Environmental Sustainability: Science, Public Policy, and Community Action

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Offered every fall semester

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Overview

Program Categories:

United States

Program Location:

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota

Semester(s) offered:

Fall Semester

Program Start/End Dates:

September 8, 2015 to December 18, 2015

Program Fees:

Member and non-member schools use different fee structures.

Check here for more information.

We are at a pivotal moment in our social and ecological history. The most pressing environmental challenges today are global in scale and require scientific, creative, and systems thinking to understand their root causes and forge more just and equitable solutions. This semester program gives students the opportunity to learn the science behind key environmental issues, explore the intersections between social and environmental justice, and participate in public policy and community–based strategies to achieve sustainability. Rather than simply outlining the vast challenges we face, this program gives students meaningful ways to translate what they are learning into hopeful practice and to find their place in a vibrant mosaic of local actors working to build more resilient and just communities and systems.

In the land of lakes and rivers, Minneapolis and St. Paul are built within a rich natural landscape that is home to one of the most active networks of environmental organizations in the country. Students also participate in internships and in a grant funded community based research project. This program takes an integrated approach to environmental issues, addressing the linkages between rural and urban concerns as well as the way local decisions relate to regional and global trends. Topics include climate change, environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, land use management and watershed protection, industrial pollution, alternative energy, and social movements.

Environmental problems are commonly viewed as technical problems. However, the most difficult and enduring challenges are social and institutional. This dynamic investigation unfolds within a complex urban setting where questions of equity, justice and sustainability lead students to discover careers, life directions and new ways of knowing.

The program includes field experiences that focus on basic ecosystem evaluation. Short trips throughout the semester offer opportunities to integrate theory and practice. As part of the field methods course, students carry out on-the-ground research as part of a community-based project. HECUA also designs an internship experience for all students that meets personal learning goals and connects program themes. Extraordinary mentors in the environmental arena lead students to participate in meaningful work during the internship portion of the program.

HOUSING

For students in need of housing, space is available at a residential hall at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. The cost is $1,400 per academic term. For information, including student eligibility, deadlines, and the application itself, visit HECUA's Housing Program.

Syllabus & Coursework

Documentation & Syllabus Examples:

A sample syllabus

Prerequisites/Eligibility:

Think this program is just for science students? Think again! This program integrates natural and social sciences within a social justice framework and there are no course prerequisites. Liberal arts students in the humanities and social sciences regularly participate successfully. The program takes an integrated approach to environmental issues by addressing the linkages among ecological, economic, and social systems. In addition to providing an introduction to the science behind key environmental issues, the program also provides tools for analyzing the human context of environmental conflict, as well as strategies for social change.

Students who apply must have completed one academic year in a four-year degree-seeking program, and hold a GPA of 2.5 or higher (2.0 GPA students are still welcome to apply, but will receive extra scrutiny).

Courses:

Environmental and Climate Justice
Ecology and Socio-ecological Systems Change
Field Research Methods and Investigation
Internship

Total: 4 course credits / 16 credit hours
The courses are taken as an integrated whole and provide the equivalent of a semester's worth of credit, i.e. 4 course credits, 16 semester credits, or 27 trimester credits. This program is full-time with classes two days a week (9:30am to 3pm) and around 12 hours weekly in an internship. A few field trips include overnight stays outside the Twin Cities.

Example Internships

The following provides detailed information on internships that have been available most recently. Sites often change in response to the needs of local organizations and the specific interests of students participating in the program where possible.

Carver County Environmental Services

One of the roles of the Carver County Environmental Services department is to promote recycling and organics composting and demonstrate the benefits of source reduction and reuse. The Environmental Sustainability student developed her composting and waste management knowledge by managing and monitoring the County’s compost site and leading the Minnetonka Middle School’s Food Waste Project. The information she gathered as a part of the waste reduction project will be used by the school district to implement a district wide recycling and organics collection program.

Website Link:

http://www.co.carver.mn.us/departments/LWS/env-svc/index.asp

City of Minneapolis-Environmental Services

Minneapolis Environmental Management is responsible for preventing, controlling, and mitigating activities that affect the natural environment of the City of Minneapolis. They protect the quality of our natural resources by enforcing odor, smoke, and emission regulations, planning for the wise use of our waters through watershed management, and cleaning-up and restoring polluted lands. The HECUA student worked to develop a green building policy for rental properties in Minneapolis. She researched existing policies in other cities, looked into renter demographics, landlord histories, and problem properties. The policy proposal she contributed to is being presented to the Minneapolis City Council. She was also able to attend a green building lecture series though the City of Minneapolis.

Website Link:

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/environment/

City of Saint Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity

The Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity was created in 2009 to merge a number of government departments, including Purchasing. The City is responsible for coordinating the purchasing for the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County and ensuring that its purchasing procedures are transparent and ensure inclusion in contracting. The Environmental Sustainability student worked closely with the Human Rights Department, the Mayor’s Office, and the Public Works department to assist in the development of the City
of Saint Paul’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy.

Website Link:

http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=2728

Dodge Nature Center

Located on 320 acres of diverse landscape, Dodge Nature Center offers a variety of experiences with the natural world for all ages. School groups visit the center to engage in hands-on learning programs on more than 50 nature-related topics. Individuals participate in community education classes on evenings and weekends, and in day camps for school aged children. Dodge also operated miles of hiking trails, prairie and oak savanna restoration projects, and a preschool. HECUA students worked as education and restoration interns. They taught K-8 students in environmental education classes, worked in invasive species removal and controlled prairie burning, designed and inventoried class materials, and cared for the reptiles and amphibians at the center.

Website Link:

http://dodgenaturecenter.org/

Eureka Recycling

Eureka Recycling is one of the largest nonprofit recyclers in the United States and a leader in demonstrating the best waste reduction and recycling practices not only for the Twin Cities metro area, but also for the nation. For over 15 years, Eureka Recycling has been Saint Paul's nonprofit recycler. Under a long-term contract with the city, Eureka Recycling provides recycling services to Saint Paul's homes and apartments. In addition, Eureka Recycling is a leader in waste reduction education and advocacy. The HECUA student worked on a campaign to provide affordable, sustainable recycled chemical free paper to small business and individuals. He also contributed to a resident survey for a pilot project that would provide door-to-door compost pick up for the City of Saint Paul.

Website Link:

http://www.eurekarecycling.org/

Friends of the Mississippi River

FMR is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the Mississippi River and its watershed in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Though education, outreach and advocacy, they protect water quality, conserve vital land along the river and tributaries, and foster a sense of place that is rooted in the unique ecological, cultural, historical, scenic, and recreational assets of the Mississippi. Their program areas are Land Conservation, Watershed Protection, and Ricer Corridor Stewardship. The HECUA student led large-scale outdoor volunteer events along the Mississippi River. She spent the colder months managing FMR’s social media outreach and education efforts, editing photos for the website, and writing the volunteer evaluation report.

Website Link:

http://www.fmr.org/

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

MISA is a partnership of the University of Minnesota’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and the Sustainers’ Coalition. Their main program is the organic student farm located on the Saint Paul campus of the U of M. The mission of the farm is to steward a student-managed, organic, sustainable farm that provides food, a place for community building, multidisciplinary education, research and outreach. The HECUA student working here learned about organic farming by working on the farm completing tasks such as harvesting crops for market, covering crops, and saving seeds. She helped to market and sell the produce at the Student Organic Farm’s market.

Website Link:

http://www.misa.umn.edu/

Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition

The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition is a coalition of over 40 labor, family farm, faith, environmental and social justice organizations across the state of Minnesota. They advocate for the benefits of fair trade and explain why the current system of unregulated trade fueled by agreements such as WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA has favored the interests of a few multinational corporations instead of the interests of a majority of the world's people. The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition’s Trade Stories Project puts a name, face and story to the job loss numbers and other consequences of bad trade deals. The Environmental Sustainability student managed outreach, publicity, and the Trade Stories blog, as well as conducting interviews for the Trade Stories project with Minnesotans – farmers, factory workers, immigrants – on how trade has affected their lives. These stories will be shared on their website, via newsletters, at community events, and during lobby visits with Members of Congress.

Website Link:

http://mnfairtradecoalition.org/

Science Museum of Minnesota—Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center

The mission of the Science Museum of Minnesota is to realize the potential of policy makers, educators, and individuals to achieve full civic and economic participation in the world. The Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC) is a museum department that has been in existence since 1994. The core purpose of the KAYSC is to empower youth to change our world through science. The KAYSC engages approximately 100 youth annually in grades 7-12 in science programming after school, on Saturdays, and during the summer. The two Environmental Sustainability students this semester worked directly with the youth in the Earth Buzz, DREAMS, and Climate Change Crew groups. One of the ES students led the youth in building a structure on which to grow edible mushrooms for local distribution. The other student developed educational curriculum and played a lead facilitator role with the youth in the programs where he helped them develop public speaking skills on climate change science.

Website Link:

http://www.smm.org/kaysc

Sierra Club North Start Chapter

The Sierra Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. The North Star Chapter is one of the Club's oldest, recently celebrating our 40th anniversary of helping to preserve and protect the environment in Minnesota. They do this through both educational programs and political activism. One HECUA student worked with event planning for the 10/10/10 event and Climate Solutions Revolution, organized volunteers, and worked to promote events through phone banking, email blasts, and letters to the editor. Another student worked on the Campus Beyond Coal campaign, tabling at events and building further connections with student groups on the University of Minnesota campus.

Website Link:

http://minnesota.sierraclub.org/

Youth Farm and Market Project

Youth Farm & Market Project is about youth gardening, cooking, nutrition, and entrepreneurship. It’s about youth connecting to their food and the environment – YFMP youth currently farm 9 garden sites – over 2 acres of urban land in Minneapolis and St. Paul. YFMP is bringing quality healthy food to urban neighborhoods and exploring culinary traditions from around the world – cooking and distributing over 11,000 pounds of fresh, local produce. YFMP works with almost 500 youth ages 9-13 and employs 25 teens as interns during the school year and youth staff during the summer program. One HECUA student conducted a community food assessment using community based research methods. She planned and created interviews about Youth Farm’s food distribution process, collected and analyzed data, and contributed to the final report for the community and for the project funders. The second HECUA student ran an after-school gardening and cooking class for youth.

Website Link:

http://youthfarm.net/

Additional Internship Sites:

Bell Museum of Natural History

District 1 Community Council

Dovetail Partners

Frogtown Gardens

Great Plains Institute

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Line Break Media

Neighborhood Energy Connection

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

Permaculture Research Institute

Seward Redesign

Washington Conservation District

World Savvy

Faculty

Sam Grant

Environmental Sustainability Program Director

U.S.-based, St. Paul, MN, HECUA

Office:

2233 University Ave. #210

cell: 510-619-6206

[email protected]

Louis Alemayehu

Community Faculty, Environmental Sustainability

U.S.-based, St. Paul, MN, HECUA

Emily Seru

Manager of Internships and Community Partnerships

HECUA

651-287-3313

[email protected]

Field Study

The Environmental Sustainability program students meet twice a week for the in-class portion of the semester at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), one of the nation's premiere nonprofit research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable food, farm, and trade systems. Nestled in South Minneapolis it's an easy location to bus, bike, or walk to and students have found the meeting area to be cozy and inviting. A great many guests and field speakers—activists, authors, researchers, and other experts and community members—join the group at IATP each semester, but also lots of learning occurs outside of the classroom walls. A number of the field trips taken during the semester are overnight experiences. Recent excursions have been to:

Southeast Minnesota
On this trip students travel south along the Mississippi River to the towns of Redwing, Kellogg and Lake City. The group stops at Red Wing Grain company to tour a grain elevator and barge company. The day focuses on the sociopolitical and ecological aspects of an experimental drawdown of water levels on the Mississippi River. The afternoon ends at Ralph Lentz’s sustainable beef farm where students spend time dining, telling stories, camping in the pasture, and learning about Ralph’s vision of sustainability. Students do a tour of several farms the following day.

White Earth
Students visit the White Earth Land Recovery Project in northern Minnesota, founded by Winona LaDuke. Here the group explores Native history and learns from members of the White Earth Indian Reservation about work to recover their original land base, strengthen their cultural heritage, and promote sustainable land stewardship. Students also visit a wind turbine owned by the Land Recovery Project and discuss alternative energy generation and distribution.

Western Minnesota
On this trip students meet with community activists at Buffalo Ridge in western Minnesota where they also get an upclose look at wind turbines to learn about their form and function of converting kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. A highlight of the trip West is a visit to Moonstone Organic farm, home of Audrey Arner and Richard Handeen. Here the group tours their family farm and ecotourism center, and participates in a local and sustainable foods potluck with community residents. The following day students go to Montevideo MN to visit with local activists at their community coffee shop, Java River.

Other recent program excursions and highlights include:

An investigation of the Mississippi River Gorge where students learn about climate vulnerability and adaptation with Ann Pierce from the MN Department of Natural Resources.
A slideshow and discussion with Macalester professor Christie Manning on the psychology of sustainable behavior.
A powerful day of international climate action where students work alongside local organizations, policy makers, and members of the citizen-powered coalition "MN350" to call for a future free from fossil fuels and runaway climate change.
A bike ride down the Minneapolis Greenway to Peace Coffee where students enjoy organic, fair trade cups of Joe while learning about sustainable business and local economies from Director Lee Wallace.
A road trip to Dream of Wild Health, a "Native-Owned and Native-Grown Farm" in Hugo, MN, where students explore the relationships between culture, land, and food with Executive Director and author Diane Wilson.
A hands-on tour of Summit Academy's green jobs training program where students hear from an organizer from H.I.R.E. Minnesota about the importance of building a green economy that helps lift people out of poverty and reduces racial disparities.
A visit to Minneapolis City Hall where students can meet with their local representatives and learn about the city's work on sustainability issues.

Credits

Receive Credits That Count

HECUA's courses provide upper-level credits (junior- and senior- level credits). All students from HECUA consortium institutions receive at the very least "blanket credit," or sixteen credits toward graduation. Nearly all students also obtain significant major and minor credits for participating in HECUA programs. As is the case with most off-campus study programs, students should work directly with their home institution to receive credit toward a major, or credit toward another graduation requirement. (Other requirements might be "general education" requirements, "liberal education" requirements, or distribution requirements). Experienced HECUA staff are available to assist students in negotiating meaningful credit transfer.

First, to assist with the process of negotiating credits with advisors and registrars on campus, HECUA has compiled information on how recent participants in Environmental Sustainability have received major credit from their home institutions.

Second, HECUA's Director of Programs, Sarah Pradt, is always available for more information on credit transfer and for personalized assistance with students' individual situations.

Major and/or Minor Credit Students Have Received

• Bachelor of Individualized Study (BIS)
• Biology
• Biology, Society and Environment
• Environment and Natural Resources
• Environmental Design
• Environmental Science and Policy
• Environmental Studies
• Geography
• Global Studies
• Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major (IDIM) 
• Internship requirement
• Justice and Peace Studies
• Policy (and) Management
• Political Science
• Sustainability
• Sustainability Studies
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Urban Studies

Credit approval may be possible in other major or minor areas; the list above represents only arrangements reported to HECUA.

Previous Students' Methods for Credit Approval

• Met with Academic Advisor and communicated with Office of the Registrar
• Spoke with former professors about coursework and transfer credits
• Spoke with HECUA board representative
• Filled out petition for credit form
• Had help from Head of Major/ Minor department with credit approval process
• Spoke with Academic Advisor or Department Head prior to applying for HECUA program
• Spoke with Major/Minor Department Head about approval process

Student Reflections

See what past Environmental Sustainability students say about the program!

“The HECUA learning community is out of this world! This semester has been invigorating and humbling.”
Kelly, University of Minnesota

“We learn some frustrating truths about our world, but rather than sitting in a classroom in despair and wishing we could do something about it, this program gives us the opportunity to go into the community and work for change.”
Siri, University of Minnesota

“HECUA’s approach to learning left me with the feeling that I was in control, and that was empowering.”
Kaitlin, University of Minnesota, Duluth

“Not only do we read thought-provoking authors connecting ecological, social, and economic issues, but we also go out to see these interconnected issues alive in our city, our state.”
Betsy, University of Minnesota

“The classroom learning environment is like a comfortable close-knit dinner table conversation.”
Ali, University of St. Thomas

Interested in more info? Contact:

Kari Pederson Behrends

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Environmental Sustainability: Science, Public Policy, and Community Action

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See what past Environmental Sustainability students say about the program!