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APES- AP Environmental Science Summer [email protected]
To acquaint you with what we will be doing during the 2019-20 school year follow the suggestions below. Do Not Print Anything. Keep an Office 365 Word file!
1st Due August 20th , 2019! E mail, only , Mrs. Smith [email protected] the following information.
1. Make the Subject: APES 20182. Begin the email with a formal salutation, like
Now tell me about yourself, for example if I were to tell you about me I would say...
“I just wanted to introduce myself. I’ve taught at MHS for 20 + years. I’m excited to teach APES because I truly believe the teenagers of our world hold all the
power to change the world. Environmental Science is the key to improving everyone’s life. You don’t have to be a scientist to love the earth. Some basic information about me. I grew up in Tonawanda, NY outside of Buffalo. I live in a solar, geothermal house in Fairport that was built by my husband’s grandfather. I have 3 grown children, a dog and 2 cats. I love being outside, hiking, gardening and just feeling the breeze. This summer I’ll be driving an RV from Albuquerque, N.M. to Pittsford , NY. We are hoping to stop at National parks and preserves along the way and avoid the rain and tornadoes. I’m concerned about the environment because I feel as though everyone is in too big of a hurry to notice the damage we are inflicting on the earth and making ourselves and our ecosystem dysfunctional or “dis eased.” See you in September. Sincerely Karen Smith
KEEP READING
Create a single word document, you can do this on Office 365 , name it “APES Summer (YourName).” When we start the school year I will show you where to place your document. You will place all of your writing, photgraphs and screen shots into this single document.
1. Experience the Natural World (Make this the sections heading on your word doc.) 1hVisit a natural outdoor area, go for a walk, and make some observations and journal what you see, hear, smell, and feel. Please go beyond your backyard. If you go on vacation you may use a location you’re visiting. Here are some nearby places you could visit locally:
MendonPondParkhttp://www2.monroecounty.gov/parks-mendonponds.phpPowder Mills park http://www2.monroecounty.gov/parks-powdermill.phpHighland Park http://www2.monroecounty.gov/parks-highland.php
“ Dear Mrs. Smith”
Now introduce yourself (your name) and tell me a little bit about yourself, like: a. What do you like to do (hobbies, sports, music, interests, etc.)?
b. What commitments do you have (job, other AP classes, sports, etc.)?
c. Tell me a little bit about your family (Mom? Dad? Guardian? Siblings? Pets?) What do your parents do for a living? Other..
d. What type of outdoors experiences do you enjoy?
e. What would you like to learn in APES?f. What are your concerns about the environment? g. What are your post high school hopes, plans?
End the email with a formal closing: “Cordially”, “Sincerely”, “Warm Regards”, etc. and add your name.
APES- AP Environmental Science Summer [email protected]
Other Monroe County parks - http://www2.monroecounty.gov/parks-index.phpCrescentTrailinPerinton http://www.perinton.org/Departments/parks/hikingctha/NYS- http://www.dec.ny.gov/82098.html
On your walk, please do the following: Record the time, date, location, approximate duration of your outing. Record the weather. Record brief observations of the flora and fauna, the geology of the area, the type of
path you are walking on (grass, sand, rock, etc). This can be bullets including a photograph of each of the following lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
Find a quiet spot to sit for at least five minutes. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. What sounds are natural? Are there human made sounds? Write a reflection of this experience. This should be one paragraph.
Respond to the following in a brief paragraph: Is this natural area really “natural”? · Explain. How do you think it appeared 25 years ago, 200 years ago, and 20,000 years
ago and what observations can you make to support your conclusion? 2. Case Study 1 Your Environmental footprints ( Answer all questions on the same doc.) 30m
a. http://www.gracelinks.org/1336/water-footprint-concepts-and-definitions Make a screen shot and include in word doc. This is mine. Complete the calculator and include a screen shot of your results. How can you improve water usage?
b. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/ For this one complete it for your family. Make a screen shot and include it in word doc. .
This is Mrs. Smith’s
What is a global hectare? LOOK IT UP!
APES- AP Environmental Science Summer [email protected]
3. Look at the infographic of the world’s countries. Make sure you zoom in!http://wwf.panda.org/_core/general.cfc?method=getOriginalImage&uImgID=%26%2AR%5C%2C%20%2EW%3E%0AIf the ecological footprint per person of a country or of the world is larger than its biological capacity per person to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting waste products and pollution, the country is said to have an ecological deficit.
1. Which countries, name at least 5, have an ecological deficit? What evidence from the infographic tells you so?
2. What do the countries with ecological deficit have in common? Be specific using the key colors on the graph.
3. What do you think ecological credit is? 4. Which countries, name at least 5, have ecological credit? Why do you think they have
credit and not deficit? Think about how people in these countries live. 5. How could the United States become an ecological credit country instead of an ecological
deficit country? 6. How does your footprint compare to the rest of the world? 7. What changes could you make to become ecologically credit worth?
Be specific and discuss your hectare use Mrs. Smith’s footprint in Global hectares is 17.4 global hectares/3 people or 5.8 /per person . This would put me in the same category as the United Kingdom.
4. Create a data table( This should be inserted in your document.) that includes your consumption of the following over 2 days
a. Food-what you eat and how much you eat?b. Waste- what do you throw away and how much do you throw away?c. Transportation- miles driven, gas consumed, miles biked, walked, airplanes,
buses…d. Electricity- which electrical appliances used and for how long?e. Water usage?
After 2 days look at your table and think about if there are over 7 +billion people on the planet with the same habits you have, how they might impact the earth.
Include your table and conclusion on your doc.
5. Watch the following film on the Anthropocene and Water Welcome to the Anthropocene Each film is 3 minutes.
a) What is the Anthropocene? b) What are 3 ideas that surprised you from the film. Please quote. c) What are 3 pieces of content that concerned you? d) What are 2 things you would like to investigate further? e) Select One button at the top of the page that describes things that could
happen and one button that describes solutions on the websitea. Planetary Boundaries, b. Great Acceleration, c. Resilience thinking, d. Tipping elements, e. Earth statement, f. Global goals ,g. Leverage Pointsh. Viable future
Describe the button you chose and be ready to discuss what it is and why you chose it in class.
APES- AP Environmental Science Summer [email protected]
Western NY has plentiful freshwater. Using information quoted from the Anthropocene site describe why you believe that western NY will be a desirable location during the next 50 years. What do we have that others do not have?
6. Select a book – Using Mr. Daggs Lib Guide select a book you might be interested in reading. Take a screen shot of the cover and describe why you selected this book.
7. Read the Guest essay below.
Think about how they relate to the 3 following statements and all the work above. 1. “There is no away. “2. “You cannot get something for nothing.”3. “You cannot break even.” 15m
During the 2nd weekend of school you will be writing an assessment essay that pulls all the above ideas together. Also be prepared to defend whether you believe the authors are authoritative sources. Who is Lois Gibbs? Why should we listen to her? You may use your summer assignment to complete the essay. GUEST ESSAY We Have Been Asking the Wrong Questions About WastesLois Marie Gibbs
In 1977, Lois Marie Gibbs was a young mother with two children living near the Love Canal toxic dumpsite. She had never engaged in any sort of political action until her children began experiencing unexplained illnesses and she learned that toxic chemicals were oozing from the dump site into many of the area’s yards and basements.
Just about everyone knows the environment is in danger. One of the most serious threats is the massive amount of waste we put into the air, water, and ground every year. All across the United States and around the world are thousands of places that have been, and continue to be, polluted by toxic chemicals, radioactive waste, and just plain garbage.
For generations, the main question people have asked is, “Where do we put all this waste? It’s got to go somewhere.” That is the wrong question, as has been shown by many experiments in waste disposal and by the simple fact that there is no “away” in “throwaway.”
We tried dumping our waste in the oceans. That does not work. We tried injecting it into deep, underground wells. That does not work. We’ve been trying to build landfills that do not leak, but according to the EPA all landfills eventually leak. We’ve been trying to get rid of waste by burning it in high-tech incinerators; that only produces different types of pollution, such as air pollution and toxic ash. Even recycling, which is a very good thing to do, suffers from the same problem as all the other methods: It addresses waste after it has been produced.
For many years, people have been assuming, “It’s got to go somewhere,” but now many people, especially young people, are starting to ask why. Why do we produce so much waste? Why do we need products and services that have so many toxic by-products? Why can’t industry change the way it makes things so that it stops producing so much waste? When you start asking these questions, you start getting answers that lead to pollution prevention and waste reduction instead of pollution control and waste management.
People, young and old, who care about waste reduction and pollution prevention are asking why so many goods are wrapped in excessive, throwaway packaging. They are challenging companies that sell pesticides, cleaning fluids, batteries, and other hazardous products to either remove the toxins from those products or take them back for recovery or recycling rather than
APES- AP Environmental Science Summer [email protected]
disposing of them in the environment. They are demanding alternatives to throwaway materials in general.
Since 1988, hundreds of student groups have contacted my organization to get help and advice in taking these effective types of actions. Oregon students took legal action to get rid of cups and plates made from bleached paper because the paper contains the deadly poison dioxin. As a result the school systems switched to reusable cups, plates, and utensils.
Dozens of student groups have joined with local grassroots organizations to get toxic-waste sites cleaned up or to stop construction of new toxic-waste sites, radioactive-waste sites, or waste incinerators.Waste issues are not simply environmental issues; they are also tied up with our economy, which is geared to producing and then disposing of waste. Somebody is making money from every scrap of waste and has a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.
Waste issues are also issues of justice and fairness. There is a lot of debate between industry officials and government risk analysts and regulators about so-called acceptable risk. These individuals decide the degree of people’s exposure to toxic chemicals but rarely ask the people who will actually be exposed how they feel about it.
Risk analysts often say, “There’s only a one in a million chance of increased death from this toxic chemical.” That may be true, but suppose I took a pistol and went to the edge of your neighborhood and began shooting into it. There’s probably only a one in a million chance that I’d hit somebody, but would you issue me a license to do that?
As long as we do not stand up for our rights and demand that “bullets” in the form of hazardous chemicals not be “fired” in our neighborhoods, we are giving environmental regulators and waste producers a license to kill a certain number of us without our even being consulted.We live in a world that is shaped by decisions based on money and power. If you really want to understand what’s behind any given environmental issue, the first question you should ask is, “Who stands to profit from this?” Then ask, “Who is going to pay the price?” You can then identify both sides of the issue and decide whether you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution.