The timeliness of the topic at the national and global scale, is only matched by its political, economic and social relevance. The sustainability of urban areas is assailed by a combination of threats never seen before. At a time when—for the 1st time in history—more than 50% of humans reside in cities, those looming threats demand multidisciplinary approaches both to understand them better and to provide sensible solutions that mitigate the negative effects while amplifying the potential benefits. This class addresses those dimensions (economic, social, environmental, and political) as well as their interactions; it offers a framework under which the potential or already observed impacts are quantified and analyzed; and it surveys the policies implemented around the world. Although there are no explicit pre-requisites, students are expected to have a cursory understanding of economics and basic analytics.

The course will explore the principles, evolution and professional practice of public relations with an emphasis on crisis communications. We will do so with a specific examination of the strategies, concepts and tools used to execute an effective public relations campaign or initiative. In addition, we will assess how to and counter harmful events or actions to a company's brand. The class do so with heavy emphasis on student participation and student interaction.

Research Strategies for Environmental Policy

This course introduces students to the design and implementation of research, with an emphasis on applied research into contemporary social and ecological issues that part of policy development and implementation. The course will be interdisciplinary in scope and will include the use of historical, ethnographic, biophysical, political and contextual data and information. The course will cover various social science methods, including political science, policy analysis, and sociology, and associated analytical approaches that can be used to develop and design research proposals, including case study and comparative case studies, survey design, content analysis, documentary analysis, and ethnographic approaches.

Public Policy and the Environment

This course introduces students to public policy theory and practice with an emphasis on international environmental topics. Using a variety of exercises, case studies, lectures, and assignments, students will learn answers to the following questions: What is public policy? Who makes it? What forms does it take? What issues does it address? How is it made? How do policies differ across contexts? What is “policy analysis” and how do I do it? As a half-semester, two-unit course, the goal is not to transform students into a political scientist but rather to deliver the foundational knowledge and skills needed to understand and work effectively within the policy arena.

Geographic Information Systems

This course introduces the theory and application of spatial data acquisition, analysis, and display using a project based approach. Students will practice how to conceive, gather, manage, analyze, and visualize geographic datasets using the global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS), and use GIS for spatial analysis and decision making. The course will be conducted using lecture and lab methods; active student participation is required.

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

The purpose of this course is to develop competency in economic theory as it relates to environmental issues, and the analytical skills necessary to evaluate, as well as craft, effective, efficient, and just environmental policies. We will highlight policies that influence (both directly and indirectly) the environment and natural resource use, and analyze their implications. The emphasis will be on identifying and assessing the appropriate economic tools for addressing current environmental issues. Students will learn how to “think like an economist,” which may not make for great party conversation, but is essential for conversing intelligently about the world’s major environmental problems and developing solutions.

Coasts are vital ecological, economic and social systems. Nearly forty percent of the world’s population lives within 100 km of a coast. In California, the coastal and ocean economy exceeds $40 billion/year. But population and urban growth, and economic and industrial development have taken a heavy ecological toll on coasts. In many places, coastal systems are highly degraded. Public beaches are crowded, inaccessible or even closed due to poor water quality. Fisheries are in decline and plastic pollution is overwhelming the marine environment. Climate change, including sea level rise, ocean acidification and rising temperatures fundamentally threatens both coastal communities and ecology.

This course provides an interdisciplinary foundation in the resource management challenges and governance frameworks for sustainable coastal management, including consideration of the political, legal, social, economic and natural science dimensions of the coast. The course begins with a focus on the past fifty years of modern coastal management in California, including an examination of public access, habitat protection, growth management and protection of the nearshore environment. Often described as an international leader in coastal management, California presents an opportunity to explore the successes and on-going efforts to find the right balance between human development and the protection of natural systems, as well as the challenges of effective, transparent intergovernmental governance in a highly political setting.

The second third of the course focuses on climate change, vulnerability and coastal resilience. Students will learn about sea level rise science and methods for analyzing the vulnerability of coastal resources. Specific attention will be focused on the process of adaptation planning and the variety of strategies, such as managed retreat, being pursued to adapt to projected sea level rise. This focus presents an opportunity to explore in even greater detail the difficulties of simultaneously protecting natural shorelines, maintaining vibrant human-built environments, and assuring environmental justice along the coast.

Finally, the course considers the global and international context of coastal management as seen through international governance institutions and different country systems of coastal management. This includes an examination of “integrated coastal zone management,” coastal resilience challenges outside of the U.S.

The course will include online class sessions, readings and other media presentations and targeted field assessments in the Monterey area as feasible. Students will be expected to actively participate in research, writing and discussion, and prepare and give a final class presentation.

This course provides a foundation in the core concepts and strategic management tools in the dynamic field of global corporate sustainability management. The central aim is to prepare students to design, lead, communicate and collaborate on sustainability innovations that 1) reduce environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk, especially climate risk, and 2) seize opportunities which generate value to both firm and society. The course aims to provide the groundwork for a professional career in sustainability management in multiple contexts (e.g. corporation, university, NGO, etc). Open to all MIIS students, the course is required for students in the Sustainability Management specialization in the IEP Program.

The course covers nine key topics:

• Global sustainability challenges

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Embedded sustainability as global business strategy

• Stakeholder engagement

• ESG Risk

• Sustainability reporting
• Climate risk assessment and reporting

• Sustainable supply chain management

• Business engagement with public policy.

Healthy oceans are not only an integral element of the global climate system, but they also
provide ecosystem services that are of societal importance. These critical ocean functions are
being threatened by intensifying human uses and anthropogenic climate change. This class will
use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water) as a framework
for teaching foundational marine science knowledge and its application for addressing emerging
ocean challenges. A ‘genes to ecosystem functions and services’ interdisciplinary learning
approach will be emphasized. This means that class material will span the breadth of
physiological, ecological and management processes that are all inherent components of the
diverse SDG 14 target goals.

The first half of the course will cover foundational knowledge in the fields of oceanography,
biology, and technology development that are necessary for understanding the scientific basis of
emerging ocean challenges identified in SDG14. These foundational marine science concepts
will be integrated into lectures that cover the biodiversity of life in the oceans and major
organismal groups. In the second half of the course students will build on their marine science
knowledge as the class moves on to examine ecosystem functions and services. Emphasis will be
placed on how these ecosystem features are being compromised by the emerging challenges
identified in SDG14. We will cover the major categories of marine ecosystems world-wide and
focus on policy case studies that highlight ecosystem based management for resiliency. The
second half of the course will also look at the IPCC’s Special Report on the Ocean and
Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and critically discuss if current best practices for marine
spatial planning, monitoring and management make SDG14 targets attainable.

This course is well suited for students that are excited to pursue a research project on an
emerging ocean challenge that is identified in SDG14. After selecting a SDG14 target goal,
students will work on a written project over the course of the semester that synthesizes
interdisciplinary research in a marine science topic area of their choice. The SDG14 research
project will conclude with a synthesis of existing policy measures that address the selected
emerging ocean challenge. Finally, the course will conclude with short presentations where we
discuss what critical marine science knowledge still remains unknown and what policy
implementation challenges undermine the SDG14 target goals.