MIN236

All human communities consume, produce, recycle, and discard our planet's raw materials. Today's world depends on and interacts with earth materials (minerals, renewable resources, water) in complex ways, through choices, whether explicit or implicit. Choices about materials reflect technologies, cultures, individuals, trade, ecosystems, and geographies. This course explores decision-making in the context of the diverse types and uses of earth materials, their full life cycles, and the challenges that arise from the many needs and perspectives of users, producers, and myriad other stakeholders. Presentations and discussions led by subject matter experts are combined with workshops that introduce and apply decision science to the issues of meeting resource needs in the most environmentally sustainable, equitable, and affordable ways possible.