Sustainability thinking involves learning to make decisions that do not undermine the environmental or social systems on which we depend. It requires a coordinated approach that involves personal lifestyles, workplace practices, and planning and policy-making that, taken together, help to foster healthy ecosystems, healthy human communities, and healthy economies.
The imperative of sustainability is driven by our recognition that the ways humans are using the Earth’s resources now is not sustainable: human needs are not now being met and all the earth’s ecosystems are degrading. The need for sustainable solutions is made more tangible through the exploration of issues such as global warming and climate change, sustainable agriculture and food security, energy use, control and prevention of human disease, water quantity and quality, and pollution and toxins in the environment.
As part of the Climate Institute's strategic plan, the Climate Literacy Project is working to support infusing climate and sustainability education into academics at Gonzaga across courses, programs, and supporting faculty research.
Climate, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice Course Attribute
In the fall of 2023 the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment began working with the Registrar’s Office to create a new course attribute called “Climate/Sustainable/EnvJustice" that can be added to undergraduate and graduate courses. This course attribute is not a requirement for graduation, but it could, among other things, be of use in improving reporting for the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) and the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, as well as evaluating how well we are achieving the Institutional Learning Goal of “Ecological awareness and care for our common home.”
To learn more about Climate, Sustainability and Environmental Justice courses at Gonzaga, explore the report below.
Program Learning Outcomes
As of 2025, 29.5% of academic programs have at least one learning outcome related to climate change, ecological education or environmental justice. The Climate Literacy Project is working with departments to identify additional program outcomes that support climate and sustainability education.
Faculty Support
The Climate Institute supports faculty in their teaching and scholarship around climate and sustainability issues through the yearly Cataldo Project.
Explore more about how faculty are supported by the Cataldo Project