Review for the Final
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You’ve been a great group… I’m going to miss you.
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Courtesy of Shelley:
http://news.sky.com/story/1377035/poo-power-busruns-on-gas-from-human-waste
Courtesy of Leah: Proposals for cleaning up the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
 http://www.theoceancleanup.com/
 Woman who has lived trash-free for two years:
 http://www.collectiveevolution.com/2014/11/23/she-hasnt-made-anytrash-in-2-years-this-is-what-her-life-is-like/
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VIUFA's Human Rights and International Solidarity
Committee presents Jacinda Mack at VIU on
Monday, December 1st at 7:00 p.m. in Building
355, Room 203.
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Jacinda Mack is the Mining Response Coordinator at
the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council. Born and
raised in Xat’sull, Jacinda is a community organizer
and has her Masters in Communication and Culture
from York University, has conducted research in selfgovernment, and has experience protecting
Indigenous land and advising on natural resources
policy.
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Ms. Mack will be visiting Vancouver Island University
to present on the topic of the Imperial Metals’
Mount Polley Mine tailings pond disaster, and the
Northern Secwepemc response to the breach and its
clean-up.
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Next Wednesday (the 3rd), ACER is showing the film
“Disruption,” a film about the lead-up to the massive march in
NYC before the UN Climate Summit. It’s in B355/ R203 starting
at 6, with speakers and refreshments.
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The final is in the gym (ugh!) on Thursday the 4th from 1 to 4.
Be there on time; there will be many classes in there at the
same time.
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The exam will be a mix of short answers and essay questions,
with a sprinkling of multiple choice and true-false. The
weighting will be on the short answers and essays.
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For these, the answers will be evaluated based on how
thoroughly you answer the questions (I will indicate minimum
lengths), on how coherently and well-structured your answers
are, the originality of your analysis where that is called for
and, to a much less degree, on the quality and legibility of
your hand-writing.
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The exam will cover the material from Chapters 12 to 23,
even those that were not covered extensively in class.
How fresh water is used around the world, with allowance
for geographic differences.
Problems affecting the ecology and food webs of the
oceans.
The sources of air pollution in different parts of the world
and its effects.
The nature and sources of climate change, why it is a major
threat, and how it ties in with a system of feedback loops.
What caused the ozone layer to thin out.
Different kinds of fossil fuels, their benefits and impacts.
The concept of peak oil.
Alternative conventional fuels, both fossil and others.
Renewable forms of energy, and their strengths and
limitations.
 The
nature of the waste stream in Canada and the
U.S. and what can and is being done about it.
 Four kinds of environmental hazards.
 Ways in which Canada and the U.S. profit from
exporting products they themselves have banned.
 Why cities are both part of the problem of
sustainability and potentially part of the solution.
 Definition and origin of urban sprawl.
 What the movements ‘smart growth’ and ‘new
urbanism’ are about.
 Why moving away from automobile dependence
towards other forms of transportation and mixed
land use is so crucial to making cities more
sustainable.
What ethics has to do with our current ecological
crisis.
 The difference between anthropocentrism,
biocentrism, and ecocentrism.
 Places in the world where anthropocentrism is
being challenged.
 In what sense is the current economy both circular
and linear?
 The conflict between conventional economic
perspectives and ecological perspectives.
 The notion of (currently) unpriced ecosystem
services and externalities.
 Some of the key precepts of ecological economics.
 Why Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not necessary
an accurate reflection of social well-being.
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What is traditional knowledge?
 What environmental policies are.
 Key elements of environmental policies – for
instance, at universities like VIU.
 Different approaches to environmental
policies.
 Different strategies for changing institutions
in a more sustainable direction (not limited to
what we discussed in class).
 Different strategies for changing individuals/
households in a more sustainable direction
(not limited to what we discussed in class).
 What are some positive things being done in
different parts of the world to move us in a
more sustainable direction?
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