ESCI 101

Course Objectives

To provide opportunities to learn more about the environment by studying four important topical areas of contemporary environmental studies and by writing four, well-thought-out, well-written papers.

Course Evaluation

Your course grade will be based on four written papers focused on four specific subject areas described later. Each paper will be based on relevant on-line materials listed for that assignment. There are no tests or final exam.  Your overall letter grade will be based in part on the average of the four papers as well as the progress you have make in writing papers. A letter grade of C- or better is required to pass this course.

Assignments

Note: Each of the four parts of this course is based on one or more specific internet sites. If for some reason a particular site cannot be accessed, contact the instructor by e-mail and an alternate on-line site will be identified.

Write a paper for each of the following four parts of the course. Please reference the instructions (pdf) before beginning.

• Part I - Agriculture: understanding the role and significance of agriculture in the world today

• Part II - Energy and Environmental Quality

• Part III - Population and Social Trends
• Part IV - Global Warming and Global Climate Change

Additional Resources

State of the World published by Worldwatch Institute (W.W. Norton) at Amazon.com

Environmental Science by Daniel Chiras (Wadsworth) at Amazon.com

Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller (Wadsworth) at Amazon.com