As part of the 360° "Climate Change: Science and Politics," 15 students and three faculty members spent Fall Break in and around Freiburg, a German university town with a history of progressive environmental policy and innovation.
The trip included a stop at the Dreisam River, which used to be a constructed channel collecting runoff from the Black Forest, and is now being naturally reconstructed, for more sustainable water management. From there the group traveled to Vaubon by tram. Vaubon was the French military quarter until 1992, and when the army left, there were city planning contests to design an intentional sustainable community, with solar housing constructions and community-oriented public spaces.
For more about the trip, visit the course travel blog. For images from the trip, see this online gallery.
360° is an interdisciplinary experience that creates an opportunity to participate in a cluster of multiple courses connecting students and faculty in a single semester (or in some cases across contiguous semesters) to focus on common problems, themes, and experiences for the purposes of research and scholarship.
Climate Change: Science and Politics includes a geology course, a philosophy course, and a political science course.
360 applications for Spring 2016 are due on Nov. 4 at noon. Clusters and application links can be found here.