Sustainability Decision-Making

We live in a complex world, and sustainability problems in particular involve many interconnected and rapidly evolving systems and viewpoints. How can you go about making critical decisions about such impossible challenges? The courses in this certificate program present tools and decision-making frameworks for understanding and intervening effectively in complex sustainability-related challenges. By completing this certificate, students will gain practice at systems-level decision making that incorporates technological, environmental, social, and economic factors.

Learning Objectives

Learn

Gain exposure to foundational concepts and frameworks for understanding and navigating complex social-environmental systems by taking SUST 210. 

Connect

Apply decision making frameworks and tools to practice systems-level decision making by taking two elective courses. Identify interconnections between environmental, social, and economic factors that need to be considered when making decisions about sustainability within the current economic system.

Act

Grapple with real issues through a project or case-study based course. Apply knowledge and skills about decision making and from the students’ primary degree to complete a course-related project. 

Courses

You must complete the core course and 3 elective courses from the list below. 1 elective must be a project based course. 

Reminder: All courses must be taken for at least 3 units and a letter grade. You cannot receive credit towards the program requirements for repeated courses or courses counted towards your graduate degree

Core course

SUST 210 Pursuing Sustainability: Managing Complex Social Environmental Systems

Elective courses

CourseTitleProject based
BIO 203Human and Planetary Health

 

BIO 279Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs

 

CEE 165HBig Earth Hackathon Wildland Fire Challenge

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CEE 226Life Cycle Assessment for Complex Systems

 

CEE 243Introduction to Systems Engineering

 

CEE 265FEnvironmental Governance and Climate Resilience

 

CHPR 113Healthy/Sustainable Food Systems: Maximum Sustainability across Health, Economics, and Environment

 

EARTHSYS 213Hacking for Climate and Sustainability

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EBS 222Philanthropy Lab: Strategic Giving for Sustainable Development

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ECON 155Climate Change and Global Inequality

 

ENERGY 263Sustainable Energy Decisions

 

ENVRES 250Environmental Governance

 

ETHICSOC 278MIntroduction to Environmental Ethics

 

GSBGEN 367Problem Solving for Social Change

 

LAW 2504Environmental Law & Policy

 

LAW 808DPolicy Practicum: Smoke: Wildfire Science and Policy Lab

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MS&E 243Energy and Environmental Policy Analysis

 

MS&E 394Advanced Methods in Modeling for Climate and Energy Policy

 

SUST 220Case Studies in Leading Change for Sustainability

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SUST 225Decision Making for Sustainability

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SUSTAIN 210Justice 40 Policy Lab

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SUSTAIN 221Blue Foods for Indoesia: A Human and Planetary Health Action Lab

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View Explore Courses for a current list of course offerings in this program