We survey the environmental state of the world in the 1990s, including the health of physical systems such as climate and water, the biodiversity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and human habitations and quality of life around the world. We review the physical and biological processes that make the earth a life-support system. We review policies and economics of resource use. Also, we survey the different ways in which societies consume and use resources. Linking these themes is the outlook for a sustainable future, in terms of the size of the human population and the quality of life, the status of other species, and the integrity of physical systems.
Students keep a journal, design projects, and write several papers and two essay exams.
Check Times, Location, and Availability 356. Life in the Huron Valley. An interdisciplinary examination of interactions between humans and nature using the Huron River Valley as an example. The course will focus on excursions in Ann Arbor and the surrounding countryside to examine how life in the Huron Valley has been shaped by our particular environment and how humans over time have modified this environment with consequences both good and bad. The excursions will be supported by lectures, readings, and discussions examining literary and artistic views of nature as well as climate, ecosystem formation and function, social structures, and history.