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This course involves the study of ecological principles and problems at the biosphere level and presents a worldwide approach to populations, biotic resources, ecologic interactions, land use, deforestation, desertification, species extinctions, pollution, environmental quality, global change, and environmental ethics.

Learning Objectives

• Gain an understanding of ecological principles and issues at the global level;
• Become familiar with a global approach to evaluating populations, biotic resources, and ecologic interactions;
• Gain an understanding of global issues resulting from land use change, deforestation, desertification, species extinctions, pollution, environmental quality, and climate change;
• Evaluate various philosophies and methodologies regarding environmental ethics.

In this course, you will

   Make local observations of the global issues we are studying to emphasize the relevance of these issues to global societies, including your own;

   Interview family, friends, neighbors, etc., to evaluate public opinion on issues such as climate change, endangered species conservation, etc.;

   Evaluate a variety of news resources and learn to recognize "sound science" versus "pseudo-science";

   Participate in student-led group discussions.

Meet Your Instructor

Tracy Halward

  tracy.halward@colorado.edu

Tracy Halward earned her MS and PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the Crop Science Department at North Carolina State University. After doing a post-doc in molecular genetics in the Biology Department at the University of Georgia, she joined the faculty at Colorado State University working on the ecology and genetics of endangered and threatened plant species.

After almost 15 years, she left CSU to accompany her husband in Denmark, where he was temporarily based due to a job transfer. Upon their return to Colorado, she taught briefly at Front Range Community College – ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ County Campus before joining the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ as an instructor.

Her teaching interests are primarily in global ecology and conservation biology, with an emphasis on the use of case studies, critical thinking activities, and experiential learning to connect the core concepts to real-world issues. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Tracy runs a small farm in central Missouri using regenerative practices. In her free time, Tracy can be found hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and road biking with her husband and her dogs.