| source Georgetown (X) |
level |
department Science, Technology, and International Affairs (X) |
This is an introductory course on the science of environmental systems. We will survey the breadth of this interdisciplinary field with lectures, discussions, and laboratory and field exercises designed to introduce the basics of what I think every citizen should know. Whatever one's ideological perspective, environmental science is about the home of humanity, our basic life-support systems. We introduce the earth's spheres: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. These make life, including human life, possible, and understanding them is analogous to a scuba diver understanding scuba tanks. Humans influence each of these spheres, sometimes in ways that affect the production of ecosystem services for humans and the whole ecosystem. Thus, we study the scientific aspects of how these systems work and how humans are changing and, in some cases, degrading them. For example, we study the systems of the atmosphere that support and influence life, and we study air pollution and how the atmosphere may both accentuate and ameliorate pollution. Environmental science has always been a science that integrates natural with social science because it studies natural systems not only to understand nature but also to understand human relationships with nature. Global Warming, for example, is a central concern of environmental science, but to understand it fully requires we must understand the history and science of natural climate change, the history of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, and the models that predict climate change. Moreover, environmental science has always been an applied science; thus we must also introduce the practical approaches for solving problems. The course will emphasize the positive gains as well as the abject failures of human-environment interactions. We will compare different management approaches (such as market-based, grass-roots, and command-and-control) and the government (such as the EPA) and non government entities (such as the World Bank) that influence them.
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Intelligent decision-making in a continually expanding number of policy and business arenas requires an understanding of a range of technology issues. This course will provide a broad introduction to the science that underlies several rapidly developing areas of high technology. The scientific principles underlying communications networks and the Internet, integrated circuits, aerospace, energy and transportation infrastructure, nuclear power, and surveillance technology will be covered. A few topics will be chosen for in-depth analysis, in conjunction with guest lectures from high-tech decision makers, to show the level of scientific understanding necessary to make informed decisions on technological issues. The art of approximation and order-of-magnitude calculations will also be introduced. Spring.
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This course presents a set of mathematical methods and tools used in analyzing policy issues with scientific and technological dimensions. The goal is to provide the analytic and quantitative basis for understanding and making public policy decisions. Students will learn the theoretical foundations, and will work through illustrative examples of quantitative reasoning and analysis applied to policy problems. The course satisfies the STIA Group III requirements as an alternative to calculus and statistics.
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Environmental change is an important aspect of the world we live in. Yet many of the most dramatic changes have occurred beyond the grasp of recorded history. This course will examine how environmental change, both gradual and abrupt, has impacted cultures from around the world at various times in prehistory. The focus is on what archaeology, geology, and paleoecology can teach us about how people adapt to changes in their environment. Through the analysis of selected case studies, the course will examine the impact of climate change, sea-level rise, and land use on human settlements, subsistence, and social organization. The course will explore both the physical evidence for environmental change, and the archaeological evidence for cultural response. Examples will be drawn from various ancient cultures, including those of Mexico, Greece, and California. A summary session at the end of the course will relate what we have learned about past events to possible future environmental problems and solutions.
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Credits: 3
Score: 11.008158 Details | Listing | Web page
Permission of STIA Field Chair (Dr. Elizabeth Stephen) Required
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This course is an introduction to how science and technology affect foreign affairs, and how international affairs influence science and technology. It is the gateway course required of SFS juniors majoring in science, technology and international affairs (STIA), and College science majors taking the STIA certificate. It may also be taken by undergraduates and graduate students from anywhere in the university without special permission. It has no prerequisites, and is suitable both for the policy generalist and for students with backgrounds in science. The course uses examples drawn from environment, security, nuclear policy, information, communications, energy, homeland defense, health, and manufacturing technology, and explores issues of sustainability, scientific risk and uncertainty, the links of science and technology with economics and geopolitics, scientific advice to governments, and government support to research and innovation. It explores the role of technological innovation in increasing productivity and competitiveness, and in solving critical social problems.
Score: 11.008158 Details | Listing | Web page
Environmental change is an important aspect of the world we live in. Yet many of the most dramatic changes have occurred beyond the grasp of recorded history. This course will examine how environmental change, both gradual and abrupt, has impacted cultures from around the world at various times in prehistory. The focus is on what archaeology, geology, and paleoecology can teach us about how people adapt to changes in their environment. Through the analysis of selected case studies, the course will examine the impact of climate change, sea-level rise, and land use on human settlements, subsistence, and social organization. The course will explore both the physical evidence for environmental change, and the archaeological evidence for cultural response. Examples will be drawn from various ancient cultures, including those of Mexico, Greece, and California. A summary session at the end of the course will relate what we have learned about past events to possible future environmental problems and solutions.
Score: 11.008158 Details | Listing | Web page
This is a basic upper division course in geomorphology, a core subject of geography and geology and integral to many other sciences. Geomorphology is a science that studies the landforms of planetary surfaces and the processes that create these landforms. The field has a long history that stretches back to the earliest speculation about the earth; humans are innately interested in the landscape about them. Since many universities have many related courses where we have but one, I focus on three central themes: (1) a survey of geomorphic forms and processes, (2) some basic analytical skills including some field experience, and (3) some practical applications, especially to ecology and geological hazards. The analytical skills we develop in this course include: map and areal photography interpretation, landscape analysis, some field methods, natural hazards assessment, and the applications of some basic mathematical models. We will concentrate on the external agents of geomorphic change (water, ice, wind, and chemical change), but we must also study the tectonics and structure of the earth in order to understand its surface.
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The three major objectives of this course are to (1) understand the elements of the atmosphere that control local to global scale climate and atmospheric phenomena, (2) understand the atmosphere's links to broader environmental questions, and (3) understand the important atmospheric problems and policies of the day. This course is mainly about climatology, the major systems of the atmosphere, and the major atmospheric problems of today and the past. Climatology studies the long-term patterns of weather for a place and the forces that control that pattern. Meteorology is the study of the short-term processes of the atmosphere in order to predict weather from hour to hour and day to day. The historical sciences study atmospheric trends over time. To understand the long-term climate we have to understand many short-term principles and the fundamentals of atmospheric science. Therefore, unlike most other courses in the SFS, we will concentrate on exercises in a laboratory manual rather than on papers. But we will still have one term paper on a topic of atmospheric environmental policy, which will be presented to the class in poster form in the last week. We consider such topics as global warming, El Nino, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Jet Streams, ocean-atmosphere interactions, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the geological history of the atmosphere and climate, techniques for studying climate and ancient climate, the hydrologic cycle, climate and weather prediction, air pollution, acid precipitation, and international and national laws and treaties concerning pollution and climate change. This course continues its ongoing evolution, and it will no doubt continue to evolve during the semester, which is the time when hurricanes and El Ni?o may develop. I encourage you to freely roam through the thousands of climate-related websites on the Internet.
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How do we, how should we, and how can we better manage and sustain natural resources? This seminar is divided into parts based on the major divisions of natural resources: water, air, land (forest and rangeland), ecosystems, and soil. In each division we use readings and computer simulations to assess the resource, the basic methods of conservation, the management alternatives, and the policy consequences.
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This course examines the emergence of the environment as an issue area in world politics. It serves as an introduction to the study of international environmental politics and to the theoretical and paradigmatic approaches scholars and practitioners have taken to understanding them. It will examine several approaches to the connections between world politics and the environment. It will examine the politics surrounding a number of significant regional and global environmental cases so as to address such questions as: Can governments cooperate to address environmental challenges? What effect does such cooperation have on international law and other areas of international politics? What effects does it have on the state? On sovereignty? How are international environmental politics related to struggles for power, wealth, legitimacy and authority? What roles do science and scientists play in international environmental politics? What is "sustainable development?" "environmental security?" "eco-justice?" How do international environmental issues play out in North-South debates? Spring.
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Credits: 3
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This seminar bridges the gap between the STIA Program in SFS, on the one hand, and the science departments and the journalism program in the English Department in the College, on the other. It responds to the critical shortage of journalists competent to bridge the gap between science, especially environmental science, and policy, and can gather and write news on these subjects that is both accurate and accessible to a popular audience. The course will examine journalism about science, environment and health as practiced for print, in broadcast, and online, both in the United States and in other nations. It will also examine the bureaucratic and cultural processes that shape both what is reported and how it is reported. The reading will include examples og high-quality journalism, as well as schoarly investigations into the conduct of that journalism. Students will be required to do a large amount of writing and extensive online critiques of writing of others.
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Credits: 4
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Credits: 3
Score: 11.008158 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
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Over the past ten years, international trade policy and its institutions have taken on the additional responsibilities of protecting the environment and promoting development among the world's poorest people. Why did this come about? How effective are the efforts to reconcile these important policy areas? Students will first develop an understanding of the linkages between trade, environment, and development policies. We will then examine some of the more important efforts to link these policies together, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization's "Development Round," and a host of bi-lateral and regional agreements involving the United States, Canada, Chile, Central America, Singapore, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Spring.
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We can hardly overestimate the importance of water. It is the most important natural resource, and accordingly, scores of disciplines study every aspect of it. We have one course to make a coherent overview of the nature, occurrence, and management of global water resources. To this end the course focuses on three themes: water quantity and hydrology, physical and biological interactions, and water resources policy and management. We will attempt to integrate these themes throughout the relevance of water on earth, understand the major regional and topical issues, and become familiar with water resources research techniques, analytical tools, international controversies, and data sources.
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The course provides an in-depth introduction to the fundamentals of geographic information systems (GIS) used to analyze spatial data. After a review of cartographic principles, including map scales, coordinate systems and map projections, it discusses the hardware and software used in GIS and presents applications of GIS technology in government, business and especially environmental science. Specific topics include an understanding of GIS terminology, raster and vector data structures, data sources and their accuracy, methods of data acquisition, conversion and input, working with spatial databases (map features and attribute tables), and spatial analysis itself (map overlays, buffer zones, and networks). A weekly lab will provide hands-on experience in using GIS software, with an emphasis on vector-based data structures using ArcView. Spring.
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This course will explore the relationship between the environment and development in Africa. Particular emphasis will be placed on African eco-systems and their connection to poverty, food production, public health concerns and labor-rights issues. Gender disparities will be explored in the context of land rights and development. The course will also explore mining issues in South Africa and their link with public health concerns. The link between rural sector environmental degradation and the current AIDS crisis will also be explored.
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course description not yet available.
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This course is an overview of Asian environmental problems, their scientific basis, and their economic, political, and developmental dimensions.
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The major objective of this course is to understand to ocean's role in global environmental and energy issues such as biodiversity, ocean acidification, climate change, and sea level rise. In this context, course will (1) present fundamental biological, chemical and physical processes and features in modern and past oceans; (2) describe relationships between these processes and contemporary environmental and economic resource issues; (3) to develop familiarity with ocean and coastal zone policy issues on local, regional and global spatial scales. The course will cover these topics: sea-level rise and coastal zones, ecosystem degradation (dead zones, estuaries, mangroves), the carbon cycle, ocean acidification, coral reef ecosystems, oceans and energy and mineral resources, energy policy (carbon sequestration, iron fertilization), biodiversity (endangered species, extinction, invasive species), El Nino and climate variability, and polar oceans. We will cover topics related to continental shelves and slopes (gravity slides), deep-sea abyssal plains and hydrothermal vents. A global view is necessary to understand certain critical ocean-related issues, but many policy issues are pertinent at local and regional spatial scales.
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