Master of Environmental Studies - Secondary Program

Geometric human population growth drives similarly increasing demands for water, living space, transportation, and resources.  Mega-scale civil engineering projects have moved from the pages of science fiction, to the pages of peer-reviewed scientific journals, and in some cases onto blueprints and then reality.  Examples of actual works include Boston’s “Big Dig,” the Palm Islands of Dubai, the re-routing of the Yangtze River from the South to the North of China through aqueducts beneath the Tibetan Plateau.  Projects under consideration include seeding Earth’s upper atmosphere with particulates, launching arrays of mirrors, or enriching Arctic seas with iron to alter Earth’s climate.  Not much more far-fetched are ideas about “terraforming” or changing the fundamental cycles on celestial bodies to make them habitable, or mining the Moon for Helium 3.  These ideas may seem impossible but (as exemplified by a recent article in Geophysical Research Letters that convincingly demonstrated that the worldwide construction of dams at mid-latitudes has actually changed Earth’s rotation rate) geoscientists are realizing that human activities have had mega-scale consequences, and that this human power to alter the planet could be harnessed to better the human condition. In fact, human civil works beyond what was thought possible are relatively common in history: the quarrying and transportation of the slabs that comprise Stonehenge, the Tunnel of Samos, the Nazca Lines, the Panama Canal, etc. This seminar course will involve reading about and discussing the geotechnical issues that were, are, and will be faced in the implementation of such massive works.  The course will be evenly divided between examining historical examples and their consequences (both intended and unintended), and evaluating the feasibility, and anticipating unintended consequences of, some current not-yet-realized Geo-Engineering ideas.