Sustainable Development in Small
Island States: St. Lucia Fall semester: Course meets one day per week ~5-6:30 from
September-December |
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2004-5 website 2004-5 papers & ppts 2005-6 website 2005-6 papers & ppts 2006-7 website 2006-7 papers & ppts 2007-8 website 2007-8 papers & ppts 2008-9 schedule 2008-9 papers & ppts 2009-10 schedule 2009-10 papers & ppts |
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This course is a
general introduction to the problems of sustainable development on
small island developing states utilizing a case study of St. Lucia,
West Indies. In many ways, small island states are microcosms of larger
nations and even the planct, and are superb laboraties for learning
about sustainable development. The course culminates in a two-week field component in St. Lucia, working with local partners to solve pressing problems which they have identified. During weekly meetings during the semester, we will go over critical background information about the island, and do preparatory work for our field projects. Field projects will follow two different tracks. One track will work with the Ministry of Commerce, Investment, and Consumer Affairs on issues they identify related to consumer affairs and small enterprise development. The second track will focus on ecological economics-- the integration of ecological sustainability, social justice and economic efficiency. This track will collaborate with the Ministry of Social Transformation, the Department of Heritage Tourism, and/or community organizations. We will stress complementarities between these two tracks more than differences. In both cases, our goal will be to help solve pressing problems identified by our local partners. Previous projects include "buy local campaign", watershed management, energy efficiency, alternative energy, ethnobotany, etc. Problem solving courses are different from traditional courses for several reasons. While academics in universities study disciplines, people in the real worldstudy problems. That is, problems do not respect the artificial boundaries of disciplines, and complex problems can rarely be understood from within the narrow framework of a single discipline. In addition to the skills of disciplinary analysis, this course will focus on the skills of interdisciplinary synthesis, and the communication of research results to decision makers who can use them. |
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Course details: |
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Application Procedure: Submit answers to the following questions: 1. Major, minor, career interest One page minimum |
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For more
information, please contact :
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