ENVI 201Humans & Physical Environment

Catalog

This course provides an introduction to sustainability through the lens of systems thinking. Students are taught to understand physical, social, and political systems with respect to the natural environment and the ways in which humans have historically affected and continue to affect physical/natural systems. We will address more sustainable ways to interact with systems by understanding the three Es of sustainability, environment, equity, and economy. We will do so by analyzing five systems: Climate, energy, waste, water, and food and their interconnections. We will also examine what makes a community sustainable and what characteristics can make people good environmental leaders. Once per week the course will discuss various research methods for understanding sustainability in the social and natural sciences, basic data analysis techniques, and the use of Microsoft Excel. Offered regulary. 4 credits. No seniors.