PEOPLE AND EARTH ECOSYSTEM

BA HISTORY / BS ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Wed. 5:30pm – 8:30pm

Course Description:

This course is a one-semester introduction to Earth resources – where they come from, how we use them,
how they impact our societies, and how we might sustain or exhaust them in the face of world population growth
and changing climate. The course will examine the origin, use, impacts and by products of food, water, energy, and
mineral resource consumption. Course material will focus on the science and technology associated with Earth’s
resources, but will also consider the economic, management, and political challenges associated with resource use
and future sustainability

This course is intended to fulfil the general education requirement for a non-laboratory science course.

Pre-requisite: none

Course Format: 3 hours lecture per week plus 1 hour consultation online

Assignments, Grading, and Assessment: Student performance will be evaluated based on a combination of written
exams, out-of-class assignments, in-class activities, and participation in the
field trip.

Brief topical outline

1. Living and the Non-living Interactions – The interaction between the people to its environment, resources and
other biotic factors

2. People and the Earth -- Population history, distribution, and growth -- Humans and Earth’s ecosystems -- The
human population challenge: Carrying capacity, quality of life

3. Food and Living Resources -- What do we eat, where does it comes from? -- Brief history of food sources and
agriculture -- Soils, conservation, and sustainability -- Forest and forest
resources -- Animals and fisheries

4. Water -- Water on our planet -- Surface and ground water resources -- Water quality, pollution, and regulation --
Water management, economics, and policy

5. Energy -- Types of energy resources -- Fossil fuels -- Non-fossil fuels -- Other energy resources -- Energy
sustainability, management, and policy

6. Mineral Resources -- Types of mineral resources -- Metals and non-fuel mineral resources -- Sources and geologic
occurrence -- Strategic minerals, economics, and geopolitics -- Recycling,
impacts, and sustainable mineral resources

7. Earth Resources in the 21st Century -- Climate change and the changing resource landscape -- Global economics
and politics -- Challenges and potential solutions

Possible Texts

Natural Resource Conservation: Management for a Sustainable Future, 10/E (2010), Daniel D. Chiras and John P.
Reganold, Prentice Hall

People and the Earth: Basic Issues in the Sustainability of Resources and Environment (1998), John James William
Rogers and P. Geoffrey Feiss, Cambridge University Press.

Prepared by: Jose C. De Leon Jr.