First Year Seminar 191CNS2 - FYS- Topics in CNS

First-year (R1ST) Course Title: Stories Sown in Soil
An unbiased storyteller lies beneath your feet, inscribed with tales from the dawn of time. Soils cover nearly one third of Earth's surface and, over millennia, humans have shaped them as profoundly as they've shaped us. Yet, soils remain largely invisible in our daily lives despite providing countless irreplaceable environmental benefits. In this seminar, we'll explore how humans and soils are inherently connected, and how this relationship has changed through time. We will trace how past land use, agriculture, and environmental practices have shaped our present challenges and opportunities in health, food systems, climate, and more. To explore these topics, we will embark on field trips across UMass, work with real soil, and discuss case studies that reveal the profound dance between humanity and soil. Like other first-year seminars, we will explore how to create a personalized roadmap for thriving at UMass, where your own story will begin to take root.