“Leave the planet better than we found it”. Does that ring a bell? Have you read this before? Although we are an insignificantly small twig on the grand tree of life, watered and nurtured by mother Earth, the acute protection of Earth’s biosphere is among our most cardinal responsibilities to nature. If we are to become a responsible citizen of the planet, understanding the tightly intertwined coexistence of life and its environment is obligatory. It is like parting the curtains of ignorance and taking a peek into realisation that as much as the environment depends on what we do to it, we depend much more critically to what it does to us.

Dr. Fozia Parveen’s online course titled Introduction to Environmental Science, SCI103 for short, is therefore your gateway to an aware, more responsible and sincere citizen of the greater biome we all share. The discussions are extremely friendly, student-centered and engaging. The course includes lectures on the biosphere, biotic and abiotic ecosystems and a range of different types of environments that exist (terrestrial, aquatic, marine and freshwater). From the study of soil and air to how waste disposal is a shaping up to become a looming threat for our future generations’ health and well-being – the course also includes discussions on our local environmental problems and how global best practices can be morphed to suit our local needs and limitations. The course is an important component of the undergraduate program at SBASSE.

Of all our doing in this brief phase of life and awareness, we are but to return the debt we have accumulated from consuming the flora and fauna over our lifetime. By helping establish a sense of community between the student and their larger environment, this course hopes to waft our sense of wonderment and responsibility to preserve this ecosystem and leave it indeed better than we had found it.