This class is taught by Kim Sloan with 11 years experience teaching science.

Environmental Science is the study of the impact of humans on the environment with the goal of understanding and solving environmental problems. The main idea is to live sustainably. A sustainable world is not unchanging as there are technological advances and humans continue to be productive. A sustainable world requires everyone’s participation including individual citizens, industry, and the government. This is a four week course intended as a general introduction to environmental science. This class will include lecture, discussion, activities to supplement learning, and research. 


Week 1: Understanding Our Environment and Ecological Footprints.  

We will look at how our actions can change our environment and what our main environmental problems are.  We will distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources. We will use an ecological footprint calculator to determine the size of our footprints and analyze what we discover. 


Week 2: The Tragedy of the Commons

We will begin with a brief discussion about what we discovered through calculating our ecological footprints. Then we will introduce the tragedy of the commons and how it relates to sustainability. What are our commons and how do we protect them? How does economics affect the environment? 


Week 3: Environmental decision making

We will begin by looking at the Florida everglades as a jumping off point for environmental decision making. We will use a decision making model to help us evaluate a fictitious scenario. What is NIMBY? 


Week 4: Environmental Policies

Why are environmental policies necessary? We will spend some time researching some environmental policies and discuss our findings. Have environmental priorities changed over the past few decades?

At the end of this course, you will be able to:
Understand the different components of our environment and how they interact
Explain the impact of human activities on the environment
Calculate your ecological footprint and learn how to reduce it
Understand the tragedy of the commons and how it applies to environmental problems
Identify the different factors that need to be considered when making environmental decisions
Discuss the different types of environmental policies and their effectiveness