Introduction to Environmental Studies

Course Code: SCIE 2005

Academic Year: 2024-2025

Environmental studies integrates an understanding of the natural world with knowledge about the social (or human) world. This introductory course challenges students to investigate environmental issues that we currently face including: climate change, overpopulation, over consumption, energy use, food security, and mass extinction. Students analyze the causes that underlie these environmental crises and how personal choices, socioeconomic inequalities, and systemic problems all contribute to global environmental effects. They also evaluate the many innovative strategies that are emerging to help maintain and improve the environment and how we can contribute as individuals. The overall purpose of this course is to develop greater knowledge and critical awareness about the complex relationships between the environment and the human species. This is done primarily through actively engaging with lecture material, online materials, readings, discussions, quizzes and assignments and by relating these ideas to our daily lives and our future hopes.