The Meat We Eat is a course designed to create a more informed consumer about the quality, safety, healthfulness and sustainability of muscle foods and address current issues in animal agriculture in developed and developing countries.

This class provides a series of Python programming exercises intended to explore the use of numerical modeling in the Earth system and climate sciences. The scientific background for these models is presented in a companion class, Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change. This class assumes that you are new to Python programming (and this is indeed a great way to learn Python!), but that you will be able to pick up an elementary knowledge of Python syntax from another class or from on-line tutorials.

What happens when creativity and science come together? The power to design our world is unleashed, providing tools to inform choices about how we live! Geodesign is the glue—it’s a process that deploys creativity to connect information to people, using collaboration to better inform how we design our world. This course includes well-illustrated lectures by the instructor, but also guest lectures each week to ensure you are hearing a variety of viewpoints. Each week you will also be able to examine what geodesign is through interactive mapping that showcases real-word Case Study examples of geodesign from around the globe. As you move along in the course, you will discover the interrelationships of both the physical and human aspects that contribute to how geodesign strategies are composed. The course concludes with you outlining your own Geodesign Challenge, and receiving feedback about that from your peers.

This course provides an overview of the issue of postharvest loss of grains by exploring essential physical, technical, and social dimensions of postharvest supply chains and loss prevention methods globally. Each year, estimates suggest that 1/3 of all food produced is lost or wasted, making postharvest loss a critical global food security and sustainability issue of today. Key knowledge areas are presented including: -An overview of postharvest loss -Supply chain activities such as harvesting, drying, and storage -Economics and markets -An introduction to the network of actors working in this field We face the immense challenge of feeding over 9 billion people by the year 2050. To meet these demands, yields will have to more than double using the same amount of natural resources. In recent years, postharvest loss has been recognized by major institutions including the US government, the United Nations, the CGIAR Research Consortium, and several others as a significant opportunity to impact food security and improve livelihoods. Despite this increased attention, a lack of knowledge, technical capacity, and resources remain obstacles for stakeholders worldwide to act on these issues. This course will, for the first time, provide you as professionals, practitioners, and students, with a comprehensive introduction to postharvest loss processes and begin building capacity for loss prevention worldwide.

In this capstone course, you will apply everything you have learned by designing and then completing your own GIS project. You will plan out your project by writing a brief proposal that explains what you plan to do and why. You will then find data for a topic and location of your choice, and perform analysis and create maps that allow you to try out different tools and data sets. The results of your work will be assembled into an Esri story map, which is a web site with maps, images, text, and video. The goal is for you to have a finished product that you can share, and that demonstrates what you have learned. Note: software is not provided for this course.

This course is organized into two parts presenting the theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems (GIS). - Together theses courses constitute an introduction to GIS and require no prior knowledge. - By following this introduction to GIS you will quickly acquire the basic knowledge required to create spatial databases and produce high-quality maps and cartographic representations. - This is a practical course and is based on free, open-source software, including QGIS. If you study or work in the fields of land management or the analysis of geographically distributed objects such as land use planning, biology, public health, ecology, or energy, then this course is for you! In this first part of the course, we will focus on the digitization and the storage of geodata. In particular, you will learn: - To characterize spatial objects and/or phenomena (territory modeling) with respect to their position in space (through coordinate systems, projections, and spatial relationships) and according to their intrinsic nature (object/vector mode vs. Image/raster mode); - About the different means used to acquire spatial data; including direct measurement, georeferencing images, digitization, existing data source, etc.); - About the different ways in which geodata can be stored - notably, files and relational databases; - How to use data modeling tools to describe and create a spatial database; - To query and analyze data using SQL, a common data manipulation language. The second part of this course will focus on methods of spatial analysis and geodata representation. In this section, you will learn: - How to describe and quantify the spatial properties of discrete variables, for example through spatial autocorrelation; - To work with continuous variables. In particular, we will look at sampling strategies, how to construct contour lines and isovalue curves, and we will explore different interpolation methods; - To use digital elevation models and create their derivative products (i.e. slope, orientation); - How to evaluate the interaction between different types of geodata through overlay and interaction techniques; - How to create effective maps based around the rules of graphic semiology; - Finally, we will also explore other, increasingly common, forms of spatial representation such as interactive web-mapping and 3D representations. You can find an interactive forum for course participants on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/moocsig

This course introduces you to the five mass extinctions of the pre-human past, their causes and significance to the history of life on earth, and the current mass extinction happening during our time. We’ll also explore the history of paleontology and geological study and review the key players that influenced the science today. Regardless of your familiarity with the topic, you'll get portable handouts, lively demonstrations, and quizzes that bridge and enhance your knowledge.

Mountains 101­­ is a broad and integrated overview of the mountain world. This 12-lesson course covers an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the physical, biological, and human dimensions of mountain places in Alberta, Canada, and around the world. Specifically, we'll study the geological origins of mountains, how they’re built-up and worn-down over time; we’ll learn about their importance for biodiversity and water cycles, globally and locally; we’ll explore their cultural significance to societies around the globe, and how that relationship has evolved over time; and we’ll learn how mountains are used, how they’re protected, and how today they’re experiencing rapid change in a warming climate. At the end of each lesson, Mountains 101 will also provide learners with some smart tricks -- Tech Tips -- to safely enjoy time in the high alpine environment: from how to pick the best footwear for hiking to making smart decisions in avalanche terrain. We’ll be delivering your online lessons from valley bottoms to mountaintops, from museums and labs, to alpine huts and other spectacular alpine sites, and we’ll do so with the help of a whole host of experts. We invite you to join us for this online adventure! The mountains are calling...

Journey of the Universe weaves together the discoveries of the evolutionary sciences together with humanities such as history, philosophy, art, and religion. This course draws on the Journey of the Universe Conversations, a series of 20 interviews with scientists and environmentalists. The first 10 interviews are with scientists and historians who deepen our understanding of the evolutionary process of universe, Earth, and humans. The second 10 interviews are with environmentalists, teachers, and artists who explore the connections between the universe story and the practices for a flourishing Earth community.

The central question of this course: “why study wood?” If “why study wood” is the question, one answer would be that it is the only raw material available to us that is truly renewable in human life span terms. Wood is as important to society today as it ever was, despite the development of many man-made substitute materials, changing resource availability, and the changing needs of society. Some items on the list of wood products stay the same (lumber, plywood and veneer for building construction, furniture, shipping pallets & crates and other containers & packaging materials, railroad ties, utility poles, chemical feed stocks, etc), but the list also keeps changing to meet new needs and challenges as the resource changes. In short, wood is a far more diverse, green, and renewable resource than you might have imagined. Join us to learn about the important role of wood in human history, civilization, and our future. By the end of the course, learners will be able to: - describe wood as a raw material and its critical importance to the world economy, and the lives of the people that make that economy work. - identify the projected trend for wood consumption to continue to grow in the coming years, despite the image of wood as a "low tech" material. - identify the ways in which wood's properties can lead to its efficient and sustainable use. -identify wood's positive role in boosting the world economy and ability to lead to unexpected vocations.