GEOS 103
Global Warming and Environmental Change Fall 2018
Division III
Cross-listed ENVI 103
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Earth is the warmest it has been for at least five centuries, and the surface of our planet is responding. From extreme floods and drought to landslides and soil erosion, the natural processes that shape the Earth’s surface are tied to temperature and precipitation, and as those change, the landscape reacts. People are beginning to feel the impacts, but in different ways depending on where we call home. Our ability to cope with the changes also depends are where we are, with low-income nations the least able to implement costly adaptive strategies. In this course, we will take a tour of the planet, investigating how climate change is altering landscapes and the natural processes that support them. Ultimately, we will develop an understanding of the consequences of climate change that connects physical processes with the geography of place. Specific topics include foundations of the Earth system, plate tectonics and the construction of landscapes, Earth materials, rivers and flooding, hillslope processes, coastal processes, and climate impacts on natural resources such as freshwater and soil. Labs will use local field sites and analytical exercises to evaluate recent cases that reflect an interaction of the landscape and climate.
The Class: Format: lecture/discussion, three hours per week; laboratory, two hours per week in alternate weeks/occasional field trips
Limit: 48
Expected: 48
Class#: 1620
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation based on written reports from laboratories, class participation, weekly quizzes, a midterm and final exam
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: first-year and sophomore students
Distributions: Division III
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
GEOS 103 Division III ENVI 103 Division III
Attributes: ENVI Natural World Electives
EXPE Experiential Education Courses
SCST Related Courses

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