You are expected to be ready to discuss the topic with some pro and con arguments based on material from the book but also outside sources.

Read the assigned parts of the book.

Find an example of this problem in the "popular" literature, such as a science magazine or section of the newspaper. It does not have to come from a scientific journal.

Provide at least one additional relevant and persuasive fact that you can contribute to the discussion.

Come to class with an answer written out including a short description, and what you think is a good pro argument and a good con argument. Write out your "fact".

At the end of the discussion, you will be given a few minutes to write down 1) the fact you brought in, and 2) what you thought were the most persuasive arguments on both sides.

REMEMBER THE GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1 .describe the general problem with reference to the book
2. give an example article that you found and provide the reference (title, author, year, source)
3. pro
4. con
5. fact that you bring in
persuasive fact that came up in class

Read about the I=PAT relationship described in Chapter 1 - "Environmental Problems: Causes and Connections". Read about the first and second laws of thermodynamics in Chapter 2. Discuss how afluent societies can decrease their environmental impact and what are the limits to this (especially considering the 2nd law of thermodynamics). Find an example in the popular literature of suggestions to lower impact, while stil being affluent. Give arguments both for and against the proposed solution. Provide a fact that would be influential in this debate.

Bring all this already written to class. In class, we will discuss the different problems and you will be able to add what you thought was the most persuasive fact to come out in the discussion.

Read about the food webs and diversity in Chapter 3 (Figure 3-18) and example food webs for each of the biomes (in Chapter 5).

Find an example paper that deals with food web stability or uses food webs as a metaphor for some other sociological or economic problem.

Address the stability and resilience of ecological webs that come from compensation (such as prey-switching). Is this really possible in industrial networks with much lower diversity?

Bring all of this to class and be ready to discuss it.

How severe is the water shortage in the Western United States? What are the arguments for and against large water projects in California and Arizona? What are some possible solutions in California and in the rest of the world.

Find an article that addresses these problems. Your assignment should hit all five points above.

Discuss the costs of the poverty/malnutrition/disease cycle. In particular, focus on environmental projects that relate to Malaria prevention. What are key parts of this problem? What parts of the problem are interrelated and can't be solved separately?

One definition for "sustainability" is to maintain the full range of choices for future generations that we have now. Great cities, however, are built on the past and their current strengths are from centuries of infrastructure, culture and tradition. Discuss how the choices we make today for our cities can both limit and strengthen the future.

Provide a specific example (from the literature) of an action or set of actions that are being taken to make our cities more sustainable. Discuss this in light of this idea of limiting future choice.

1 .describe the general problem with reference to the book
2. give an example article that you found and provide the reference (title, author, year, source). The article has to have an author.
3. pro
4. con
5. a fact that you bring in