MAE 124/ESYS 103: Environmental Challenges: Science and
Solutions
Spring 2011
Time and Place:
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00-10:50, Warren Lecture Hall 2005
- Discussion section: Monday or Tuesday
Instructor: Professor Sarah Gille
e-mail: sgille
[at] ucsd.edu.
Office hours: by appointment.
Also available before and after class and by e-mail.
Office on upper campus: 568 EBU2.
phone: 858-822-4915.
Office at Scripps: Nierenberg Hall 348. phone: 858-822-4425.
(Let me know that you're coming before stopping by. Please note that
UCSD distinguishes between long-distance and local phone calls,
and teaching funds do not include an extensive budget for long-distance
phone calls. I rarely return phone calls to out-of-area phone numbers.
E-mail may be a better way to get response.)
TAs:
- Nicole Bilsley E-mail: nbilsley [at] ucsd.edu.
Sections: Mondays at 3 pm, 4 pm, WLH 2110; Tuesdays at 2 pm, Center 201. Office
hours: by appointment (specific times may be scheduled
prior to assignment due dates)
- Michael Gollner E-mail: mgollner
[at] ucsd.edu. Sections: Mondays at 1 pm, 2 pm, WLH 2110. Office
hours: by appointment (specific times may be scheduled
prior to assignment due dates)
- Ankur Gupta E-mail: ang014 [at] ucsd.edu.
Sections: Tuesdays at 3 pm, 4 pm, Center 201. Office hours: by
appointment (specific times may be scheduled
prior to assignment due dates)
Reader:
Midterm Exam: Friday, April 29, 10:00 am
Final Exam: Monday, June 6,
8:00-11:00 am, tentatively Warren Lecture Hall 2005
- Please note that university policy does not allow you to
reschedule exams for personal reasons.
- Detailed schedule, reading and
term paper assignments
- Special events pertinent to this class
- WebCT: access to materials for
enrolled students use only (including lecture slides, copyrighted materials, and
the discussion boards)
- Lecture
podcasts (audio only)
- Turnitin instructions: We're now running turnitin via WebCT. Please look for the folder
for the week and class meeting when the assignment is due on WebCT. Title your file using
a two character section identifier (M1, M2, M3, M4, T2, T3, or T4) at the beginning of the
file name, so that we can sort your submissions by section.
- Internships
This is a course in environmental sustainability and sustainable
development. We will examine environmental challenges including
pollution, water resources, energy, global warming, population and land
degradation. Then we will focus on strategies for addressing
these challenges, through government intervention, industrial activity,
design, and planning. The course aims to show that it is
essential to understand, quantify and embed the environmental dimension
(in its broadest sense) at every stage of consideration of industrial
and economic activity. We focus on fundamental issues rather than
detailed technical and scientific analysis. Lectures, in-class
discussion, term papers and exams will ask you to think and synthesize
material.
Specifically, by the end of the course, you should understand, and be
able to discuss:
- The major environmental problems that need to be addressed to
ensure sustainable development;
- The central roles played by market forces, technological
innovation and governmental intervention;
- Engineering and design approaches to take into account, and
minimize the environmental impacts of industrial activity;
- Environmental aspects of specific industrial sectors, such as
energy, transport, land and water use, and the built environment.
Handout:
Text:
- Brown, Lester R., World on the Edge: How to
Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (2011), Norton.
Available at the bookstore ($15.95) or free download: http://www.earth-policy.org/books/wote
- Articles, as listed on the class schedule.
Schedule:
The course consists of two parts.
- The first half of the course will focus on assessing the
environmental problems that modern societies face.
- The second half of the course will look at strategies for
sustainability.
Here's the detailed schedule.
Additional Information on
Term Paper 1
Grading Policy
Past Exams
Library resources: Struggling
with
access to the journal Science or other journal literature? UCSD
has a subscription to Science and to many other journals
relevant to this class. You
should be able to access these library resources from any computer on
campus, or from home
if you use the UCSD proxy server or VPN. See here
or
here
for details.
Over time, assignments, and other resources will be
posted
here. You will
need a pdf reader (such as Adobe Acrobat reader,
which is free) to view many
of the files.
Please check back frequently, as much of the assigned work will expect
significant research on environmental issues, some of which will be
facilitated by suggested links and resources posted here (or if copyrighted, on WebCT).
Basics