Beginning in the spring semester of 2026, the University of Rhode Island will launch its first 100-level interdisciplinary sustainability introduction gen-ed course.
The course was developed last year by lecturers Pamela Lezaeta and Martina Müller.
Most students aren’t aware the course exists, according to Lezaeta.
Unlike upper-level environmental classes, the 100-level format offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the foundations of environmental decision making, and is designed to draw in students from every college, not just College of Environment and Life Sciences according to professor Thomas Boving.
The course will compare natural climate cycles with today’s “rapid and unprecedented” warming driven by human activity, according to Lezaeta. The class will also cover how life helped shape the atmosphere and how biological systems influence climate. Human-driven issues such as mining, large-scale agriculture and fertilizer runoff will be used to illustrate how economic activity alters natural systems.
Students will analyze how policy decisions, financial incentives and industry practices contribute to environmental problems, according to Müller.
The second half of the course introduces the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for evaluating solutions, according to Lezaeta. Case studies will give students practice identifying how scientific, economic and societal factors interact in real-world sustainability challenges.
“Everything is connected, and nothing operates in isolation,” Lezaeta said.
Sustainable development has been discussed at URI for over 20 years, but never was given a true 100-level foundation, according to Müller.
In covering how human societies interact with ecosystems while looking at environmental problems, the course links sustainability with the real world, according to a course flier. Students can receive credit for the class under Sustainability, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geosciences or Natural Resource Sciences departments.
The goal of the course is to give students a big-picture foundation before they choose a specific major and career path, according to Lezaeta and Muller. They want to include all disciplines of CELS for a variety of different perspectives.
The College of Environmental and Life Sciences has nine departments which can lead students to feel lost about where and which field they fit into best, according to geoscience Boving.
A class on sustainability as a gen-ed is able to give the students a big picture, according to Müller.
“I really like these big picture integrative kinds of classes, because I feel like that’s where we should start,” Müller said.
Today’s generations of students face big environmental issues like climate change, limited resources, floods and food/water scarcity, according to Boving.
“We need to find a way to sustain ourselves, humanity, in a way that’s in equilibrium with the planet.” Boving said. “If we don’t have a sustainable society, we basically [are] heading towards a very dark future, giving generations “no choice but to care.”
“How does everything connect to everything else?” is the biggest question students from all majors can apply to their own lives, according to Miller. The course will have many guest speakers from different departments to offer real-world context.
“The main goal, really, is to give students a better understanding of the potential that they have here at URI, the potential to bring themselves to the table to identify areas where they feel comfortable with and make an informed decision,” Boving said.
This course doesn’t teach students “what to think,” but gives perspectives so they decide what’s persuasive, according to Müller. To do this, the course will delve into critical thinking, curiosity, clear collaborative communication and systematic thinking.
Communication skills matter because environmental solutions require cooperation in a polarized world, according to Müller.
Students will develop, “a more broader understanding of how actually connected we are to this planet,” Lezaeta said.
Sustainability careers offer opportunity, not doom, according to Bovin.
“There’s still time and opportunity to do something,” Boving said.
Sustainability 100 helps URI students understand their role in environmental decision-making.
“It’s about time for change,” Boving said.
