Sustainable living

You are all working on your "dream communities" hopefully this website will help you with some of your ideas. In the meantime, select three simple steps that YOU might manage and write a paragraph about why these things are; a. doable (meaning a change that you can make, b. why this strategy will make a difference.

http://www.simplesteps.org/content/category/1/16/38/

Remember the story about the man throwing starfish back into the ocean. The beach was covered with starfish, he couldn't possibly save them all, but the ones he did throw back had a chance to live.

Climate Change and Disease Vectors

Climate change is causing more than polar ice melting and rising temperatures. Scientists expect to see changes in disease distribution world wide especially diseases that are spread by insect vectors. Read the following articles and summarize. Add your thoughts to your summary.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090127202042.htm
http://www.winds.org/~frost/words/w99project/dvectors.html

Human Disease and Risk Management

We are currently being bombarded with lots of information about Swine flu. Why is this such a concern for our country as well as other countries especially since there haven't been that many deaths? What kinds of risk management is indicated in this article? Do you think the government should do more to protect our people or are they handling this issue correctly. Explain your answers.

The Second article is about DuPont and its activities near Fayetteville. Explain your concerns about DuPont's activities as it relates to you as a citizen living near DuPont's operations.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2009/2009-05-04-01.asp

http://www.bioneers.org/node/1480

Anthropogenic Management for Anthropogenic Pollution

Read the following articles.

http://www.greenroofs.com/archives/green_walls.htm

http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/synthetic-trees-to-capture-carbon-dioxide-and-save-the-planet/
Write a paragraph describing what you learned by reading each article.

The article about synthetic trees is intriguing. What drawbacks do you see after reflecting on this possible solution.

Something to inspire you

http://www.mccookgazette.com/blogs/1126/entry/17406/

This is an amazing story.

The ANWR

Read the following articles about the ANWR. Discuss this issue comparing and contrasting the two different opinions.

Define the topic
Describe or elaborate on the topic
Use another example (you might have to research this one)
Clearly state the issues in your compare and contrast section.

http://www.anwr.org/ANWR-Basics/Top-ten-reasons-to-support-ANWR-development.php
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/05/23/arctic-drilling-wouldnt-cool-high-oil-prices.html
http://arctic.fws.gov/issues1.htm

Jobs in Environmental Science

Here is a website that will tell you jobs (there are actually quite a few) that you can pursue if you are interested in environmental science.

http://www.ecojobs.com/

I also saw some schools that give degrees in environmental studies. UNCA has a good program. Also Coastal Carolina University in Conway as a good program in marine science if that is your interest.

I would imagine that eco jobs will be a growing field as we strive to manage or remediate the environment around us. If you are interested in architecture, there are some wonderful innovations that make homes and office buildings have less impact on the environment.

http://www.greenbuilding.com/