Student Name          Meghan K

Class Period       1st

Hobbies and Interests      I enjoy music, and I am in band here at Northwest. I play flute and piccolo for school, but I also play piano.  I like reading and am addicted to Starbucks.  I want to be a doctor, so I'm very interested in sciences.

Activities outside of school        I am very active in my church. I participate in Senior High Youth and am in the handbell and vocal choirs there.  I also play in a pit orchestra for theatrical plays during the summers.

Why I am enrolled in AP Environmental Science?     I like science and thought this would be a good AP science class to take in addition to Chemistry and Biology.

What I hope to get out of this class.      I hope to learn much and apply it to the problems we are facing today.  I also hope to pass the AP Exam to gain college credit.

Links of Interest (you will be adding to this as you go through the semester).

Uploaded Homework Assignment and Class projects

Journal Entries

What does the word “sustainable society” mean to you?  Do you believe that it is possible for the society you live in to become a sustainable society within the next 50 years?

To me, a sustainable society is one in which people conserve resources so they will be available for future generations. To achieve a sustainable society, people must use only the necessary amount of resources and reduce waste. It will be extremely difficult to achieve a sustainable society in the next 50 years because our population is growing at such a fast rate. The more people there are, the more resources must be used to sustain the population. Using this large amount of resources can quickly deplete them or lower their levels to an amount that cannot replenish at a fast enough rate to continually support the population.  

Why could the total amount of animal flesh on the earth never exceed the total amount of plant flesh, even if all animals are vegetarians?

The amount of animal flesh could never exceed the total amount of plant flesh because there must be enough plants to support all the organisms in the system. According to the pyramid of biomass, the producers have the largest amount. The amount of plants available to the vegetarians for food will limit the population of animals. There also must be a large amount of plant flesh because that is the one source of chemical energy since plants only can convert solar energy to a usable form through photosynthesis.  

Some biologists have suggested restoring large herds of bison on public lands in the North American plains as a way of restoring remaining tracts of tall-grass plains.  Ranchers with permits to graze cattle and sheep on federally managed lands have strongly opposed this idea.  What do you think about the idea of restoring large numbers of bison to the plains of North America?  Explain. 

I do not think large numbers of bison should be brought to the plains, because they would be a non-native species. We do not know if there are any natural predators to the new bison in North American plains, so we cannot predict the full effect of the bison on the environment. They may take over the area without predators and feed on the cattle or sheep. This is why the ranchers are opposed to the idea. Unless extensive research proves that the bison would only be beneficial and not cause any harm, they should not be introduced into the plains.

Suppose because of disease or genetic defects from inbreeding, the wolves on Isle Royal (page 197) die off.  Should we (a) intervene and import new wolves to help control the moose population or, (b) let the moose population grow until it exceeds its carrying capacity and suffers another population crash?  Explain.

Just like the journal question above it, the importation of a new species always has the potential to be harmful to the environment. In this case, new wolves would be the non-native species. Once the moose reach carrying capacity, they will die off. This way, the problem is solved naturally, without the addition of a new species into the ecosystem.

Some people argue that starving people could get enough food by eating non conventional plants and insects; other point out that most starving people do not know what plants and animals are safe to eat and cannot take a chance on experimenting when even the slightest illness could kill them.  If you had no money to grow or buy food, would you collect and eat protein-rich grasshoppers, moths, or other insects?

I believe there are many more food sources available to those without money to grow or buy food. If one is hungry, I think they would at least try any non conventional food to survive. We should focus on finding which plants and animals are safe for human consumption and educate the people who could survive off of these foods to combat world hunger.

Your town (town B) is located between towns A and C.  What are the rights and responsibilities of upstream communities to downstream communities?  Should sewage and industrial wastes be dumped at the upstream end of a community that generates them?

The upstream community should take responsibility for what they place in the water since the downstream community also uses the same resource. Therefore, Town A should not dump sewage or industrial wastes, and Town B should also refrain from such practices in order to return the favor for Town C, which also uses the same water. If none of the towns consider the rights of downstream communities, the result will be similar to Tragedy of the Commons, where a shared resource is overpolluted because no one took on the responsibility of properly caring for it. It would be beneficial to require sewage and industrial wastes to be dumped at the upstream end of the community that generates them because that town will be more considerate of what they put in the water since they have to deal with it. However, if the town still dumped wastes, the downstream communities would also have to deal with that choice.

Explain why you support or oppose requiring that:

1. all beverage containers be reusable
2. all household and businesses sort recyclable materials into separate containers for curbside pick-up
3. garbage collecting systems implement the pay-as-you-trash approach
4. consumers pay for plastic or paper bags to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags