Reading Guide for Environmental Conservation Spring 2006
This reading guide lists your reading assignment along with list of concepts and ideas that you should have a basic familiarity with before coming to lecture or discussion. As the semester progresses I will incorporate these guides into the outlines for each class and update them as necessary. I have provided this resource for you so that in the event you are reading ahead of when I get the lecture outline posted you will still have the reading guide available to you.
Understanding Environmental Geography
Week 1
Wednesday January 11
No Reading
Between Class Assignment
Review the syllabus and make sure you understand how the class will work. Browse the course web site and identify resources that may be of use to you. E-mail or IM your professor with questions about the course.
In class we will discuss the following readings (therefore it is very important that you have them done):
Read Marsh, Pinchot, and Muir Answer questions about them.
Discussion 1 January 12/13
The Development of Conservation Thought
Week 2
Monday January 16
MLK Day No Classes
Wednesday January 18
Geographical Concepts / Ecosystems
pp. 1-13 Come to class with a basic familiarity with the following concepts: population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, biotic factors, abiotic factors, Aquatic ecosystems (salt and freshwater): pelagic and neritic areas, Terrestrial Ecosystems: biomes, different types of biomes. Biodiversity, habitat, niche, mutualism, commensalisms, predation, competition.
Discussion 2 Thursday/Friday January 19/20
Earth Sun Relationships
Review material covered in the previous class.
Read CES pp. 20-31 Come to class with a basic familiarity with the following concepts and ideas: Energy Flow through Tundra ecosystem, earth sun relationships, equinox, solstice, solar constant, Lambert’s Sine Law, the first law of thermodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics. Pay special attention to Figure 1.3 on pg. 24.
Week 3
Monday January 23
Ecosystems Continued: Energy and Matter Flows
Review material covered in the previous class.
Read CES pp. 13-18 and come to class with a basic familiarity with the following concepts: Photosynthesis, primary production, primary producers (autotrophs), consumers (hterotrophs), trophic levels, herbivores, carnivores, top predators, food chain, food web, ecomposition, detritus. Biogeochemical cycles, carbon and oxygen cycles, aerobic respiration,
Understanding and Protecting Frontier Enviornments
Wednesday January 25
The Tundra: Geomorphology and Biodiversity
Review material covered in the previous class.
Re-read CES pp. 20-31 Come to class with a basic familiarity with the following concepts: Tundra, permafrost, biodiversity. Make sure you understand concepts related to energy flow through ecosystems from Chapter 1 and observe how they are applied to understand the Tundra ecosystem.
Discussion 3 Thursday/Friday January 26/27
Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Be Opened to Oil Drilling?
Week 4
Monday January 30
Climate
Review material covered in the previous class.
Review CES Figure 2.4 and Insight 2.3 pp. 51-52. Come to class with a basic understanding of the following: Orographic precipitation, adiabatic cooling, trade winds (easterlies), Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Equator, North and South Poles.
Wednesday Feb 1
Protecting Tropical Forests
Read CES pp. 41-60. Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Open and Closed Forests, epiphytes, commensialism, decomposers, Types of tropical forests including: Tropical Moist, Tropical Dry, Tree Plantations, Soil Quality in Tropical Forests, Forest Succession, Extent and causes of deforestation, Shifting cultivation, land conversion, fuelwood gathering, effects of deforestation, history of forest conservation in Costa Rica, debt-for-nature swaps, eco-tourism, sustainable forest products.
Read AE Article 9 “Common Ground for Farmers and Forests” pp. 75-78 From the AE reading: agroecology, the potential benefits of tropical rainforests, sustainable agriculture.
Discussion 4 Thursday/Friday February 2/3
Protecting Bio-Diversity
Week 5
Monday Februrary 6
Exam I
Water and Air
Wednesday February 8
The Thames and Water Pollution
Read CES pp. 62-81. Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: watershed, estuary, hydrologic cycle, evaporation, transpiration, evapo-trasnpiration, aquifers, dissolved oxygen, DO saturation, anoxic water. Biological Oxygen Demand, point source and non-point source pollution, Primary treatment, secondary treatment. Have a broad understanding of the Thames Estuary case study and of how John Snow’s map helped to determine the cause of the Cholera epidemic.
Read AE Article 26 “The Quest for Clean Water” pp. 193-196
Discussion 5 Thursday/Friday February 9/10
Watersheds and Water Resources
Week 6
Monday February 13
Water Resources: Groundwater, Wetlands, and the Aral Sea
Reading TBA
Wednesday February 15
Ecosystem Dynamics in Chesapeake Bay
Read CES pp. 82-105 and come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas Wetlands, Feedback, positive and negative feedback, turbidity, filter feeders, salinity, limiting nutrients, natural eutrophication, cultural eutrophication, reaeration, advanced wastewater treatment.
Thursday/Friday February 16/17
Discussion 6 Air Pollution
Week 7
Monday February 20
The Atmosphere and Air Pollution
Read CES pp. 106-113 and come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Troposphere, aerosols, stratosphere, ozone, mesosphere, thermosphere, importance of oxygen, negative and positive lapse rates, thermal inversion, particulate matter, incomplete combustion. Sources and effects of the following air pollutants: particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, atmospheric hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide, ozone, photochemical smog, carbon dioxide, methane. Acid rain.
Wednesday February 22
Regulation of Air Pollution
Read CES pp. 113-125 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: History of air pollution in Pittsburgh, Clean Air Act of 1970, ambient air quality standards, National Ambient air Quality Standards, Clean Air act of 1990, Difference between command and control and market-based strategies.
Discussion 7 Thursday/Friday February 23/24
TBA
Week 8
Monday Feb 27
Exam 2
Monday March 1
Population and the Enviornment
Read CES pp. 127-137 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following ideas and concepts: Doubling time, exponential population growth, population density, carrying capacity, demography, total fertility rate, rate of natural increase, crude birth rate, crude death rate, growth rate, population pyramid, age structure, demographic transition, replacement level fertility
Thursday/Friday March 2/3
Discussion 8 Enviornmental Art
See Environmental Art Assignment
Spring Break March 6-19
Week 9
Monday March 20
Population and the Environment in China
Read CES pp. 137-145 Be familiar with the history of population growth in China, impacts of growth, population control, human rights issues, future world population trends
Wednesday March 22
Green Revolution Agriculture
Read CES ppp. 146-167 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Subsistence agriculture, landraces, crossbreeding, cultivar, self-polination, cross-polination, hybrids, the Green Revolution, monocultures, mechanization, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, soil erosion, resistance to pesticides, natural selection, target and non-target organisms, bioaccumulation, biomagnification, integrated pest management, bioengineering, genetically modified crops.
Discussion 9 Thursday/Friday February 24/25
Population and Consumption Discussion
Week 10
Monday March 27
Soil Formation, Erosion, and Conservation
Read CES pp. 168-171 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Soil formation (pedogenisis) soil composition, soil erosion and formation, soil husbandry.
Wednesday March 29
Sustainable Agriculture
Read CES pp. 171-185 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: sustainable agriculture, conservation tillage, no-till planting, summer fallowing, crop rotation, cover crops, shelter belts, limited use of chemical pesticides, dryland farming, salinization, stubble mulching, organic farming. Be familiar with the Canadian agriculture case study.
Discussion 10 Thursday/Friday March 30/31
Factory Farming and GMOs
Week 11
Monday April 3
Non-Renewable Energy
CES 188-204 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Petroleum, hydrocarbons, natural gas, sources of petroleum, oil on the north slope, trans Alaska pipeline, Exxon Valdez oil spill (impacts and policy changes), bioremediation.
Wednesday April 5
Nuclear Energy
Read CES pp. 205-226 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Atom, nucleus, protons, neutrons, atomic number, mass number, isotopes, fission, how nuclear reactor works, nuclear enrichment, control rods, primary and secondary containment structures. Tennessee Valley Authority case study.
Discussion 11 Thursday March 31/Friday April 1
Discussion The future of Energy Production
See discussion 11
Week 12
Monday April 10
Sustainable Energy
Read CES pp. 227-245 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Renewable and non-renewable sources, environmental externalities. Advantages and disadvantages of the following types of sustainable energy: solar power (active and passive), Wind power, water power. Central receiver solar electric power, photovoltaic solar electric power, Wind-Turbine electric power, hydrogen Power, Geothermal energy.
Monday April 12
Exam 3
Thursday/Friday April 13/14
Good Friday No Class
Week 13
Monday April 17
Hazardous Wastes
Read CES pp. 280-293 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: Hazardous Wastes, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Treatment and disposal of hazardous waste including: incineration, activated carbon absorbtion, deep-well injection, landfills, minimizing and recycling. Lechate, epidemiology, cluster, superfund legislation SARA Title III, National Priority List, Risk Assessment.
Wednesday April 19
Solid Waste and Recycling
Reading TBA
Discussion 12 Thursday/Friday April 14/15
Hazardous Waste Discussion/Lab Activity
Week 14
Monday April 24
Global Climate Change/Global Warming
CES pp. 247-261 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: the greenhouse effect, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, infrared radiation, radiative forcing, greenhouse gasses including: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone. Aerosols and anti-greenhouse gasses.
Wednesday April 26
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Read CES pp. 264-279 Come to class with a basic understanding of the following concepts and ideas: UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C radiation, processes of ozone formation and depletion, ozone depleting substances including CFCs, Halons, Methyl Choloride, Methyl Bromide. biological impacts of UV-B radiation, The Vienna Convention, The Montreal Protocol, London Ozone Agreements, Copenhagen Ozone Agreements
Discussion 13 Thursday/Friday April 27/28
Climate Change Discussion
Week 15
Monday May 1
Environmental Justice
Read AE Article 1 (pp. 10-12), Article 10
Wednesday May 3
The Environmental Costs of War
Reading TBA
Discussion Thursday/Friday May 4/5
Discussion: Sustainable Development?
Week 16
Monday May 8
The End