Samuel Trask Dana Professor
Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development
What You'll Learn
- Understand and explain the world’s most pressing problems (focus: poverty & inequality, ecosystem degradation & biodiversity loss, climate change)
- Critically analyze the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relationship to the world’s most pressing problems
- Use frameworks and evidence necessary to develop solutions and Apply skills learned to implement solutions
- Assess relevant solutions that would help realize the SDGs and at the same time solve the pressing problems
5 Modules
10 Hours
2 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development
We’re excited you’re here! This course, “Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development,” is the first course in the Sustainability and Development MasterTrack® Certificate, but you can also take this course as a stand-alone learning opportunity.
Sustainability and development pose unprecedented challenges as human societies grow and seek to ensure future wellbeing and prosperity. In this course, we’ll focus on addressing the twin challenges of sustainability and development with actionable knowledge for innovating solutions to the world’s most pressing problems like climate change, poverty and inequality, and biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Rather than sustainability being a qualifier for development (e.g. sustainable development), we conceptualize Sustainability and Development as co-equal fields of inquiry and action that seek to build bridges between the natural, social and applied sciences and the humanities. When sustainability and development are placed on an equal footing, it requires us to think more explicitly about the trade-offs, co-benefits and synergies between them, which we will be exploring in depth in each week.
Throughout the course, you will be introduced to the theoretical currents in Sustainability and Development, and will garner an in-depth understanding of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We will also consider the methods and skills necessary for designing innovative solutions to sustainability and development problems through the emerging field of Sustainability Science.
In this course, we will explore three of the most pressing challenges undergirding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including climate change, poverty and inequality, and ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, with case studies to guide and challenge our thinking. In the final week of the course, we will discuss the trade-offs, co-benefits and synergies between these challenges, especially as they relate to designing innovative solutions for achieving our sustainability and development goals.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
1. Understand and explain the world’s most pressing problems with a specific focus on poverty & inequality, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, and climate change.
2. Critically analyze the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relationship to the world’s most pressing problems.
3. Use frameworks and evidence necessary to develop solutions.
4. Assess relevant solutions that would help realize the SDGs and at the same time solve the pressing problems.
5. Apply skills learned to implement solutions.
Skills You'll Gain
- Environmental Health Management
- Millennium Development Goals
- Sustainability Procedures
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Welcome to Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development. This course explores the twin challenges of sustainability and development, focusing on actionable solutions to pressing global issues like climate change, poverty and inequality, and biodiversity loss. You will gain an in-depth understanding of the United Nations’ 17 SDGs, learn theoretical frameworks, and develop skills in sustainability science to design innovative solutions. This course emphasizes trade-offs, co-benefits, and synergies between sustainability and development.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Module 1: Introductions to the Course
- Video: Introduction to the Course
- Video: Created in the time of COVID-19
- Video: Why Sustainability AND Development?
- Video: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in this Course
- Video: Background and Scope for Achieving the SDGs
- Reading: Recommended resources from Achieving the SDGs lecture
- Reading: Course Syllabus
- Reading: Help us learn more about you!
Module 2: Climate Change
- Video: An Introduction to SDG 13: Climate Action
- Video: Climate Vulnerability & Adaptive Capacity in NE Brazil
- Reading: Introduction to Michigan Sustainability Cases and Gala Platform
- Reading: Case: Climate and Development
- Discussion Prompt: Climate and Development Case Questions
Module 3: Poverty and Inequality
- Video: Poverty, Inequality and Strategies to Address Them: Introduction
- Video: Definitions of Poverty
- Video: Introduction to 'What is Poverty?' and 'How is Poverty Measured?'
- Reading: Additional Resources
- Video: Measures of Poverty
- Reading: 'The Poverty Trap'
- Video: Introduction to 'Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes'
- Video: Capacity to Reduce Poverty
- Video: Causes and Effects of Poverty and Inequality
- Video: Mechanisms to Address Poverty and Inequality
- Video: Attempts to Address Poverty and Inequality
- Video: Social Assistance Programs
- Video: Effectiveness of Social Assistance Programs in Poverty Reduction
- Video: Income Generation Programs
- Video: Logic of Income Generation Programs: Graduation Programs
- Video: Different Forms of Capitals
- Video: Unemployment Benefit Programs
- Video: Drivers of Unemployment Benefits
- Video: Ecotourism and Payment for Ecosystem Services
- Video: Payments for Ecosystem Services: Continued
- Reading: 'Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)'
- Video: Examples of Payment for Ecosystem Services
- Video: Comparing Environment Vs. Economic Programs for Effects on Poverty
- Video: Future Trends that will Influence Poverty and Inequality
- Reading: Case: Poverty, Environment, and Inequality
- Discussion Prompt: Poverty, Environment, and Inequality Case Questions
Module 4: Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation
- Video: An Introduction to Ecosystem Degradation & Biodiversity Loss
- Video: What is driving change and what are the impacts?
- Video: What can we do to ameliorate these changes?
- Video: Opportunities to dive deeper and learn more
- Reading: Case: Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation
- Discussion Prompt: Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation Questions
Module 5: Trade-Offs and Synergies
- Video: An Introduction to Sustainability Science
- Video: Implications for Sustainability and Development
- Video: Trade-Offs, Co-Benefits, and Transitions
- Video: Five Transitions of Human Societies: Demographic and Energy
- Video: Five Transitions of Human Societies: Forest, Agricultural, and Nutrition
- Video: How can past transitions guide sustainability transitions?
- Video: What can trade-offs and co-benefits look like?
- Video: Five programmatic examples demonstrating trade-offs and co-benefits
- Video: Improving Sustainability Solutions
- Reading: Share Course Feedback!
Grading Policy
Course materials and assignments are self-paced. A minimum overall grade of 80% is required to earn the certificate. The course grade is based on five quizzes worth 20% each.
Associate Professor
Professor
Associate Professor
Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.
Beginner Level
We encourage familiarity with engaging in scholarly texts and critically discussing their implications in written form, and familiarity with the SDGs
Course Video
What Learners Are Saying
There has never been a more important time to consider the critical challenge of achieving both sustainability and development. We are entering a period of profound disruption to social and economic systems – understanding the opportunities and challenges for achieving…
Pamela Jagger, PhD Associate Professor, U-M School for Environment and Sustainability
Environmental change affects all of us. From the air we breathe to the food we eat, changes in the environment and governance are posing unprecedented challenges. As part of this course on sustainability and development, we will identify how these changes have occurred…
Bilal Butt, PhD Associate Professor, U-M School for Environment and Sustainability
