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

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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!

7. 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