Paul Andersen explains how matter and energy are conserved within the Earth's system. Matter is a closed system and Energy is open to the surroundings. In natural systems steady state is maintained through feedback loops but can be be affected by human society.
The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!
This course presents an examination of ethical issues relevant to systems-based research procedures, professional conduct, social and environmental impacts, and embedded ethics in research and professional practice in RESS based jobs. In this course, you will consider case studies of ethical issues that can arise when engaging renewable energy and sustainability systems. You will also develop an ethics case study based on your area of RESS interests. The goals of the course are to provide you with tools for analyzing ethical issues both in the line of professional duties and in consideration of the various ethical issues that face an entire sector of renewable energy and that underpin the very reasons for taking a sustainable and renewable approach.
This article from AIR Worldwide is a brief history of the development of building codes in the United States and an explanation of their importance in estimating building stock vulnerabilities.The resource, "The Evolution of Building Codes in the United States with Respect to Hurricane Winds" included in "Lesson 01 Building Codes" is a part of "Unit 05 Green Sustainable Facility Design" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 3.
The causes and consequences of global biodiversity loss and species extinctions are complex and rapidly changing across spatial and temporal scales. They have both local and global manifestations and are entangled with biological, socio-cultural, economic, and political processes. Many of these challenges demand novel approaches, including innovative research and interdisciplinary analysis. They need new skills and methods from various disciplines and expert communities, including the humanities, social sciences, and biophysical sciences. They also require rethinking who conducts research and communicates findings and how knowledge is produced at the intersection of research and higher education institutions and social change.
This book aims to respond to these challenges. Extinction Stories was co-authored by undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA), while exploring issues of extinction, environmental conservation, and biodiversity loss. The following twenty chapters combine the final projects conducted by students in the Great Problem Seminar (GPS) Extinctions course during the Fall of 2020 and the Biodiversity course in the Spring of 2021. Both courses took place while the world was still facing the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic—a global crisis that, as our current sixth mass extinction, is also profoundly rooted in long-lasting processes of habitat destruction and human-induced environmental change.
This text may also be accessed at extinctionstories.pressbooks.com/.
Paul Andersen explains how various techniques have been used for years to collect seafood. Commercial fishing has led to overfishing in certain areas and species due to the tragedy of the commons. An explanation of aquaculture and sustainable fish yield is also included.
The Future of Food is an introductory-level science course that emphasizes the challenges facing food systems in the 21st century, and issues of sustainability for agriculture and other food production activities, as well as the challenges posed by food insecurity and modern diets to human health and well-being. Topics covered include introduction to the coupled-system perspective, historical development of food systems, socioeconomic aspects of the food system, interaction of the food system with the Earth's environment including soil, water, biota and climate, and the future of the food system considering potential changes such as in climate, urbanization, and demography.
Are you traveling to another country as part of your college career or supervising someone who is? If so, come explore this foreign study course for the Bachelor's degree in Energy Sustainability and Policy. This course helps students get the most from their experience by providing opportunities for reflection and the creation of a Dossier worthy of sharing with a potential employer.
Paul Andersen explains how forests and rangelands are managed to provide renewable lumber and cattle. Threats to renewability of forests include old-growth logging, forest fires, and tree plantations. Threats to renewable rangeland include overgrazing, deforestation, and desertification.
Paul Andersen explains how fossil fuels are formed when organic material is heating and squeezed in an anaerobic environment. Formation, extraction, advantages, and disadvantages are discussed for coal, petroleum and natural gas.
Sustainability denotes one of the main future challenges of societies and the global community. Issues of sustainability range from energy and natural resources to biodiversity loss and global climate change. Properly dealing with these issues will be crucial to future societal and economic development. This course provides the theoretical background for the discussion and analysis of sustainability issues. Students will recognize specific sustainability issues, such as sustainable energy, as part of a more complex challenge of developing sustainable societies and systems, and against the background of the general meaning and implications of the conception of sustainability.
Human-caused climate change represents one of the great environmental challenges of our time. As it is inextricably linked with issues of energy policy, a familiarity with the fundamentals of climate change is critical for those looking to careers in the energy field. To appreciate the societal, environmental, and economic implications of policies governing greenhouse gas emissions, one must understand the basic underlying science. METEO 469 serves to lay down the fundamental scientific principles behind climate change and global warming. A firm grounding in the science is then used as a launching point for exploring issues involving climate change impacts and mitigation.
This video report discusses how Chicago is taking action to mitigate climate change in an urban landscape. The resource, "Chicago Beats Urban Heat YouTube Video" included in "Lesson 12 Urban Heat Island Effect" is a part of "Unit 05 Green Sustainable Facility Design" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 3
Geography 468 provides the geospatial information system professional an overview of systems analysis and design with emphasis on the concepts behind the process, including: business use case modeling, business object modeling, requirements definition, analysis and preliminary design, and, finally, detailed design. The concepts of the geospatial software and database development process are introduced and the current modeling techniques are addressed within the geospatial systems development paradigm. In a series of related activities, students learn about the methods, tools and the concepts of the systems development process to document a portion of a geospatial system with Unified Modeling Language (UML), the standard graphical notation for modeling application needs.
The resource "Air, Atmosphere, and Climate Change" is a module in the "Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.
The resource "Air Pollution and Climate Change" is a module in the "AP Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.
The resource "Aquatic Biomes and Ecology" is a module in the "AP Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.
The resource "Biodiversity: Fragile Ecosystems" is a module in the "AP Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.
The resource "Course Introduction" is a module in the "AP Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.
The resource "Energy Use and Energy Sources" is a module in the "AP Environmental Science" course. The course is included in the Georgia Virtual Learning resource series available in the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. This resource is included in the Physical Sciences discipline with the subject of Environmental science.