GES 701 - Introduction to Geography and Environmental Systems

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This course is a graduate-level introduction to the principles underlying human and environmental systems, and to applying a geographic approach to studying these systems. Guiding theories of human geography, physical geography and environmental science will be introduced through detailed examination of cross-cutting multidisciplinary issues including natural hazards and human vulnerability, the management of water resources and fossil fuels, and global environmental changes such as the recent atmospheric-oceanic warming trend and land-use/land-cover change. Within these topics, specific theories guiding geographic and environmental research will be covered in depth, including spatial analysis, critical geographic theory, postmodern social theories and political ecology. Important theories governing the functioning of environmental systems will be presented. This includes the cycling of mass and energy between Earth’s various spheres and the theory of Earth as a dynamic system seeking equilibrium in the face of multiple perturbations both natural and anthropogenic.