INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE:

Environmental Science is a broad survey course that will provide students with a fundamental understanding of ecosystems and environmental problems and how human activities have impacted the natural world.  We will study the basic principles of ecology, population, land use and conservation, water issues, air pollution, energy resources, climate and global change.  The students will relate everyday issues relating to fossil fuels and renewable energy, ozone pollution, eutrophication, endangered species, recycling, and global warming to what they are learning in class.  Although this is not a laboratory course, there will be hands-on exercises that will enable the students to collect local soil, water, and air samples and analyze them during class to enable them to learn how to observe the state of their environment.

TEXTS AND MATERIALS:

Environment by Raven P. H., Berg, L. R., and Johnson, G. B.

OBJECTIVES:

• Display basic knowledge and comprehension about environmental science, ecology, and regional, national, and international environmental issues
• Understand how to live within sustainable means
• Develop critical thinking skills required to evaluate the quality of current news reporting and policy initiatives on environmental issues,
• Demonstrate a basic level of competence in conducting environmental observations
• Understand scaling issues to relate what?s happening in their backyard to regional and global issues
• Develop scientific writing skills

SCHEDULE

Lecture

1)      Ecology, energetics, and biological communities

2)      Global ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling

3)      Population and carrying capacity

4)      Energy resources (fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables)

5)      Water quality and quality

6)      Soils, agriculture, and biofuels

7)      Other land use (forestry, urbanization, wetlands)

8)      Remote sensing of land use and land cover

9)      Biological diversity and conservation

10)  Air pollution (ozone, aerosols, nitrogen deposition)

11)  Paleoclimatology: Forcing mechanisms, Eocene warming, Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles, rapid climate change

12)  Greenhouse gases and global warming

13)  Pesticides and waste

14)  Economics and environmental policy

15)  Sustainability

16)  Computer modeling of ecosystems and multiple stresses

Laboratory Exercises

1)      Soils: measuring soil texture (sieves), soil moisture (dry and weigh), organic matter (loss of ignition)

2)      Vegetation: learn to use fields guides to identify local flora

3)      Water Quality: measure nitrate and pH levels using calorimetric techniques

4)      Air Pollution: measure ozone levels using ozone filters

5)      Weather: use computer (e.g. MS Excel) to develop weather notebooks from daily weather data

6)      Personal carbon budgets

7)      Togographic maps and remote sensing: relate remote sensing images and land use to topographic maps; transects and watersheds

GRADING

• Homeworks: 10
• Midterm: 20
• Final: 30
• 7 Laboratory exercises and reports: 25
• Current Events: 15