Erb Institute Seminar
Erb Institute Seminar ---This Seminar surveys the integration of natural and human systems and addresses ways in which science and business can move towards a sustainable human future. It is designed to enable new and prospective Erb MS/MBA students to 1) discover what each believes about sustainable development and enterprise; 2) pinpoint what each wants to know and endeavor to learn while in the program; and 3) facilitate careful reflection about each student's future path through life and work, after they graduate. The Seminar is oriented around the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a four year study, completed in 2005, that brought together nearly 1,400 experts from 95 countries to conduct a global inventory of the state of our ecosystems, quantify the effect that human activities are having on them and make suggestions for the future. In exploring the results of the MA, students will be introduced to a range of U of M faculty members, external practitioners, and the newly emerging theory and practice of sustainability. In addition to its cirricular objectives, the Seminar aims to collectively bond the entering Erb Institute class, both intellectually and socially.