The following is an outline of the three quarter sequence.

Fall Quarter: 81A – The Environment and Us and 80A and B – Environment and Society

Goals: To introduce students to environmental issues, past, present, and future; to teach them to analyze and interpret key literary texts; and to write clearly about the issues they raise.

Content: These courses will encompass four topics:

a. Where am I coming from?
Reflections, by various literary and historical figures, on their personal interactions with their local environments. The idea is to provide examples for students to think reflectively about their own relationships with nature.

b. Where are we coming from?
An introduction to environmental history.

c. Where are we now?
An examination of some of the current environmental social issues globally.

d. Where are we headed?
A survey of some of the most interesting environmental utopias in currency today.

Taught by: The Provost and core college faculty.

Winter Quarter: 81B – Fundamentals of Environmental Science

Goals: To understand the science of the environment well enough to critically evaluate and debate on these issues; to gain basic quantitative skills and science literacy in both physical and biological sciences; to learn how to break down an idea or question into a relatively simple, easy-to-solve, quantitative problem; to gain the knowledge needed to make informed choices regarding one’s own impact on the environment.

Taught by: 

Ingrid Parker, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and

Patrick Cheung, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Spring Quarter: 81 C– Technological Innovation and Environmental Challenges

Goals: To introduce students to some of the key technological solutions to environmental problems; discuss their underlying principles; and examine their societal dimensions. Topics include conventional and renewable energy; emerging technologies for transportation, energy efficiency, clean water; planetary engineering; and lean manufacturing.

Taught by:

Ken Pedrotti, Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering and

Ali Shakouri, Professor of Electrical Engineering