Advancing human well-being across the globe depends on our ability to conserve and enhance ecosystem health. Using California ecosystems as a backdrop, this course will combine field work, data analysis and review of current research to examine the science and policy solutions underpinning ecosystem health and function. Their final product will be an analysis, presentation and interpretation of the field data to explain what the data show, identify a management challenge, and recommend a practical response for a land manager. We will explore major dimensions of earth system sustainability including climate, biodiversity, land use change, food production and governance and examine prospects for achieving sustainability across the globe.

The course is comparable in breadth to AP Environmental Science and goes further in selected areas through university-style field work, ecological data analysis, and management case studies. It provides a strong foundation for later study in environmental science, biology, natural resources, and sustainability.