Spring 2027

Global Environmental Issues

Global Environmental Issues explores climate change, food, energy, biodiversity, and justice through an interdisciplinary geographic lens, connecting global scales to local contexts.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Morgan Robertson3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson

The course included weekly readings and short answer questions or write-ups for discussion. Exams were based on lectures, and students indicated that taking good notes and studying enough was necessary to succeed.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the scientific basis of climate change, population growth, desertification, deforestation, water quality and quantity impairments, and the environmental challenges of agriculture and energy production.

  • Critically assess the causal factors and drivers associated with global environmental issues.

  • Explain the political context in which environmental issues are framed as global problems.

  • Identify potential solutions to global environmental issues, and obstacles to their implementation.

  • Describe your own relationship to global environmental issues and how global environmental issues manifest locally.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ENVIRST/GEOG 139 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.70/5 from 27 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.3/5 raw quality · 2.1/5 difficulty · 14 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson

Morgan Robertson taught an introductory course with weekly assignments and exams, but no final. Students found the class easy to pass, with lectures streamed and recorded, though some noted the instructor was bad at posting videos.

Several students described Robertson's lectures as disorganized, rambling, and confusing. Others criticized the course's lack of structure on Canvas and noted that exam questions were poorly worded and ambiguous.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.68 GPA, 86.4% A/AB (n=206 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.68 GPA, 82.9% A/AB (n=193 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 64.4% A/AB (n=73 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Bilal Butt, William Gartner

Bilal Butt, a historical instructor, provided exam materials that helped a student score an AB after two hours of study. William Gartner, another historical instructor, was described as passionate; students found his exams difficult due to wording and specificity, while others noted his lectures were hard to follow.

BILAL BUTT is recorded teaching in Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

IAN BAIRD is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MORGAN ROBERTSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

WILLIAM GARTNER is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1760
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1760
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson

Professor Robertson taught with deep subject knowledge and posted lecture slides online to guide study. Students described the material as interesting, though some found the delivery scattered or disorganized.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.35 GPA, 60.3% A/AB (n=73 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.40 GPA, 65.2% A/AB (n=161 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 64.4% A/AB (n=73 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson

The course included weekly readings and short answer questions or write-ups for discussion. Exams were based on lectures, and students indicated that taking good notes and studying enough was necessary to succeed.

Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson

Students found the lectures monotonous and the online course structure disorganized. Some reported frustration with ambiguous test questions that were confusing despite careful attention to class material.

Topics

  • Climate change, food, energy, globalization, deforestation, biodiversity loss, resource access, environmental justice, and population.
  • Interdisciplinary and geographic perspectives on environmental issues at local and global scales.

Skills

  • Explain scientific bases of environmental problems and critically assess causal factors and drivers.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.23 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ENVIRST/GEOG 139 · Spring 2027

Global Environmental Issues

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENVIRST/GEOG 139 · Spring 2027

Global Environmental Issues

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:360:008199",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/GEOG 139",
    "course_uid": "course_05b75b04412e7d7cd78182dd",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008199",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Global Environmental Issues",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:416:008199",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/GEOG 139",
    "course_uid": "course_05b75b04412e7d7cd78182dd",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008199",
    "source_subject_id": "416",
    "title": "Global Environmental Issues",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "36cd31be0b15b61214d2c257732f8855aa05242934e07064dcb1a51b36b04ed4",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}