81 - 90 of 142 results for: EARTHSYS

Feeding a growing and wealthier population is a huge task, and one with implications for many aspects of society and the environment. There are many tough choices to be made- on fertilizers, groundwater pumping, pesticide use, organics, genetic modification, etc. Unfortunately, many people form strong opinions about these issues before understanding some of the basics of how food is grown, such as how most farmers currently manage their fields, and their reasons for doing so. The goal of this class is to present an overview of global agriculture, and the tradeoffs involved with different practices. Students will develop two key knowledge bases: basic principles of crop ecology and agronomy, and familiarity with the scale of the global food system. The last few weeks of the course will be devoted to building on this knowledge base to evaluate different future directions for agriculture.

Farms and gardens provide excellent settings for place-based environmental education that emphasize human ecological relationships and experiential learning. The O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm is the setting to explore the principles and practices of farm and garden-based education in conjunction with the farm's new field trip program for local youth. The course includes readings and reflections on environmental education and emphasis on learning by doing, engaging students in the practice of team teaching. Application required. Deadline: March 14.nnApplication: https://stanforduniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9SPufdULCh93rbT

FEED the Change is a project-based course focused on solving real problems in the food system. Targeted at upper-class undergraduates, this course provides an opportunity for students to meet and work with thought-leading innovators, to gain meaningful field experience, and to develop connections with faculty, students, and others working to create impact in the food system. Students in the course will develop creative confidence by learning and using the basic principles and methodologies of human-centered design, storytelling, and media design. Students will also learn basic tools for working effectively in teams and for analyzing complex social systems. FEED the Change is taught at the d.school and is offered through the FEED Collaborative in the School of Earth. This class requires an application. For application information and more information about our work and about past class projects, please visit our website at http://feedcollaborative.org/classes/

"How are we going to feed X billion people by the year ____?" A historical refrain from corporate agribusiness, academia, national policy makers and, increasingly today, investors and technologists in innovation hotspots like Silicon Valley. But with only 60 global harvests remaining due to soil degradation, the compounding feedback loop between agriculture and climate change, and nearly a billion of our current population starving or undernourished and another billion of them overweight or obese, it begs the question of whether this is the right problem for which our food system should be solving. Some even argue, including the designers of this course, that this question is responsible for the various existential crises we face today.nnThis course will examine the history of agricultural innovation and technology to look for insights as to why our food system has gone so far off the rails. We will utilize the Stanford Educational Farm as a scaled-down model of our agricultural systems, where each student will step into the role of a modern, large scale farmer under simulated conditions. Through gamified scenarios based on real-world challenges faced by farmers, students will gain a deeper understanding of the problems facing our agriculture. Based on this nuanced understanding, students will propose new and novel uses of existing and/or emerging technologies to solve these problems. These ideas will be circulated in the marketplace of your peer farmers, where ideas will either be adopted, modified and built upon, or abandoned. This process will tap into, challenge, and hone your creative problem solving abilities. In the end, we will see who has what it takes to fundamentally shift the course of our food system,nnThis class is for students who are (a) aspiring ag-tech entrepreneurs (b) generally interested in emerging technologies or (c) seeking a deeper understanding of how large scale agriculture works.nnThe application for this course can be found on the d.school¿s website: https://dschool.stanford.edu/classes/nnCourse meets : Saturday May 4th, 10 am to 3pm, Saturday May 11th, 10am to 3pm, Saturday May 25th, 10am to 3pm

How can we ensure that measures taken to mitigate global climate change don't create larger social and environmental problems? What metrics should be used to compare potential climate solutions beyond cost and technical feasibility, and how should these metrics be weighed against each other? How can modeling efforts and stakeholder engagement be best integrated into climate decision making? What information are we still missing to make fully informed decisions between technologies and policies? Exploration of these questions, alongside other issues related to potential negative externalities of emerging climate solutions. Evaluation of energy, land use, and geoengineering approaches in an integrated context, culminating in a climate stabilization group project.

Stories are how we understand ourselves and the world. This course will teach how to plan, research, report and produce a long-form, rich-media science/environment feature story. Students will work in groups or individually to master the blending of text with data visualization, photos, audio, and video. Teachers are experienced digital journalists at leading national and international publications with a close eye on trends and innovations in online, investigative, and data journalism. nnUsing the landmark New York Times story "Snow Fall" (http://nyti.ms/1eTyf2Y) as a departure point, the course will examine the questions: how do we engage and inform the public around critical environmental topics? nnHow do we explain complex and sometimes hidden factors shaping the future of our world? Students are asked to express interest through this form: http://goo.gl/rDQogB

Introduction to the history, development, and current state of communication of environmental science and policy to non-specialist audiences. Includes fundamental principles, core competencies, and major challenges of effective environmental communication in the public and policy realms and an overview of the current scope of research and practice in environmental communication. Intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates, with a background in Earth or environmental science and/or policy studies, or in communication or journalism studies with a specific interest in environmental and science communication. Prerequisite: Earth Systems core ( EarthSys 111 and EarthSys 112) or equivalent. (Meets Earth Systems WIM requirement.)

Environmental justice means ensuring equal access to environmental benefits and preventing the disproportionate impacts of environmental harms for all communities regardless of gender, class, race, ethnicity or other social positions. This introductory course examines the rhetoric, history and key case studies of environmental justice while encouraging critical and collaborative thinking, reading and researching about diversity in environmental movements within the global community and at Stanford, including the ways race, class and gender have shaped environmental battles still being fought today from Standing Rock to Flint, Michigan. We center diverse voices by bringing leaders, particularly from marginalized communities on the frontlines to our classroom to communicate experiences, insights and best practices. Together we will develop and present original research projects which may serve a particular organizational or community need, such as racialized dispossession, toxic pollution and human health, or indigenous land and water rights, among many others.

Climate change is the biggest problem humanity has ever faced, and this course will teach students about the means and complexity of solving it. The instructors will guide the students in the application of key data and analysis tools for their final project, which will involve developing integrated plans for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions (100% reductions) by 2050 for a country, state, province, sector, or industry.