Fertility rates have been declining in the U.S. and abroad for several decades—from the post-war Baby Boom to an unprecedented fertility low. The depth of the current decline is greater than demographers had anticipated, and if it continues, will force changes in important societal institutions like retirement funding. This class will address first, the current dimensions of the decline in fertility and likely causes (there are many), and second, the record of policy successes and failures. During the course of the discussion, the class will consider what should be the goals for policies regarding fertility.

Volcanoes have always given rise to powerful emotions. They simultaneously fascinate and frighten those who live on their slopes when they erupt. Approximately 1.1 billion people live or lived within 100 km of active volcanoes that erupted in the last 10,000 years. Many eruptions, especially explosive ones, might occur without giving a clue of upcoming disaster. Volcanologists still strive to accurately forecast the likelihood, magnitude, and style of eruptions. This presentation offers cases of cohabitation between people and active volcanoes, the related pros and cons, and how modern volcanology offers information to thriving 21st-century societies facing the impact of climate change on a regional to global scale. In-class demonstrations, rocks, and slides will be presented.

We will examine how geologists recognize and study asteroid and comet impacts in Earth's past. We will also investigate the occurrences of meteorite falls in Georgia including the recent McDonough meteorite. And we will explore the record of much larger impacts preserved in the rocks of our state, including the fallout from the Chesapeake Bay impact 35.5 million years ago that rained down across the Coastal Plain and the enormous 220-kilometer-diameter Roosevelt impact structure that formed more than 800 million years ago when a rock almost 30 kilometers wide penetrated the crust of west-central Georgia.