GEOG 140. Introduction to Environmental Studies

Brief description and goals statement. Environmental studies is a broad field dedicated to understanding the human causes and consequences of environmental change and to seeking solutions to environmental problems. Solutions necessarily require both natural and cultural or societal responses.

This course introduces students to the basic problem-solving methods of environmental science and to the principles of the natural and social sciences that are necessary for understanding and addressing local, regional and global environmental problems. Both the environmental professional and the ordinary citizen make decisions which influence the quality of the environment we all share. This course should help students make thoughtful choices about the ways they live, work, play, vote, and consume and how each choice may affect their planet and the life that depends upon it.

Course Outline:

• Environmental problem-solving
• Brief history of environmental studies: evolving themes
• Science and the scientific method
• Matter and Energy
• Ecological Principles
• Biodiversity: what is it? where is it?

• The atmospheric commons:
  • the ozone layer
  • greenhouses gases
• Protecting biodiversity at the species level
• Public lands management: history, problems and issues
• Water quality problems and issues

• Human population: growth and distribution
• The roles of economics, politics, and worldviews (values)
• Systems analysis
• Risks and uncertainties