Issue Investigation:



Issue Investigation:

There are numerous ways to investigate scientific issues … we focus on Environmental Issues. The following issue investigation technique is ONE way to handle your decision making.

Step 1: ___________Identify the problem__________

• What is the _________condition__________________ that is at risk in this scenario?

• Try to put this in a _____question___________form if possible to ____eliminate_________ bias.

Step 2: _________Identify the players and their positions______________

• Players are ____________________People involved in the issue___________________________

• Animals and plants __________cannot be players_______________________________

• Positions – Where does each ______player_______________ stand on the _____issue________.

Step 3: ________Identify the values___________________________________

• Each person comes with their _own set of values__ which influences their _____decision_____.

• Common values that we use include:

o _____Aesthetic_______ = beautiful, pleasing to the eye

o ____Cultural/Social_____ = relating to culture, has significance upon that culture or social aspects (like bald eagle to U.S., fried cheese curds to WI, a particular joke to your family)

o ______Ecological/Environmental____ = relationships between organisms and their environment, conservation of the natural world

o ______Economical____ = management of material wealth, production and consumption through measureable variables, affects finances, increase revenue, more jobs, etc.

o ______Educational________ = giving knowledge, concerned with education, enrichment

o ______Egocentric_______ = interested in personal needs, all about me!

o _____Legal______ = related to law, legally significant, like endangered species act

o _________Medicinal_____ = having properties that can be used to treat illnesses

o ________Recreational__________ = used for pleasure, activity performed during ones leisure time, useful to outdoor enthusiasts

Step 4: __________Identify Solutions_______________

• Come up with ________as many ways to resolve________this issue as you can … be creative!

• List at least _____4 or 5_____ possible ways to solve it.

Step 5: _______________Choose your solution/Defend it_____________

• Pretend that you rule the world.

• How would YOU _____resolve this conflict_______ and ____why__?

Ethanol Powered Cars

While gasoline/electric hybrid cars have been on the road for awhile now, a more recent car choice facing consumers today is to drive a car based on ethanol fuels. Again, you have to do decide if it is a good option for the consumer or not based on the information we currently have on this technology. Ethanol is a wheat-based fuel additive, based on corn, barley or wheat that has been around for many years. E85 is the most popular "brand" of ethanol; it is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Sam Hollen is a local farmer in Southern Wisconsin and he believes that ethanol production should be expanded. He offers the following reasons for his opinion--The benefit of this fuel is that it increases the octane in your fuel and reduces emissions. E85 also costs less for the consumer than traditional gasoline. Because the fuel is crop-based, many American farmers support ethanol and want to grow corn to fuel the country's escalating fuel needs. Ethanol is a good thing: it's domestically produced, crop-based and puts out reduced emissions.

Evaline Mutos believes that Ethanol based fuel is a good thing if for one reason and that reason is to, “reduce our dependence on foreign oil”. She also mentioned that she owns a flex-fuel vehicle and so far she’s been happy with its performance. A flex fuel vehicle is one that can run on the E85 or the more traditional blend E10. This reduces the need for special fueling stations for people who own the Ethanol powered vehicles. Evaline works at the GM plant in Janesville, WI which produces many of the Flex-fuel vehicles for GM Motors.

Connie Brider feels these cars are too limited yet. “We shouldn’t allow WI to jump on the bandwagon of ethanol production until the science has been proven to be effective.” She worries that we will learn that the Ethanol isn’t providing us the emissions reductions we thought and that many companies based on ethanol production will not survive if we build too many, too soon. She is an economist for the state of WI.

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Practice Issue Investigation—Ethanol Powered Cars:

Read the article and then try to complete the 5-step issue investigation process.

|Issue: (Write as a question in a sentence.) Should Americans switch to ethanol fueled vehicles? |

|Or Why use ethanol based fuels? Lots of possibilities |

|Background: (Write a paragraph summarizing the history and events leading up to the issue. What is its current status?) |

|Consumers today have more choices in their cars. They can choose and electric car, or hybrid car, or drive a car that uses ethanol fuels. Ethanol is a |

|wheat-based fuel additive, based on corn, barley or wheat that has been around for many years. E85 is the most popular "brand" of ethanol; it is a blend of 85 |

|percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. |

|Player: (Describe the player. Players may |Position: (Describe the position of the player. How |Values: (Describe the values you think are held by the |

|be individuals or organizations.) |would they respond to the issue question?) |player. Explain why you think the player has those |

| | |values.) |

|Sam Hollen |he believes that ethanol production should be expanded |Economical - American farmers can grow crops used to |

|farmer in Southern Wisconsin | |produce ethanol |

| | |More cost efficient, increases octane in the fuel |

| | |Environmental – reduces emissions |

|Evaline Mutos |Ethanol based fuel is a good thing to reduce our |Economical - works at GM plant where they produce flex |

|works at the GM plant |dependence on foreign oil |fueled vehicles |

| | |Reduces need for special fueling stations |

|Connie Brider |cars are too limited yet |Environmental – won’t provide the emission reductions they|

|economist for the state of WI | |hope |

| | |Economical – many businesses based on ethanol may not |

| | |survive if grow too fast too soon |

| | | |

|Possible Solutions: (Explain how the issue could be addressed. These solutions might be provided by a player or you may create them on your own. You need at |

|least 4-5 possible solutions.) |

|Solutions will vary – must be at least 4 options |

|Your Opinion: (How would you personally answer the issue? Explain why you feel that way.) |

|Explain why chose option you did. |

Practice Issue Investigation—Cotton Growing in the U.S.:

|Issue: (Write as a question in a sentence.) |

| |

|Background: (Write a paragraph summarizing the history and events leading up to the issue. What is its current status?) |

| |

| |

|Player: (Describe the player. Players may |Position: (Describe the position of the player. How |Values: (Describe the values you think are held by the |

|be individuals or organizations.) |would they respond to the issue question?) |player. Explain why you think the player has those |

| | |values.) |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

|Possible Solutions: (Explain how the issue could be addressed. These solutions might be provided by a player or you may create them on your own. You need at |

|least 4-5 possible solutions.) |

|Your Opinion: (How would you personally answer the issue? Explain why you feel that way.) |

| |

| |

| |

| |

Easter Island—Lessons learned

Living Planet Report:

Graphing Analysis:

Directions: Use the graphs to answer the related questions. Most questions must be answered in complete sentences. The exception to answering in complete sentences is for questions where a line is provided.

Use Figure 22 to answer these questions.

1. What is the title of the graph? ______ Ecological footprint per person by country, 2005_____

2. What type of graph is used to display the data? ________ Bar graph _________

3. What is the x-axis showing? _____ country in order of decreasing footprint ______

4. What is the y-axis showing? ______ global hectares per person (footprint)______

5. Why is the bar shown in multiple colors? What do the multiple colors indicate?

The footprint is broken down by different categories of resource use. Each color represents a different use of the land.

6. What does the green line that runs across all the bars represent?

The green line represents the total productive area of the earth or biocapacity in global hectares per person.

7. What information is provided by this graph? [In other words, what can you learn by reading this graph?]

You can tell how much of each land resource a country uses. You can compare total use with biocapacity or see how far over or under biocapacity a country is.

8. What was the criterion for including a country on the list?

[Hint: Look at the description of the figure.]

Countries with populations over 1 million were included in this graph.

9. Which two countries have the highest carbon footprint?

a. _____ United Arab Emirates ________

b. _________ Kuwait ______________

10. Which country has the largest use of grazing land per person? ____ Uraguay _____

11. Describe one significant difference in the pattern of countries with the highest ecological footprint per person with the countries with the lowest ecological footprint per person. [Consider the different factors influencing the footprint.]

The carbon footprint of countries that consume more resources is significantly greater than those with smaller footprints.

Use Figure 23 to answer these questions.

12. What is the title of the graph? ______ Ecological footprint by component 1961-2005_______

13. What is the x-axis showing? _____Timeline or year from 1960-2005_________

14. What is the y-axis showing? _________ Number of planet earths ____________

15. What information is provided by this graph? [In other words, what can you learn by reading this graph?]

We can learn how our resource usage has changed over time.

16. Which two components have changed the least during the past 40 years?

a. ________ Use of grazing land ____________

b. ______ forests ___________

17. Which component has changed the most during the past 40 years? ___ Carbon Footprint____

Use Figure 25 to answer these questions.

18. What is the title of the graph? __ Biocapacity per person by country and relative to footprint 2005____

19. What is the x-axis showing? ______ countries in decreasing order of biocapacity use per person ______

20. What is the y-axis showing? ______ biocapacity available per person ________

21. What does the solid line intersecting the bars indicate? _____ global biocapacity per person _____

22. Compare the US footprint to its biocapacity. (Hint, use the legend to help you) _________

____________ The US footprint is 50-100% greater than its biocapacity _________________

Use Figure 26 to answer these questions.

23. What is the title of the graph? _________ Biocapacity and ecological footprint by region 2005__________

24. What is the x-axis showing? ___________ population of countries ___________

25. What is the y-axis showing? ___________ global hectares per person (biocapacity)________

26. What does the dotted red line on each bar show? ______ that countries footprint ________

27. What does the number on each bar mean? Why are some numbers positive and some negative?

the number tells the difference between footprint and biocapactiy. Positive numbers indicate that the country has more resources than it uses. Negatives indicate a debt.

28. What information is provided by this graph? [In other words, what can you learn by reading this graph?]

You can see which countries have ecological resources (don’t use all of their resources) and those that are using more than they have in this graph. You can also see the difference in global hectares per person.

29. Which region has the smallest population? _______ Europe- Non- EU __________

30. What is the population of the region with the smallest population? ___240 million ____

31. Which region has the smallest ecological footprint? _____ Asia-pacific _______

32. Approximately what is the national ecological footprint of the European Union (Europe EU)? ________5 global hectares per person ______________

33. Approximately what is the biocapacity of Latin America and the Caribbean? _______5 global hectares per person_________

Use Figure 28 to answer these questions.

34. What is the title of the graph? _______ Water footprint of consumption per person by country 1997-2001_________

35. What is the x-axis showing? _________ Countries in order of decreasing water usages.________

36. What is the y-axis showing? ________ Volume of water used per person per year ________

37. What is the difference between internal and external water?

The internal water footprint includes water used to grow, make and use the product within a country while the external measures the same components for goods that have been imported.

38. Which three countries have the largest internal water footprint?

Sudan, Mali and Thailand have the largest internal water footprints.

39. Which three countries have the largest external water footprint?

Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg and Switzerland have the largest external water footprints.

40. Select two countries with data that surprised you. Why did you choose these countries?

Answers may vary

Use Figures 38 and 39 to answer the following questions.

41. What information do these graphs tell you?

The population and ecological footprints at two different time points is shown on this graph.

42. What is the difference between the two graphs?

There is a 44 year difference between the two graphs. In that time populations have increased as well as ecological footprints.

43. Which region has changed the most between 1961 and 2005? Explain your answer.

Asia-pacific population has doubled while Europe’s footprint has doubled.

44. Which region has changed the least between 1961 and 2005? Explain your answer.

Non-EU Europe has seen a small population increase (about 40 million) compared to other countries and its footprint remained about the same.

Ecological Footprint Analysis:

Directions: Use the class discussions, previous course work and the reading and graphs/maps in the Living Planet Report to help you answer these questions. Remember that questions must be answered in complete sentences unless noted.

45. Typical Daily Activities: (Just list them!)

Developing Countries: Developed Countries:

Obtaining food and water. Using individual transportation

Caring for children and families Working or going to school

Working for family income, Recreation-shopping, sports,

social activities,

use of media and technology.

46. What characteristics separate developing countries from developed countries?

Access to clean water supplies, sanitation facilities, available food and medical supplies, technology, opportunities for women and girls, education......

47. What are resources?

Resources are things that people use in order to meet their needs or wants- water, food, shelter, clothing, paper, technology, energy,.......

48. What are renewable resources?

A renewable resource can be replaced or replenished if used in a responsible manner

List a few examples:

water, trees, agricultural products

49. What are nonrenewable resources?

Nonrenewable resources are those that cannot be replaced once expended,

List a few examples:

oil, coal and natural gas.

50. What does resource depletion mean?

Resource depletion occurs when you a resource faster than can be restored or replaced

51. It is possible for both renewable and nonrenewable resources to become depleted. Explain how that is possible.

It is possible to deplete both types of resources. For example if you cut down trees and do not replant, eventually you will have no trees for your use. Nonrenewable resources such as coal and oil require specific conditions to form and it is unlikely that those conditions will be repeated, therefore we are limited to the current supply.

Living Planet Report Analysis Questions:

52. What is an ecological footprint?

An ecological footprint is the measure of how we are using our resources, generally expressed in global hectares.

53. What was the GLOBAL ecological footprint in 2005? ___17.5 million global hectares._______ How does that compare with the amount replenished every year?

Global biocapacity is 13.6 billion global hectares so we have exceeded our ability to replenish by 3.9 billion global hectares.

54. What is ecological overshoot?

Ecological overshoot is how much more we use than the earth can replace naturally.

55. How long has the Earth been in ecological overshoot? ______Since the 1980s_____

56. How is it possible for us to maintain our current levels of resource use even though the Earth is in ecological overshoot? (How can we use more resources each year than are being replaced each year? Think!)

We are consuming our resources faster than we can replenish them. We have a supply but our use isn’t in balance with the replacement rate. Additionally, debtor countries (those who use more than they have) import from countries with more reserves. And, before the 1980s, people used fewer resources each year than the Earth naturally replaced. As a result, the Earth has some stored resources that people are using today.

57. What is biocapacity?

Biocapacity is the ability of the earth to produce food, fiber, and timber and to absorb the wastes emitted by use.

58. What types of things do you think are included as built-up land?

Built up land includes areas that are not available for producing products such as cities and towns, factory areas, airports and stadiums.

59. How does the ecological footprint of the U.S. compare to Italy? (Quantify.)

The US has twice the carbon footprint and forest resources of Italy but uses only slightly more grazing land and fishing ground, while the built up land is about the same. Italy uses a little more than half of what we do.

60. How does the ecological footprint of the U.S. compare to Mongolia? (Quantify.)

The US footprint in most categories is much greater than that of Mongolia, except in grazing land use, where Mongolia uses much more that we do (ratios are reversed). Their footprint is less than half of ours.

61. How does the ecological footprint of the U.S. compare to Rwanda? (Quantify.)

Rwanda is well below the biocapacity line, with virtually no carbon footprint and no fishing ground usage. The majority of their use is crop land.

62. Which country’s ecological footprint most surprised you? WHY?

Answers will vary

63. Which regions of the world are using FEWER resources than are available in their region? (In other words, which countries have excess biocapacity?)

Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe (Non-EU) and Africa are consuming FEWER resource than they have available.

64. Create two lists of these regions – one showing greatest to least ecological footprint per capita and the other showing greatest to least population.

Ecological Footprint: Population:

North America Asia (Pacific)

Europe(EU) Africa

Europe (Non-EU) Latin American and the Caribbean

Middle East and Central Asia Europe (EU)

Latin America and the Caribbean Middle East and Central Asia

Asia- Pacific North America

Africa. Europe (Non-EU).

• How does the population of a region compare to the consumption of a region?

There is not a straight correlation of increasing population with excess consumption. Africa with the second highest population has a higher biocapacity than what it consumes. So, often, areas with smaller populations are actually consuming greater amounts of resources.

65. How has the population in developing countries changed during the past 40 years?

Population in developing countries has increased dramatically in the last 40 years.

66. How has the population in developed countries changed during the past 40 years?

Population in developed countries has increased but the rate of increase is slowing.

67. Consider Water footprints. What are three water intensive products? Why are they considered water intensive?

Cotton clothing, Beef and sugar are water intensive products because it takes a lot of water to grow and process these items. They use the highest percentage of water for agricultural products. 23 percent for beef, 3.7 percent for cotton and 3.4 percent for sugar.

68. How could global trade impact resource availability and resource use worldwide?

Pressure to produce a product for export, in a developing country that has limited water resources, may lead to shortages and depletion of water sources that ultimately endanger peoples health, the biocapacity of the area as well as economic support.

69. How is an ecological footprint related to sustainability?

In order to achieve sustainability, we need to balance our ecological footprint with our biocapacity. What we take, can not exceed the ability of the earth to replace and replenish.

70. How would a sustainable society look in terms of biocapacity and resource use?

Resource use would be equal to or less than the biocapacity in a sustainable society.

Global Population:

History of Global Population Growth:

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Global population is ____exponential____ increasing. This means that …

it takes fewer and fewer years for the population to grow by the same amount.

Some factors that led to an increasing world population:

1. ___________Sanitation Improvements______________

a. In the early 1800s, soap use greatly increased.

b. By the mid to late 1800s, ___________municipal sanitation systems______________ were much more common.

c. Improved sanitation results in …fewer people dying from infectious diseases.

2. __________Medical Improvements________

a. Improving sanitation practices in the medical community

b. New medicines – particularly ____antibiotics______ and

________vaccinations_____.

c. These improvements have resulted in _____fewer____ infant and children deaths

as well as a _____longer_____ average lifespan in much of the world.

3. _____________Agricultural Changes__________

a. Greatly increased _______crop production per acre______ from the mid 1940s to early 1980s.

b. Crop production is no longer _____increasing____ because there are problems with soil, water and plant diseases from current farming practices.

c. Overall, many ___more__ people are fed on ____smaller____ pieces of farmland compared to 100 years ago.

For example, today the average acre of agriculture in the U.S. is producing ______5 to six times_____ more food than it did in 1940.

Worldwide, child mortality is much lower and life expectancy is much greater than in the past. However, not all parts of the world have low mortality or long life expectancy.

The World’s Population is ____unevenly___ distributed.

______Developing_____ countries are experiencing considerably ____faster____ population

increases compared to ______developed_____ countries.

Why is population distributed unevenly worldwide?

1. Developing countries have a …

Greater fertility rate for women

2. In most developing countries, women are _______second class citizens________.

a. Women do not have the same opportunities as men in:

i. _________education____

ii. ________employment________

iii. _________health care_____

iv. _______legal rights_____

b. Women’s disadvantage begins immediately and continues throughout their lives:

i. Boys get more food than girls.

ii. Boys are many more times likely to get medical care than girls.

iii. Boys have a much greater chance of attending school.

iv. As a result, women must find security through marriage.

v. Once married, women need at least one son (and, ideally more) to provide for future security.

c. Strong connection between ____Education______ and ______fertility_____.

When women have _____education_____ and _______employment_____

opportunities, they have ____fewer__ children.

From:

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3. Vastly differing access to _________family planning and birth control_________________ options in the developed and developing world.

a. More than ___500,000________ women die every year from pregnancy or childbirth.

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i. Primarily occurs in ______developing_______ countries.

ii. Often associated with ___poor health_____ and very little time between pregnancies.

b. Women (and couples) in developing countries often have no access to

_____birth control______ even when they want it.

Why is increasing world population such a concern?

1. Human suffering:

a. _____Poverty_____: 3 billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty (on less than $2/day).

b. _______Sanitation_______: More than 1 billion people do not have access to clean and safe drinking water.

c. ______Hunger and malnourishment_____: Thousands of people die everyday from lack of food and poor nutrition.

d. ___War___: Many conflicts worldwide are directly or indirectly caused by too many people wanting a limited number of local resources. Millions of people are forced to become refuges every year.

2. ____Environmental Damage_________:

a. ________Pollution of soil, water and air______: Areas under strain from higher populations often have poor land, water and air quality.

b. Few ______environmental protection______ plans exist in developing countries.

3. High population does __not___ mean ________high consumption_________:

a. The majority of the world’s ________population______ lives in

______developing_____ countries.

b. However, the majority of the world’s ____resources___ are consumed

in ____developed_____ countries.

c. As ____developing_____ countries gain technology and industrialization,

their citizens will begin to use more ____resources_____.

The Current Population of the World is approximately ____6.7 billion people_____.

Power of Population Pyramids:

Introduction: To help project population numbers for different countries, demographers look at the profile of the countries’ residents. What are the ages of the people? How many are men? How many are women? Taking this information, they construct “population pyramids.” These graphs depict the configuration of a country’s population as impacted by 70 to 80 years of economic, political, and natural events. Population pyramids represent a specific population, sorted by age and gender, with the youngest at the bottom and the oldest at the top. Each age level grouping is called a cohort. These graphs can also help predict future population trends.

World Population Pyramid:

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Directions:

1. You will work to create a population pyramid for a specific country.

Your assigned country = ___________________________________

2. Use graph paper to construct a population pyramid. You should draw a line down the middle of the graph to separate the male and female populations. You will plot the percentage of the population for each cohort along the x-axis – the females to the right and males to the left of the center line. The age groups will be running up the y-axis with the youngest at the bottom and the oldest at the top. (Use the cohort separations shown on your world population sample pyramid.) After graphing your data, use colored pencils to shade in the two sides of the graph.

3. Remember to label your graph with the country!

Questions:

1. Where are you represented on the U.S. population pyramid? (In other words, what percentage of the U.S.’s population is in your age cohort?)

Answers will vary

2. Are there more baby boys or more baby girls born in each country?

Pretty even distribution

3. Are there more elderly women or men? Why might that be the case?

In industrialized society, females generally outnumber males after the age of 40. Why? Men are involved in hard labor or working outside of the home. Also, men are more likely to be involved in war. Women take care of the home, family, etc.

4. Can you tell from the graphs which country has the most people? Why or why not?

No, the graphs only show percentage of the population in each cohort, it doesn’t give you actual numbers of people.

5. Of the countries selected, which graphs look most like pyramids? What does that indicate about their population growth rates? What factors would change the shape of the pyramids in the future?

Nigeria is shaped mostly like a pyramid. They have a large birth rate with a high young population that shrinks the older proportion at the oldest ages. They are a very fast growing nation.

If they were to develop better healthcare, then the death rate would decline, more people would survive to older ages as well as younger populations.

6. Looking at the pyramids, which of these selected countries appears to have the slowest rates of population growth? How can you tell?

France is the slowest. They appear to have negative growth, you can tell because of the low birth rates. It is smaller at the bottom of the graph than at the top.

7. How would you expect the Mexican pyramid to look if you graphed it 40 years from now? Why do you think that?

Answers will vary. Most likely, a slow growth pyramid may be the shape of their future population. They are becoming more industrialized with American businesses moving to Mexico and hiring within their country for work.

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As you viewed this movie, what were two things that stuck out to you as important, relevant pieces of information?

Answers will vary

Does this production make you think about the United States in a different way? Why or why not?

Do you think this movie will impact you personally in any way? If not, why not? If yes, how?

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Where?

Island in Pacific Ocean

Who?

People on Easter Island originally from Polynesia

What happened?

Used up natural resources like trees for cooking, making ocean going vessels, etc.

Trees became extinct, lead to animals extinction.

Rats ate seeds that would normally have allowed for regrowth.

What have we learned about sustainability?

To manage our resources so that they are there for future usage. Do not use more resources than can be replaced. Take care of what resources you do have so don’t end up like Easter Islanders.

How did it end?

People began to starve

War broke out

Government fell apart

Knocked over each others statues

When?

Before 1700’s

From: :

From:

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