CES, Week 20: Human Population Growth

Last week might have been the shortest school week in history. 1.5 days. It makes finding continuity withinthe curriculum difficult (espeically with me at the helm). Never the less, we’ll continue focusing on the impacts humans have had on the natural capital that sustains us. We will spend at least two days looking at the factors driving exponential human populaiton growth, and you will begin individual investigations of  devloped and developing nations.

Monday (1/11/10): Finish discussion on Human impacts on Biosphere. Assignment: Specific examples of human impacts on biosphere.

Tuesday (1/12/10): Human Population Growth I

Wednesday (1/13/10): Human Population Growth II

Thursday (1/14/10): Human Demographics Assignment. Each student will pull two countries (one developed and one developing) out of a hat. Batering may insue. Expectations for assignment will be discussed.

Friday (1/15/10): Begin brainstorming Human Demographics Assignment/Determine timeline for completion/Campus recycling

CES, week 19: Human Population Growth

Welcome back, kids. I hope you had a restful break, and I hope you retained some of that good knowledge on the ecology of biomes, ecosystems, communities, and populations. ‘Cause let me tell you something…it is completely neccessary for understanding human population growth, and for understanding how humans use the natural capital available on Earth.

This week will be a quick introduction of the fundamental principles of human population growth, and the basic idea of developed and developing countries. Maybe we’ll get into the sticky topic of “transitional countries”. I know you all will enjoy this unit, and I’m sure it we will have some rich discussions.

Next week you will dive in deeper to human demographics by investigating a developing and developed nation in the same region. This project is similar to your boime project, but it focuses more on how humans use the natural capital, not so much on the natural capital itself. I will tell you more about that project next week.

So, without further ado…welcome to the spring semester

Wednesday (1/6/09): An overview of human uses of natural resources

Thursday (1/7/09): An overview of human population growth (warning…this is a data-heavy presentation).

Friday (1/8/09): Wrap up human population growth and campus recycling

apes: ripped from the headlines

…or should I say, headlines ripped from apes? I was at the local Chevron station on Sunday morning, buying a Diet Coke, and I looked down at the Birmingham News and guess what I saw. The front page article, just belwo the fold was about Birmingham’s current mayoral race and focused on regional cooperatoin and economic development. Sound familiar? It gets better. The first paragraph of the article compared Birmingham’s failures at reginal development to successes in Chattanooga and Denver. We talked about and wrote about these very things in our final project.

Remember what I said at the end of the year. The work we did was meaningful. The ideas and solutions you guys generated are meaningful. Use them as you move on to your next phase of learning.

BTW…the entire article is available in the followig link. http://blog.al.com/birmingham-elections/2010/01/birmingham_mayors_race_1.html

APES: The Semester In Review

I wanted to follow up on one of the conversations we had earlier today in APES. If someone asks you what you did in school today, or for the semester, don’t tell them, “Nuthin.” Pick any (or all) of these things…

• Collected Particulate Air Pollution in downtown Birmingham and at home.
• Learned the basics of Climatology
• Compared microclimate variations in Birmingham and Summit County, Colorado.
• Remembered how water (humidity) moderates temperatures. Damn, that high specific heat and high heat of vaporization, it never goes away.
• Investigated the natural capital of Earth’s major biomes and looked at how natural capital influenced human culture within each biome.
• Applied simple ecosystem models to the Cahaba River and Little Cahaba Rivers.
• Caught six species of fishes in the Little Cahaba River.
• Caught over 20 families of aquatic macro invertebrates in the Little Cahaba River.
• Calculated the species diversity of leaf litter invertebrates. Remember, “The  Fall of the Kryptozoa.”
• Generated visual models of botched management strategies for major aquatic ecosystems.
• Investigated human demographics and economic realities of developed and developing countries.
• Uncovered the ugly truth about your family’s water consumption.
• Mined for coal and learned about profit margins and spot prices for non-renewable energy.
• Researched feasible , progressive regional energy policies for the US.
• Wrote policy to improve Birmingham’s Air Quality, decrease congestion on our highways and pave the way for sustainable economic development in the City Center.
(And you thought that first lab was just an excuse to get outside in August.)

I enjoyed having each of you in APES this year. I trust you learned something. Remember to apply what you learned to your daily behavior. Those little things do add up.
I know that some days in APES can be pretty depressing. Our resources are limited, the planet is crowded, and the environmental problems we face are tangled and thorny. Despite the reality of this moment, I believe that now is the most exciting time in human history to be alive. The opportunities for real progress, and the chance to change the world for the better, are palpably close.

CES: Final Exam, Wednesday, December 16, 10:00am

Man, I hope I have the day and time right. I think I do. Anyway, I know I’ve got the content correct. As I promised, I am giving you an overview of my expectations for the final. The exam will be all graphing, tables and short answer. All your claims should be backed up with accurate evidence. Your reasons should reflect appropriate scientific principles related to population ecology and aquatic ecosystems.

Here’s what the exam looks like:

I. Graphing Data: Use the data you collected on Lemna spp. growth over the last two weeks (and a graphing template on page two) and graph all of the following:..

II. Using Thali as your population indicator calculate the miniumum maximum, and average (mean) growth rate…

III. Claims (back them up with evidence from above)…

IV. REASONS (here’s where you get to tell me what you think, based on scientific principles.)…

APES: The Class You Can’t Escape

Aditi brought up the Kingston, TN,  coal ash disaster  in class on Friday. I received the following email and Birmingham News report from the Cahaba River Society this afternoon. It seems air quality issues and power generation are tied to water quality and aquatic ecosystems. Who’d a thunk it? Y’all would after a semester of APES. The entire letter can be found on a a page called Kingston Mine. Untagling the connectiong in this article  could serve as another final exam for APES.

PESTLE Update: The working draft is available

D’Andre just emailed me your working draft. It’s contained on the page called, “PESTLE…Round 3” Get some decent work done over the weekend. Remember, everyone has to agree on every word. That is consensus.
You will be back in your sectors on Tuesday. The physical space between everyone will provide a good perspective on the text.
We will clean everything up, and have a quick signing ceremony on Tuesday.

apes, week 18: Pounding out the PESTLE

Hey kids, check the columns to see where we stand so far on our final project.

Monday (12/7) should be productive. On Friday you started thinking about “next steps” and forming natural partnerships with other sectors. On Monday I want us to come up  want each sector to come up with 2 or 3 agenda items for the policy paper. We will step back and look for two things. One, look for  items have natual connections. Second, look for  agenda items that are completely at odds with eachother.

As we move forward on Monday I want you to think about a couple of guiding principles. Remeber that every word we write has to be agreed upon by consensus. That means that everyone must agree that every paragraph/sentence/word matters, and they fit the goal of the final document. I think it will be easier to come to consensus on every word, every sentence, and every paragraph if we think hard about our initial ideas and make good descisions early.

Look for the pages on the right to fill up as we move through the process. I know we are dealing with a short clock, but we need to be writing by Wednesday. Oh yeah, and one more thing: Roll Tide.

CES, Week 18: More on Pop Eco (Population Ecology)

Monday (12/7): Check Lemna, Meet “K” every population does eventually

Tuesday (12/8): Suvivorship Curves and introduction to “r” and “K” selection

Wednesday (12/9): Check Lemna, Life Histories

Thursday (12/10): Darwinian Evolution I

Friday (12/11): Darwinian Evolution II

CES, week 17: Pop Eco!

Pop Eco = population ecology. This is the pivot before the pivot. It’s been my experience that to really understand human population growth we need to understand how all naturally occuring populations grow and find balance with their environment. These next two weeks will be a combination of discussion, lab work and simulations.

Monday (11/30): Set up Lemna Growth Study

Tuesday (12/1): Population Ecology Concepts (1)

Wedensday (12/2): Population Ecology Concepts (2) (check Lemna)

Thursday (12/3): Exponential Growth Simulation

Friday (12/4): Campus Recycling (check
Lemna)