- BIOL 1210 Principles of Biology 2
Principles of Biology 2 provided me with an in depth starting point for the importance of evolution, ecology, and biological diversity. These points encouraged me to think about our relationship with the plants and animals on Earth and how we need them to survive as a species. They also encouraged me to be aware of the natural resources of the world and how we extract them for personal use. This class highlighted the importance of environmental sustainability as we learned many of our resources are finite, and how we choose to use them can greatly impact our quality of life both in the short term and long term.
- CHEM 3010 Aqueous Environmental Chemistry
I would like to think that this class had the biggest impact on my knowledge and appreciation for environmental sustainability as it was the first class where I was introduced to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically goal #6: Clean Water and Sanitation. This class emphasized the importance of water and the hydrosphere, how we get clean drinking water, as well as safely manage waste water. We learned about the process of acquiring safe drinking water and the challenges faced both locally and globally to attain set drinking water standards. Having to do a deep dive into acquiring and maintaining drinking water helped me to see how not all practices and standards around the world are sustainable in approach, and that there is a lot more we can do to make our practices environmentally sustainable around the globe by managing our water supplies differently.
- GEOL 1110 Introduction to Physical Geology
Throughout this class we learned about the different geological processes of the earth: how they effect us in regards to natural disasters an mitigating the damaging impacts, as well as an emphasis on natural resource extraction and how requiring minerals and fossil fuels has a direct impact on our lives. A quote that stuck with me from this class was “If you can’t grow it, you have to mine it.”. Learning about the effects of mining for these resources really showed me the impacts that our policies have on the outcome of creating and maintaining a sustainable environment. It was eye opening to be able to go see the Highland Valley Copper Mine in person to see and learn first hand how these operations shape our landscape and the environment around us. This helped give me an understanding of both the impact as well as the resources and time needed for reclamation and how unsustainable some of these practices are.
- NRSC 1500 Intro to Climate Change
Throughout my past two decades of life, it was constantly brought up that our climate is changing and the impacts of our actions make a great difference in the outcomes we want to see for the Earth. This class focused on: what climate change is and the effects of global warming, both past and present, and the potential impacts of climate change and how we can mitigate them. This course helped direct me to learn what climate change is and how we can as a person or group change our approach to mitigating climate change. This class was an insightful learning experience to help show how we can change our thinking and provide a simpler sustainable environmental approach to our habits to help better our future on Earth.
- NRSC 2000 Intro to the Study of Soils
Intro to the Study of Soil taught me a basic understanding of soil formation and classification, how soil chemistry, biology, and soil type effect the processes of soil, and lastly, how soil management has a huge impact on the effects of plant growth as well as building development. The emphasis of proper soil management from this class was an insightful learning experience to learn how to sustainably take care of our soils and the effects that mismanagement with farming or resource extraction can have on our environment. This class also furthered my interest into learning about sustainable approaches to farming both at home and on an industrial level.
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