Land, Water, Food, and Climate
Examines land, water, food, and climate in a changing world, with an emphasis on key scientific questions about the connections between natural resources and food production. Students read and discuss papers on a range of topics, including water and land resources, climate change, demography, agroecology, biotechnology, trade, and food security. Supporting information used for background and context includes data and analysis based on government reports, textbooks, and longer peer-reviewed documents not included in the readings. Provides a broad perspective on one of the defining global issues of this century. Students carry out exercises with relevant data sets, write critiques of key issues, and complete a focused term project. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Fall 2020
This reading seminar examines land, water, food, and climate in a changing world, with an emphasis on key scientific questions about the connections between natural resources and food production. Students read and discuss papers on a range of topics, including water and land resources, climate change, demography, agroecology, biotechnology, trade, and food security. The readings are supplemented by short lectures that provide context and summarize main points. The seminar provides a broad perspective on one of the defining global issues of this century. Students consider scientific controversies as well as areas of general agreement and examine practical solutions for addressing critical problems.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 1.077 Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-6 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2020
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.