Hi Class!

As advertised, here is a list of the assignments that I have on my grade sheet. Most of them you can find details about in earlier posts. If you have any questions let me know. Remember you have until next Monday (Dec 14) to send work in via email.

• Quiz — 10 pts
• Watershed report — 10 pts
• Wastewater report – 5 pts
• Farms & Bay report – 10 pts
• Local agencies report – 5 pts
• Consumption & waste report – 10 pts
• Sustainable state essay – 5 pts
• Course review – 15 pts
• Total  70 pts

So, thanks for a great semester! I appreciate all your hard work and participation. I hope you will get out there and explore your world, and your backyard — your local farms, forests, coastlines — it’s an amazing Earth we live on! There’s a whole world to explore — and it begins right outside your door.

Also, for any of you who want to take more environmentally oriented courses, I’ll be teaching a Workshop in Environmental Education next summer. It’s great for future teachers but also for anyone who might be interested in an environmental career or who just wants to learn more about our local environment. Email me if you want more details! Take care and have a great holiday and winter break.

Prof G

Hi class, here is a local RI essay contest that some of you might be interested in. The topic is how to encourage the growth of a green economy for the state. Note there is a $1,000 prize, and the deadline is short — December 15!

For all the info, go to this link:

http://www.riedc.com/industry-sectors/renewable-energy/advancing-the-green-economy-writing-contest

Hi Class!

Here is the list of topics that I expect you to address in your review exercise. This project will help you to remember and retain all the material we discussed this term, and also to see how it all relates together, when you look at it as a big picture.

You can organize this as a paragraph on each topic, with a summary and analysis at the end, or use any other format that works for you, as long as the content touches on all of these topics and includes the summary and analysis. What I want to see is not only that you remember what we learned, but how you reacted to it and also any questions you might still have.

Here are the topics:

• Rhode Island’s forests and farms
• Rhode Island’s watersheds, and what watershed do you live in
• Where does your water come from, and where does your wastewater go, and the impacts of these systems
• Food systems and local farms
• Your visit to a local farm, and your visit to a local coastal public access site
• Our visit from Save The Bay Baykeeper John Torgan
• Stuff — how much do we consume, our ecological footprint, and the impact of our resource use
• What is biodiversity and why is it a concern that it is diminishing due to human impact on nature
• Waste — where does all of our junk go. Landfills. Recycling.
• Energy — where does your energy come from, and what are the impacts of the various options
• Sustainability — what does this mean, is it attainable? is it desirable? how does change happen? what role do ethics play?

This is due next Monday, December 7, which is our LAST CLASS. If you need it, you can take one extra week and submit your work via email. The last-chance deadline is Monday Dec. 14.

Any questions, let me know!

Prof G

Here is a video from yesterday’s New York Times about water quality problems at Newport beaches, due to overflow from combined sewer systems.

http://video.nytimes.com

Hi Class! Sorry about having to cancel class today. I caught some kind of bug over the weekend… I’m sure I’ll be back to normal for next week.

Your assignment for this week will be due next Monday, Nov. 23. That assignment was to write up your report on your consumption and waste and your analysis of that study, and also to find out where your electricity comes from.. that is, not just the company you buy it from, but the actual source of the power, how it is generated, as best you can.

I’d also like you to do a few more things this week, before our next class.

I’d like you to learn a bit more about biodiversity and the current loss of species due to habitat degradation.

Go to this link and read through the info on biodiversity…

http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares

Now read this story about the impact of habitat loss on orangutans.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/3086/oil-or-orangutans

This is a good example of how our consumer behavior affects the quality of our environment, often in ways that are not immediately apparent to us when we buy stuff.

Make notes and/or print out these readings and be prepared to discuss in class.

Now calculate your ecological footprint. Go to this Web site and work through the questions. Make notes of your results and be prepared to discuss in class.

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

That’s all for now. I’ll see you in class next Monday. Please come prepared!! Any questions, let me know.

Prof G

 

For students who might have missed a class or need to catch up, here is what you should have done for the last couple of weeks…

For Oct 26, you were assigned to research the local agencies and groups that affect what happens in our local environment. Each student was assigned to a group to look at — either federal agencies that have an impact locally, state agencies, nonprofits, local researchers who compile data about our environment, or local cities and towns.

If you missed that class and didn’t get assigned to a group, just choose one of the above and write a report.

All students should hand in a brief report — a couple of pages — listing and summarizing what you found out.

For Nov 2, you were assigned to examine your personal consumption for a week and see how much you used. Be as thorough and meticulous as you can! This includes not only things you buy, but things you use — for example, you might not fill your gas tank in the course of a week, but you still consume fuel when driving your car. We will be talking about where does all this stuff come from and its environmental impact. You should compile this into a list. You can hand it in Nov 9 along with your next assignment.

Your Nov 9 assignment is similar, only to keep track of the things you dispose of and the waste materials you produce. This list and the consumption list can both be handed in on Nov. 9.

We touched on the climate change issue in class, but didn’t spend much time on it. For anyone who would like to delve into this more, here is a good, scientific introduction to the topic… http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/primers/climate-change-primer.shtml

If you want to explore the topic further, you can google around and find all kinds of opinions, misinformation, exaggeration, and nonsense. If you have any questions, I am happy to talk more about it, either in class or after class or via email.

Hi Class! RIGEA has decided they can offer a discount rate of $30 to students who would like to attend the all-day teacher workshop at Ponaganset on Nov 7. Go to their Web site for info and a registration form. The site doesn’t list the student rate, but just write it in, and bring your student ID with you when you go to the conference.

Go to http://www.rieea.org/

Prof G

Hi Class! Here is a link to the New York Times series that I told you about in class…
http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters

Also, I forgot to announce in class, the Geography Dept is hosting a potluck get-together on Sunday, Nov 1, 2 pm, in Warwick, for all geography majors and minors, and any students who are considering becoming a major or minor. We will get to meet Seth Dixon, our new professor, and welcome Mark Motte back to the department. Having this growth in the faculty is a great thing, after a couple of years when things got very lean!! So this is an exciting time for the department, and I hope any of you who might be thinking about taking more geography, will come and join us. If you want to come, RSVP to my email and I will send you a link with directions.

See you next Monday!

Prof G

Hi Class!
Next Thursday, Oct 15, Paul Dolan of the state Department of Environmental Management will be leading hikes in the forest around Scituate Reservoir. This is rare opportunity, as this forest is generally off limits to the public! If you go, and write a report about it for the class, you can get extra credit points. Be sure to tell Paul Dolan you came from my class! And I might see you there…

Click on More for the details.

Hi Class!

For next class, as we discussed today, I want you to visit two places… a local farm, and a local access point to Narragansett Bay. I also want you to spend some time exploring our Bay geography, either out there in reality or via Google Maps. How many islands are there in the Bay? I’d like to see who can name the most, in our next class!

For local farms, visit Farm Fresh and also RI Farmways. Choose a farm near you, visit and explore. Spend at least an hour at the farm. Talk to the farmers and ask questions about their farm. Keep in mind though that they may be busy with customers etc. and may not have a lot of time for you. They might let you look around the farm though. Write about your experience. If you have time, it would be good to also visit a Farmers Market, especially if you haven’t been to one before. Farm Fresh lists all of the markets with their times and locations.

Here is a link with info about City Farm (run by Southside Community Land Trust), which we talked about in class. They generally welcome visitors there, but keep in mind anyone who’s there is probably working and may not have time to show you around or answer a lot of questions. Also keep in mind this is a marginal neighborhood and crime does happen in this area, so if you go there be very vigilant and careful. City Farm has several events during the season when it is Open House, but I don’t see any scheduled on their Web site for anytime soon.

Also, your report should include a report on the research you did for today about local farms in your area.

For your second trip, visit a spot on Narragansett Bay where you haven’t been before. Go to this site to find public access points. Just click on a town name to find public access points in your town. For this purpose, we will define Narragansett Bay as all the salty waters north of a line between Point Judith and Sakonnet Point, all the way up to India Point in Providence.

Some of these access areas may be overgrown and hard to find, so be careful about ticks (click here for more info about deer ticks in RI). Also stay off of wet rocks, which can be very slippery! and generally exercise caution near the waves. Look around for a site you are comfortable visiting. Bring a friend if you like. Be safe! Spend at least an hour at the shore. Write about your experience.

Remember, your papers should show that you are going a step beyond just reporting what you find, to analysis and inquiry. Ask questions about what you are finding. If there are terms you don’t understand, google them, or raise questions about what they mean. Evaluate your sources of information… are they unbiased? are they authoritative? reliable? Talk about any questions you have. When you visit new places, raise questions about what you saw, even if you don’t have the answers.

I’d also like you to start thinking about your environmental ethics. How do you relate to your environment, and how much do you value having a clean, healthy ecosystem to live in? Our ethics play a major role in determining what kind of environment we will create for the future. And they play a major role in choices that we make every day, though we might not be aware of it.

Because we are Americans, with one of the highest rates of consumption anywhere in the world, a major way that we impact our environment is through our consumer choices. When we choose to buy food from a local farm, for example, instead of from a factory farm, we are voting with our dollars for a certain choice. Do you think, if you costs you more to buy from a local farm, are there factors that make the extra cost worthwhile? Are you willing to support a local farm that provides open space in your community, fresh food grown with minimal chemicals, knowing that your money goes to support a local family instead of a huge corporation, all of that, even if it costs more?

Of course, other factors besides your environmental ethic weigh into that equation — for example, you must have enough discretionary income to make it possible to even make that choice. If you are stretching each dollar, then price might have to be your bottom line. But if you do have room in your budget to make a choice, then ethics will play a major role in making that choice.

Remember, your papers should be typed, spell-checked, and stapled!!

This report should include: what you found in your research about local farms for today’s class, and a report on your two field excursions, as well as some context for where you are on the Bay, derived from your visit to Google Maps.

Any questions, let me know! and enjoy your long weekend!

Prof G