Sustainability is a 21st century buzzword and its definition varies across sectors, scales, and regions. Though all countries share a role in ensuring a sustainable future, given their large populations, GDP, and rates of resource consumption, the United States and China are the most critical actors in this narrative. Join the Department of Geographical Sciences for a short term study abroad program in Beijing, China, to learn about the country's sustainability initiatives through field visits, lectures, professional presentations, and group work with Beijing Normal University college students. You will examine why environmental change is spatially distributed, and how sustainability decisions are made within societies on multiple scales and by multiple cultures. Take this unique opportunity to learn and see the interactions of society and sustainability in China - the country that potentially holds the most peril and promise to a sustainable global future. By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Understand the balance of social, environmental, and economic priorities in a rapidly developing country
- Juxtapose western perspectives on pro-environmentalism and globalization with those of Chinese sustainability professionals and students
- Discuss major dilemmas surrounding Chinese natural resource consumption, economic development, and sustainability
- Critically analyze China's urban sustainability plans, and communicate differences between these and American urban sustainability plans.
