Envs 1301 Introduction To Environmental Sciences

ENVS 1301: INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Course Description:

This course will help the student to prepare for living in current and future society’s mixture of technology and mythology by presenting ideas and concepts about living systems and their environments. Policy makers and citizens are urgently needed to be aware and have a conscious understanding of ecological principles when exercising community responsibilities to handle the environmental problems of our times, such as water use, solid waste management, global warming, energy use, conservation of irreplaceable natural resources, overpopulation, and the preservation of biodiversity. An understanding of biological and ecological principles and their application towards environmental challenges should give the student the confidence to be a trustworthy and active citizen, a conscientious steward of nature, and an agent of change for making a healthy, sustainable community and society. Regardless of the students’ field of study, as a citizen of both local and global communities some environmental issues will impact their lives.

Required Textbook and Materials:

The main required textbooks for this course are listed below, and can be readily accessed using the provided links. There may be additional required/recommended readings, supplemental materials, or other resources and websites necessary for lessons; these will be provided for you in the course’s General Information and Forums area, and throughout the term via the weekly course Unit areas and the Learning Guides.

Software Requirements/Installation:

No special requirements.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes:

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Construct college level writing and critical thinking analysis of current environmental issues in all course work.
2. Organize, visualize, and analyze environmental data, and interpret relationships and trends to support conclusions.
3. Understand the natural environment and its relationships with human activities.
4. Aggregate and analyze facts, concepts, and methods from various disciplines to find and propose solutions to environmental problems.

Course Schedule and Topics:

This course will cover the following topics in eight learning sessions, with one Unit per week. The Final Exam will take place during Week/Unit 9.

Week 1: Unit 1 – Understanding Our Environment

Week 2: Unit 2 – Ecology and Sustainability

Week 3: Unit 3 – Evolution and Sustaining Biodiversity

Week 4: Unit 4 – People and the Environment

Week 5: Unit 5 – Sustaining Energy Resources

Week 6: Unit 6 – Sustaining Environmental Quality

Week 7: Unit 7 – Soil, Pest and Water Management

Week 8: Unit 8 – Sustaining Human Societies

Week 9: Unit 9 – Course Review and Final Exam