Sustainability Science: Biodiversity and

At least $58 trillion of the global economy (55% of GDP) is “moderately or highly reliant on nature" (PwC). Learn about the ecosystem services that biodiversity provides us for free (and why a more accurate calculation would be 100% of GDP). This course familiarizes future sustainability leaders with ecosystem dynamics, water-mismanagement consequences, waste-assimilation capacity, and the basic criteria for continued resource production. There are no science pre-requisites.

We will explore the endless interconnections on land, in the atmosphere, and in the ocean to better understand both ecosystem and economic risk and resilience. We will cover water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles along with other processes critical to biodiversity analysis, valuation and reporting, and data visualization. Topics include the diversity of life on Earth, freshwater management, energy systems (from photosynthesis to fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables), food systems (e.g., industrial vs. regenerative agriculture, pollination, pest control, soil fertility, fertilizer use, agroecology, aquaculture), marine systems (e.g., eutrophication, microplastics, ‘invasive’ species, overfishing), and how climate change is the great threat multiplier. We will focus on tradeoffs but also on Nature-based Solutions such as restoring wetlands and reefs as well as technological innovations including precision agriculture and carbon dioxide removal.