Geology 107-A: ST: Earth, Humans, and Environment

As humans, living on this amazing planet, we depend on our environment for everything essential for our lives: air, water, food, shelter, energy, and more. The Earth has changed naturally throughout geologic history. Geologic processes such as plate tectonics have shaped our planet, placing the continental masses in their current positions, allowing the creation and death of volcanoes, and moving blocks of rocks against each other causing earthquakes. More importantly to us, geologic processes and how Earth has changed through time are responsible for the composition of our air, how much liquid water is available, the climatic belts that are important for agriculture and human development, and how we obtain energy from different sources. But as humans came along, we introduced other changes to Earth and our environment in a quest to survive and thrive. Humans and our anthropogenic processes are a powerful source of change for the environment. We have learned how to use Earth's resources to provide energy, and mastered agriculture to improve our health and diet. But as we have enriched our life, we have also caused issues such as pollution, erosion, and water shortages. This course will explore how the Earth works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment. We will use different stories to explore the science behind them and focus on the lessons learned from each story. The goal of this course is for you to understand why natural and anthropogenic-caused phenomena happen in our environment and how to move forward in a sustainable way for Earth, Humans, and the Environment. May be taken for credit toward an Environmental Studies major. Distribution area: Science.