1. Syllabus for ENST-100 Spring 2013
MW 3:30-4:50 (WPH 102)
Instructor: Kristen Weiss, Ph.D.
Email: weissk@usc.edu
Telephone: (213) 740-4062
Office: SOS B15C
Office Hours: TTh 1-2pm and by appointment
REQUIRED TEXT: Friedland, Relyea, & Courard-Hauri. Environmental Science:
Foundations and Applications. W.H. Freeman & Co., 2011. ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-
4029-1.
COURSE INTRODUCTION:
As the gateway to the majors and minors in Environmental Studies, this course will
provide students with an overview of the field. Environmental Studies draws on many
disciplines for the purpose of understanding how life on Earth is sustained, the cause of
environmental problems, and which solutions will satisfactorily address the problems we
face. This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary approach of
Environmental Studies. It will emphasize the scientific background and process of
critical thinking necessary to address current and future environmental problems.
Students will examine environmental issues from local, national, and international
perspectives.
GRADING:
Grades will be determined on the basis of in-class presentations, a final project, two
midterms and a final exam. Exams will emphasize material presented in lecture, and on
material drawn from the reading. The questions will include multiple choice and short
answer. The PowerPoint presentations used in class will be available for download from
blackboard. Mid-Term 2 will include only the material covered after the first mid-term.
The final will only include material covered after the second midterm. The weighted
percentage of each graded assignment is as follows:
Presentations throughout the semester 5%
Midterm 1 February 20 25%
Midterm 2 April 3 25%
Final Project May 1 20%
Final May 10 25%
ATTENDANCE:

2. Students are expected to be on time and prepared for every lecture. If a student must miss
class please contact the instructor AT LEAST a week in advance to discuss making up
coursework.
FINAL PROJECT--Timeline:
Each student will create a timeline (using Microsoft Word or similar program to log
entries) following the news coverage of an environmental issue of his or her choice.
Students will compare the weekly coverage of the event between two contrasting
mediums, one of which must be a newspaper, the other can be another periodical or
social media such as Twitter. Each student will be required to present once during the
semester with an update of what is happening that week with his or her issue (i.e. one-two
students will present in each class). At the end of the semester students will present their
final timelines to the class.
STATEMENT FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to
register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of
verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the
letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301
and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is
(213) 740-0776.
STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic
honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the
expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an
instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by
others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. Plagiarism will not be
tolerated under any circumstances. Any plagiarism or cheating will result in failure of the
course in accordance of university policy. All students are expected to understand and
abide by these principles. SCampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student
Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in
Appendix A: http://web-app.usc.edu/scampus/. Students will be referred to the Office of
Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be
any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at:
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.
STATEMENT ON RELIGIOUS OBSERVATION ACCOMODATIONS:
University policy grants students excused absences from class for observance of religious
holy days. Students may be given an opportunity to make up work missed because of
religious observance. I will be responsive to requests for an excused absence when made
IN ADVANCE. Students are advised to scan their syllabi at the beginning of the semester
to detect potential conflicts with their religious observances. Please note that this applies
only to the sort of holy day that necessitates absence from class and/or whose religious
requirements clearly conflict with aspects of academic performance.

3. COURSE SCHEDULE: (Subject to change)
Jan 14 Course introductions, format, goals, assignments
Jan 16 Studying the state of our earth (Ch. 1)
Jan 21 MLK day *NO CLASS*
Jan 23 Matter, Energy, and Change (Ch. 2)
Jan 28 Interactions between the living and nonliving world (Ch. 3)
Jan 30 Geographic variations in temperature and precipitation (Ch. 4)
Feb 4 Origin and Diversification of Organisms (Ch. 5)
Feb 6 Distribution and Abundance of Species (Ch. 6)
Feb 11 Patterns and Processes of Human Population Growth (Ch. 7)
Feb 13 Review for midterm/class activity (prioritizing species conservation)
Feb 18 Presidents day *NO CLASS*
Feb 20 Midterm 1
Feb 25 Water Resources: Supply, Distribution & Use (Ch. 9)
Feb 27 Water Case Study: California (Cadillac Desert excerpts)
Mar 4 Agriculture: feeding the world (Ch. 11)
Mar 6 Agriculture Case Study: The Dust Bowl
Mar 11 Nonrenewable Energy: Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, & Nuclear Fuel (Ch. 12)
Mar 13 Renewable Energy: Earth, sun, wind, & water (Ch. 13)
Mar 18-22 SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
Mar 25 Water Pollution: Causes & Effects (Ch. 14)
Mar 27 Human Health & Toxicology (Ch. 17)
Apr 1 Review for midterm
Apr 3 Midterm 2
Apr 8 Waste: Solid waste generation & disposal (Ch. 16)
Apr 10 Air Pollution: Causes, Effects, & Ozone depletion (Ch. 15)
Apr 15 Air Pollution cont., and Natural Disasters
Apr 17 Global Change: Climate alteration and global warming (Ch. 19)
Apr 22 Critical evaluation of web resources
Apr 24 Conservation of biodiversity (Ch. 18)
Apr 29 Sustainability (Ch. 20)
May 1 Student presentations- final projects
Friday May 10 FINAL 2-4pm