With more than six thousand languages spoken worldwide in more than two hundred countries there are innumerable ways to be a human being. This course explores this astonishing diversity to understand the full trajectory of the human species, and to develop solutions to contemporary social problems. We teach geographical knowledge of major world regions, and consider the lives, traditions and present conjunctures of their varied peoples. We emphasize international and cross-cultural study of families, gender, health, religions, and foodways, all in their social, economic, and historical contexts. Finally, we propose long-term, comparative, and scientifically-informed perspectives on human ecologies, and on changing modes of subsistence, production, exchange, and consumption in our increasingly integrated global society.