Overall I thought this course was pretty chill, fun, and I still learned a lot! Prof Kirk is really knowledgeable about the course content, so it was interesting listening to his lectures. The lectures are more on concepts/specific topics rather than calculations/examples (although there are some in certain modules). However, the tutorials are all calculation based and the exam is similar to the tutorial questions. It did feel like there was a bit of a disconnect between the lectures and tutorials, but the tutorial questions generally were not too difficult and you work in groups so you can figure them out together (though the tutorials were mandatory). Most calculations are based on things you already learn in chem eng core courses (such as calculating the enthalpy of combustion). Another thing about this course is that there are weekly debates (3 on 3) so everyone will do 2-3 debates throughout the semester. In my opinion these weren't too bad since the class size was small and you didn't need to spend a super long time preparing for them, but if you are very uncomfortable with debates or any public speaking this might not be for you. Also, the syllabus was not very detailed and did not mention a final project, which was introduced to us 2 weeks before the end of the course 🫠 Though it was a doable project within the time, it would have been nice to have more notice. Overall, it's a pretty good GPA boosting course as long as you spend a bit of time reviewing the tutorials and past exams, and I learned a lot about a wide range of environmental topics (LCA, pollution, governmental responsibilities and policies, cogeneration, etc!)

I thought the course was pretty relaxed; there is very little work in and out of class for the most part and the TA's effectively give the answers to tutorial questions. The class content itself was interesting (to me at least). The biggest nuisance was that there are graded debates where 6 people are randomly chosen, 3 on each side, to argue over some topic in front of the class with 1 weeks prep. Since it is a required grade and my class was somewhat small, I had to do 2 debates over the course of the semester. This can be an issue if you are already in a somewhat busy week, but you can bypass that by requesting to debate when you have a lighter week to reduce your load later. If you are terrified of talking in front of a class, this might be a bit difficult but you could also rely on teammates to carry.