Course Description

Some would argue that we have entered a new geologic epoch called the“Anthropocene” - for anthropo, meaning “man,” and cene meaning “new” - because humans have dramatically altered the fundamental properties of the Earth System. The field of environmental science integrates theories and methods from biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, and other disciplines to understand and solve problems arising from human-environment interactions. Part of this course explores what we know about the science of global environmental problems and solutions. The course also emphasizes how we use the scientific process to understand and solve environmental problems. We will “do science” by asking questions about the local and global environment and analyzing environmental data to answer those questions.

The course is roughly organized according to the figure below, which identifies nine properties related to human-induced changes to the environment. These “planetary boundaries” represent processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth System - the interactions among land, ocean, atmosphere, and life that together provide the conditions upon which society depends. We will explore how humans are altering these processes locally and globally and what we can do to decrease our collective environmental footprint.