9/11/14

Today's is to complete Assignment 4 (Parts A and B). You should review your notes for tomorrow's 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?

9/10/14

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

Assignment #3 Thinking About Sustainability and Our Own Lives

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

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 approximate 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).

9/9/14

Tonight's homework is to read and take (no more than one page of) notes on p. 2 through 10 (Section 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, Case Study, and The Closer Look) in Botkin and Keller. Bring the notes with you to class, but not the textbook.

9/8/14

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 2 (the science reading diagnostic). Additionally, your geography assessment and math diagnostic will be given tomorrow. Prepare accordingly, but remember that the math diagnostic score does not have any bearing on your grade.

Additionally, if you and your parent/guardian have not reviewed the syllabus/contract, then please do so and show it to me as soon as possible.

9/5/14

This weekend's homework is to score student responses from question 1 of the Free Response Section of the 2014 AP Environmental Science exam. Please use a highlighter or a colored pencil to underline/highlight/indicate the sections in the text that you felt were worthy of a point. Use the rubric as a guide - there are no half points, rounding, etc. Be ready to discuss and defend your scores on Monday.

9/4/14

Tonight's homework is to read and sign the syllabus/contract, bring a binder/lab notebook, prepare for the geography and math assessments next week, 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.

Summer Assignment Rubric

	Mastery – 4	Proficient – 3	Satisfactory – 2	Needs Revision – 1
Claim	States clear, well-reasoned, nuanced claim and counterclaim	States clear, well-reasoned claim and counterclaim	States a logical, but vague claim	States an illogical or indefensible position
Support of claim	Thoroughly supports claims with several detailed, convincing, specific reasons/pieces of evidence as well as refuted counterclaims	Supports claims with multiple detailed, specific reasons/pieces of evidence as well as attempts at forming counterclaims/ refutations of them	Supports claims with multiple detailed, convincing specific reasons/pieces of evidence but neglects to make use of counterclaim	Supports claims with reasons/ evidence that are not convincing due to lack of detail, specificity, or clarity OR not having enough pieces of evidence to support each claim
Demonstrates knowledge	Consistently demonstrates deep knowledge of material in readings by constantly: using vocabulary, explaining examples clearly, incorporating statistics, etc.	Consistently demonstrates knowledge of material in readings by: using vocabulary, explaining examples clearly, incorporating statistics, etc and minor errors or occasions for further explanation may be present	Demonstrates knowledge of material in readings by using vocabulary, etc. but with multiple or glaring errors or lack of a detail	Does not demonstrate sufficient knowledge of material from readings through errors or lack of usage/ explanation.
Credit to sources	While writing in his/her own words, correctly completes an APA/MLA formatted bibliography AND properly cites within text	While writing in his/her own words, completes an APA/MLA formatted bibliography AND cites within text with only minor errors	While writing in his/her own words, completes an APA/MLA formatted bibliography AND cites within text but with clear errors	Bibliography, citations, or both are missing or it is obvious that student is not giving due credit to sources through his/her style of writing
Writing conventions	Writes elegantly and in a sophisticated manner while very consistently adhering to spelling and grammar conventions	Very consistently adheres to spelling and grammar conventions	Consistently adheres to spelling and grammar conventions	Mostly adheres to spelling and grammar conventions