Incorporating sustainability into the undergraduate public health curriculum

Colleges and universities increasingly identify sustainability as an essential student learning outcome and are pursuing integration of sustainable practices into a wide variety of courses across the curriculum.  Schools of public health are uniquely situated to address the impact of sustainable practices on the health of communities. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) includes public health as a component of teaching and learning for a sustainable future.  Eco-justice is increasingly considered a social disparity component.  Additionally, the issue of power to make decisions concerning sustainable community development is a health issue; who gets access to resources is a public health question. The undergraduate programs in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia are integrating sustainable practices into several major courses required for all public health students. Ecological, economic, and social sustainable practices are being addressed in class projects and in service learning projects that link public health students to the community.  The local municipality has a high poverty rate and significant food insecurity.  One project links students in public health with a student organization to provide rescued and locally (student) grown food to the local council on aging.  Another allows students studying community health to develop needs assessment case studies that include sustainability resources and practices.  A third project utilizes sustainable practice to study environmental health issues.  These and other strategies for modifying the public health curriculum to incorporate sustainability practices will be explained and discussed.