A TOPICAL COURSE IN THE GEOSCIENCES ANDREW M. GOODLIFFE Sustainable Earth A TOPICAL COURSE IN THE GEOSCIENCES ANDREW M. GOODLIFFE

What is “Sustainable Earth” A 4 credit lecture and lab class (two 1:15 lectures, one 1:50 lab each week) Explores earth resources, utilization, and impact ~110 students, mostly non-majors (and non-scientists) An elective for geology majors Required for environmental science majors Fulfils university natural science requirement Many have taken or will take physical or historical geology No prior geological knowledge assumed

What does “Sustainable Earth” Cover? Foundation Brief introduction to the earth and solar system Planets, earth composition, earth history Examination of population growth The reason why are our resources under increasing pressure Quick survey of rocks and minerals Rocks and minerals as interpreted by a geophysicist (easily covered in 1-2 classes)

What does “Sustainable Earth” Cover? Earth Resources Water Ground water storage, consequences of withdrawal, pollution, case studies (3 classes) Soil Weathering, classification, erosion (1 class) Mineral and rock resources Formation and exploitation of ore and rock resources, exploration methods, supply and demand Fossil fuels Formation, exploration and exploitation of oil, gas and coal, peak oil, hazards and environmental impact Alternative Energy Nuclear, solar, wind, water power, ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells, etc

What does “Sustainable Earth” Cover? By-Products Waste Disposal Landfills, hazardous waste disposal, sewage treatment, recycling Water Pollution Surface and groundwater, organic and inorganic pollutants, thermal pollution Air Pollution Acid rain, carbon and sulfur gases, particulates, lead, ozone Climate Change Ice ages, global warming, El Niño, desertification Environmental Law and Policy Mineral rights, law of the sea, EPA, approach to geological hazards

Why Offer “Sustainable Earth” Provide non-majors with a natural science course that is highly applicable to their lives Educate our students with respect to the limitations of non-renewable and renewable resources Educate our students with respect to the consequence of resource utilization Provide students with an environment in which they can form educated opinions on often controversial topic Produce citizens that can make intelligent business/policy decisions And, along the way, they learn an awful lot of geology!

Does this work? Short answer….. YES This has been offered as an entirely new course for three semesters Offered in addition to physical and historical geology, not instead of An opportunity to design a class from the ground up around modern pedagogical methods and instructional technology Students are very engaged in class – very active discussions are common Students are familiar with many of the topics and often have strong opinions – they have an investment in the subject matter Compromises – yes Non-majors taking this class are not exposed to the full range of geological topics – this is OK Some subject matter departs significantly from geological curricula – this is also OK