AP Environmental Science – SUMMER ASSIGNMENT (2015)
Your summer assignment will count as your first test grade. All work should be typed and a copy saved. You
will be turning the Env. Thinking and Ecological Footprint, Env. History, and Env. Laws portion of this
assignment on the third day of school. You will be submitting your book journal -on-line through Turnitin.com.
I will give you the class password on the first day of school. Have a great summer  !
Environmental Thinking:
(A) Do some background research on the idea of sustainable cities. Identify two practices we (urban areas) are
currently involved in that are not sustainable. How could we modify them to be more sustainable?
(B)
Identify what our top five environmental problems are. Describe why/how these situations occur.
(C)
Give the basic characteristics of a developed and a developing country. Identify some examples of each.
Ecological Footprint: use website: http://www.myfootprint.org/en/
(A) Take the ecological footprint quiz using your current information about your consumption and lifestyle. (a)
Print out quiz results to turn in. (b) Identify what areas your footprint is the heaviest. Give some reasons
why. (c) What biome do you use the most? Explain why? (d) How do you compare to the global average?
(B) This time choose a developing country. You may have to do some background research on the country you
choose to make sure you are selecting the correct characteristics of a person who would live in this country.
Now re-take the quiz using the characteristics of a person living in this developing country. (a) Print quiz
and turn in. (b) What area of your footprint is the heaviest? (c) What biome did you use the most of now?
(C) Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting developed and developing countries. Identify and describe
how their ecological footprints differ and why. Give specific examples (data from quiz) of these differences
using both your footprint and the modified footprint of a developing country.
People in Environmental History:
For each of the following identify and describe their major works, impact, and or contribution to environmental
history. I do not want a cut and pasted paragraph from Wikipedia!! Cite your sources in an MLA format.
 Garrett Hardin, Paul Ehrlich, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, Alice Hamilton,
Aldo Leopold, E.O. Wilson, David Suzuki, Edward Abby, Rowland & Molina, Wangari Maathai
Environmental Laws:
For each of the following laws or treaties - look up the year it was enacted and give a 2-3 sentence description of
its goals.
(1)Clean Air Act, (2) Clean Water Act, (3) Endangered Species Act, (4) CERCLA (superfund), (5)National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), (6) Nuclear Waste Policy Act, (7) FIRFA, (8) Water Quality Act,
(9) Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (10) Kyoto Treaty (11) Montreal Protocol
BOOK REVIEW:
The World Without US by Alan Weisman
At the end of the book write a critique (single spaced) of the book. Briefly summarize the ideas of the book, but
give your opinion about the book’s merits (Critical analysis). In your critical analysis, evaluate objectively
whether the author has fulfilled their objectives in the book. What are his main arguments, your evaluation of the
author’s support of his arguments (provide examples), and your conclusions about the book. (You will be turning
this in through - www. turnitin.com)