Environmental Science

You are the emergency manager in a city with a population of 250,000 in the southeastern United States. Your city manager wants to aggressively reduce the city’s vulnerability to natural hazards and wants you to develop a policy to facilitate the city’s vulnerability to natural hazards. In a policy proposal of 3-4 pages, explain how your city could reduce the city’s vulnerability to natural hazards. Provide at least 1 recommendation for improving the city’s protective measures for critical infrastructure. All recommendations must be sufficiently justified or backed up by academic sources. You should ensure that you address each of the 16 CI sectors. Demonstrate an understanding of vulnerability by identifying 1 vulnerability in each of the 16 CI sectors. For example, in the Agriculture and Food sector (among many others), a common vulnerability is flooding. Flooding is routinely mitigated by structural controls such as levees and dams (another sector). Assignment Guidelines Address the following in a policy proposal of 3-4 pages: For each CI sector, do the following:  Identify 1–2 vulnerabilities that exist in your locality. Describe the vulnerability or vulnerabilities, and explain their significance to the sector. Provide 1–2 recommendation for improving the city’s protective measures for critical infrastructure. How will the vulnerabilities be addressed (mitigation)? Consider cost, practicality, complexity, danger, and maintenance in your recommendations. For example, in the Agriculture and Food sector, a common vulnerability is flooding. Flooding is routinely mitigated by structural controls such as levees and dams. Conclude your proposal with a summary of your findings. Provide an overview of how your city could reduce its overall vulnerability to natural hazards. Compile your responses into your final proposal, and submit the file to your instructor. Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.

Rhetorical Situation: Blog Entry for the Washington Post. Your role: Syndicated columnist. You are a respected thinker about current events with an intelligent opinion. You don’t assume everyone agrees with you, and you don’t think those who do, are stupid; still, your goal is to persuade them that your position is the most reasoned and important for public policy or attitudes, etc…. Goal: to intelligently persuade Guidelines: The readings on conservation and preservation and environmental history, etc might be the most helpful for this essay. Consider the following from Dr. Reed Noss (he used to be here at UCF) et al, write in Bolder Thinking for Conservation: “In contrast to policy-driven targets, scientific studies and reviews suggest that some 25–75%of a typical region must be managed with conservation of nature as a primary objective to meet goals for conserving biodiversity.” They then suggest taking the middle– 50% — of all regions (so 50% of the land and water in the US) should be managed for conserving biodiversity if we wish to keep civilization working. This would mean a total re-working of development and economics in this country. Still, their warning is stark. In your first sentence, make a claim about the future of the United States and how reformist, radical, or even against US environmental priorities should be in the next 20 years. You might consider what you think is at stake, what the trade-offs should be, or lines we should or should not cross. Support your proposition with the readings, and in this essay, be sure to specifically consider and include Abbey’s book as one reference. Keep these stylistic goals in mind for blog-writing: you may use first person, be compelling (here, use the readings well), and understand that your audience is an interested public using the internet as a civic platform and tool. Use APA citation style for this assignment because it will present well.

Part 1: Media Analysis Paper For Part 1 of the communication project, you will analyze media coverage of your topic using the information and concepts you have learned thus far in class. This project will not only help you to understand and witness, first hand, how these concepts are applied in the real world, but will help you hone your analytical writing skills. This paper and the research you conduct for it will also serve as a resource and preparation for the next steps of your communication project. The point of this written assignment is to develop a deep understanding of how environmental issues or events are represented in the media. You will survey media coverage of your chosen topic (written, visual, audio, etc.), analyze the coverage using concepts outlined in your textbook and class resources (frames, journalistic norms, imagery, etc), and come up with your own conclusions and recommendations regarding the coverage of your topic. Paper Expected format: This is an individual student paper, 4-5 pages, double-spaced, 12 size font. It must include a bibliography of all sources used (using APA formatting, not included in page count). You will turn your paper in on Moodle. Please turn it in as a PDF. Paper Content requirements: Although you are free to organize your paper however you see fit, there should be four main components to this paper: 1) Introduction and identification of your topic or event and its importance, 2) survey and analysis of media coverage of the event, and 3) your conclusions and recommendations regarding this topic. Some general ideas or questions to consider in each of these components, as well as additional requirements, are below: 1. Introduction to your paper dentification of your topic or event and its significance a. What is your topic or event? Why does it matter? b. Your paper should include a thesis that summarizes your main argument about how your topic is covered in the media c. You should also outline the content of the rest of your paper – what you will be using as evidence and how will the paper be organized? 2. Survey and analysis of media coverage a. Where was your topic covered? What types of media were used? i. Traditional? Digital? Visual? Where was it most covered? ii. How were these types of media used? iii. Include at least 5 examples from at least 2 different media types b. What observations can you make about the ways in which your topic was covered? i. Can you identify journalistic norms, themes, constraints, or frames? 1. Include specific examples and cite your media sources ii. Tie your analysis directly to concepts covered in class (although you are welcome to use outside research and concepts in addition) iii. Make sure your assertions in your analysis relate to and support your thesis 3. Conclusion and recommendations a. Summarize your analysis and findings and tie them directly to your thesis b. Propose ways in which your topic might be better communicated (if applicable) or explain what recommendations you would make for continued coverage of your topic Bibliography: Your bibliography should be in APA format and should include at least 2 citations from class, 5 media examples (2 different types, ie: video, traditional news, radio, citizen journalism, digital etc.). You will also use in-text citations in your paper (Author last name, Year).

Suppose you wanted to study the environmental impacts of a rich versus a poor country. What factors would you examine, and how would you compare them? Please give your thoughtful response in 150 words with proper grammar in APA. Also, locate an article or a You-tube link, share and discuss about its content.

Read: Accounting for Nature’s Benefits; The Dollar Value of Natures Ecosystem Services 1. Write a short essay reviewing the paper 2. Describe an ecosystem service you use  3. Explain whether the service is being used sustainably, and what that means to you personally.

I picked Morenci Mine as my topic. If there’s something else you’d prefer to write about, let me know, but I think your best bet is to stick with Morenci Mine since I’ve started the outline for you and picked out some sources already. Here are some notes my professor left on my outline: (for paragraph A) “Get USGS documentation on this mining district or the geology of this deposit.” (for paragraph B) “What do they do with the tailings? Costs to build and operate? Fluctuation of market for metals extracted?” (for paragraph C) “What are the main environmental impacts? Habitat, groundwater, surface water, emissions, see AZDEQ permits or fines.” (for paragraph D) “Who are the other stakeholders? State of AZ, nearby towns, employees, environmentalists?” (for paragraph E) “Do they pay royalties? Taxes? Was this built from public lands under the General Mining Act of 1872?”

Prior to beginning work on this final paper, review all chapters of Bensel and Carbone’s Sustaining Our Planet text (2020). In this paper, you will explore what a future sustainable world might look like, and in the process of doing so, extend your previous descriptions of selected terms and explain how they may play a role in aiding us in achieving environmental sustainability on a global scale. The Journey to Sustainability Imagine a future (probably a long time from now) in which human beings have achieved environmental sustainability on a global scale. That means that we as a species have figured out how to maintain a lifestyle that can go on indefinitely. Humans will exist in harmony with their environment, not needing more resources than can naturally be replenished. What would such a world be like? How might we get there from here? In this final assignment, you will play the part of science-fiction writer, imagining and describing what a sustainable Earth, inhabited by humans, might look like in the distant future. You will need to provide examples throughout to support your descriptions. You should include all the terms that you have researched during Weeks 1 through 4 of this class, underlining each term as you include it. Be sure to expand on your terms and include other concepts that you learned in the course. Provide as detailed a picture as possible of how that future world might function on a day-to-day basis. In your paper, use grammar and spell-checking programs to insure clarity. Proofread carefully prior to submitting your work. Finally, you will submit the document to Waypoint. Your paper will consist of seven paragraphs using the format below to address the elements with the assumption that environmental sustainability has been achieved: Paragraph 1: Describe how the human relationship to nature will be different from what it is at present. Examine how humans will cope differently with the ways that natural phenomena like hurricanes affect lives. Paragraph 2: Describe what Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems will look like in a sustainable future. Explain what humans have done differently to enable biodiversity and ecosystems to function sustainably. Paragraph 3: Examine how agricultural production will be different in a sustainable future. Paragraph 4: Differentiate between how humans will manage water resources (fresh water and ocean) in the sustainable future compared to how it is done now. Paragraph 5 Examine how humans will meet their energy needs in the future in a way that will enable maintenance of a sustainable, habitable atmosphere and climate. Indicate the changes that humans have made that are enabling them to maintain a healthy atmosphere and climate for all. Paragraph 6: Describe how waste management will be different in a sustainable future. Indicate the changes have been made to how humans think about and treat what is currently called “waste.” Paragraph 7: Summarize some of the major social, economic, political, and ecological choices and tradeoffs that will need to be overcome for this sustainable future to arrive. What are some of the major issues and challenges humans will have to face in order to achieve sustainability on a global scale?

More information for why dams and pollution are bad for freshwater fisheries all together. Must find a conservation policy. Describe the natural resource issue, including the natural resources and ecosystem services affected and the relevant ethical, economic, and ecological factors that influence the conservation of these resources, and Present a short argument in support of a conservation policy that addresses this issue in some way. In your argument, name the type of policy tool (or economic tool) you have chosen (your conclusion) and explain your reasoning for selecting it (your premises).

Perform an internet search to identify an instance of environmental pollution in your state. Use the example you found and the imaginary scenario provided below to complete the assignment. Scenario: There is a concern about environmental pollution in your state or community. Because of your expertise as an environmental scientist, you have been invited to be a panelist at a town hall meeting in which you will present an overview of the issue. The audience consists of community leaders, members of the scientific community, and some local residents. Create a 5 slide presentation in which you explain the problem from a scientific perspective. Address the following in your presentation: What are the scientific factors that are causing the issue? How is the issue identified? Describe the data associated with the problem. What solutions or opportunities should be explored to address the issue further? Use at least 2 outside references.

The project will be a paper on an actual accident involving a chemical(s), chemical plant, or explosion in a manufacturing plant. There is not a page limit on the paper, but it must be at least 10 pages, double-spaced, with references, and must be plagiarism free. Therefore, please ensure all quotes and sources are noted. APA 7th edition formatting is to be used. Incidents that are off-limits: SC chlorine release (for an example of that report click the link) and the Bhapal, India Methyl Isocyanate release.