Welcome to Introduction to Environmental Science!

EESC 1201 Sections 4818 and 4333
Spring 2023 / Mondays 9:30-10:45
Ingersoll 2310

Course Readings: 

Environmental Issues by Andrew Frank
All chapter readings are from this Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook and all other readings are free pdfs (see Schedule)

Instructors:

Sara “Perl” Egendorf, PhD
aka Professor Perl
segendorf@gradcenter.cuny.edu
Office hours on Mondays 10:45-12 or by appointment
Ingersoll 3129

Kohinoor Begum (Lab Instructor)
kbegum@gradcenter.cuny.edu

Pre-Course Survey

What is “The Environment”? How do people come to understand, interact with, and study their environments, particularly in cities? What tools of science can be used to quantitatively and qualitatively observe and describe ongoing dynamics and changes in environmental systems? How can these scientific tools be used to assess and ultimately steward environments? This course will introduce students to the following big ideas: a) systems science: understanding the Earth and its various environments as interacting systems of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, and biosphere (which includes the anthroposphere – humanity); b) critical thinking: synthesizing and evaluating data, as well as attention to power in systems; and c) hands-on and applied knowledge: field and lab-based analytical methods and communication. 

All class readings and assignments are on the class website (see panels below).

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  1. identify and discuss the specific physical, chemical, biological and human processes that contribute to environmental issues;
  2. collect, analyze and present field data;
  3. evaluate scientific claims made in the media and in conversations

urban garden boxes