Introduction to the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and their relationship to environmental quality, agricultural production, and land management. This course will also describe the processes of origin and development of soils as natural entities and how they affect the different ecosystems where they are located. Some field work required.

The origin of animals was arguably the most important event in earth history. In this course we will review the history of earth, learn basic geology, and then examine the problem of the origin of animals by studying Mount Holyoke College's superb and unique collection of Proterozoic and Cambrian fossils. The emergence of animals has been called the Cambrian explosion. We will examine what this means for our understanding of evolution as we evaluate hypotheses proposed to explain the relatively sudden appearance of more than half of known animal phyla during the Cambrian event.

In this course you will learn to recognize the common rock-forming minerals and principal rock types, and to understand their origins, properties, associations, and geological significance. Observational skills and hand sample identification will be emphasized in lab.

Sedimentary rocks provide us with repositories of fresh water, hydrocarbons, and other critical raw materials, as well as geological evidence for the history of planet earth. This course will introduce students to the study of sedimentary rocks and their environments of deposition, with a focus on the varied processes of sediment accumulation. We will employ the principles of stratigraphic analysis and correlation to interpret ancient environments, paleoclimate, and paleogeography, and use these tools to probe the characteristics of sedimentary basins.

This course will introduce students to water science where we investigate the hydrological cycle, water distribution on the earth's surface and subsurface at the continental and catchments scale. We will study atmospheric processes such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, and surface runoff to understand how it affects the quantity and quality of potable water availability. Students will learn and practice introductory level groundwater calculations which are mathematical equations that describe the flow and storage of water.

We will examine the feasibility of converting the entire energy infrastructure of the US from one that is dependent on fossil fuels to one that utilizes mostly renewable sources of energy. We will examine the potential scale of energy production and the associated costs, natural resource requirements and land usage needs for both renewables, such as solar, wind and biofuel, and non-renewables, such as coal, natural gas, petroleum and nuclear.

From struggles for racial justice and Indigenous self-determination, to action for biodiversity conservation, many of the world's most urgent issues are also environmental justice challenges. This course will survey the theoretical questions, concepts, and perspectives on environmental justice at local and global scales. In the first part of the course, we will do a brief historical overview of the environmental justice movement and environmentalism(s), and we will discuss global contemporary issues like e-waste and food justice.

A key test of our ecological knowledge is whether we can successfully apply it to create or restore ecosystems that have been damaged or destroyed. As we take on the role of restoration ecologists this semester, we will use principles and methods of ecology, conservation biology, hydrology, soil science, and related disciplines to learn about the theory, practice, and politics of ecosystem restoration. This course emphasizes fieldwork, interdisciplinary teamwork, and ecological planning to evaluate and design restoration projects in our surrounding communities and regional landscapes.

Although they cover ~0.6% of the earth's surface, wetlands perform more ecosystem services per hectare than any other ecosystem type. Alarmingly, over half of the earth's wetlands have been lost to agriculture and development. With these wetlands were also lost the valuable ecosystem functions wetlands perform. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the biogeochemical, ecological, societal, and regulatory aspects of wetland ecosystems.