Global Change

Developing Understanding: A central aspect of environmental science is to understand the global impact of local and regional human activities. Humans can mitigate their impact through sustainable use of resources. Human activities can cause ozone depletion in the stratosphere and increases in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Increases in greenhouse gases can cause human health and environmental problems. These environmental problems include global climate change, ocean warming, and endangered species. Overall, this course provides an opportunity to examine the interrelationships among the natural world and challenges student to evaluate and propose solutions to a variety of environmental problems.

Enduring Understanding(s): Local and regional human activities can have impacts at the global level. The health of a species is closely tied to its ecosystem, and minor environmental changes can have a large impact.