SUMMARY : Introductory economics courses and the university ’ s commitments to sustainability

In 1990, fearing that unsustainable production and consumption patterns were aggravating poverty and undermining prospects for future generations, university leaders issued the Talloires Declaration, committing their institutions to fostering sustainability, which the Declaration describes as “an equitable and sustainable future for all humankind in harmony with nature”. They pledged to work toward population stabilization, eco-friendly technologies, and ecological restoration, implicitly acknowledging ecological limits to economic activity. My dissertation focuses on the implications of universities’ sustainability commitments—such as the Talloires Declaration—for introductory economics courses (Econ101) at Canadian universities. Sustainability commitments and the sustainability in higher education literature point to the desirability of integrating sustainability across the curriculum. Universities have made considerable progress in the greening of campus infrastructure, yet there has been little progress in updating curriculum. I proceeded on the basis that if students are to have the knowledge to improve prospects for sustainability, they need an understanding of environment-economy linkages. These linkages include: how the economy depends upon ecosystem services; how resources are extracted from the environment and returned as waste products; and how habitats are converted in the process of economic development. I had three main reasons for selecting the way sustainability commitments play out in introductory economics courses as the research topic. First, environmental change is largely the result of economic drivers. Second, a growing body of literature suggests that if prospects for sustainability are to be improved, new economic models