My new favorite professor at UCSB. He's a great lecturer and very organized. Lectures are all posted online. Textbook is a free PDF on gauchospace. The grading is super straightforward; two midterms each worth 15% and the final is worth 30%. The rest is made up of easy homework assignments and VERY easy one-question pop quizzes. Take this class!!

Peter's the best. Lots of reading (!!!provided on gauchospace!!!) but only tested with a weekly open-ended question to answer in the first couple minutes of lecture. Easy short-answer papers due in section, very discussion-based, perfect for starting out the enviro major. Really wants his students to thrive!

He's a great professor. Good, clear lectures. PPTs avail. on GS. Prepare your readings before lecture. 3 essay assigns, 2 quiz, & a final. He gives two-sentence pop quizzes each week to see if you did the reading. He's really into his subject, which I'm not, but he has me really engaged. I'd def take him again. Don't let the work deter you!

Alagona is amazing. Best class I've taken so far at UCSB. He's an engaging and interesting lecturer. Seems to really care about students. Reading for the class is interesting and not too much. I really recommend this class, It's awe-inspiring!

One of the best profs at UCSB, really tries to engage students and get them to think critically. Excellent lecturer and has great slides (posts to gauchospace before class). I always look forward to attending his classes, which is more than I can say about most other classes. Be warned though, there is a LOT of reading for all his classes.

Attendance was pretty mandatory, as Peter would give short writing assignments randomly during the class, and as the lecture material was not really covered in the reader. The final was in a blue book but wasn't too hard, and Peter's just an all-around cool dude!!!! The material wasn't too interesting personally but class itself proved interesting!

ES 1 with Alagona was a great class! Really well organized, clear, and simple with some effort. Do the readings and study for quizzes and you will be fine. Also go see Alagona in office hours because he's really easy to talk to.

Super cool guy, class is not hard whatsoever if you do the weekly reading and go to lecture, or just read through the slides he puts online. 3 multiple choice quizzes are the midterms, there is an easy assignment due once a week, and the final is very easy.

You'll never find a professor more interested in his students. His class was engaging, and the lecture material easy to comprehend. I recommend this class to any and everyone. Quizzes were relatively easy if you studied the lecture notes, and the final was simple. Great class, great professor

He's a very helpful teacher. He made the class interesting with his sense of humor and relatable way of teaching the class - always starting off with an anecdote.

lots of reading, but necessary - you can scan, but know the general idea, they will help you a lot with the final, which is all writing, compared to the midterms which were all multiple choice and not too hard. his notes are simple, so listen to what he says and elaborate.

He is awesome! He keeps things interesting by telling short stories at the beginning of each class and is extremely thorough in the material. He cut down the reader to be much shorter this year, so the reading isn't that bad if you stay on top of it. 3 quizzes and the final make up a majority of your grade, and they are not that bad/fairly graded.

This was an awesome class. It was really easy.....just had to go to lecture and section but I also had a great TA. Research paper topics were interesting so it was easy to write. Typical class: two midterms, final, quizzes and paper. professor was great; only time I ever went to office hours to talk

Great class, well taught, Peter is passionate and informative and really wants the students to learn the information.

A LOT of reading and we moved too fast for the information to sink in.. He was a good professor but I had trouble paying attention sometimes, which is not normal for me. Quizzes are okay if you know the lectures. Final was okay if you study, just a lot of essays. Worst part of the class was the 8-page paper we had to write.

He made everything interesting and he knows just about everything about the subject he teaches. He would go very in depth when answering students' questions. He was also funny and I always looked forward to his class.

Professor Alagona is a really captivating professor. He structures the class in a way that really teaches you a broad range of subjects in an efficient way. His test are fairly straightforward and he is an extremely fair grader. I did not do any of the massive amount of reading, got 85 on all 3 tests and got an A inthe class. I highly recommend him

Don't listen to these people!! Alagona is an amazing lecturer, the subject, although broad, was super interesting. The class was really well structured.....the readings were kind of ridiculous but definitely skimmable. Please take this class!! It's a really good intro to college level classes

literally impossible to do all of & understand the reading. 1 TA told him that they had our reading in their grad class! it's impossible and so boring. lecture is really boring too. I had Jason Linn as my TA and he was the only factor that made this class bearable. Quizzes are pretty simple though. Elaborate on his slides in your notes. Overall :(

Very good lecturer- speaks very clearly and does not waste time in class. Sometimes he does go too fast or too slow but overall the most clear&concise professor I've had. Very passionate about his class. Alagona's tests are fair and the class is very doable as long as you go to lecture and keep up with the reading (which is a pain).

There is a ton of reading for this class, make sure not to procrastinate on doing it! Much of the reading is included in the quizzes, and the reading check quizzes. The paper is not too bad, and the teacher is really interesting to listen to, but don't take this class unless you are really interested in it to start with.

Good freshman, GE class. Interesting guy and fairly interesting class. Lots of reading, but can get by with skimming. One big paper, but not too bad. I would recommend it to those with an interest in Env Studies

Be warned: This class is a TON of work-mainly reading. I can say without a doubt I read at least 2000 pages for his class. He also has quizzes at the beginning of each class based on the assigned reading for the day that are worth 2% each, so attendance is mandatory.