Review for the Final

You’ve been a great group… I’m going to miss you.


Courtesy of a former student:
http://news.sky.com/story/1377035/poo-power-busruns-on-gas-from-human-waste
 Courtesy
of a former student: 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-hasntmade-any-trash-in-2-years-this-is-what-herlife-is-like/
The final is in Building 250, Room 125 on Friday the
24th from 1 to 4. Be there on time; there will be
another class in there at the same time.
 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.
 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.

 The
exam will cover the material from
Chapters 12 to 23, even those that were not
covered extensively in class, and to a lesser
degree key concept from the first couple of
weeks.
 Key concepts like: carrying capacity, limits to
growth, ecological footprint, full world,
feedback cycles (positive and negative, and
examples of each), environmental science
and environmental geography, scientific
method, ecosystems, demographic
transition.
 Difference between environmental scientists
and environmentalists.
 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.

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?
