Environmental Systems & Resource Solutions

This unit examines how energy, water, soil, and waste systems interact with ecosystems and human communities and explores practical solutions for sustainability. Students investigate energy options, pollution and treatment technologies, conservation planning, and monitoring approaches to prepare for applied environmental projects in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze interactions among energy flows, biogeochemical cycles, and human activities by interpreting data on greenhouse gases, soil health, water quality, and ecosystem disruption.
• Evaluate renewable and nonrenewable energy options (solar, geothermal, fossil fuels, nuclear) using lifecycle impacts, emissions, resource availability, and community risk to recommend context-appropriate strategies.
• Apply principles of water and waste management—including desalination, wastewater treatment, constructed wetlands, and waste reduction/composting—to design a feasible site- or community-level plan that meets resource and pollution-control objectives.
• Demonstrate the ability to develop conservation and monitoring plans that integrate indicator species, ecosystem services, stakeholder and indigenous perspectives, and measurable metrics to assess ecosystem health and sustainability outcomes.