Transcript: Course Intro Video

Course Objectives:

• Summarize methods of land use and management, and discuss different aspects of sustainable land use. 
• Analyze and predict the impact of urbanization on populations, and relate urbanization to global climate change. 
• Discuss the effects of technology on the environment, and analyze how ethical beliefs influence scientific practices. 
• Identify and describe renewable and nonrenewable resources and evaluate their costs and benefits. 
• Describe how resource availability, natural hazards, and climate change have affected human activity.
• Describe the functions of models in science. 
• Describe how the Sun affects both weather patterns and climate on Earth. 
• Identify natural causes, both external and internal, of climate change and evaluate some of these changes over Earth's history. 
• Describe how changes to one system can create feedback that affects another. 
• Define global warming and evaluate the different views on its cause. 
• Identify and describe different types of air, soil, and water pollution. 
• Analyze water quality by performing an investigation and examining different concentrations of pollutants, and communicate valid results. 
• Evaluate the need for and the impact of different types of waste management. 
• Analyze past and present environmental legislation at various levels of government as well as international treaties and their impact. 
• Discuss the impact of research and technology on policy decisions, using scientific information from different sources.