Unlike a typical university physics course there is no standardised syllabus for environmental
physics. The topics covered also range beyond what is normally part of the physics curriculum,
requiring the instructor to become knowledgeable about fields outside of physics. Some of these
issues are complex and, unlike the laws of physics, change rapidly over time. This paper, based on
15 years experience teaching undergraduate environmental physics courses, both for non-science
students and for students with strong backgrounds in the sciences, attempts to present a reasonable
range of concepts and educational resources which could be included in an environmental physics
course or added to an existing physics course as motivation for learning traditional physics
concepts. An additional goal is to warn the reader of pitfalls they may encounter in trying to
include material with which they may not be familiar. The approach is different from environmental
courses taught in the social s…