A discussion of current developments and issues in public health of interest to faculty and students of the department as a whole. Content varies from semester to semester depending upon current issues and interests.

The roots of our major public health and cultural crises – including climate change, diet-related disease, and economic, educational and health inequities – lie in our current economic system. At present, with gross domestic product (GDP) as our key measure of ‘progress,’ our economic system is extractive rather than regenerative, and produces health and other systemic inequities rather than mutual flourishing. In this course, students will use systems thinking to explore how we arrived at our current economic system, the power dynamics and feedback loops that keep the current system in place, and how the system creates or contributes to “sticky” problems like health inequities and climate change. In interdisciplinary teams, students will analyze real-world examples of emerging models (including regenerative and ecological economics, `doughnut economics,’ and the circular economy) that fundamentally reframe the system’s goals to support a flourishing population and planet. Working with other students from multiple disciplines, students will clarify their own values, articulate a vision for a more just and sustainable future, and identify pathways towards achieving their goals.

Repeat Rules