BIO 1000
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Topic questions due
in class or electronically by 11pm

week of

(dates subject to change)

8/18

8/25

9/1

9/8

 Topic 4 summary due: Wednesday, September 10

• What is a State Park worth?

• What economic values can be placed on a State Park?

• What is the benefit of placing such values?  What are the difficulties?

9/15

• Does a State Park have rights?

• How do we determine the ethical status and value of a State Park?

• What is morally right and wrong with respect to a State Park? How do you decide?

• How do we decide whether or not to keep a State Park open?

• What are the benefits of our political decision-making process?

• Where does the process fail us?

9/22

9/29

• Where does the water in the Illinois River watershed come from?
• How much water is available in the Illinois River watershed?

10/6

• Who uses the water in the Illinois River watershed?
• In what ways is the water in the Illinois River watershed valued?
• What is the economic value of the water?

10/13

10/20

• Who impacts water quantity and what is their impact?
• Who impacts water quality and what is their impact?

10/27

Candidate Profiles due: Wednesday, October 29
Candidate Presentations: Wednesday & Friday

11/3

Choice Topic requests due: Wednesday, November 5

11/10

11/17

• What are the primary causes of global warming?  Are humans responsible for any of it?
• What are three of the major impacts of global warming?
• What can be done to address the problem of global warming and to alleviate the impacts of global warming?

Textbook resources:

• Read: 4 (p56-58), 6 (p104-109), 13, 14, 24 (esp. p 519)

• Look over: 3, 10, 11, 19, 20

Video resources:

• An Inconvenient Truth: http://www.climatecrisis.net/

• Dimming the Sun: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/

11/24

12/1

• What types of waste do we produce?
• Where does our waste end up?
• What is the impact of our waste?
• Where can we/should we put all of our waste?

Textbook resources:

• Read: 10, 11, 21 (p. 451-454), 23

• Look over: 18, 19, 21, 24

Movie: "Radium City"

Interviews

• Toxicology  video | audio only
• Should businesses be allowed to pollute?  video | audio only
• Pollution credits  video | audio only
• Clean technology: government's role  video | audio only

On-line resources:

• Ottawa Radiation Sites

  • http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/illinois/ILD980606750.htm

  • http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/ottawa/ott_toc.html

• Living Lands & Waters: http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/

• Illinois Landfill Capacity Reports
• EPA Pollution Prevention
• World Bank: New Ideas for Pollution Prevention
• Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange
• Legal Information Institute: Pollution Laws
• Landfill Design
  • NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
  • Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association
  • another diagram
• Cutting the Waste Stream in Half

12/8

• What does "alternative energy" mean?
• Pick one of the following and discuss the technology (what it is & how it works) and the costs and benefits.
  • clean coal
  • wind
  • solar
  • nuclear fusion
  • hydro power
  • hydrogen fuel cell
  • geothermal

Textbook resources:

• Read: 22, 21 (p. 460-461)

• Look over: 20

On-line resources:

• FutureGen: http://www.futuregenalliance.org/

• U.S. Dept. of Energy

  • http://www.energy.gov/

  • http://www.eia.doe.gov/

• http://apolloalliance.org/

12/15