MAE 124/ESYS 103

Spring 2019
Environmental Challenges:
Science and Solutions
Dr. Jane L. Teranes
367 Galbraith Hall, jteranes@ucsd.edu
Wednesday 10:30-12:30 pm, 367 Galbraith Hall
or by appointment

Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

Course Description
• This course will examine a broad spectrum of global environmental
challenges including pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, food
scarcity, land degradation, water resources, energy needs.
• The focus will then shift to strategies for addressing these challenges
including engineering and design approaches, planning, governmental
actions, international cooperation and social action.
• The goal is to identify the framework for a response that will
transition us to a more sustainable future.
Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

The course examines three interacting challenges:

• The environmental crisis: pollution, climate change,
biodiversity loss, food scarcity, land degradation, water
resources, energy needs.
• The social crisis: The polarization between globalized
rich and localized poor; the exclusion of most of the
world's inhabitants; failed states.
• The economic crisis: The effects of a sustained period
of economic globalization that does not respect the
carrying capacity of natural systems, decoupling of
economic growth from human well-being and security.

…..All these challenges are exacerbated by

exponential population growth.
 Course Objectives
By the end of the course you should be able to understand and discuss
• The nature and extent of the current environmental, social and
economic crises that need to be addressed to ensure sustainable
development;
• The central roles played by market forces, technological innovation
and governmental policies;
• Environmental aspects of specific industrial sectors, such as energy,
transportation, land and water use, and the built environment.
• Engineering and design approaches to minimize the environmental
impacts of human activity;
• An appreciate of how people and organizations take actions to
prevent environmental economic collapse

Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

 Skills Acquired
This course will employ and develop the following
skills:
• critical thinking
• effective writing
• project design
• analyzing and understanding information from
multiple sources and multiple points of view
• active listening and discussion skills
• understanding the processes of implementing
solutions.

Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGtCkv7_nIs
 Images from: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above

Reading
• Reading will be mainly in the form of articles and government reports and
that will be made available in electronic form on TritonEd or will be
materials that are accessible online.
• Reading will be assigned for every lecture topic. Detailed reading
assignments will be available on TritonEd. Reading assignments for the
lecture should be done before the start of the lecture.
 Clickers
This course will be using clickers. Clicker questions start
Wednesday, April 3th.
You must register your clickers in TritonEd
We will be using clickers as a motivational factor to
complete relevant reading before the lecture and also to:

• enhance the lectures

• provide incentive to complete the assigned reading
before class
• create an interactive learning experience
• help evaluate class comprehension in real time
 Grading
10% Attendance/clicker points and participation
in lecture
20% Weekly Writing/Homework Assignments
20% Midterm (April 26th, in class)
25% Research Paper (final paper due May 31st)
25% Final Exam (final exam TBD)
Late assignments will not be accepted.
*correct dates, Spring 2019
 Schedule Highlights
See the course website for details and reading assignments.
Part I: Environmental Challenges
• Week 1: Introduction: The Coupled Human-Environmental
System
• Week 2: Climate Change
• Week 3: Population Pressure: Food, Land and Water
• Week 4: Biodiversity Loss, Threatened Ecosystems
Part II: The Response
• Week 5: Sustainable Development Goals
• Week 6: Stabilizing Climate: New Energy Sources
• Week 7: Climate Action Plans, Urban Planning and Design
• Week 8: Energy, Water and Building Efficiency
• Week 9: Valuing Nature and Water Resources
• Week 10: Feeding 9-10 Billion People Well
Reading: Readings will be assigned weekly and will be made
available in electronic form through links and .pdfs posted in
TritonEd. These will be posted on a weekly basis. It is important
to keep up with the weekly reading. Important: The reading
assigned for each lecture should be completed before the
lecture.
Topic The Coupled Human-Environmental System

Assignment Ecological Footprint – due in course website (tritoned.ucsd.edu) by Friday

April 5th at midnight.

Discussion Section Introductions and Overview

Lecture 4/1 Introduction

Readings: Read the syllabus on TritonEd. Read the information on weekly
assignments for this week available on TritonEd.
Lecture 4/3 Welcome to the Anthropocene
Readings: Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen and John McNeil (2007) The Anthropocene:
Are Humans now overwhelming the great forces of Nature?, Ambio, Vol.
36 No. 8. This article can be found as a pdf in the “reading folder” in
TritonEd, or access it online here:
https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/public-events/archiv/alter-
net/former-ss/2007/05-09.2007/steffen/literature/ambi-36-08-
06_614_621.pdf
Richard Monastersky (2015) Anthropocene: The Human Age, Nature
519,144–147(12 March 2015) doi:10.1038/519144a
http://www.nature.com/news/anthropocene-the-human-age-1.17085
Lecture 4/5 The Coupled Human-Environmental System
Weekly Homework: There will be a short homework assignment
almost every week. The homework assignment will ask you to
read and reflect on current environmental topics that are
immediately relevant to the course material. Homework will be
assigned at the beginning of the week and will be discussed in
your discussion section that week. Your short writing assignments
will be due in TritonEd by midnight on Fridays. Homework will
not be assigned in Week 4 (midterm on Friday April 26th) or in
Week 9 (when final papers are due). Late assignments will not
be accepted.
Research Paper: This class will ask you to write a well-researched,
carefully written paper on a strategy/project that could significantly
reduce carbon emissions in the UC system and help us meet our
carbon neutrality goal by 2025. Further information on the paper
topic will be given in discussion section during Week 5 and will be
posted in TritonEd. Important due dates on the paper topic are below.
Late assignments will not be accepted.

• Project assigned and ideas discussed May 1/2

• Concept paper due May 8/9
• First Draft due May 15/16
• Second Draft due May 22/23
• Final paper due May 31th (turnitin on TritonEd)
 Week 1 assignment: Your Ecological Footprint
Due on Friday April 5th by 11:59pm
“How many planets does it take to support your lifestyle” Use an on-line
calculator to calculate your ecological footprint.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/
Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the University of British Columbia
 The Global Ecological Footprint

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/