Surviving the Apocalypse: Earth’s Journey Through Natural Disasters Past and Present

Catalog description

The course explores Earth’s geological disasters, focusing on global changes over its long history We will work our way from past to present and explore whether, through our actions, we are plunging towards another Mass Extinction. Using the physical principles we learn from the geological past; we will apply these concepts to today’s natural hazards and explore how hazards are exacerbated in a warming world. The course will turn to the future towards paths to mitigate climate change through geoengineering. Unlike an engineering approach, we will mirror geo-engineering strategies with geological events we have already explored. We emphasize interdisciplinary processes occurring within Earth’s depths and surface, taking an expansive viewpoint on time. The student’s overarching learning outcome is scientific communication. Students will develop a term-long project creating a short documentary or a popular science article.