EDIT - LINK TO THE VERY SAME DOC ON MY VERY OWN BLOG!
http://theosaslow.blogspot.com/2006/01/as-sustainable-development.html

As a sustainable development concentrator (I think!), I want to change the world. No, I’m not on an ego trip – regardless of one’s major or life calling, one will change the world – albeit perhaps in a very small and unimportant way. I’m simply concerned at the destructive path our society seems to be taking, and want to somehow change the direction/purpose of a few lives – though even changing my own will be satisfaction enough for me. “Sustainable development” can be defined in countless ways – after all, BP and Ford regularly tout their sustainable development – but I think the UN definition of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” simply sums up my philosophy

I had no idea what I wanted to major in when I started college, and began by exploring what the different courses had to offer. I took a few sociology and psychology courses, and though I liked them, found that the anthropology/IDS/Watauga courses more to my liking. Cultural Anthropology opened my eyes to the whole other world outside my suburban upbringing, and I began to take more courses centered on development/underdevelopment, as well as human interaction with the natural world. Watauga College’s emphasis on interdisciplinary and social awareness pulled me towards SD-related fields, and the faculty (especially Chuck Smith and Cynthia Wood) introduced me to ideas that heavily influenced me. Furthermore, Boone’s natural beauty made me more interested in the environment, and I took more interest in nature writing, and well as environmental policy. Politics, Technology, and the Environment, a Watauga tangent taught by Chuck Smith, played a key role in developing my interests in environmentalism and social activism.

My first sustainable development course made my feel that I had finally found a major that would give my life some much-needed purpose, and one that would hopefully pay most of the bills as well. I began to take political science courses in an attempt to find concrete solutions (or partial solutions) to our development problems, with Dennis Grady’s Environmental Politics class having particular significance. My exploration into the social aspects of SD came next semester (Fall ’04) as I took Race, Gender, and Class. On a personal-scale level, I began to learn about agriculture and agriculture’s role in sustainability, and have since taken all three agroecology courses – and will be taking these lessons to heart as I live the rest of my life. My interests have since broadened, as I explore the more-concrete world of political science and planning – for while I am intrigued by the more philosophical/paradigmatic/abstract elements of SD, I want to actually make a difference – and I know that small gains/improvements can be made in pre-existing fields. I am currently on the threshold of graduating – but am not totally sure of my major, and am exploring a self-designed/double major more to my liking (and letting me stay in school longer!) After I graduate, I plan to valuably fritter some time away working on organic farms (perhaps in Hawaii), as well as look into the Peace Corps. Ultimately, I want to be a college professor, so I have a few years of schooling left to accomplish.

ANT -1215 CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY – Casagrande

G H -2520 AMER ENVIRONMNT'L WRITERS – Tim Silver

ANT -4570 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – Billy Schumann/Christof

P S -4540 ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS – Dennis Grady

ANT -2420 GENDER, RACE AND CLASS – Rorbakken

IDS -3251 PRINC OF AGROECOLOGY – Christof

TEC -3532 SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION – Jack Martin

P S -4220 GLOBALIZATION  - Renee Scherlen

PLN -3531 PLN FOR SUSTAINABLE COMM – Jana Carp

P S -4722 U.S. FOREIGN POLICY – Scherlen

POLITICS, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
REVISITING NATURE AS SOCIAL SPACE - IDS 1105-103 – Chuck Smith

I don’t have the space required to list influential
articles, but I find The Organic Machine and Second Nature
(Pollan) to be heavily influential in changing my idea of a man/nature ethic.

On the political science front, Zinn and Stiglitz are major influences,
as well as Chomsky, and magazines like Adbuster’s, Harper’s, the
Atlantic Monthly, and the Economist.