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FEWS (Food, Energy, Water Systems) Course Syllabus

While the ‘FEWS Nexus’ has existed as a buzzword for several decades, it has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. But, in my opinion, courses designed to teach about the FEWS Nexus as a field of research are severely underdeveloped. It seems that ‘FEWS’ is sometimes used as a catch-all for any research that falls into studying any food, energy, or water topic whether or not the work addresses the complex tradeoffs that exist between these sectors. I believe that FEWS Nexus research must assess these tradeoffs and also consider the social, economic, and/or political perspectives that may influence their interactions. In order to better form FEWS Nexus researchers, I developed a syllabus to (hypothetically) train students in this area of research. This course has not been implemented outside of this syllabus, but I hope that someday it may be of use to either myself or others in fully implementing a course on the FEWS Nexus.

FEWS 690: Introduction to the FEWS Nexus

Course Description

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the Food, Energy, Water Systems (FEWS) nexus. Students will learn to understand the FEWS nexus as a modeling framework for analyzing the complex tradeoffs between food, energy, and water at multiple spatial and temporal scales in order to develop policies that better address the needs of many stakeholders. The FEWS nexus is a broad field of research, centered in sustainability and environmental science but strongly influenced by agronomy, ecology, engineering, natural resources management, political science, sociology, and statistics. Key theories and perspectives from these disciplines will be introduced to help us think about the complex nature of the FEWS nexus. This course will build a foundation for approaching such research in the context of the agricultural Midwest United States.

Learning outcomes

  1. Describe the FEWS nexus as a framework for sustainability research.
  2. Explain relevant social and political perspectives in the context of the FEWS nexus.
  3. Identify key modeling approaches in FEWS nexus research.
  4. Identify contemporary sustainability challenges and critically assess the FEWS nexus as a framework for addressing tradeoffs amongst many stakeholders.
  5. Effectively communicate and apply FEWS nexus approaches to understanding sustainability in the agricultural Midwest.

Assignments and Evaluation

The course is designed primarily to promote discussion amongst students and build community through critical thinking. Additionally, a final project helps to integrate the FEWS nexus into each student’s individual research.

  1. Class Attendance and Participation (20%) This course is discussion-based and therefore it is very important to come to class prepared to engage in the discussions. Each week there will be one or two assigned readings that will be discussed during the class. Students are expected to engage in the discussions at the graduate level. When participating in class discussions, sharing facts, thoughts, opinions and questions that seek to further the conversation rather than sideline it is important. See the attendance and participation rubric for further details on assessment.

  2. Discussion Questions (30%) Before each class, students are required to post at least one question per reading on the Canvas discussion board. These questions will be used to promote discussion in class. Relevant context for each question should be provided so that everyone can understand the thought process behind the question and why it is important. Therefore, a short paragraph ending in a question should be submitted for each reading. The teacher will review these questions prior/during class and use them to facilitate the discussion if it is not developing organically. See the discussion rubric for further details on assessment.

  3. Readings Introduction (5 + 5 = 10%) Each student will summarize and present two readings to the class over the semester. All students will present their first reading in the third week of class. These readings will be chosen by students based on interest from a subset of references in Newell et al. (2019). For this presentation each student will have 6 - 8 minutes to summarize their reading. Providing a digital powerpoint handout for each presentation will be required. Additionally, students will sign up for one additional set of weekly readings to summarize in the 5th - 14th weeks of class. The assigned student will take 6 - 8 minutes at the beginning of class to present their reading(s) and also provide a powerpoint handout to all other students and the teacher. See the reading introduction rubric for further details on assessment.

  4. Final Paper (30%) The final paper is meant to be a targeted and tangible outcome of this class to help each student apply and incorporate the FEWS nexus into their research. Students will be expected to write a literature review, project proposal, or research paper of approximately 5,000 words on a topic related to the FEWS nexus. Students may choose the format of the project that best aligns with their current stage of research and thesis/dissertation completion. See the final paper rubric for further details on assessment.

  5. Final Presentation (10%) A formal presentation of the final paper to the class will be required. See the final presentation rubric for further details on assessment.

Course Outline

Week Topic Activity / Reading(s)
1 Introduction and course overview Introductions, research networking, syllabus overview
2 FEWS nexus overview Newell, J. P., B. Goldstein, and A. Foster. 2019. A 40-year review of food-energy-water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale. Environmental Research Letters 14(7): 1-18.
3 Individual paper review 1 Each student chooses 1 paper from a subset of those referenced in Newell et al. (2019) to summarize and present. Presentations will be given during this class. See Appendix A for a list of a papers to choose from.
4 Individual paper review 2 Choose a second paper of those presented by other students during the previous class and read to prepare for discussion of FEWS nexus in this class. After this meeting students should identify a final paper topic.
5 Sociology 1: Agricultural treadmill Norgaard, K. 2017. The sociological imagination in a time of climate change. Global and Planetary Change. 163: 171-176. and Gould, K., D. Pellow, and A. Schaiberg. 2004. Interrogating the treadmill of production: everything you wanted to know about the treadmill but were afraid to ask. Organization and Environment 17(3): 296-316.
6 Sociology 2: Ecological modernization Spaargaren, G. and A. Mol. 1992. Sociology, environment, and modernity: Ecological modernization as a theory of social change. Society and Natural Resources. 5: 323-344. and Vail, B. 2014. Ecological modernization at work? Environmental policy reform in Sweden at the turn of the century. (Chapter 4). In Environmental Sociology: From Analysis to Action.
7 Political economy: Neoliberalism McCarthy, J. and S. Prudham. 2004. Neoliberal nature and the nature of neoliberalism. Geoforum 35: 275-283.
8 FEWS Models 1 Giampietro, M. et al. 2013. An innovative accounting framework for the food-energy-water nexus: Application of the MuSIASEM approach to three case studies. Rome: Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations.
9 FEWS Models 2 Rasul, G. and B. Sharma. 2016. The nexus approach to water-energy-food security: an option for adaptation to climate change. Clim. Policy, 16, 682-702.
10 Drawing conclusions and crafting policy Vogt, C., M. Zimmerman, and K. Brekke. 2014. Operationalizing the Urban NEXUS Report. Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. and Karlberg, L et al. 2015. Tackling complexity: understanding the food-energy-environment nexus in Ethopia’s Lake Tana sub-basin. Water Altern. 8, 710-734.
11 Case study 1 Guillaume, J., M. Kummu, S. Eisner, and O. Varis. 2015. Transferrable principles for managing the nexus: lessons from historical global water modelling of central Asia. Water, 7, 200-223.
12 Case study 2 King, C.W. 2014. A systems approach for investigating water, energy, and food scenarios in East-Central Maui. The University of Texas at Austin. Report.
13 FEWS critical analysis Leck, H., D. Conway, M. Bradshaw, and J. Rees. 2015. Tracing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Description, Theory and Practice. Geography Compass. 9/8 (2015): 445-460.
14 Midwest FEWS 1 Stone, J. et al. 2015. NSF FEW workshop on a sustainable rural framework for the upper great plains. NSF. and ISU. 2017. NRT-INFEWS: The DataFEWSion traineeship program for innovations at the nexus of food production, renewable energy and water quality. NSF.
15 Midwest FEWS 2 or Presentations Choose your own paper related to sustainability in the Midwest. How can the issue be approached with FEWS? Brainstorming session for new research projects or Additional week of presentations if needed
16 Presentations Final presentation due
17 Finals Week Final paper due

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Dr. Carmen Bain for her course SOC 549: Sociology of the Environment. The structure and pedagogy of this course is strongly inspired by SOC 549.

Appendix A - Subset of References from Newell et al. (2019)

Al-Ansari, T., A. Korre, Z. Nie, and N. Shah. 2015. Development of a life cycle assessment tool for the assessment of food productionsystems within the energy, water and food nexus. Sustain. Prod. Consum., 2, 52-66.

Bazilian, M. et al. 2011. Considering the energy, water and food nexus: towards an integrated modelling approach. Energy Policy, 39, 896-906.

Bizikova, L. D. Roy, and D. Swanson. 2013. The water-energy-food security nexus: towards a practical planning and decision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management. IISD Report.

Davies, E.G.R. and S.P. Simonovic. 2011. Global water resources modeling with an integrated model of the social-economic-environmental system. Adv. Water Resour., 34, 684-700.

Foran, T. 2015. Node and regime: interdisciplinary analysis of water-energy-food nexus in the Mekong region. Water Altern., 8, 655-674.

Hoff, H. 2011. Understanding the nexus. Background Paper for the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference.

Howells M. et al. 2013. Integrated analysis of climate change, land-use, energy and water strategies. Nat. Clim. Change, 3, 621-626.

Kraucunas, I. et al. 2015. Investigating the nexus of climate, energy, water, and land at decision-relevant scales: the platform for regional integrated modeling and analysis (PRIMA). Climatic Change, 129, 573-588.

Miara, A., P.T. Pienkos, M. Bazilian, R. Davis, and J. Macknick. 2014. Planning for algal systems: an energy-water-food nexus. Ind. Biotechnol. 10, 202-211.

Mohtar, R. H., and B. Daher. 2014. A platform for trade-off analysis and resource allocation: The water-energy-food nexus tool and its application to Qatar’s food security. London: Chatham House.

Mukuve, F.M. and R.A. Fenner. 2015. Scale variability of water, land, and energy resource interations and their influence on the food system in Uganda. Sustain. Prod. Consum., 2, 79-95.

Siegfried, T., S. Sobolowski, P. Raj, R. Fishman, V. Vasquez, K. Narula, U. Lall, and V. Modi. 2010. Modeling irrigated area to increase water, energy, and food security in semiarid India. Weather Clim. Soc., 2, 255-270.

Villamayor-Tomas, S., G. Epstein, T. Evans, and C. Kimmich. 2015. The water-energy-food security nexus through the lenses of the value chain and the institutional analysis and development frameworks. Water Altern., 8, 735-755.

Villarroel, W.R., M.B. Beck, J.W. Hall, R.J. Dawson, and O. Heidrich. 2014. The energy-water-food nexus: strategic analysis of technologies for transforming the urban metabolism. J. Environ. Manage., 141, 104-114.