GDEV 5030

FoodCycle: Systems Thinking Toward Circular Economy for Organic Resources

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

In seeking to understand issues and opportunities at the nexus of agriculture, sanitation, water, health and the natural and built environments, students will gain skills in systems thinking, participatory design and innovation towards systems change. Through individual and collective work, students will conduct general and specific systems analysis and construct systems models to identify opportunities to reduce carbon pollution, improve system health. Students will seek to learn from cases and literature from diverse national and international contexts. The Cornell campus will be considered a living laboratory for an inquiry into how organic resources flow through our facilities, and how waste flows might be utilized to produce energy, fertilizer, food, building materials and/or other valued products. Students will engage with local entities (facilities, organizations, farms and other enterprises) to gain specific information that will inform our analysis. Students will engage in hands-on work to learn about ways in which organic resources can be up-cycled.

Exploratory Studies (CU-CEL)

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Describe concepts and skills related to systems thinking, analysis and intervention, including ability to understand and design pathways to change in diverse contexts.
• Explain systems related to organic resource management, such as those involved in food, agriculture, sanitation, the built environment, and health-related surveillance.
• Analyze and conceptualize context-related similarities and differences that influence problems, opportunities and pathways to change.
• Design a waste-to-value chain (e.g., porta-potties/toilets ; loo-litter from corn cobs [similar in purpose and format to kitty litter]; making building materials from agricultural wastes).
• Create up-cycling activities, including design, invention, production and utilization.

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