Last May, Pratt's undergraduate catalog officially added the minor in Sustainability Studies, meaning the program has officially concluded its first year in operation.  It has been a productive year, with heavily enrolled sections of SUST 201 The Sustainable Core, as well as elective seminars such as SUST 405 Production Consumption & Waste and SUST 401 Power Pollution & Profit.  By February, the number of electives in the minor had expanded to include offerings in SSCS, Math & Science, Interior Design, Industrial Design, and Construction Management.  (Click here for a complete list of courses approved in the minor.)

Sustainability courses included explorations of the urban environment.  In September, students in SUST 405 Production Consumption & Waste canoed the Gowanus Canal. After a discussion of the area's history, we entered the water and began paddling up to the northern terminus of the canal before turning south and exploring the foliage, animals, and businesses that call the canal home.  Our journeys revealed floating garbage and the smell of sulphur, but also swimming fish and fishing birds, scrap metal and concrete production alongside flora, fauna, and even some artwork.