Environmental Issues in China

Environmental Problems in China- WWF. http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/china/environmental_problems_china/

Environmental Concern on the Rise in China
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/19/environmental-concerns-on-the-rise-in-china/

Choking on Growth- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/12/29/world/asia/choking_on_growth_10.html?_r=0

Severe Air Pollution Hits Shanghai (South China Morning Post. November 7, 2013)
http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1349626/severe-air-pollution-hits-shanghai

Video

The Daily Show's Take on Air Pollution in China
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-24-2013/things-may-be-bad--but-at-least-we-can-t-chew-our-air

The Devastating Effects of Pollution in China (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DtOhe2LfQ

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d-Ky7Se-v8

Presentation Schedule

November

15- Tailor
       Alexander
       Ryan

18- Ricardo
      Rachel
      

20- Ryan
      Sarah
      Noor

22- Brady
      Ana
      Kimberly

25- Annie
      Allison
     

December

2- Ashleigh
    Ashley


4- Huy
    Nada
   Matt

 

.

 

Sustainable Use of Tropical Rainforests

Temengor- Biodiversity in the Face of Danger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_788801&feature=iv&src_vid=dBN7RGa9-f0&v=kBUyCAg2XrI


Sustainable Use of Tropical Rainforests
http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/sustainable-use-of-tropical-rainforests

Interesting Articles
Sustainable Palm Oil: Rainforest Savior or Fig Leaf?
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/sustainable_palm_oil_rainforest_savior_or_fig_leaf/2345/

Will REDD preserve forests or Merely Provide a Fig Leaf?
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/will_redd_preserve_forests_or_merely_provide_a_fig_leaf/2277/

No REDD platform issues wakeup call to funders.
http://www.redd-monitor.org/2011/09/22/no-redd-platform-issues-wakeup-call-to-funders/

Videos

Forest Stewardship Council

http://video.answers.com/forest-stewardship-council-certificate-process-part-1-2-416309188

Sustainable Palm Oil - WWF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BRGj0DwYwA

Sustainable Palm Oil- Johnson and Johnson

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

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

http://wn.com/roundtable_on_sustainable_palm_oil

Expanding the Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zqAWkul3E_E

REDD the New Green?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiybUJE2TRo

Exposing REDD: The False Climate Solution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OzB-WBuwgk

Two Conflicting Views of the Harapan Rainforest Project, Sumatra, Indonesia

http://www.redd-monitor.org/2013/03/12/two-contrasting-views-of-the-harapan-rainforest-project-sumatra-indonesia/

Pretty Cool: A Real Time Map of Births and Deaths

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/a-real-time-map-of-births-and-deaths/280609/

Ecology in the News: Overfishing

Appears some room for both optimism and pessimism here.

The End of Fish in One Chart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/the-end-of-fish-in-one-chart/2012/05/19/gIQAgcIBbU_blog.html

Can the US win the battle against overfishing?-http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/23/can-the-u-s-win-the-battle-against-overfishing/?fb_action_ids=10101862231455198&fb_action_types=og.likes

Just how badly are we overfishing the oceans?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/29/just-how-badly-are-we-overfishing-the-ocean/?fb_action_ids=10101862222602938&fb_action_types=og.likes

Invasive Species

Invasive species are an important threat to biodiversity and can be very costly to humans.

Further Reading

1) Invasive Species- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Invasive_species

2) Marine Invasive species - http://www.eoearth.org/article/Marine_invasive_species

3) Aquatic Invasive Species- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquatic_invasive_species

4) Invasion Fact Sheet- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Invasion_fact_sheet

Powerpoint Presentation

Invasive Species Slideshow- http://www.slideshare.net/secret/bL1TCLiLtoH5Np


Expected Learning Outcomes

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

- discuss threats caused by invasive species
- discuss strategies to exclude or eliminate invasive species
- discuss some invasive species in Texas
- discuss factors that allow species to invade new communities

The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl was an environmental catastrophe, a natural hazard (multiannual drought) in the 1930s in the Southern Great Plains of the USA, resulting in the activation of a geomorphic process (intense wind erosion) which, when human society could not adapt to it, cascaded into unprecedented agricultural, economic, and societal collapse in its core region. Over the years, the cause of the Dust Bowl has been variably ascribed to specific climatic or meteorological phenomena or land management practices. Drought and wind erosion have been notable phenomena in the Southern Great Plains throughout the Holocene, occurring long before conversion of the land to agricultural use, and still continue today. (Gill and Lee 2006)

Further Readings

Dust Bowl http://www.eoearth.org/article/Dust_Bowl

The Dust Bowl http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1583.html

On the cause of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Science 2004 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/303/5665/1855.abstract

NASA explains the Dust Bowl Drought http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html

A critical evlauation of the Dust Bowl and its causes. Gill and Lee. 2006
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006AGUFM.A44C..06G

What America Looked Like: The Dust Bowl (2012 in The Atlantic. lots of good photos)
http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/what-america-looked-like-the-dust-bowl/253220/#slide3

Misery on a Grand Scale: The Drought of today and Yesteryear. Wynan Meinzer is a photographer who teachers photography at Tech. He teaches Wildlife Photography at Junction during Intersession which would be a great experience for all budding photographers.
http://www.wymanmeinzer.com/misery-on-a-grand-scale-the-drought-of-today-and-yesteryear/

Video

Surviving the Dust Bowl. PBS
http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/