BIOL 510 The Biology of Sustainability Fall 2022

Welcome to the BIOL 510 webpage for the Fall 2022 iteration of the course which is entitled: 

The Biology of Sustainability: Maybe our greatest need now is not more knowledge but more wisdom

This ecology course is aimed at identifying and critiquing potential mechanisms by which our civilization could most effectively move toward more sustainable living.  Biology can explain current environmental sustainability issues, but is also at the fundamental root of their underlying causes – human behaviour.  Therefore, the biology of sustainability incorporates biogeochemical, ecological, economic, social, genetic, and philosophical features and constraints.   Each iteration of the course will focus on a unique specific thematic question related to at least some of those components.      

The principal question that the 2022 course will address is:  Interconnectedness and impermanence: Is enhanced deep awareness of these fundamental biological principles the ultimate key to significantly advancing our species toward more sustainable living?

This course is for final year undergraduates and is specifically aimed at enhancing their capacities for critical thinking, intelligent open discussion, group work, and independent learning.  Emphasis will be on interactive discussions and student-led seminars in which participants will have ample opportunities to explore, analyze and synthesize scientific information, to learn how the scientific process works, to speak and write effectively, and to develop their understanding of the philosophies underlying human behaviour and how they relate to global change issues, and the sustainability of our current civilisation. Students will lead informal seminar discussions on some component of this theme that is of particular interest to them.

The 2022 iteration of this course will be largely focussed on reading and discussion of biology professor Robin Wall Kimmerer's 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass. Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, but will also include other course theme-associated readings and activity exercises/workshops.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Explain and contrast the term ‘ways of knowing’ from Indigenous, Western Science and Arts perspectives, and outline their historical roots and interconnections
    
2. Describe the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and their unique significance, and evaluate them in the context of Indigenous values
    
3. Discuss and critique the strengths and weaknesses of each of the core sustainability-related arguments proposed in Robin Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass
    
4. Formulate clear, original, challenging, and concise thematic questions from course reading materials that are likely to lead to focussed and intellectually-probing seminar group discussions, student-led seminar topics, and short essays
    
5. Lead a stimulating, informative and creative seminar interpreting selected material from Robin Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass in the context of this course’s focal question about interconnectedness and impermanence (see above)
    
6. Develop and present a cohesive, original, synthesis final essay/media project on the potential value of incorporating the concepts of interconnectedness and impermanence to promote more sustainable living across our society
    
7. Use the learning achieved in this course to develop lasting personal solutions for coping with, and constructively responding to, the major environmental and social sustainability issues of the 21st century.

Professor: Paul Grogan

Seminar times: Mondays 12.30; Wednesdays 11.30
Location: Room 3112 Biosciences building

Calendar: Sessions are 1.5 hours

Assessment:

15% Active participation in discussions (questions, comments, suggestions)
15% Seminar written questions
30% Seminar
40% Final synthesis exercise (10% outline; 30% final submission)

Schedule:

Final synthesis:
A few moments of video from my teaching in the final synthesis session of this seminar course.  Context:  This short clip from near the beginning introduces the argument that the ultimate cause of humanity’s current environmental and social sustainability crises is human behaviour, which is fundamentally influenced by the same genetically-endowed traits that all species exhibit (growth, resource accumulation, waste production, competition, survival, reproduction, etc.).  Therefore, it is not at all surprising that humans have reached a point where we are living unsustainably – any species would under the appropriate conditions.  The central theme of the final synthesis session in this ‘Biology of Sustainability’ course is that in addition to those basic biological traits and their associated impacts, our species also has consciousness.  This seemingly unique trait provides us with the potential to cope with, and constructively respond to, the sustainability crises we face.  By acknowledging and embracing the fundamental realities of our biology and of our existential predicament, consciousness (i.e. deep awareness) could lead us to suppress the influences of our more basic genetically-endowed traits so as to live in a more environmentally and socially sustainable (and possibly more contented) way.

Last Updated: 11 January, 2023

To see materials from previous iterations of this course, use the drop-down menu under the 'Teaching' tab at the top of this page