Geography & Environment

• CAS GE 100: Introduction to Environmental Science
  Introduction to basic physical, ecological, and environmental concepts underlying the relationship between human society and the natural environment. Evaluation of problems and options available in dealing with the areas of natural resources, pollution, environmental degradation, and population growth.
• CAS GE 101: Natural Environments: The Atmosphere
  An introduction to weather and climate. Topics include the controls of weather and climate, day-to-day variations in weather, severe storms, climates of the world, urban climate and air pollution, past climates and climatic change, and the impact of climatic variations on society.
• CAS GE 102: The Cultural Landscape
  Study of the human imprint on the physical world. Introduction to current world patterns of population, settlement, land use, and political organizations of space. Humanity's role in changing the face of the earth. Symbolic qualities of the cultural landscape.
• CAS GE 103: Economic Geography
  Factors influencing the spatial organization of economic activity, including the spatial structure of urban regions, principles of regional trade and interaction, transportation networks, and spatial diffusion systems. Emphasis on the location of economic activity and spatial aspects of area development.
• CAS GE 104: Natural Environments: The Physical Landscape
  Introduction to controls that shape the ecosystems and landscape of the earth. Vegetation and soils of the forests, deserts, grasslands, and tropics. The work of rivers, glaciers, oceans, and volcanoes in sculpturing the earth's surface. History of the national landscape. (NS) (lab)
• CAS GE 110: Our Changing Planet: The Perspective from Space
  An integrated treatment of the various components of the earth system: the atmosphere, lithosphere, ecosphere, and hydrosphere, as well as how they are changing. Extensive use of observations and measurements from space. Emphasis on global environmental change and human impact on earth. (NS) (lab)
• CAS GE 150: Sustainable Energy: Technology, Resources, Society, and Environment
  Examines the social, environmental, and technological aspects of renewable and nonrenewable energy systems. Discusses energy issues in context of globalization, climate change, and sustainable development. Explores lifestyle and policy decisions related to energy issues.
• CAS GE 201: World Regional Geography I
  Overview of the special combination of environmental, historical, economic, and organizational qualities of the regions of the Old World, including Western and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, East and South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Emphasis on current issues of regional and global development.
• CAS GE 202: World Regional Geography II
  Geographic themes and concepts are used to examine the developed countries in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, and developing countries in Central and South America. Emphasis is on the current issues in their environmental, social, demographic, and resource bases, as well as other aspects of regional development.
• CAS GE 226: Geography of the Boston Region
  An overview of the Boston region from a geographer's perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on themes from human geography, including spatial interaction and spatial variation within the region. Students apply what they learn through field assignments.
• CAS GE 250: The Fate of Nations: Climate, Resources, and Institutions
  Relationships among environment (e.g. climate), natural resources (e.g. energy, water), and human societies (hunter-gatherers to industrial economies). Principles from thermodynamics, climatology, ecology, and economics used to evaluate the role of environment and resources in the success and failure of societies.
• CAS GE 300: Geography of World Commerce
  Introduction to the components and flows of international commerce. Examines the spatial nature of the world economy and offers explanations for the forces that affect trade, environment, and development.
• CAS GE 302: Remote Sensing of Environment
  Introduction to satellite remote sensing of the Earth environment. Examines the physical basis and methods of the remote sensing process, as well as basics of digital image processing and analysis. Applications in Earth system science and natural resource management are considered.
• CAS GE 304: Environmentally Sustainable Development
  Traces the emergence of sustainable development as the defining environmental challenge of our times. Surveys and evaluates policies for balancing ecological sustainability and economic development in various parts of the world and at the global level. Also offered as CAS IR 304.
• CAS GE 307: Biogeography
  Examines the spatial distribution of plants and animals from historical, ecological, and analytical perspectives. Environmental and human influences on species distribution, abundance, and diversity are considered, as are changes resulting from past and projected climate change. Also offered as CAS BI 307.
• CAS GE 309: Intermediate Environmental Analysis and Policy
  Introduction to economic and environmental theory critical to the formulation and evaluation of environmental and resource policy. This theory is applied to real world analysis of climate change, population growth, oil supplies, energy use, and globalization.
• CAS GE 310: Climate and the Environment
  Physical principles governing the climate system and its impact on the environment. Emphasis on understanding the physical processes governing energy, mass, and momentum transfer in the ocean and atmosphere. The interaction and feedback of these processes and their impact on the climate system and its variability.
• CAS GE 331: Political Geography
  May not be taken by freshmen in their first semester. Geographic treatment of the state's raison d'être, population, territory, resources, economic and political organizations, boundaries, and frontiers. Survey of geopolitical theory, supranational organizations, and world power.
• CAS GE 356: Geography of Third World Development
  Theory and experience of Third World development. Emphasis on issues of income distribution, geographical and regional inequality, importance of location in development planning, efficiency and equity consideration, and models of, and strategies for, regional development.
• CAS GE 365: An Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
  Practical hands-on computing experience using GIS for analyzing data from maps and other sources. Analytical functions unique to GIS are emphasized, as are applications in archaeology, land use planning, environmental monitoring, and other fields.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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