Lecture Notes

Lecture 1 Course introduction
Lecture 2 History of planet Earth and Gaia hypothesis
Lecture 3 Laws of thermodynamics and plate tectonics
Lecture 4 Soils
Lecture 5 The atmosphere
Lecture 6 The hydrosphere and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Lecture 7 Global climate change
Lecture 8 Ecosystems and biomes
Lecture 9 Agriculture and the environment; Midterm review

Lecture 10: Midterm Exam.
Lecture 11 The global carbon cycle
Lecture 12 Human influence on the global carbon cycle

Lecture 13 The global nitrogen cycle
Lecture 14 Human influence on the global nitrogen cycle
Lecture 15 The global cycles of phosphorus, oxygen, sulfur, & mercury
Lecture 16 Acid rain
Lecture 17 Fossil fuel and nuclear energy
Lecture 18 Alternative energy
Lecture 19 Global change, human population and sustainability