Sustainability Methods & Perspectives
An O.E.R.
Written by:
SUST 501 students (Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019) Guided by:
Professor Vanessa Levesque, Sustainability Dual Major, UNH
Preface
This reader is the first of its kind, specifically exploring the methods and perspectives that contribute to sustainability science. Throughout the following chapters we will delve into information about the following:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sustainability
Chapter 2: Sustainability Science
Chapter 3: The Role of Universities in Advancing and Promoting Sustainability
Chapter 4: Business as Sustainability Actors
Chapter 5: The Role of Municipalities in Advancing Sustainability
Chapter 6: Nonprofits in Sustainability
Chapter 7: Individual Action
Chapter 8: Creating collaborative teams and processes
Chapter 9: Ways of knowing
Chapter 10: Ethics
Chapter 11: Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches
Chapter 12: Knowledge co-production
Chapter 13: Boundary organizations, boundary work, and boundary objects
Chapter 14: Citizen science
Chapter 15: Connecting knowledge to action
Chapter 16: Three Relevant Case Studies
The three case studies are to help readers understand how the topics being learned are applied. These case studies are based off of field trips taken throughout the semester. Transdisciplinary research is prevalent in the first case study, while the second has a focus around boundary work and boundary objects.
This reader is being written by a class of college students from the University of New Hampshire. While writing this they are all currently in SUST 501, Sustainability Perspectives & Methods, learning and exploring the topics that will be covered in this reader. Since there is no complete undergraduate level textbook covering the topics of sustainability perspectives, they have been tasked by their professor, Vanessa Levesque, to compile an Open Educational Resources reader to cover these topics. This will make it possible to have one resource that covers the material necessary, and saves students from having to buy multiple textbooks for one class. Another benefit to having a student written resource is it will be understandable for other students, unlike many textbooks which can be hard for undergraduates to follow. Open Educational Resources (OER) are free to use in an attempt to keep the cost of textbooks lower.
This reader is expected to be used by SUST 501 classes in upcoming semesters. They also expect that it will be used by students of other universities, and individuals who may want to work collaboratively on sustainability challenges. Given that this is being written while the information is learned, the class anticipates that there will be gaps in the knowledge presented, and encourage readers to fill in where they feel necessary. The class hopes that future SUST 501 students will be adding their input to this reader in coming years.
