Sustainability Challenges and Transitions | THINK 40 | Autumn
Instructor & Department: Koseff, Jeff | Thinking Matters
Co-instructors: Gerritsen, Margot; Harris, Angela; Matson, Pamela; Nelson, Joey; Ruiz-Jones, Lupita
What are the most critical sustainability challenges facing us in this century? How can natural and social sciences, humanities, and technology fields interact to contribute to their solution? How do we balance the needs and desires of current generations with the needs of future generations? The term sustainability seems to be everywhere. Businesses, cities, non-governmental organizations, individuals, and universities such as Stanford use the term to characterize decisions that make sense for the well-being of people as well as the environment. Beyond the popular use of the term is an emerging field of study that focuses on the goals of sustainable development - improving human well-being while preserving Earth's life support systems (air, water, climate, ecosystems) over the long run - and explores how science and technology can contribute to the solution of some of the most critical problems of the 21st Century. The goal of this course is to engage you in critical thinking and analysis about complex sustainability challenges and to encourage you to consider the need for integrative solutions that draw on different disciplines. We will examine some of the major problems of sustainable development (including issues related to food, water, and energy resources, climate change, and protection of ecosystem services), grapple with the complexities of problem solving in complex human-environment systems, and participate in the design of effective strategies and policies for meeting sustainability goals. You will learn to develop policy briefs addressing sustainability issues in the university, local communities, state and the nation as well as work on team projects with decision makers that address real-life challenges in your local area.
The Business of Water | LAW 2508 | Winter
Instructor & Department: Thompson, Barton (Buzz) | Law
Co-instructors: Kline, Matthew
One of the fastest growing economic sectors is the water field, and private water companies are playing an increasingly important role around the world in water management. In many cases, private companies have made important contributions to meeting water needs (e.g., in the development of new technologies and expanding water supplies). In other cases, however, the involvement of private companies has proven controversial (e.g., when private companies have taken over public water supply systems in developing countries such as Bolivia). This course will look at established or emerging businesses in the water sector and the legal, economic, and social issues that they generate. These businesses include investor-owned water utilities, water technology companies (e.g., companies investing in new desalination or water recycling technologies), water-right funds (who directly buy and sell water rights), social impact funds, innovative agricultural operations, water concessionaires, and infrastructure construction companies and investors. Each week will focus on a different business and company. Company executives will attend the class session and discuss their business with the class. In most classes, we will examine (1) the viability and efficacy of the company's business plan, (2) the legal and/or social issues arising from the business' work, and (3) how the business might contribute to improved water management and policy. Each student will be expected to write (1) two short reflection papers during the course of the quarter on businesses that present to the class, and (2) a 10- to15-page paper at the conclusion on the class on either a water company of the student's choice or a policy initiative that can improve the role that business plays in improving water management (either in a particular sector or more generally).
The Social life of Human Bones | ANTHRO 115/215 | Autumn
Instructor & Department: Seetah, Krish | Anthropology, Archaeology
Skeletal remains serve a primary function of support and protection for the human body. However, beyond this, they have played a range of social roles once an individual is deceased. The processes associated with excarnation, interment, exhumation and reburial all speak to the place that the body, and its parts, play in our cultural as well as physical landscape.n This course builds on introductory courses in human skeletal anatomy by adding the social dynamics that govern the way humans treat other humans once they have died. It draws on anthropological, biological and archaeological research, with case studies spanning a broad chronological and spatial framework to provide students with an overview of social practice as it relates to the human body.
Theories of Change in Global Health | SOMGEN 207 | Spring
Instructor & Department: Luby, Stephen | School of Medicine General
The course undertakes a critical assessment of how different academic disciplines frame global health problems and recommend pathways toward improvements. Focuses on evaluating examples of both success and failure of different theories of change in specific global health implementations.
Topics in Earth System Science | ESS 301 | Autumn
Instructor & Department: Jones, James Holland | Earth Systems Science
Co-instructors: Konings, Alexandra
Current topics, issues, and research related to interactions that link the oceans, atmosphere, land surfaces and freshwater systems.
Transport and Mixing in Surface Water Flows | CEE 262B | Winter
Instructor & Department: Koseff, Jeff | Civil and Environmental Engineering
Co-instructors: Monismith, Stephen
Application of fluid mechanics to problems of pollutant transport and mixing in the water environment. Mathematical models of advection, diffusion, and dispersion. Application of theory to problems of transport and mixing in rivers, estuaries, and lakes and reservoirs.
Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries | CEE 265D | Spring
Instructor & Department: Davis, Jenna | Civil and Environmental Engineering
Economic, social, political, and technical aspects of sustainable water supply and sanitation service provision in developing countries. Service pricing, alternative institutional structures including privatization, and the role of consumer demand and community participation in the planning process. Environmental and public health considerations, and strategies for serving low-income households.
Water Law | LAW 2519 | Autumn
Instructor & Department: Thompson, Barton (Buzz) | Law
This course will study how society allocates and protects its most crucial natural resource -- water. The emphasis will be on current legal and policy debates, although we will also examine the history of water development and politics. Although the course will focus on United States law and policy, insights from the course are applicable to water regimes throughout the world, and we will occasionally look at law and policy elsewhere in the world for comparison. Among the many issues that we will consider are: how to allocate water during periods of scarcity (particularly as climate change leads to more extremes); alternative means of responding to the world's growing demands for water (including active conservation); the appropriate role for the market and private companies in meeting society's water needs; protection of threatened groundwater resources; environmental limits on water development (including the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the "public trust" doctrine); constitutional issues in water governance; Indian water rights; protection of water quality; challenges to substantively reforming existing water law; and interstate and international disputes over water. Students will be expected to participate actively in classroom discussions.
Zooarchaeology: An Introduction to Faunal Remains | ANTHRO 119/219 | Winter
Instructor & Department: Seetah, Krish | Anthropology, Archaeology
As regularly noted, whether historic or pre-historic, animal bones are often the most commonly occurring artefacts on archaeological sites. As bioarchaeological samples, they offer the archaeologist an insight into food culture, provisioning, trade and the social aspects of human-animal interactions. The course will be taught through both practical and lecture sessions: the `hands-on' component is an essential complement to the lectures. The lectures will offer grounding in the main methodological approaches developed, as well as provide case-studies to illustrate where and how the methods have been applied. The practical session will walk students through the skeletal anatomy of a range of species. It will guide students on the identification of different parts of the animal, how to age / sex individuals, as well as recognize taphonomic indicators and what these mean to reconstructing post-depositional modifications.