9/30/13

Tonight's homework is to accomplish the following:

1. Complete Assignment 9 in which you need to: 

a. Obtain a separate page of looseleaf. Title the page, “Why Life on Earth Relies on Water.” You will answer question on this piece of looseleaf.

b. Review and read p. 161 and 162 of Glencoe Biology (see below) and the very first section of 18.1 “Water” in Botkin and Keller. Add vocabulary and any information that you deem important to your previous summary.

c. Based on what you now know, why is water a universal component to all life on Earth? Support your answer with vocabulary and observations/inferences.

2. Read and take notes on "The Atmosphere" on p. 434 through 437 of Botkin and Keller.

9/27/13

Assignment #8 - What Do You Want to Know? – Conducting Independent Research

 So, your homework over the weekend is the following:

•  Choose a question that interests you related to what we discussed this week. This may involve some research.
•  Conduct research to answer that question to a level that satisfies you (and me). Go to the library, hang out at a bookstore, search using the Internet, etc. in order to find your answer.
• Record your source. Aim for using at least 2 sources.
• Write a summary of what you learned about your question and its answer. Your response should be at least one page long (12 point font, double spaced), but no more than two pages. It does not have to be typed though.
• Draft an APA formatted bibliography with your summary. This link provides instructions for how to set up an APA formatted bibliography.

More importantly, the video below could be very helpful for finding potential questions/sources of information to answer your question. Also, the podcast BrainStuff is amazing and is totally formatted in a way that goes well with this assignment. Good luck and have fun.

Potential Questions for Researching (NOTE: You do NOT have to choose one of these questions):

- Why does the Moon orbit the Earth?

- Why does the Earth spin?

- How does the Moon spin?

- What are the origins of the Moon?

- Is the Moon magnetic?

- Why is the Moon gray?

- Why does there appear to be "a face" on the surface of the Moon?

- Is the Moon drifting away from us?

- Why are there tides?

- Does Jupiter's gravity affect the Moon and/or the Earth?

- What would happen if I tried to land on Jupiter?

- What is the Big Red Spot on the surface of Jupiter?

- How do we look for life in space?

9/26/13

Tonight's homework is to read Section 6.2 “Life and Chemical Cycles” on p. 111-112 in Botkin and Keller. Add to your notes from today.

9/25/13

Tonight's homework is to read Section 6.1 "Earth is a Peculiar Planet" on p. 106 through 110 in Botkin & Keller. Take notes on the reading and answer the two questions below.

Ideas for Notetaking Strategies
- Summarize and record big ideas of sections, paragraphs, etc.
- Define new/relevant terms and summarize
- Use in-text headings to organize notes

Reading Questions
1. How is Earth a unique planet?
2. Earth's atmosphere did not always contain oxygen like it does today. Describe the story of oxygen, including: how it came to be more prevalent in the atmosphere, the consequences of increased oxygen, and how we know about the oxygen content of earlier Earth's atmosphere.

9/24/13

Tonight's homework is to prepare for your quiz on sustainability tomorrow in class. We will take time to review and discuss any questions that you have. I will be back in class tomorrow. Justice has been meted out. Rejoice.

9/23/13

Soon we will begin to discuss the Earth, its systems, its resources, and especially why it can sustain life. To help prepare, please read Chapter 1 of Rare Earth, by Peter Ward and David Brownlee, starting on page 1 through 13.

Re: Sustainability PBAT

There have been some concerns regarding the Sustainability PBAT since many students did not finish. The plans for Monday are not confirmed yet, but you will given a significant portion of the period to complete the PBAT if not the entire period. Be prepared to continue working on it in class.

Further specifications will be forthcoming.

9/20/13

Sorry for being a phantom teacher this week. Unfortunately, I will likely be absent again at least on Monday and possibly Tuesday. Your responsibility this weekend is to begin preparing for Wednesday's quiz on sustainability. See below.

Assignment #6 Sustainability Quiz Review

Topics to Know

·       Environmental science – definition, problems that ES is concerned with, causes of those problems

·       Environmentalism vs. ecology

·       Sustainability – definition, ways of measuring sustainability (IPAT equation), 4 principles of sustainable environments/sustainability

·       Ecological footprint

Practice Questions

Answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences wherever possible.

1. Define sustainability.

2a. Suppose new technologies allow cars to become more efficient and produce half the amount of polluting emissions. Using the IPAT equation, which of the following is the most likely outcome?

A. The impact on sustainability will be doubled.

B. The impact on sustainability will increase.

C. The impact on sustainability will not change.

D. The impact on sustainability will decrease.

E. The impact on sustainability will be halved.

2b. Explain your answer to question 2a.

3. Define ecological footprint. Be specific.

4. Suppose the world’s population stopped growing today. Answer each of the following and support your answer.

a. What (if any) environmental problems might this help?

b. What (if any) environmental problems would remain?

c. What (if any) environmental problems might population stabilization make worse?

5. In regards to the principles of sustainability, to what does nutrient cycling refer?

6. Thinking about the principles of sustainability, identify three ways that individuals can live more sustainably. Support each method you develop (by explaining how the method will make you or groups of people or all of humanity).

7. Define and describe environmental science.

8. Contrast environmentalism and ecology.

9/17/13

Tonight's homework is to continue to prepare for Thursday's in-class essay by:

1. making sure that you read and took notes on at least two case studies related to energy resources
2. watching and taking notes on at least one TED talk from "Plantastic!" playlist
3. summarizing your notes for the day

Managing Population Size - Case Study: China by GCSE/BBC

Population and the Challenge of Chinese Growth from East Asia Forum

Overpopulation Is Not The Problem by Erle C. Ellis, NYTimes

As before, points to include for the assessment of each case study are as follows:

1. Summarize the case study. Include an identification of and description of the environmental problems in the case study, their causes, and the solutions/remediation efforts.

2. To which principle(s) of sustainability (reliance on solar energy, biodiversity, population control, and nutrient cycling) does this case study connect? Support your answer.

3. What lessons that can be learned and applied from the environmental transformation/changes in this case study?

4. Based on this case study, what is your view of the sustainability of the human race?

9/16/13

Tonight's homework is to continue to prepare for your upcoming PBAT about sustainability by:

1. making sure that you read and took notes on at least two case studies related to energy resources
2. watching and taking notes on at least one TED talk from "The End of Oil?" playlist
3. summarizing your notes for the day

Just in case:
The Gulf Oil Spill by the Smithsonian
Have We Reached Peak Oil? by How Stuff Works


The How, Why, and How Much of Oil from SciShow

As before, points to include for the assessment of each case study are as follows:

1. Summarize the case study. Include an identification of and description of the environmental problems in the case study, their causes, and the solutions/remediation efforts.

2. To which principle(s) of sustainability (reliance on solar energy, biodiversity, population control, and nutrient cycling) does this case study connect? Support your answer.

3. What lessons that can be learned and applied from the environmental transformation/changes shown/mentioned in this case study?

4. Based on this case study, what is your view of the sustainability of the human race?

9/13/13

Our unit introducing environmental science and sustainability is already beginning to draw to a close. We will spend next week thinking and writing about the sustainability of humankind evidenced by different case studies you will investigate inside and outside of class. These investigations will culminate in a PBAT in class on Thursday, followed by a discussion and quiz on Friday.

Assignment #5 - Beginning to Evaluate the Sustainability of Humankind

This weekend's homework is to read and evaluate at least three case studies from the options among the links below. The format for taking notes about the case studies is also found below.

"Black Sea in Crisis"
"Ozone Hole Continues to Grow"
"Beepocalypse" from Time Magazine
"The Three Gorges Dam"
"Saving An African Eden"
"Off-Shore Wind Power"
"India's Population Passes 1 Billion"
"Watershed Sustainable Development"

NOTE: If you find alternative cases/articles that you are interested in, then please email me a link by 12:00 pm on Sunday so I can approve it. TED.com has some excellent presentations/videos/talks if you search "environment" or "sustainability."

Points to include for the assessment of each case study:

1. Summarize the case study. Include an identification of and description of the environmental problems in the case study, their causes, and the solutions/remediation efforts.

2. To which principle(s) of sustainability (reliance on solar energy, biodiversity, population control, and nutrient cycling) does this case study connect? Support your answer.

3. What lessons that can be learned and applied from the environmental transformation in this case study?

4. Based on this case study, what is your view of the sustainability of the human race?

Math Fun! Summer Assignment answers

1. What is one million times one thousand? Show your work in scientific notation and give the answer in scientific notation and in words.

1 billion or 109

106 x 103 = 109

2. A population of deer had 200 individuals. If the population grows by 15% in one year, how many deer will there be the next year?

200 x 0.15 = 30 200 + 30 = 230

3. This year there are 28 AP Environmental Science students and next year there will be 60 AP Environmental Science students. What percentage did the population of APES students grow by?

60 - 28 = 32 student increase 32/28 = x/100 x = 114%

4. Electricity costs 6 cents per kilowatt hour. In one month, one home uses one megawatt hour of electricity. How much will the electric bill be? (Use the prefixes above for assistance)

$0.06/1 kWh x 1000 kWh/1 mWh = $60.00

5. Your car gets 15 miles to the gallon and your friend’s car gets 25 miles to the gallon. You decide to go on a road trip to Virginia Beach, which is 300 miles away. If gas costs $4.00 per gallon and you decide to split the gas money, how much money will you save in gas by driving your friend’s car?

Your car – 1 gallon / 15 miles x 300 miles = 20 gallons of gas needed

Friend’s car – 1 gallon / 25 miles x 300 miles = 12 gallons of gas needed

Your car’s cost of trip – 20 gallons x $4 / gallon = $80

Friend’s car’s cost of trip – 12 gallons x $4 / gallon = $48

Difference = $32 so your share of savings is $16

6. Manhattan is 2 miles wide and 17 miles long. If one inch of rain falls on Manhattan, then how many cubic feet of rain fell on Manhattan? (Hint: convert all units to feet first)

1 mile = 5,280 ft

Area of Manhattan = (2 x 5,280) x (17 x 5,280) = 947,865,600 sq ft

1 inch of rain = 0.833 ft

Volume of one inch of rain on Manhattan = 0.0833 ft x 947,865,600 sq ft = 78,672,844 = 7.9 x 107 cubic feet

7. An mp3 takes up about 16 kilobytes of memory per second of music. If you owned a one terabyte hard drive and filled it with only mp3s, then how many days of music would you have stored?

1012 bytes x 1 second / 16 x 103 bytes = 62,500,000 seconds x 1 hour / 3600 seconds = 17,361.1111 h

17,361.1111 h x 1 day / 24 hours = 723.4 days

9/12/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 4 (Parts A and B) and be ready for tomorrow's math check-in.

Assignment 4A - Calculating Your Ecological Footprint

Using the information from Assignment 3, choose one of the following two links to determine your impact upon the environment.

Earth Day Network Footprint Calculator (a little easier, but might be wonky on your laptop and won't work on your phone)
Center for Sustainable Economy's Footprint Quiz (more detailed, but will work on your phone)

Assignment 4B - Reflecting On Your Ecological Footprint

Answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability and in complete sentences.

1. Define ecological footprint.

2a. What is your ecological footprint?

2b. What is your reaction to your ecological footprint? How do you feel about it?

3. The average American consumes 30 times more resources than the average citizen of India. What is the value of being able to calculate your consumption of resources and see it evaluated in a relatively objective manner?

4. What is the connection between our ecological footprint and our discussions of sustainability?

9/11/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 3. See below if necessary.

Assignment #3 - Thinking About Sustainability and Our Own Lives

Answer each of the following questions to the best of your ability.

On Sustainability

1. Which one or more of the four scientific principles of sustainability are involved in each of the following actions?

a. recycling a soda can

b. using a rake instead of a leaf blower

c. choosing to have no more than one child

d. walking to class instead of driving

e. taking your own reusable bags to the grocery store to carry things home in

f. volunteering in a prairie restoration project

g. lobbying elected officials to require that 20% of your country’s electricity be produced by renewable wind power by 2020

2. Read the following statements, choose the 5 that you find the most interesting, controversial, etc. and explain to what degree you agree with them and why you feel as such.

a. Humans are superior to other forms of life.

b. Humans are in charge of the earth.

c. All economic growth is good.

d. The value of other forms of life depends only on whether they are useful to us.

e. Because all forms of life eventually become extinct, we should not worry about whether our activities cause their premature extinction.

f. All forms of life have an inherent right to exist.

g. Nature has an almost unlimited storehouse of resources for human use.

h. Technology can solve our environmental problems.

i. I do not believe I have any obligation to future generations.

j. I do not believe I have any obligation to other forms of life.

Thinking About Our Own Lives

3. Gather and record as much of the following information as you can. This information will be used tomorrow to help you determine and calculate your impacts upon the Earth.

a. Ask your parents/guardians how much your home’s electric bill usually is. Also ask if the electricity you purchase comes from renewable resources.

b. Using the internet (ex. Google maps), determine the distance of your commute to school and any job, internship, etc. that you frequently attend.

c. Think back on any trips you have taken in the past year. Record where you went, how you got there (ex. car, bus, airplane), and research about how far away the place was.

d. Record as many different foods that you have eaten in the last week as you can.

e. Ask your parents/guardians how your apartment/house is heated (ex. oil, electricity, natural gas), how your water is heated, and how your stove works (provided there is one present).

f. Investigate the cleaning products in your home to see if there are any that are non-toxic or biodegradable.

g. Determine what you types of things your household recycles and how often. In addition, determine how often your household empties its garbage(s).

Student Opportunities

Mr. Z has compiled an amazing list of opportunities in math and science for students. You should definitely check it out here.

9/10/13

Your homework tonight is to prepare for tomorrow's geography assessment and to take reading about sustainability to help prepare you tomorrow's mini-lecture. Click on the link and read Section 1.1 through 1.3 of the chapter. Take notes in your own words about ideas, terms, examples, etc. that you think are important.

Please email me if you are having trouble accessing the article... unless you are trying from a smartphone. In that case, use a computer or get to school early and access a computer there. 

See the earlier posting explaining the summer assignment for the material that you need to study and be familiar with for tomorrow's geography assessment.

Just in case, Assignment 2 questions are posted below.

Assignment #2 – Analyzing A Case Study

Answer the following questions about the case study to the best of your ability in complete sentences on another piece of paper.

1. Summarize the case study. Include an identification of and description of the environmental problems in the case study, their causes, and the solutions/remediation efforts.

2. What lessons that can be learned and applied from the environmental transformation in this case study?

For 12D:

9/9/13

Tonight's homework is to read and sign the syllabus/contract, bring a binder/lab notebook, prepare for the geography and math assessments later this week (Wednesday and Monday), and complete Assignment 1. In order to do so, you will need to read "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin. If need be, the associated questions can be found below. Since some parts of "The Tragedy of the Commons" are a bit dense, some additional helpful readings can be found below.

"No Panaceas!" Elinor Ostrom talks with Fran Korten
"Fisheries: Lost property" from the Economist

Thoroughly answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences on another piece of paper.

1a. Describe and explain your results in Part 1.

1b. Describe and explain your results in Part 2. Discuss how they compared to Part 1.

2. Explain the rationale for your fishing technique in each part.

3. What is the “tragedy of the commons?”

4. Why does common usage lead to exploitation?

5. What would be an ideal way to manage the commons pond? Explain.