Environment, Ecology, and Health

One of the major problems facing modern medicine today, the evolution of antibiotic resistant microbes, could have been predicted and perhaps avoided if we had a better understanding of ecology and evolution. Fortunately, nature may have some suggestions about how to minimize this very serious problem in the future.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/rPekyBdLalUvFY

Why a feeling of disgust can be good for us.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15495296

Flooding in Thailand

Last week I mentioned that the weather phenomenon that has caused us to have such a severe drought (have you been enjoying the rain this morning?) has cause unusually high amounts of precipitation in other areas. I mentioned that there were major flooding problems in Thailand. Here is a link to some photos from CNN. I some areas flood waters are expected to remain high for weeks, and even months!

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/asia/gallery/thailand-flood/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Student Presentations

Here are the dates you signed up for your presentations.

Topics- After you have decided on a topic and OKed by me I will add your topic to the list. If there are any problems with different people wanting the same topic then first come, first served!!

November

11th- Brittany L.
Phillip

14th- Nick
Kendall

16th- Allie
Brittany F.

18th- Mary
Randi Leigh

21st- Rachel
Kate

28th- Melissa
Trey

30th- Ethan
Ian

December

2nd- Darian
Tomas

5th- Jimbo
Matthew

7th- Trey
John

Environmental Disasters

Some people argue that environmental regulations are important to stop long term changes to the environment (e.g., climate change, degradation of water resources, loss of biodiversity) and to prevent short term environmental disasters.

Here are some links that discuss some of the worst human-caused environmental disasters in the world and in the USA. These are events about which I think everyone should be aware.
Enjoy. (I would put on my "critical thinking hat" while reading many of these articles).

Top 10 Environmental Disasters World-side
http://www.lenntech.com/environmental-disasters.htm

America's Ten Worst Man Made Environmental Disasters
http://www.lenntech.com/environmental-disasters.htm

America's ten worst man-made environmental disasters
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/americas-10-worst-man-made-environmental-disasters/libby-a

Environmental Regulations

Readings

Clean Air Act, United States-
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Clean_Air_Act%2C_United_States

Clean Water Act, United States
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Clean_Water_Act%2C_United_States

Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Environmental_Protection_Agency%2C_United_States

Endangered Species Act, United States
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Endangered_Species_Act%2C_United_States

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Convention_on_International_Trade_in_Endangered_Species_of_Wild_Fauna_and_Flora_%28CITES%29

Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Montreal_Protocol_on_Substances_that_Deplete_the_Ozone_Layer

Kyoto Protocol
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Kyoto_Protocol

Kyoto Protocol and the United States
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Kyoto_Protocol_and_the_United_States

Powerpoint Presentation

Environmental Regulations
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/3KcVoxWWCDaVLZ

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- discuss important environmental legislation in the United States

- discuss the role of the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Fish and Wildlife Service

- discuss important international environmental agreements such as CITES, the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol

- participate intelligently in debates about the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth

Religion and the Environment

Reading

Lynne Townsend White Jr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Townsend_White,_Jr.

Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis- by Lynne White
http://www.zbi.ee/~kalevi/lwhite.htm

Overview of World Religions and Ecology
http://fore.research.yale.edu/religion/index.html

My lecture notes came from-
Religion, nature and environmentalisms- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Religion%2C_nature_and_environmentalim

Powerpoint Presentation
Religion and the Environment- http://www.slideshare.net/secret/59gLmN30XTsJbX

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged student should be able to

- Discus the relationship between Christianity, Islam, Bhuddism, and Animism and the environment

Invasive Species Control Gone Wrong

Kudzu is an invasive plant that is causing a lot of trouble in parts of the SE United States.
Here is a link to a recent article from a recent Time magazine that examines an effort to control the invasive species kudzu that has gone horribly wrong.

enjoy

http://start.toshiba.com/news/read.php?ps=1011&rip_id=%3CD9QEFKC02%40news.ap.org%3E&news_id=18816952&src=most_popular_viewed

Personal Environmental Ethics Paper

As you have probably noticed from looking at the syllabus, this assignment makes up a sizeable portion of your grade.

Assignment

Write a 3 - 5 page essay that expresses your personal environmental ethic. You need to defend why you have chosen your particular ethic. I am especially interested in seeing that you have clearly thought through the implication of your environmental ethic. For example, if you express a "biocentric ethic" that postulates that all living organisms have equal instinsic value and you eat beef then you need to integrate these two views.

Important Dates

First Draft- Due Wed November 2nd (make sure to bring multiple copies of the draft so that you can exchange papers with members of your workshop group)

Workshop papers on Friday November 4th.

Final Copy- Due Monday November 21st.

Environmental Ethics

Powerpoint Presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/environmental-ethics-9732307

Reading

Environmental Ethics- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/

Environmental Ethics- University of California
http://cnx.org/content/m16743/latest/

Environmental Ethics- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_ethics#Libertarian_extension

Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aldo_Leopold%27s_Land_Ethic

Anthropocentric versis Non-Anthropocentric Environmental Ethics
http://ocw.capcollege.bc.ca/philosophy/phil-208-environmental-ethics/non-anthropocentric.htm

Environmental Ethics and Gaia Theory- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Environmental_ethics_and_the_Gaia_theory

Deep Ecology- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Deep_ecology

Ecofeminism- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecofeminism

The Gaia Hypothesis
http://erg.ucd.ie/arupa/references/gaia.html

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged student should be able to

- distinguish between anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric environmental ethics

- distinguish between the development, preservation, and conservation environmental ethic

- discuss the Judeo-Christian Environmnental Ethic

- briefly discuss Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism

- be able to clearly articulate their own personal environmental ethic

Environmental Ethics

Reading

Environmental Ethics- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/

Environmental Ethics- University of California
http://cnx.org/content/m16743/latest/

Environmental Ethics- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_ethics#Libertarian_extension

Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aldo_Leopold%27s_Land_Ethic

The Land Ethic- by Aldo Leopold, http://www.aldoleopold.org/AldoLeopold/LandEthic.pdf

Anthropocentric versis Non-Anthropocentric Environmental Ethics
http://ocw.capcollege.bc.ca/philosophy/phil-208-environmental-ethics/non-anthropocentric.htm

Environmental Ethics and Gaia Theory- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Environmental_ethics_and_the_Gaia_theory

Deep Ecology- EoE
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Deep_ecology

Ecofeminism- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecofeminism

The Gaia Hypothesis
http://erg.ucd.ie/arupa/references/gaia.html

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged student should be able to

- distinguish between anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric environmental ethics

- distinguish between the development, preservation, and conservation environmental ethic

- discuss the Judeo-Christian Environmnental Ethic

- briefly discuss Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism

- be able to clearly articulate their own personal environmental ethic

Writing Assignment #3

In a debate of GOP candidates for President held in September, Governor Rick Perry was asked a question about climate change. His response to that question is shown in the You Tube video in the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoPvxcwZ5xw

Your Assignment- Comment on his response. 3 pages maximum

Rough Draft due Monday, October 1th

Workshop Papers- Wed October 19th

Final Draft Due- Monday October 24th

New Thoughts About Where Earth's Water Came From

We have talked a lot about water issues in this course, but we never asked "where did all of the water come from?" It turns out this is an interesting question that scientists are still investigating. Here is a link to a recent article in Time Magazine examining some new research on this question.

New Proof that Coments Watered the Earth.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2096512,00.html?iid=sl-article-mostpop1

Global Climate Change

Slideshow

Most of the slides from the global climate change portion of this presentation came from Katharine Hayhoe's website (she is a professor in the Tech Political Science Dept and the link to her website is listed on the presentation).

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/C6iDTujQlIh73C

Further Reading

A report of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
Summary for Policymakers
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf

IPCC- Synthesis Report- http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf

Global Warming- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Global_warming

Climate Change FAQ- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Climate_change_FAQs

Causes of Climate Change- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Causes_of_climate_change

Economics of Climate Change- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Economics_of_climate_change

Mauna Loa Curve- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Mauna_Loa_curve

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- identify the major reservoirs of carbon

- discuss the two most important biological processes that result in a movement of carbon from one reservoir to another

- discuss the three ways that human activity has altered the global carbon cycle

- explain the Mauna Loa Curve

- discuss why climate scientists have concluded that global temperatures have increased

- discuss why cllimate scientists have concluded that this increase in temperature is most likely caused by humans

- discuss some potential consequences of global climate change

Water Issues

Readings

Hydrologic Cycle http://www.eoearth.org/article/Hydrologic_cycle

Aquifer http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifer

Groundwater http://www.eoearth.org/article/Groundwater?topic=58075

Aquifers of Texas http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifers_of_Texas

Ogalalla Aquifer http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Ogallala-Aquifer.html


Websites with useful info about water in Texas

Texas Water Matters http://www.texaswatermatters.org/

Texas Water Development Board http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

1) diagram the hydrologic cycle

2) discuss where water is located on earth and why most of that water is inaccessible for use by humans

3) define aquifer, groundwater, water table, infiltration

4) discuss the Ogalalla Aquifer's importance to West Texas

5) discuss you own personal opinion about what we should do to meet the future water needs of Texas

In the news

Today's, October 5, 2011, Lubbock Avalanche Journals main editorial was entitled "Texas faces growing threat as water supplies diminish"
http://lubbockonline.com/editorials/2011-10-05/our-view-texas-faces-growing-threat-water-supplies-diminish#.Toxrzv7231Q