This course overviews the science of composting by covering nutrient cycling (carbon and nitrogen, pollution), soil science (chemistry), microbial ecology, and the food/water/biodiversity/climate grand challenges. Local samples will be used. The course will enhance campus sustainability efforts through student research projects. Students will help the SCRAP lab optimize composting practices (e.g. aerobic biodigestor) to process dining-sourced bioplastics into healthy compost with low C emissions. Student findings will be an integral component of a larger NJ DEP supported project to advance campus recycling goals.

Ecological systems at local to global scales. Students will examine fundamental methods of analyzing ecosystems,and apply these methods to questions about climate change and the global food system. Lectures cover theoretical elements and examples from the primary literature. Coursework emphasizes critical reading of scientific literature, written expression of scientific arguments, collaboration in group projects, and in-person presentation of findings to an audience.

See the Princeton Writing Program website.

This course explores the central role of food in everyday life in US and global contexts. Using a comparative global perspective, we will address key questions about histories of food production and consumption, the ways in which food production and distribution differentially affect the lives of those working in the food industry and those consuming food. We will think through how global shifts in food production and distribution impact human lives on national, local, and familial levels.

See the Princeton Writing Program website.

ENV 210 offers an introduction to the scientific and technological dimensions of the nexus of global environmental problems: climate change, the carbon cycle, biodiversity loss, and the provision of food and water. The course will provide the scientific foundations to understand each of these complex environmental problems, first in isolation and then in its interaction with the others. Students will be able to understand major scientific reports on the interacting environmental challenges and assess their possible future trajectories, their potential solutions, and their implications for a growing human population on a finite planet.

ENV 210 offers an introduction to the scientific and technological dimensions of the nexus of global environmental problems: climate change, the carbon cycle, biodiversity loss, and the provision of food and water. The course will provide the scientific foundations to understand each of these complex environmental problems, first in isolation and then in its interaction with the others. Students will be able to understand major scientific reports on the interacting environmental challenges and assess their possible future trajectories, their potential solutions, and their implications for a growing human population on a finite planet.

Food and science are integrated in our everyday lives, and this seminar explores their intersection in the kitchen. You will learn how to prepare foods like humus, falafel, manakish za'atar and to make cheese, yogurt, pickles, kombucha, and much more! Through food production and consumption, you will discover the fascinating world of molecular biology, microbiology, and biochemistry. We will also study how naturally occurring chemicals produced by microbes or plants can affect our bodies and health. This course will mostly prepare vegetarian foods and no prior cooking experience is required.

We are what we eat--morally as well as molecularly. So how should moral concerns about animals, workers, the environment, our health, and our communities inform our food choices? Can we develop an effective and just model for feeding growing populations while respecting religious, class, and cultural differences? The main goal of this course is not to prescribe answers to these questions, but to give students tools to reflect on them effectively. These tools include a working knowledge of the main ethical theories in philosophy, and a grasp of key empirical issues regarding the production, distribution, consumption, and politics of food.

The milk we drink in the morning (a colloidal dispersion), the gel we put into our hair (a polymer network), and the plaque that we try to scrub off our teeth (a biofilm) are all familiar examples of soft or "squishy" materials. Such materials also hold great promise in helping to solve engineering challenges such as water remediation, therapeutic development/delivery, and the development of new coatings, displays, formulations, foods, and biomaterials. This class covers fundamental aspects of the science of soft materials, presented within the context of these challenges, with guest speakers to describe new applications of soft materials.

Americans have built and preserved an astounding variety of environments. The course examines the evolving complex of incentives and regulations that drove the choices of where and how places developed. It focuses on how land-use and environmental planning encourage or discourage growth and can mitigate or intensify environmental, social, and economic effects. We examine the latest tools for building and protecting the American landscape. Special topics include transportation, food and agriculture, environmental justice, and climate change. Analysis will be from historical, policy-oriented, and predictive perspectives.

Seeds are ubiquitous. We eat them. We plant them. We blow them in the wind. But do they need saving? Seed saving is an heirloom practice that is as old as the notion of agriculture itself. Yet, seed saving practices sit at the center of an intensifying debate about biodiversity, food sovereignty, intellectual property rights, and the future of our species. This course will explore the oft-overlooked complexity of seeds and the people who are working to save them with special attention to intellectual, scientific, ethical, and practical challenges.

This course overviews the science of composting by covering nutrient cycling (carbon and nitrogen, pollution), soil science (chemistry), microbial ecology, and the food/water/biodiversity/climate grand challenges. Local samples will be used. The course will enhance campus sustainability efforts through student research projects. Students will help the SCRAP lab optimize composting practices (e.g. aerobic biodigestor) to process dining-sourced bioplastics into healthy compost with low C emissions. Student findings will be an integral component of a larger NJ DEP supported project to advance campus recycling goals.

People have converted almost half of the world's native habitats to agriculture (excluding desert and ice) and harvested more than 75% of the remaining forests. This conversion has contributed more than a quarter of the greenhouse gases people have added to the atmosphere and has been the primary cause of biodiversity loss. In the next 30 years, the world is on a path to convert vast additional areas and harvest vastly more forests to meet rising demands for food, wood, and energy.

See the Princeton Writing Program website.

This course explores the central role of food in everyday life in US and global contexts. Using a comparative global perspective, we will address key questions about histories of food production and consumption, the ways in which food production and distribution differentially affect the lives of those working in the food industry and those consuming food. We will think through how global shifts in food production and distribution impact human lives on national, local, and familial levels.

We are what we eat--morally as well as molecularly. So how should concerns about animals, workers, the environment, and the local inform our food choices? Can we develop viable foodways for growing populations while respecting ethnic, religious, class, and access differences? The goal of this course is not to prescribe answers to these questions, but to give students the tools required to reflect on them effectively. These tools include a knowledge of the main ethical theories in philosophy, and a grasp of key empirical issues regarding food production, distribution, and disposal. Includes guest lectures, instructor-led small-group sessions.

A hands-on seminar and laboratory experience focusing on sustainable development and the interaction of food, energy, and water. Students will partner with community- and campus-based groups to explore themes.

What we do or do not eat and where we eat, are questions linked to anthropological and cultural matters. In a socio-political context, food, or the lack thereof, defines a society and its inadequacies. It becomes an agent of power, a metaphor for sex and gender, as well as a means of community. Whether as desire or transgression, whether corporal or spiritual - the representation of food is the depiction of Italian life. This course will examine translated Italian texts, along with visual art and film, in order to explore the function of eating, both as biological necessity as well as metaphor, within Italian society.

People have plowed up, cut-down and otherwise heavily manipulated more than 75% of the world's forests and grasslands, releasing roughly 30% of the carbon in the atmosphere added by people. In the next 30 years, the world is on a path to convert vast additional areas of forest and diverse habitats to meet rising demands for food, wood, and energy. This course will explore the scope of the challenge and possible solutions. Students will obtain a general understanding of important scientific concepts, such as the carbon cycle, basic principles of agronomy and biodiversity. They will also explore a wide range of policy issues.

See the Princeton Writing Program website.

The milk we drink in the morning (a colloidal dispersion), the gel we put into our hair (a polymer network), and the plaque that we try to scrub off our teeth (a biofilm) are all familiar examples of soft or "squishy" materials. Such materials also hold great promise in helping to solve engineering challenges such as water remediation, therapeutic development/delivery, and the development of new coatings, displays, formulations, foods, and biomaterials. This class covers fundamental aspects of the science of soft materials, presented within the context of these challenges, with guest speakers to describe new applications of soft materials.

Princeton's motto: 'In the nation's service and the service of humanity.' Inspiring, but what does it mean for people interested in addressing important global challenges through socially-minded entrepreneurship and innovation? We will explore how for-profit or non-profit social-benefit ventures can do well and do good - helping communities to become self-reliant and prosperous while confronting inequality, global climate change, food insecurity, injustice and other problems. We will examine models for durable social ventures, engage with entrepreneurs, and develop your own solution ideas for the problems and communities you care about.

The course will focus on emerging science and technologies that enable the transition from our traditional linear economy (take, make, waste) to a new circular economy (reduce, reuse, recycle). It will discuss the fundamental theories and applied technologies that are capable of converting traditional waste materials or environmental pollutants such as wastewater, food waste, plastics, e-waste, and CO2, etc. into valued-added products including energy, fuels, chemicals, and food products.

Americans have built and preserved an astounding variety of environments. The course examines the evolving complex of incentives and regulations that drove the choices of where and how places developed. It focuses on how land-use and environmental planning encourage or discourage growth and can mitigate or intensify environmental, social, and economic effects. We examine the latest tools for building and protecting the American landscape. Special topics include transportation, food and agriculture, environmental justice, and climate change. Analysis will be from historical, policy-oriented, and predictive perspectives.

Improve your spoken and written French while studying some urgent topics in French environmental politics, from climate change and energy politics to environmental racism, food safety, animal rights, and degrowth. How is the French case unique? What is a ZAD and "un grand projet inutile"? What happened at Plogoff and Larzac? How do class, race, and gender intersect with the exploitation of nature? What exactly is "ecofascism" anyway? Discussion and creative projects will focus on films, bandes dessinées, literature, art, and essays; the course is writing- and speaking-intensive.

This course brings methods and ideas from two fields--American studies and the environmental humanities--to examine the role of the arts in US food movements related to agriculture, culinary experimentation and environmental justice. Course materials will include film, visual and performance art, journalism, political ephemera and culinary artifacts. Course participants will develop both an independent research-based essay and a multimedia collaborative project that build on the seminar's guiding questions and assigned materials.

Connect contemporary American art and visual culture with environmental justice movements. Examines photographers, performers, filmmakers, writers, and other artists, with a focus on Indigenous and other BIPOC artists and media makers. Examines how artists engage with environmental justice movements around climate change and energy transitions, food and water security, land use and land back, biodiversity loss, and allied issues. What roles do the arts play in such movements?

Food fuels us and our diets connect us with nature at many scales. Yet most of us poorly understand how food is produced and how production processes impact our diets, health, livelihoods and the environment. By the course's end, students will better understand the ethical, environmental, economic, social and medical implications of their food choices. Food production methods ranging from hunting, fishing and gathering to small and large scale crop and animal farming will be examined through lenses of ethics, ecology, evolutionary biology, geography, political economy, social dynamics, physiology, climate change and sustainability.

For agrarians, farms and fields are prized over boardrooms and shopping malls. Agrarianism values hard work, self-sufficiency, simplicity and connection with nature. For some today, it is a compelling antidote to globalization and consumerism. This course examines American agrarianism past and present and its central role in our national imaginary, tracing the complex and contradictory contours of a social and political philosophy that seeks freedom and yet gave way to enslaving, excluding, and ignoring many based on race, immigration status, and gender. A focus will be on new agrarianism and movements for food, land, and social justice.

This seminar will examine closely five persistent puzzles in the American food system and provide students with an opportunity to brainstorm, discuss, debate, and evaluate possible solutions to issues of food insecurity, food-related disease, farm labor, regulation, and the environment. Through these sets of puzzles and problems students will consider class, race, and gender disparities as well as themes of paternalism and judgement, food as a human right, and concepts of freedom.