BIOL2121 - 01 - Human Health & the Envrionment W/Lab

(SJ) Social Justice

This course will examine the relationship between the environment and human health. It will focus on several issues of concern to a healthy global society including climate change and accompanying disease outbreaks, environmental contaminants and toxins, water, food and air quality, and sanitation. It will examine the pathways through which climate change is likely to influence human health. These include the health effects of rising ambient temperatures, shifting patterns of vector-borne and food-borne diseases, physical and mental health risks of extreme weather events, potential food and water insecurity and the likely impacts of climate change on health equity. All of these aspects will be studied using the framework of social justice. The course includes a strong emphasis on societal and personal activism. The laboratory component of the course provides hands-on practice and experience investigating concepts discussed in the lectures. Students analyze their carbon footprint and compare it with people living in other parts of the world.