Human. Nature.
They're always connected.
Even when it’s unexpected.
Sustainability is one of the most important goals of society. That means creating systems that are healthy -- economically, environmentally and socially.
The human world and the natural world interact in ways both dramatic and subtle, but always the contact reverberates through each, and often in ways that are surprising. The challenge: Find solutions that benefit both humans and nature.
Our mission: Integrate ecology with socioeconomics, demography and other disciplines for ecological sustainability from local, national to global scales.
Recent News
March, 23, 2011
March 21, 2011
Big city life may make residents lean toward green, study says
Jan. 18, 2011
The downsides of China’s explosive urbanization – like pollution and greenhouse gas emissions -- now are joined by an upside: Better environmental citizens.
It's the first time scientists have weighed employment and leadership when considering environmental behavior in China's cities. In the Jan. 16 edition of the British journal Environmental Conservation, scientists at the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability at Michigan State University and collaborators in the U.S. and China show that city size -- and the good jobs there -- lead people to pro-environmental behavior, like recycling plastic bags and sorting their trash.
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CSIS director honored by AAAS
Jan. 11, 2011
Jianguo "Jack" Liu, internationally known for his new ways of exploring the relationships between humans and nature and how those intertwined systems affect the environment, has been named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Liu is an MSU University Distinguished Professor of fisheries and wildlife who holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and serves as director of the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. He is one of six MSU faculty members named AAAS fellows this year.
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Ostrom visits CSIS
Dec. 10, 2010
Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, was on campus Dec. 10 to give the Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture and receive an honorary degree from the university. In between, Ostrom, who has collaborated with several researchers on campus, took time to have lunch with members of the center in the Manly Miles building and mingle with students.
Ostrom is recognized around the world for her groundbreaking research, teaching and scholarship on the complexity of human social and economic behavior. She received the Nobel Prize in 2009.
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Quakes don't completely shake China's environmental gains thanks to conservation programs
Oct. 26, 2010
The impact of China’s devastating 2008 earthquake was substantially lessened by environmental conservation programs for some of the country’s most fragile habitats, according to research published in a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science the week of Oct. 26.
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