Sustainability

Lecture, three hours. Examination of contemporary water problems worldwide, with particular attention to the competing demands for water in the western U.S., and water demand by the poor in developing countries. History and analysis of U.S. water policies at local, state, and federal levels.

Lecture, three hours. Explores the interaction of social choice and physical constraint in shaping the earth’s human carrying capacity, including ramifications for local, regional, or global environmental issues. Prerequisite: Planning, Policy, and Design 4.

Treatment of legal and policy strategies for promoting environmental protection and deterring environmental degradation within the context of other societal objectives. Topical approach with a focus on problems of special interest to criminologists and to environmental policy specialists. Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.

Introduction to major themes and debates in environmental ethics, with application to contemporary environmental issues. Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.

Lecture, three hours. Overview of scientific underpinnings of global environmental change and human health consequences. Provides students with an understanding of the fundamental dependency of human health on global environmental integrity. Encourages disciplinary cross-fertilization through interaction of students in environmental, health, and policy sciences. Prerequisite: at least one upper-division course in environmental science, public health, environmental policy, and/or environmental management, or consent of instructor.

Lecture, three hours. Focuses on processes of exposure to environmental toxins/agents and their impact to human health and the environment. Media transport, exposure assessment, susceptibility, behavior, and health effect of several toxins are discussed. Public Health Sciences and Public Health Policy majors have first consideration for enrollment.

Introduces students to the Earth as a system, the physical and biological resources on the planet, and the impact of humanity on those resources.

The sequence begins in fall by addressing water from an scientific and engineering perspective (global issues, land-sea interactions and urban water), then moves in winter to an historical case study of the Himalayan watershed and its impact on Asia’s water, and culminates in spring quarter by exploring water policy with the overall theme of water as a contested resource across space, time, and peoples. Wherever possible, examples are drawn from the local environment.

Introduction to the analysis of human population including fertility, mortality dispersion, sex distribution. Attention is focused on the effects of these variables on, e.g., over-population, social disorganization, and the stability of social institutions.

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to geologic principles and applications to environmental problems. Topics include: tectonic processes, earth materials, soils, river processes, groundwater, the coastal environment, slope failures, seismic hazards, mineral resources, and land-use evaluation based on geologic conditions. Examples from case studies. Prerequisite: Social Ecology E8.