ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
2013
Welcome to Environmental Science
Congratulations! You are part of Gertz’ first ever Environmental Science ( ES ) class. It is a year-long A-G
Laboratory Course. Yes, it counts! It is going to be an exciting year filled with engaging learning activities
and profound changes in how you look at yourselves and the environment. ES is all about the environment.
We are going to look at the earth from both a physical and life-science point of view. You are going to
“adopt” a stretch of the Los Angeles River to conduct your year-long research project. We will participate
actively in environmental campaigns such as planting trees, recycling and composting. Together, we will
come up with creative solutions to help Mother Earth!
Summer is a great time to come up with great ideas. What I want you to do is to think how you want LA to
look like 50 years from now. I want you to create a plan for a future LA by using an Urban Ecology/ Eco-city
concept. Wikipedia defines the term ECOCITY as,
“a city built off the principles of living within the means of the environment. The ultimate goal of many ecocities is to eliminate all carbon waste, to produce energy entirely through renewable sources, and to
incorporate the environment into the city; however, eco-cities also have the intentions of stimulating
economic growth, reducing poverty, organizing cities to have higher population densities, and therefore
higher efficiency, and improving health.”
YOUR TASKS:
1.
Create a plan for Eco-city LA 2063. You can focus on your particular slice of LA—your
neighborhood ( ex Pico-Union Area). It should be based on the framework of “Urban Ecology”.
The following should be taken into consideration when you are creating your master plan:

How will LA eliminate its carbon waste?

How will LA produce energy through renewable sources?

How is the environment incorporated into the city?

How can it also stimulate growth and improve human life?

How can you make it visually attractive?

What are the specific features of this city that makes it sustainable?

How will you include a sustainable plan for the use of the LA River?
2.
Write a 500-word essay about #1 ( typed, printed, stapled). Include information on how that
part of LA looks now. Your plan should show that you read about eco-cities and urban ecology
and that you included this in your vision of an Eco LA. Style-wise, use the conventions you learned
in English class. You will turn in this essay on the first day of class. This essay will be graded as a
major long test.
3.
Create a 3D model of your City. You may use any material that you want except for liquids
and food items especially if these are sweet ( ex. No chocolate, no melting ice). The size of the
model should not be bigger than the desks in Puma Lounge. On your model, please specify the
name you are giving it and label the features that are “eco” about it. Include a short description of
your Eco-city. AND DO NOT FORGET TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND PERIOD NUMBER. This model will be
graded as your 2nd long test. You must bring your model with you on the FIRST day of class
( depending on your period, of course).
SAMPLE MODEL: SIZE should be smaller than the one depicted here. This one also is not labeled.
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This document can be found electronically on https://gertzbiology2012.wikispaces.com
Ms. Ng’s email: mang@laalliance.org twitter: https://twitter.com/ms_mng
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
2013
GUIDING RUBRICS ( Use the rubrics below to guide you on what I am looking for in terms of your work. You
will using a more simple version in class when rating your peers).
Physical Model: http://www.futurecitypittsburgh.org/PDF/2010_Future%20City%20Model%20Rubric.pdf
Essay: http://www.myvirtualcity.bz/wp-content/resources/MyVirtualCity%20Essay%20Rubric.pdf
4. Read the following articles carefully. Use some of the concepts that you learned
for the essay and the model. There will be a test on these concepts on the first
Wednesday of the school year. This will be your 3rd long test.
Eco-cities ( general overview) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-cities
Urban Ecology ( website->click on webpages) http://www.urbanecology.org/history.htm
Industrial Ecology and the Eco-city
http://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/UrbanizationEngineering/IndustrialEcologyandtheEcocity.asp
x
LA Eco-village http://www.context.org/iclib/ic35/arkin/
LA River http://ladpw.org/wmd/watershed/LA/History.cfm
LA River History ( click on other webpages on this site)
http://www.laep.org/target/units/river/tour/hist.html
Abu-Dhabi http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90042092
China http://inhabitat.com/tianjin-eco-city-is-a-futuristic-green-landscape-for-350000-residents/
http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/
Germany http://www.fwtm.freiburg.de/servlet/PB/show/1199617_l2/GreenCity_E.pdf
Japan’s plan http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/tiiki/tkk2009/34naikakukanbou_PM_Eng.pdf
Virginia http://alexandriava.gov/Eco-City
SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU NEED TO TURN IN/STUDY FOR ( These are all graded.)
1. Eco-city Essay
2. Eco-city Model
3. Written Test on Readings ( Wednesday, 1 st week of class)
Last but not least, DO IT WELL and TURN IT IN ON TIME. You will be in Gertz-Succeeds during the 1st week if you don’t.
I will ask you to do it all over again if I think that your work was not done well or like, it took you 30 minutes to do it.
Your work should show that you were working on it for weeks during summer.
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This document can be found electronically on https://gertzbiology2012.wikispaces.com
Ms. Ng’s email: mang@laalliance.org twitter: https://twitter.com/ms_mng