Instructors across ecological disciplines routinely engage with economic concepts in their classrooms. Neoclassical economic theory, the common basis for these engagements, presents an “empty” world where natural capital is endless, and economic growth limited only by the man-made capital available to transform, a view at odds with ecological realities. In contrast, the field of Ecological Economics (EE) acknowledges that we live in a “full” world of man-made capital and the products thereof stressing the biophysical limits of the ecosphere. Combining perspectives of the social sciences/economics and natural sciences/ecology, EE calls for transdiscplinary, not just interdisciplinary, approaches to addressing the issues we face in a full world, providing a bridge for instructors to connect economic applications to ecological concepts.

This workshop will invite educators across sustainability, ecology and economics-related disciplines to learn the core principles of ecological economics. Participants will work towards discovering and refining ways that EE can fit into their existing coursework, prompt new courses, or bring value added to disciplinary curriculua.

After overviewing core concepts and principles of EE, participants will break out to define appropriate learning objectives and develop their own educational products. A team of current EE educators will facilitate while, providing experiences, resources, and suggestions. By the end, each participant will have a product to take home for further refinement. These could range from activities to illustrate core concepts such as ecosystem services, to modules that supplement existing courses (e.g, natural resources management, conservation biology), to a syllabus for a semester-long course on EE.