Since the Industrial Revolution of the early 19^th century, remarkable advances in technology have allowed for the human race to thrive and prosper.  However, these advancements have come at a cost to our environment in a number of ways.  For instance, our use of fossil fuels for efficient, cheap energy has directly resulted in global climate change.  Land use change necessary for development and agriculture has impacted biodiversity and degraded soil quality.  Waste from vehicles and industry have contributed to persistent problems with air and water pollution, and so on.  While we have recognized the seriousness of many of these issues and have proceeded to take action, problems still remain.  In this class, we will investigate the science behind human environmental impacts and the resulting policy responses to anthropogenic environmental change.  Class discussions and assignments will primarily involve case study analyses and readings/reflections of relevant articles and books from the environmental science literature.  Students will occasionally work with environmental data and graphs; some level of comfort with mathematical and scientific notations and visuals (e.g., equations and graphs) is therefore expected.  As a culminating class-wide project, students will also conduct a research project investigating the impact of the “business as usual” approach to climate change on the Earth System and the mitigation strategies necessary to avoid the consequences of such of a scenario.