The sustainability minor is an excellent addition to any major. It has an interdisciplinary focus with the shared goal of understanding, preserving and promoting a healthy planet. MSUM is one of only a few universities in the country to approach sustainability across the curriculum. The Sustainability Minor consists of 25 credits.

Sustainability Minor Requirements

Sustainability Minor Courses

Total Credits: 25

Core Requirements (15 credits)

• SUST 200 Nature of Sustainability (3)
• ENGL 407 Big City, Big Impact (3)
• PSCI 378 Energy and Environment (3)
• SUST 421 Systems Thinking (3)
• SUST 432 Environmental Dilemmas (3)

Restricted Electives (10 credits)

Take one course from the list of science electives.

• GEOS 109/GEOS 109L Processes and History of a Dynamic Planet (4)
• GEOS 110/GEOS 110L Water, Land, and People: An Introduction to Physical Geography (4)
• BIOL 115/BIOL 115L Organismal Biology with Lab (4)

Take two courses from the list of global and human diversity electives:

• GEOS 111 Cultures and Regions (3)
• HIST 374 Plagues and People (3)
• HIST 379 Environmental History (3)
• SUST 485 Global Health Perspectives (3)
• WS 330 Gender, Justice and the Environment (3)

Student Learning Outcomes

• Explore the concept of sustainability within the context of socio-environmental systems.
• Evaluate how humans impact the surface of the earth and the biosphere, and the consequential effects on ecosystem services.
• Examine the relationships between civilization, society and energy use and look at possible steps to a sustainable energy and environmental future.
• Identify issues faced by developing countries in the conflict between rapid economic development and the threat of environmental degradation.
• Describe how class, gender, race, ethnicity, nation status, and other identities intersect with relationships within environmental justice and activism.
• Examine the motivations behind humans' decisions to modify ecosystems throughout the world, and the effects that environmental change has had on the peoples and ecosystems throughout human history.
• Interpret any environmental issue within a systems thinking framework.
• Articulate the ethical responsibilities humans have for the non-human world and for future human generations.

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