Adopt-A-Topic
Goal: Provide a way for you to follow an environmental topic for the year, and as a
class cover current events in Environmental Science.
Each 9 weeks, you will add 2 posts to your Wikispaces page (we will set these up
later). You will also leave thoughtful comments and questions on 2 other posts.
Your post must contain:
 An abstract of your article: 50-100 word summary
 Paragraph explaining why your article is related to environmental science
and your reaction/opinion
 Full article citation in MLA http://www.citationmachine.net/mla/
There will be a sample on Wikispaces that you reference.
All articles from this project must be from the last year. You may use newspaper,
magazine or online articles. Make sure they are actually articles and not information
pages. I will post a reference list on my website that you can use to start. If you see a
speaker or a cool show on TV, take notes on it and this can be used as well.
Topic List – Choose wisely! This will be your topic for the entire year!
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Water Pollution
Air Pollution
Agriculture
Pest Management
Solar Energy
Wind Energy
Biofuel
Coal
Natural Gas/Fracking
Petroleum/Oil
Endangered Species
Drinking Water
Solid/Hazardous Waste
Management
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Climate Change
Dams
Transportation
Genetic
Engineering/Biotechnology
Nuclear Power
Population Growth
Invasive Species
Biodiversity
Fisheries
Human Health/Epidemiology
Wetlands
Environmental Clean Up
Unit 1 Definitions (Not included on posted list)
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Biodiversity: The number and variety of living organisms; includes genetic
diversity, species diversity, and ecological diversity.
Culture: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or
time
Ecological Footprint: a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems.
It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be
contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate
Ecological Tipping Point: Beyond certain thresholds, ecosystems may
collapse and change into distinctly different states
Environmental Worldview: How individuals think the world works, what
they think their role in the world should be, and what they believe is right
and wrong environmental behavior
Gaia Hypothesis: Says that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the
capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling the chemical and physical
environment.
GDP: the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services
produced within a country in a year
Human Capital: the stock of competencies, knowledge, habits, social and
personality attributes, including creativity, cognitive abilities, embodied in
the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value.
Less-Developed Country: A country that is considered lacking in terms of its
economy, infrastructure and industrial base. The population often has a
relatively low standard of living, due to low incomes and abundant poverty.
More-Developed Country: sovereign state that has a highly developed
economy and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less
industrialized nations
Natural Capital: the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable
ecosystem goods or services into the future
Per Capita: The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per
individual/person
Poverty: Condition where people's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter
are not being met
Resource: supply from which benefit is produced, may be renewable or nonrenewable.