COR 337 Sustainable Seas: Envisioning a New Future for Earth's Oceans

The students in this course will develop and imagine a pathway to lead to sustainable use of the oceans by the growing human population.   Earth’s oceans represent the greatest unexplored region of our planet, a major component of the climate system, and a vast reservoir of resources that has been mined since the earliest human civilizations arose.  Industrialization and technological innovation have led to ocean-wide pollution, harmful algal blooms, over-exploitation of fish stocks, coral reef death, and ocean acidification.  Despite these problems, the interaction between humans and the oceans is not destined to follow a path of mutual destruction.  Creative and imaginative people can envision a sustainable future in which the oceans will supply food, carbon free energy, medicines, and climate stabilization.  Students will explore innovative approaches in the fields of environmental ethics, resource management, international policy, ecological economics, and ocean science that will lead to this sustainable future.