Review for the Final
 Alternatives
Journal doesn’t publish a hard copy
of their university guide anymore, but you can
find it at:
http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community
/education
 Did anyone go to the film on GMOs last week?
 I have an evaluation form about the course I
would like to get you to fill out. It also gives
you a chance to evaluate your own
participation.
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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 is so crucial
to making cities more sustainable.
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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 wellbeing.
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
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