Unit 1
Services & Sustainability

You will find more success in this course from having many and diverse experiences in environmental settings.

If you have limited or city travel experiences, enjoy primarily indoor hobbies, and/or lack strong academic dispositions, then it may require greater amounts of intentional effort to master the material and/or achieve your desired grade in this class.

If you are taking this class for AP credit and/or want to get a "4", then create & follow a study plan and use the review materials I have curated for you. If you are taking this class because you are interested in learning about the environment, then: keep up with current events; consume nature documentaries; participate in and contribute to class discussion, and apply what you are learning to real contexts; ask, beg, plead to your parents to visit nature reserves and parks this school year, and go with a natural interpreter/guide to explain what you are observing; use your limited experiences (if applies) as best you can to relate to what we are learning and ask questions; attend opportunity time; complete all formatives with intentional effort; take advantage of past and upcoming CWW opportunities; hang out with Mr O'Connor; check-out books from the EVL; go to museums; join my Explore group; and more!

PLACE influences a lot about our thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. There is an incredible diversity of place that exists among students at CNG! Consider the varieties of experiences with the environment, resource use and conservation each of you have had. What kinds of ideas and solutions do you think we have in our school, based on the diversity of experiences? We need to understand and appreciate the diversity of life experiences people bring when developing solutions to our shared problems. Is there a single correct solution for each problem we have?

What is your environmental worldview ?

Anthropocentric? Biocentric? Eco-centric?

I've visited 8% of countries

I've visited 40% of US states

1. Explaining Resource Depletion

2. Analyzing Resource Distribution

Including coal, copper, cotton, fish, iron ore natural gas, oil, timber

3. Natural Disruptions & Change

Including a study of plate tectonics and ENSO

4. Sustainability & Ecological Footprints

Bring your calculators with you to class, every day

5. Explaining Ecosystem Services

6. Analyzing Habitat Size

Including a study of Island Biogeography and HIPPCO

Summative— AP-style Assessment

Two FRQs, each of a different type that you will find out the day of the summative [55 minute time limit]

- - Question 1: Design an investigation presents students with an authentic environmental scenario accompanied by either a model/visual representation or quantitative data.
  - Question 2: Analyze an environmental problem and propose a solution presents students with an authentic environmental scenario accompanied by either a model/visual representation or quantitative data.
  - Question 3: Analyze an environmental problem and propose a solution doing calculations presents students with an authentic environmental scenario.

Additional Resources

The locations for header images on each page of this unit are indicated with the red circles on the map to the left. I have been to more places than this, yet I have a much longer list of places I want to know in Colombia. In alphabetical order, the major places near the top of my list to visit include: Barranquilla, Choco, Ipiales, Manizales, Mavecure, Mitú, Pasto, Santa Marta, Villavicencio (Caño Cristales) and Yopal.

Unit 1Services & Sustainability