
One part of our pedagogical approach will be to help our students understand that they can affect what is happening now and what will come next. To this end students will search out on their own the broad scope of sustainable activities that people in the Greater Cincinnati area and beyond are engaged in, reflect on them and then make sensible choices considering local and global impacts. We can use urban soil as an example of urban revitalization, community engagement and sustainable practices. They will also work in groups to help community organizations advance their climate change/sustainable development goals.
Another component of this course will develop our students’ abilities to participate in and perhaps someday lead in efforts of sustainable development. They will research and reflect on how they can contribute to sustainable development in their future careers.
Description
The title of this course and the philosophy for it are derived from a quote by Wendell Berry who said, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” Climate change is happening now, and it threatens the lives and welfare of all the people of the earth. Therefore, this course will provide students with experiential learning activities demonstrating that we as individuals can do significant things to mitigate climate change. For the first time in history more than half of all people are living in cities rather than in the countryside. Thus, the focus of this course will be on urban activities to mitigate change and enhance sustainability, especially activities in and around the city of Cincinnati. Climate change and environmental sustainability are really two sides of the same coin, where sustainability means the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. So, our students’ experiential activities will focus on various climate change actions in the local community, they will also be learning how we as individuals can contribute to sustainable urban development. The course is designed to be highly interactive and will include seminars from community leaders, field trips, reflections, volunteering, and group discussions.
Our group discovered many sustainable businesses and efforts that Cincinnati was already doing or trying to do that most people, including us, were unaware of at the time. It was exciting... to see local people start businesses with sustainability as their top priority. Something I learned... is that you just simply have to talk to people about climate change.... In order to create real change, you need people to push the movement along and people won’t do this unless they are empowered to do so.
Kelly Helton Student in Fall 2024 class
Sample Research Posters
