UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (ST. GEORGE) 2016-2017 COURSES:
ENV281H - Special Topics in the Environment: Big Ideas in the Digital World 1 - Is the Internet Green?
This special topics course will examine a range of issues related to the environment and the digital world, with a broad focus on the environmental and social impacts of the internet. It is the first of two new Special Topics courses on the Environment and the Digital World.
The Internet is growing at an exponential rate. Most assume it is "green" as the internet replaces paper. But is the internet "green"? We will evaluate the seldom discussed issues of the environment and social impacts of the internet from the resources and energy the internet consumes to the huge pile of e-waste produced. We also assume that great benefits accrue from the internet. But are these benefits equally distributed in society? We will evaluate the inequitably distributed benefits and costs of the internet.
This generation of students, who have been raised in an electronically connected era, as well as all of us, need to understand the hidden current and mounting future costs of the Internet.
Social and environmental impacts of the internet will be examined using analytical skills such as lifecycle assessment and socio-economics techniques for analyzing inequality, resource implications, waste generation, and changing social relationships, etc. Students will critically evaluate the pros and the cons of the internet as it exists today.
The Internet is growing at an exponential rate. Most assume it is "green" as the internet replaces paper. But is the internet "green"? We will evaluate the seldom discussed issues of the environment and social impacts of the internet from the resources and energy the internet consumes to the huge pile of e-waste produced. We also assume that great benefits accrue from the internet. But are these benefits equally distributed in society? We will evaluate the inequitably distributed benefits and costs of the internet.
This generation of students, who have been raised in an electronically connected era, as well as all of us, need to understand the hidden current and mounting future costs of the Internet.
Social and environmental impacts of the internet will be examined using analytical skills such as lifecycle assessment and socio-economics techniques for analyzing inequality, resource implications, waste generation, and changing social relationships, etc. Students will critically evaluate the pros and the cons of the internet as it exists today.
ESS299Y - Research Opportunity Program
Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop.
ESS463H - Contaminants in the Environment
Disturbances to the Earth system by anthropogenic contaminant input and how to improve environmental quality. Case studies include mining contamination and remediation, and movement of contaminants in air, water, soils, and sediments, particularly in urban areas.