ENVI 25
Sustainable Tourism: Ecological Development in a Small Island Nation
Last Offered Winter 2009

This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

The Island School (IS) and affiliated Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) are an ecologically-sound school and research center that integrate sustainability into every part of their operations. New and innovative systems are continually being developed to allow the campus to grow with minimal impact on the surrounding environment, and with a positive environmental impact on the surrounding communities. Systems such as biodiesel production, solar and wind energy, composting, farming, water collection, green building design, alternative septic systems, aquaponics and offshore aquaculture make the institution a model of sustainable development in the Bahamas. The natural limits of the island environment provide a unique set of challenges and opportunities for the campus to achieve carbon neutrality and zero-waste, and for the island as a whole to achieve the goal of Freedom 2030, an initiative of the Bahamas National Government for Eleuthera to become energy independent and fossil-fuel free by 2030. The location in the Bahamas offers students a unique opportunity to learn about the tropical terrestrial and marine environments as well. Understanding the local environment is instructive as students explore the myriad ways that the campus seeks to integrate with the biologic community. In this course students will use the campus and the island as a laboratory for the study of sustainable systems, including food, energy, water, materials, waste, and transportation. Students will become intimately aware of where resources come from and will be challenged to investigate solutions to some of the ongoing resource issues at the school and on the island. Students will spend two weeks on Eleuthera and the third week at Williams. The first week will be an intensive course on the basics of sustainable systems (listed above), through a mix of lectures, readings, classroom discussions, hands on investigation of campus systems, and site visits. In the second week the students will apply what they have learned to a project on the island. The Bahamas government has decided that Eleuthera should be developed for ecotourism: currently, much of the Island’s coast is pristine and there is minimal tourism, coupled with a weak economy and high unemployment. Working in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism, and with the staff of the CEI, the students and I will work with an existing or planned resort to identify ways that is can operate in an environmentally sustainable way. This will include measuring the planned or existing resource consumption, ecological impact, energy use, water use, imports, impact on the land and coast line, food needs, waste production, and sewage. We will work as a research team; the project will result in a plan, a final report, and a public presentation for the resort and the Ministry of Tourism. The third week of class will be spent back at Williams doing more research and data analysis, finishing the report, and finalizing the public presentation, to be given on campus. The CEI and the IS are the only research institutions on Eleuthera and their role as experts in renewable energy, sustainable systems, and resource management have earned them high praise as advisors to government and business. Further, the CEI has close ties with the Ministry of Tourism and has previously worked collaboratively. As the instructor, I will be assisted by two CEI researchers who will each give one lectures, as well as campus tours and explanations of the campus systems, and who will serve as on-site advisors to the class. This arrangement is confirmed and incurs no additional costs to the class.
The Class: Format: wsp travel
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 2136
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their class work, work on the group projects, and participation in all research and project activities on Eleuthera. They will also prepare & present a group presentation to the Williams community
Extra Info 2: Sarah Gardner, Associate Director of the Center for Environmental Studies and Lecturer in Environmental Studies
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: not open to first years
Materials/Lab Fee: cost to student $2264

Class Grid

Updated 11:18 am

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