A list of readings, videos, and learning resources of varying copyright and open licensing statuses organized according to course topics.
Material Type: Reading, Unit of Study
This is a specific lesson plan for an in-class constructivist learning activity. It lives on a website with a wide menu of assessments and pedagogical approaches to teaching students introductory geoscience.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Short Description: Welcome to this free eBook, “Intro to Permaculture”. The permaculture perspective has more resonance now than at any other time since the term ‘permaculture’ was coined in 1978. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2016 has the world admitting it needs to turn civilization onto a different road. Permaculture design has been scouting out that path for nearly 40 years, and now it’s time that the world sees some of what we have learned about living in cooperation with nature.This free introduction to permaculture is meant for the novice and the professional alike, with no prior experience necessary. For the person new to permaculture design and land stewardship, this book will provide a foundation from which to build upon with subsequent training, and introduce a new perspective that can be applied in many careers and facets of life. Data dashboard Long Description: Permaculture Design is a method of land planning that can be applied at scales from the home garden to city block to village to farm. It is an ethically based whole-systems design approach that uses concepts, principles, and methods derived from ecosystems, indigenous technologies, and other time-tested practices to create sustainable human settlements and institutions. Although rooted in horticulture and agriculture, Permaculture design is interdisciplinary, touching on a wide range of subjects including regional planning, ecology, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, architecture, social justice, and international development. This open text book is derived from the content of the Massive Open Online Course “Intro to Permaculture”. The original course also included interactive mapping and design tools that accompanied this content. The course and book provide a general overview of the Permaculture design system. The book can be downloaded as a print version. However, there are many accompanying videos and content pages that are linked to throughout the text, so it is best viewed online where the links can be accessed. Word Count: 15583 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
Introduction to Environmental Science and Sustainability Canvas Commons Course SUS 102 General Description: This course serves to introduce students to the science behind critical environmental debates and the biological basis of creating and maintaining sustainable ecosystems. This course focuses on critical thinking skills to assess such questions as: how do we decide what to believe about environmental issues? How do we predict trends in population growth, or climate change? How do we calculate and understand uncertainty in these predictions? Should people eat lower on the food chain? How are human activities linked to the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles, and pollution and eutrophication? How can fisheries be made to be more sustainable? How can we quantify and value biodiversity? Can we restore “natural” ecosystems and should wolves be re-established in the west? What is valid science in the global warming debate? Learning outcomes Upon completion of this course students should have the ability to: • Recognize and apply concepts and theories of population biology to interdisciplinary fields such as conservation ecology; • Apply principles of evolutionary dynamics and ecosystem biogeochemistry to understand and predict effects of pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, or acid rain on ecosystems; • Effectively debate and evaluate scientific arguments behind such diverse fields as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or organic vs. conventional farming; • Interpret data critically, and understand uncertainty in scientific data and model prediction in such diverse fields as nitrogen saturation and global climate change; • Calculate carbon footprint, water footprint of human activities • Develop an awareness of the responsibilities of professional scientists.
Material Type: Full Course
This course offers a broad overview of physical, chemical, biological, geological, principles of environmental sciences, and serves as a core course for EEOS majors. Examples will focus on linked watershed and coastal marine systems. The student will be introduced to natural processes and interactions in the atmosphere, in the ocean, and on land. There is a focus on biogeochemical cycling of elements as well as changes of these natural cycles with time, especially with recent anthropogenic effects. Topics include plate tectonics, global climate change, ozone depletion, water pollution, oceanography, ecosystem health, and natural resources.
Material Type: Full Course
Short Description: This online learning session will bring into focus the practice of restoration of ecosystems at the local and regional level in British Columbia through a series of presentations delivered by faculty from UVic’s School of Environmental Studies, First Nations speakers and Elders, and professionals whose work intersects with ecology in diverse ways. Long Description: How often have you heard in the past five years the expression “I have never seen a ….fire/flood/drought/rainstorm/insect infestation/sea level rise…of this magnitude, ever.”? The world’s climate is out of balance, and in this state, is driving ecosystem changes that few of us have seen in our lifetimes. What is the scale of these changes now and into the future? How will this affect the way you work and live? How can we adapt? The practice of ecological restoration can point the way to positive actions at the ground level. This online learning session will bring into focus the practice of restoration of ecosystems at the local and regional level in British Columbia through a series of presentations delivered by faculty from UVic’s School of Environmental Studies, First Nations speakers and Elders, and professionals whose work intersects with ecology in diverse ways. We start by rooting our introduction in Indigenous perspectives on how the local ecosystems are changing. We discuss basic principles and practices of ecological restoration on the ground. We then explore the complexity of British Columbia’s biodiversity, basic drivers of change in ecosystems, and the challenges they present in different types of ecosystems. We look at how climate change models help us understand what the future scale of change might be, and we finish up by discussing how ecological restoration principles can apply to different disciplines. This course is part of the Adaptation Learning Network led by the Resilience by Design Lab at Royal Roads University. The project is supported by the Climate Action Secretariat of the BC Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy and Natural Resources Canada through its Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) program. The BRACE program works with Canadian provinces to support training activities that help build skills and expertise on climate adaptation and resilience. Word Count: 4278 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
Word Count: 74439 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
This guide compiles starting points for OER and freely available resources for interdisciplinary Environment and Sustainability-themed courses and topics. This OER subject guide was created for TCC faculty and staff and reflects TCC credit, continuing education, and corrections course offerings. The purpose of this guide is to help faculty and staff more easily find and review OER in their areas so that they can make decisions about quality, accuracy, relevancy, and potential use.
Material Type: Reading
This text is designed to introduce the reader to the essential concepts of sustainability. This subject is of vital importance – seeking as it does to uncover the principles of the long-term welfare of all the peoples of the planet – but is only peripherally served by existing college textbooks. The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By covering a wide range of topics with a uniformity of style, and by including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course. Students who cover the material in the book will be conversant in the language and concepts of sustainability, and will be equipped for further study in sustainable planning, policy, economics, climate, ecology, infrastructure, and more. The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By covering a wide range of topics with a uniformity of style, and by including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course. Students who cover the material in the book will be conversant in the language and concepts of sustainability, and will be equipped for further study in sustainable planning, policy, economics, climate, ecology, infrastructure, and more.
Material Type: Textbook
Environmental Science is a free and open textbook that enables students to develop a nuanced understanding of today’s most pressing environmental issues. This text helps students grasp the scientific foundation of environmental topics so they can better understand the world around them and their impact upon it. This text draws largely from open sources, in addition to new content from the editor.
Material Type: Textbook
a Canadian perspective Long Description: This textbook is intended to provide the core elements of a curriculum for teaching environmental science at the introductory level in Canadian colleges and universities. This book is suitable for students beginning a program in environmental science, environmental studies, or sustainability. It is also appropriate for arts students who require a science elective, and for science students who require a non-major elective. Not many introductory textbooks in environmental science are written in a way that provides a deep examination of issues that are particularly important in Canada, and the ways they are being dealt with by governments and society-at-large. Canada has unique national and regional perspectives that should be understood by Canadian students, and it is regrettable that many of them are studying from textbooks whose focus is not their own country. This book, however, was written from the ground-up to provide Canadian information and examples. This national context is integrated throughout the text, along with North American and global data that provide a broader perspective. Special Canadian Focus boxes illustrate important examples of environmental issues in our national context. At the same time, Global Focus boxes enhance the international context for learning about issues, while In Detail boxes examine particular topics in greater depth. Word Count: 343995 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
Biology for Non-Majors II introduces students to the basics of the scientific process and covers some of biology’s most compelling topics surrounding the history and diversity of life, including discussion on the different kingdoms of life, with focus on plants and animals, as well as an introduction to ecology. Designed for non-life science majors, this course is the first in a two-part series that completes a survey of biological principles.
Material Type: Full Course
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the, if not the most, pressing issues of our times. The problems that it causes range across many social and environmental domains from habitat and species loss and displacement to the more human and social concerns and issues of access to water, sea level rise that affects coastal communities, to economic degradation as a result of the aforementioned and other connected issues such as increased frequency of storms, droughts, wildfires, and the like. We also know that the affects of climate change are not distributed evenly across populations- that many will and do feel the negative effects of this slow developing problem earlier and more intensely than others based on where they are located both geographically and within economic and other socio-cultural hierarchies. We also know that recently, there is a marked effort to begin to move away from simply decrying the horrors of climate change to a continued recognition of those horrors as they exist now and into the future alongside attempts to begin to come to terms with the changing climate and to rethink the ways that our social and environmental relations and communities are organized with an eye toward both adapting to these changes and mitigating further damage. There is, however, much work to be done. This book was co-authored by undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute while exploring the influences of Earth systems and human systems on climate change and the communities at most risk in an interdisciplinary project-based first year course. This course attempts to bring together knowledge of the science of ecological and climate systems and their changing status with knowledge of the social and communal structures within which these systems are embedded and through which they have been influenced. The book highlights key interests and insights of current students in their quest to think through these issues and to create a better world.
Material Type: Textbook
Knowing Home attempts to capture the creative vision of Indigenous scientific knowledge and technology that is derived from an ecology of a home place. The traditional wisdom component of Indigenous Science—the values and ways of decision-making—assists humans in their relationship with each other, the land and water, and all of creation. Indigenous perspectives have the potential to give insight and guidance to the kind of environmental ethics and deep understanding that we must gain as we attempt to solve the increasingly complex problems of the 21st century.
Material Type: Textbook
Short Description: Knowing Home attempts to capture the creative vision of Indigenous scientific knowledge and technology that is derived from an ecology of a home place. The traditional wisdom component of Indigenous Science—the values and ways of decision-making—assists humans in their relationship with each other, the land and water, and all of creation. Indigenous perspectives have the potential to give insight and guidance to the kind of environmental ethics and deep understanding that we must gain as we attempt to solve the increasingly complex problems of the 21st century.NewParaBraiding Indigenous Science and Western Science is a metaphor used to establish a particular relationship. Linked by braiding, there is a certain reciprocity. Each strand remains a separate entity, but all strands come together to form the whole. When we braid Indigenous Science with Western Science we acknowledge that both ways of knowing are legitimate forms of knowledge.NewParaThe book provides a window into the vast storehouse of innovations and technologies of the Indigenous peoples who live in Northwestern North America. It is our hope that the Indigenous Science examples, research and curriculum models will inspire deep reflection regarding the under-representation of Aboriginal students in the sciences. It is intended that the rich examples and cases, combined with the resources listed in the appendices, will enable teachers and students to explore Indigenous Science examples in the classroom, and in addition, support the development of curriculum projects in home places. Word Count: 88142 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
Concepts of Biology is designed for the introductory biology course for nonmajors taught at most two- and four-year colleges. The scope, sequence, and level of the program are designed to match typical course syllabi in the market. Concepts of Biology includes interesting applications, features a rich art program, and conveys the major themes of biology.
Material Type: Textbook
Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.
Material Type: Full Course
This first-year undergraduate open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues from both biological and social science perspectives.
Material Type: Textbook
Short Description: A comprehensive survey of American Environmental History Long Description: For too long the environment has been considered little more than a neutral background to history. This text surveys findings of the new field of Environmental History about how the environment of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people affected their environments, from prehistory to the present. Word Count: 80438 (Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
Material Type: Textbook
This folder currently includes Environmental Science: People to Know Lab, Environmental Science: Ethnobotany Lab, and Example: Pacific Northwest Ethnobotany: Native Plants & Their Uses Slides for ESR 171 Fall 2020. ESR 171 Environmental Science: Biological Perspectives Covers environmental topics that are primarily biological in nature, including ecosystem functions, biodiversity, human population issues, agricultural practices, and environmental ethics. Laboratory exercises illustrate these topics and may include fieldwork.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
