Presentation at the Massachusetts Green Careers Conference on October 4, 2018

1. EDUCATING FOR THE
ANTHROPOCENE
Nancy Lee Wood, Ph.D.
MA Green Careers Conference – October 4, 2018
Westborough, MA

2. Bristol Community College
Massachusetts
Campuses
Fall River – Main Campus
New Bedford
Attleboro
Taunton
eLearning
Students enrolled in credit programs: 7,637
Academic Programs: 150

3. BRISTOL Community College
Sustainability Studies Program
Degree and Certificate

4. PROGRAM RATIONALE
• Nearly all areas of life are or will be affected by the ecological events
of climate change, resource depletions, and species extinctions.
• A program of study that focuses on a fundamental understanding of
today’s socio-ecological crises, challenges and opportunities should be
implemented at every college and university.
• Students will need this knowledge, regardless of their career choices,
in their home, professional, community, and civic lives.

5. Four Interrelated Realities
Climate Change - Global Warming
Finite Resource Depletions
End of Economic Growth
Transition from Globalization to Relocalization

6. Three Guiding Prerequisites
toward a Sustainable - Resilient Future
1. Humankind must consciously re-enter the space of nature,
reorganizing and actualizing ways of living that coincide with
the bio-physical constraints of Earth’s systems.
2. A Paradigm Shift characterized by regenerative land management,
renewable energy, and localized economic activity is inevitable.
3. Transformation must be equitable, just, and democratic.

7. Structure of Sustainability Studies Degree
Program
Credits
Degree: Liberal Arts/Sustainability Studies 60-64
• General Education Courses (e.g. History, Math, Lab Science)
• 9 Core Courses
7 Newly Developed Courses
2 Previously Existing Courses
• Track Courses / 8 Choices - 3 Courses per Track
Education, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Health and Health Sciences,
Hospitality, Ocean Science, Sustainable Agriculture, Water and Water
Management

8. Sustainability Studies Degree Program
Core Courses
• *Sustainability and Humankind’s Dilemma: Life on a Tough New Planet
• *Resilient Sustainability: Preparing for the Future
• *Sustainability from Different Perspectives – 12 Faculty
• *Science versus Pseudo-Science
• Ecoliteracy, Education and Society
• *Sustainability, Human Rights and Climate Justice
• *Sustainable Economics: The Rise of the New Economy
• Environmental Sociology: Ecology and the Built Environment
• *Civic Engagement: Sustainability Capstone Project
• *Newly developed courses specifically designed for the Sustainability Studies Degree Program
• Additional Required Courses: Digital Photography, Fundamentals of Public Speaking, Composition I: Writing

9. Sustainability Studies
Certificate
• Sustainability and Humankind’s Dilemma: Life on a Tough New Planet 3
• Resilient Sustainability: Preparing for the Future 3
• Sustainability from Different Perspectives – 12 Faculty 3
• Science versus Pseudo-Science 3
• Ecoliteracy, Education and Society 3
• Sustainable Economics: The Rise of the New Economy 3
ELECTIVE - CHOOSE ONE
Sustainability, Human Rights, and Climate Justice 3
Environmental Sociology: Ecology and the Built Environment
• Additional Courses: Digital Photography (1); Fundamentals of Public Speaking (3); Composition I: Writing (3)
Total Credits. 28

10. Additional Required Courses:
Preparing Students to Communicate
• ART 151 Digital Photography
• COM 101 Fundamentals of Public Speaking
• ENG 101 Composition I: Writing

11. SUS 101 Sustainability and Humankind’s
Dilemma: Life on a Tough New Planet
Focus: Sustainability Crises Confronting Humankind:
Climate Change / Global Warming
Resource Depletions / Fossil Fuels, Rare Earth Metals,
Minerals, Potable Water, Arable Land
Species Extinctions
Unsustainability of Continued Growth Economy
Potential of Societal and Civilizational Collapse

12. SUS 101 Sustainability and Humankind’s
Dilemma: Life on a Tough New Planet
Areas Covered:
Socio-economic structural conditions driving ecological overshoot
Evidence and impacts: climate change, resource depletions, and extinctions
Globalization, uneven international development, poverty
Ecological stresses: deforestation, droughts, soil erosion, sea level rise,
wildfires, potable water, agriculture-food security
Environmental conflicts: wars, failing states and terrorism
Environmental refugees
Systems analysis of societal complexity and systemic breakdown

13. SUS 102 Resilient Sustainability:
Preparing for the Future
Focus: Existing and Emerging Adaptation Strategies
Areas Covered:
Regenerative land management – agriculture, grasslands,
reforestation
Harnessing renewable energy
Relocalization and the New Urbanism
Bioregionalism and the future of the nation-state
Population stabilization and poverty eradication
Conservation and curtailment strategies

14. SUS 104 Sustainability from Different
Perspectives – 12 Faculty
Focus: Ecological crises and responses - 12 disciplinal perspectives.
Areas Covered:
Agriculture History
Business-Hospitality Literature
Criminal Justice Physics
Culinary Arts Psychology
Engineering-Water Science-Oceanography
Health Sciences Sociology

15. SUS 201 Sustainability, Human Rights, and
Climate Justice
Focus: Ecological crises and disproportionate burdens experienced by the
world’s poorest populations.
Areas Covered:
Causes and consequences of uneven socio-economic development
Climate-driven threats/impacts to food and water security
Climate-driven threats/impacts to built-environment
Stressed livelihoods and income generation – gender inequity
Health, diseases and pandemics
Involuntary displacement and migration
Socio-political destabilization, conflicts and terrorism

16. SUS 203 Sustainable Economics: The Rise
of the New Economy
Focus: Limits to economic growth and globalization
Areas Covered:
Bio-physical constraints on economy: limits to and end of economic growth
Impacts on human populations: economic and financial stresses – gig economy
Emerging economic transformations:
Steady state, gift and shared economies
Relocalization of labor: agriculture, manufacturing, services
Cooperatives: worker-owned production; housing co-ops; energy co-ops
Local - regional currencies
Alternative finance and banking systems
Community “Participatory Budgeting”
Guaranteed income

17. SCI 110 Science vs Pseudo-Science
Focus: Learning tools to critically evaluate science in the news
Areas Covered:
Learning how science is done:
The peer review process
Common experimental designs
Importance of sample size
Interpreting graphs and statistics
Role of the media in conveying science

18. HUM 150 Ecoliteracy, Education and
Society
Focus: Educational theory and practice - 21st Century ecological
challenges
Areas Covered:
Practical/theoretical venues for sustainability experiences
Multiple educational perspectives to literacy and learning
Crucial inter-relationship of all life and all living things
Sustainable sensibilities of learning, knowledge, and society

19. SOC 253 Environmental Sociology:
Ecology and the Built Environment
Focus: Survey of contemporary environmental and social science
theory, research and data analysis
Areas Covered:
Social construction of reality
Public policy formation and its impacts
Role of corporate and social media
Environmental justice issues
Environmental social movements
Creative responses to environmental crises

20. SUS 204 Civic Engagement:
Sustainability Capstone Project
Focus: Civic Engagement Capstone Project
Purpose:
Designed to apply sustainability knowledge and skills to a
real-world situation in the field
Chosen by the student in collaboration with capstone advisor
and relevant agency
Six-hours per week minimum at chosen site
One-hour weekly meeting with capstone advisor
Culminates in PPT and written presentation – advisor and agency

21. Tracks and Courses
Education
Language, Education and Literacy
Philosophy of Education
Diversity and Multicultural Education
Engineering
Introduction to Sustainable Green Technologies
Introduction to Environment
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Measures

22. Tracks and Courses
Environmental Studies
Introduction to Sustainable Green Energy Technologies
Introduction to Environment
Water Supply and Hydrology
Health and Health Sciences
Physiology and Wellness
Introduction to Nutrition
Personal and Community Health

23. Tracks and Courses
Hospitality
Introduction to Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Hospitality Sales and Customer Service
Hotel and Motel Management Operations
Ocean Science
Principles of Ecology
Coastal Science
Introduction to Oceanography

24. Tracks and Courses
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture I
Sustainable Agriculture II
Food, Famine and Farming in the Global Village
Water and Water Management
Introduction to Environment
Waste Water Technology I
Water Supply and Hydrology

25. After BRISTOL Community College…..
Employment Sectors
Public and Private Sectors
Governmental and Non-governmental Agencies
Profit and Non-profit Organizations

26. Agencies of Employment
Business and Industry
Community Planning Boards
Environmental Action Organizations
Hospital and Nursing Home Operations
Municipal-State Offices – Sustainability Departments
Restaurant and Hospitality Services
School Departments and Districts
Social and Human Service Agencies

27. Types of Employment
Environmental Education Specialists
Environmental Responsibility Analysts
Media Specialists – Print Media, TV, Photo-Journalism
Parks and Recreation Planners
Recycling Directors and Waste Reduction Managers
Resource Management Specialists
Sustainability Consultants
Sustainability Coordinators
Sustainability Educators
Sustainability School Program Directors

28. Education Continued at Four-Year
Institutions
Business and Marketing
Engineering - Civil, Electrical, Mechanical
Environmental Studies
Health Sciences
Hospitality
Communication Studies
Social Work
Sustainable Agriculture
Teacher Training

29. Problems and Challenges
• Attracting students to the program – targeting receptive audiences
• Tendency is a somewhat older and experienced population
• Getting the college’s Communications Office on board
• Advisement office – getting advisers to understand the program
• Enrollment – registration issues
• Working with colleagues to promote the program
• Elimination of SUS prerequisites to encourage entry at any point
• Countering siloed education
• Cross-listings of courses

30. Everything that needs to be done is doable, but only if we
change our thinking and behaviors to coincide with nature…
…..and do so quickly.

31. THANK YOU!

32. CONTACT INFORMATION
Nancy Lee Wood, Ph.D.
BRISTOL Community College
Institute for Sustainability and Post-Carbon Education
777 Elsbree Street, E112
Fall River, MA 02720
NancyLee.Wood@bristolcc.edu
Tel: 774-357-2043