Earth Week Exercise (50 pts)

Due – Friday, May 1

During the week of April 20-24, BCC Campus will be highlighting Earth Week - a week of lectures and events centered on the environment. Since this year’s theme is geological – Energy and the Environment - we will be taking advantage of the numerous guest lectures by participating in several of the week’s lectures.

What to Do:

(1) Attend the following lectures during our normally scheduled class time. You will be responsible for this information on the next exam.

• Monday, 4/20    Meet in regularly scheduled classroom for Exam 1
• Tuesday, 4/21    The Body Toxic (Nena Baker, Author)                                                Rm N201
• Wednesday, 4/22    Wind energy in Washington (David Bowen, Puget Sound Energy)     Rm C130
• Thursday, 4/23    No Class (Optional Field trip to Ellensburg Wind Farm – see Rob to sign up)
• Friday, 4/24    Sustainable Agriculture (Lisa Dupar, Pomegranate Bistro)                 Rm C130        

(2) In addition, you must attend one additional lecture or film during the week – see Earth Week web site
(1/2 hour E2 films don’t count unless you watch 2 of them).

(3) Read the following article (it is only one article but get started early – it is rather long):

• A Tank of Gas, A World of Trouble by Paul Salopek (Chicago Tribune, July 2006)
 http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2006-08/24312763.pdf
• Optional Readings if you are interested in more:
  Beyond the Oil Peak by Lester Brown (Chapter 2 from Plan B 2.0, 2006)
 http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/pb2ch2.pdf
  U.S. Energy Information Administration - Short Term Energy Outlook (March 2007) 
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html

What to turn in (2 pages total (inc. questions), typed single spaced – Due Friday, May 1):

(1) 1-page write up (400-500 words) summarizing what you learned from the in-class talks and the additional talk/film you attended during the week. (20 pts)

(2) ½ page write-up summarizing your thoughts on the article you read and five questions that you had while reading the article. These questions may concern specific facts in the article, they may be questions about how the article relates to class material, and/or they may be related to cultural/ethical/social/political questions that relate to the reading. (For example, if we read a paper on copper mining, you might include questions such as: How do we know that there are limited supplies of copper resources?, How does copper form and where is it found in the Earth?, What are some of the impacts of copper mining?, Why is it cheaper to buy copper from Chile, rather than mine it here in the US?, What do we use copper for?, How can we reduce our use of copper?, Are other minerals mined in the same way?, etc.)  The answers to these questions must NOT be in the articles or textbook; instead they should add further insight into the topic. They should be real questions that occurred to you, which are potentially answerable. We will use these questions to generate discussion. (20pts)

(3) You will receive points for participating in the May 1^st discussion by asking questions, adding insight, and/or debating different sides of an issue. To receive full credit you must concentrate on the discussion (no working on other homework projects!) and participate at least once. (10 pts)