Climate change, pollution, environmental degradation - how much do we know about the systems and science of our physical environment that lie behind these current environmental concerns? The objective of this course is to develop students' understanding and appreciation of the elements, processes and systems that make up the physical environment: weather and climate systems, systems and cycles of the solid earth (rock changes and tectonics), systems of landform evolution (water and wind erosion, glaciation), and systems and cycles of soils, vegetation and biological productivity. Specific environmental issues such as climate change, air pollution and land degradation, and quantitative techniques related to these issues, will also be introduced.
- Instructor: Ray Vander Zaag