Global ecosystem

Investigates how sustainability can be implemented in a variety of contexts including water, energy, nonrenewable resources, biodiversity, and urban policy, and also how it could be measured.

Students attend weekly seminar to discuss current issues in global sustainability. Weekly attendance at Global Sustainability Forum also is required. Seminar utilized to analyze forum presentations. A: Prepare bibliography. B: Prepare research proposal. In-progress grading for 190A-B, grade for sequence given upon completion of 190C.

Students attend weekly seminar to discuss current issues in global sustainability. Weekly attendance at Global Sustainability Forum also is required. Seminar utilized to analyze forum presentations and to prepare senior research paper. Prepare/ write research paper under the direction of a faculty member. Prerequisites: Earth System Science 190A-B and satisfaction of the lower-division writing requirement.

An introduction to the physical environment, biological systems, and human-environment interactions. Explores physical principles such as fluid transport and reaction rates using environmental examples as well as principles of populations, ecosystems, carrying capacity, and sustainable use of resources.

Explores past, present, and projected changes in Earth’s climate. Topics include paleoclimate records and mechanisms of natural climate variability at a range of timescales (orbital to seasonal); General Circulation Models; and IPCC observations and projections of future climate change.

Seminar and lecture, three hours. Explores basic topics in ecology and evolutionary biology and applications to agriculture, conservation, environmental issues, and public health. Format involves discussion of scientific journal articles and other readings, with focus on learning to evaluate scientific evidence. Prerequisite or corequisite: Biological Sciences E106.

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.