Anything we extract from the earth must ultimately go back into it. This course aims to create an emotional and intellectual connection with the life forms and environments which bear the burden of our choices. How can designers, artists and strategic thinkers create products, systems and services that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable? Sustainable Systems is structured around four major themes: Climate Change, Materials, Energy, and Water. We explore these environmental issues as complex and interrelated topics. Understanding them can help us address current social and justice issues in new ways. In this course you will study real conditions that are both local and global. Class activities will combine field trips, lectures, discussion, studio-based workshops, lab experiments and seminars. Fieldwork and applied research methods will be developed into creative works that address diversity, adaptability and resilience in the face of ever changing conditions.

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