ENGRI 1180

How to Build a Habitable Planet

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

Our first human ancestors appeared only six million years ago--4.55 billion years into Earth's history. How did our planet develop the critical ingredients for human life—what are the characteristics that make our Pale Blue Dot suited to host complex life? Should we expect to find life elsewhere on other planets? How has human activity altered the story of the Earth, and what global challenges will Homo sapiens encounter in the coming years to decades? Can we devise and implement solutions to present and future environmental crises? In this course, we will investigate these questions through study of the formation and evolution of our universe, investigate the mechanisms that have led to intelligent life on Earth and quantify the impact of both natural and anthropogenic processes on Earth's changing surface. Students in this course will learn how to analyze and interpret scientific data and apply concepts like mass balance and convection to evaluate Earth as series of complex chemical and physical systems interacting over a breadth of scales.

• Describe how the elements formed in stars and the evolution of our solar system.
• Characterize Earth's internal structure and how it has changed over time.
• Quantify the relationship between plate tectonics and hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes.
• Discriminate between long-term, short-term, natural and/or anthropogenic drivers of Earth's climate.
• Place the appearance of life and the role of humanity within the context of Earth's geologic history.

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