| Course Title: The Inevitable Element: Why Carbon is at the Root of Our Climate Change Crisis |
| Start Date: 09/04/2024 End Date: 12/17/2024 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2024 |
| Description: Have you ever wondered why we are so concerned with our carbon footprint? Why don't we worry about our oxygen footprint? Or silicon? What makes carbon so special? This first-year seminar will delve into the reasons that carbon, and uniquely carbon, is central to climate change. We will discuss the properties of carbon and why those properties have resulted in a fossil fuel-based economy. We will cover nucleosynthesis of elements, the formation of earth and the solar system, the origin of life and information flow in living organisms, how time and heat resulted in reserves of energy-rich petroleum buried in the earth, why these fossil fuels have made a convenient foundation for our modern economy, and the resulting impact carbon emissions have on the atmosphere. Finally, we will discuss how carbon capture can be used to mitigate the impact of climate change. |
| Distribution(s): NO - Meets No Distrib. Rqmt , FY - First-Year Seminar , WI - Writing-Intensive |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Alan Van Giessen | vangiess@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/04/2024 - 12/17/2024 | Seminar | Tuesday and Thursday | 10:30AM - 11:45AM | CARR - Carr | 102 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| FYSEM0001 | First-Year Seminar | This is a First-Year Seminar. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Closed | Capacity: 12 | Enrollment: 14 | Available: 0 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| To be determined. |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is NOT the complete book list for this class. |