Urban Sustainability

Urban Sustainability Summer 2024

Our Pre-College Program, Urban Sustainability, will be based on a group of faculty-led activities from Seattle University. Students will be able to identify and explain:

1. key environmental concerns in urban systems,
2. who is most impacted,
3. how these concerns are monitored and
4. potential solutions.

This program is entirely project-based and includes a broad range of activities that span SU’s biology, chemistry, environmental studies, environmental science and environmental engineering programs. Our program emphasizes sustainability which includes social equity and inclusion as well as the issue of environmental justice which represents systemic and historical inequities for the populations that have disproportionately experience environmental burdens.

In this program, students will critically consider what the environment entails, human impacts, and ways to approach sustainability. Upon completion students will be able to: ​

1. Define ecosystem services and explain how these can be provided in an urban setting​
2. Identify and explain sustainable building design practices related to energy, water and materials.​
3. Identify water quality parameters that can be harmful to ecological systems​
4. Take standardized benthic(underwater soil)samples to characterize biological diversity​
5. Define environmental justice and reflect on ways in which these challenges can be addressed​
6. Determine marine fish and crustacean abundance and analyze the results within the context of a large data set​
7. Apply infrared analysis to identify various types of plastic pollutants​
8. Explain the domestic wastewater treatment process​
9. Define green stormwater infrastructure​
10. Explain the migration patterns of urban wildlife​