Results for BIO15n

Preference to freshmen. Lack of public understanding of the details of most environmental problems is cited as a cause of environmental deterioration. Good citizenship requires literacy about the elements of the scientific and decision making processes that accompany most environmental issues. Whether we are aware of them or not, environmental problems significantly decrease the quality of our lives, those of future generations and of other species. For example, when the average global temperature increases to 2oC (3.6oF) above natural, as many as 400,000 species could go extinct, and definitely some of those species, such as pollinators, currently enhance our quality of life greatly. Your grandchildren may need to learn to survive in a qualitatively different world than the one we know today.nIn this class we will explore many of the major problems our world is facing today including: over population, over consumption, sustainability impediments, toxins and pollution, and climate change. In addition, we will explore policies or lack thereof, communication missteps and breakdowns, and the role of the media to educate yet they often cause confusion.nEach week we will read articles¿mainly from the scientific literature, but also some from the policy world¿and discuss them in class.