This course is meant for students interested in understanding the climate crisis/the 6th mass extinction from a standpoint of natural history. You will learn about climatology, plate tectonics and evolution, though other significant topics related to enviromentalism like permaculture are also sprinkled in. In detail, we will touch on:

• How biodiversity arises. What is evolution and how do genes work.
• What is a niche, genetics of populations, convergent evolution, and speciation.
• The planetary impact of extremely successful organisms in the past.
• What actions and phenomena promote and what inhibit diversity.
• Neolithic and industrial revolution, globalisation and postcolumbian exchange.
• Conservation vs restoration, gene banks and how to advocate for biodiversity.