Our Global FEWture: Cultivating Food-Energy-Water Solutions

Overview

This course focuses on the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus as an example of integrated systems thinking in science that can resolve resource gaps and help communities plan for the future. Through a series of four modules, learners will view lectures on the nexus approach, the challenges of climate change to FEW resources, specific challenges and programs from four global locations, and a survey of diverse technologies and solutions that are essential to providing enough food, energy, and water for current and future generations. Learners will complete short multiple choice content quizzes, and short answer reflective essays on the topics, all with an aim to educate and empower learners to pursue FEW nexus solutions in their own communities.

Syllabus

Exploring the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus

This course is all about understanding the ways we can develop efficient and integrated methods for providing three essential resources: food, energy, and water. Considering forecasted increases in population, the need to build a better quality of life in developing countries, and the challenges posed by climate change, this course on FEW systems is a timely, essential inquiry into the science and technology of building community resilience. In this introductory module, UMD Public Health scientists detail the systems thinking behind the food-energy-water nexus. After a historical overview of how past societies have approached water distribution for irrigation, and details of how these resources are interdependent, the lecturers turn to our present challenges and opportunities with FEW resource provision amid ongoing and intensifying climate change.

Climate Change Impacts on FEW systems and Human Health

This second module deepens our inquiry into how climate change is already challenging agriculture and public health in the developing world, with specific views of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, and how snow pack and glacial melt provide essential freshwater for Himalayan and downstream communities. In each case, lecturers provide views of how systems thinking in the FEW nexus helps planning for resources as their supply becomes less predictable.

Global Perspectives on the FEW Nexus: Site-specific Insights

Our third module turns to FEW nexus solutions already at work in four different global locations: Tanzania, Israel, Nepal, and the USA. Our lecturers detail the climate-related challenges in each location. They discuss ways that universities and nonprofits can work together with communities to build FEW capacity and develop education programs that train the next generation of farmers, water managers, and renewable energy experts.

FEW Systems Solutions and Technologies

Our final module is a detailed exploration of FEW nexus technologies and solutions of today and tomorrow. Each lecturer considers the FEW nexus as a system, where a closed loop allows the most efficient use of waste products to support more resilient foundations for providing clean water, nutritious food, and renewable energy while advancing communities' self-determination.