COREQUISITE: 

ENG101 - English Composition or equivalent

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

This course uses an Open Education Resource (OER) which is free. You can access the textbook at the following URL: https://www.ck12.org/user:zg9yc25lckbnbwfpbc5jb20./book/Essentials-of-Environmental-Science/

 Henry (2016) CCC ENV101 Lab Manual (custom course pack) CPSHP

REQUIRED MATERIALS:  

Safety glasses are required for all on-campus sections.

 As the result of instructional activities, students will be able to:

1. Understand the scientific principles of a long-term sustainable society.
   • Describe the need for an increased reliance on renewable energy.
   • Define biodiversity and identify its importance to sustainability.
   • Discuss the earth’s chemical cycles and identify how humans have impacted their natural function.
2. Understand the concept of ecological footprint and apply it to their lifestyle.
3. Define science and the scientific process.
   • Identify key differences between reliable and unreliable science.
4. Define the Law of Conservation of Matter.
   • Discuss the implications of this scientific law on waste reduction, recycling, and reuse.
5. Define the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics.
   • Explain how energy quality is lost during transformation.
   • Discuss energy efficiency in terms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
6. Describe the levels of organization of matter in nature studied by ecologists (organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems).
   • Distinguish between biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem.
7. Define trophic levels and how energy is transferred between each level.
   • Discuss the metabolic processes of photosynthesis and respiration.
   • Distinguish between ecosystems based on their potential for net primary productivity.
   • Explain how energy flow between trophic levels is subject to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
8. Explain how matter moves within and among ecosystems through various biogeochemical cycles.
   • Identify where humans have altered biogeochemical cycles.
9. Discuss how scientists study ecosystems through field and laboratory research in an attempt to create useful models of natural systems.
   • Explain the importance of baseline data in constructing these models.
10. Discuss the major components of the earth’s biodiversity.
    • Describe the processes of speciation and extinction and identify how they affect the earth’s biodiversity.
    • Explain how geologic processes, climate change, and human activities have affected biodiversity.
    • Describe how biodiversity affects the sustainability of an ecosystem.
11. Describe the factors that influence the size of the human population.
    • Discuss how age structure is affecting the populations of developed and developing countries.
    • Identify factors that could slow human population growth.
12. Identify the major trends in urbanization.
    • Discuss the problems associated with poorly planned urban growth.
    • Describe the population shift from rural to urban areas in the U.S.
    • Identify how various methods of transportation affect the environmental sustainability and patterns of urban development.
13. Discuss the factors the influence an area’s climate.
14. Describe how climate affects the nature and location of earth’s biomes.
    • Identify how humans are impacting earth’s terrestrial ecosystems.
15. Distinguish between the major types of aquatic ecosystems.
    • Identify how humans are impacting both marine and freshwater ecosystems.
16. Describe the obstacles to attaining food security in the developing world.
    • Discuss solutions to the problem of food security.
17. Understand how food is produced.
    • Describe the methods of sustainable food production.
    • Compare and contrast high-input industrialized agriculture and traditional (organic) agriculture.
    • Describe how the increased presence of livestock feedlots and aquaculture production of carnivorous fish are unsustainable in terms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
    • Identify limitations to the continued expansion of the Green Revolution.
    • Describe environmental degradation associated with industrialized agriculture.
    • Discuss the concept of integrated pest management as a sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides.
18. Describe the importance of soils as a potentially renewable resource and the foundation upon which human civilization is built.
    • Describe the global problems associated with soil erosion, desertification, and salinization of soils due to irrigation of arid land.
    • Discuss methods of soil conservation utilized in agriculture.
19. Describe the factors that have contributed to a decrease in available fresh water supplies and the potential for water conflicts in the future.
20. Discuss traditional strategies for increasing water supplies.
    • Identify how water conservation is a sustainable alternative to these strategies.
    • Describe how groundwater overdrafts affect the future of the world’s aquifers.
    • Discuss how government policies can either encourage or discourage wasteful water use.
21. Describe how humans have increased the threat of flooding.
22. Discuss water pollution in streams, groundwater, lakes, and oceans.
    • Identify the problems associated with and methods of controlling point and nonpoint source pollution.
    • Describe how the U.S. government has regulated polluters through legislation over the past 40 years.
23. Describe current sources of energy utilized by the U.S. and the world.
    • Define the concept of net energy and evaluate various sources of energy on that basis.
24. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of nonrenewable (fossil fuels and nuclear energy) and renewable (wind, biomass, sunlight, geothermal, and hydroelectric) energy resources.
    • Identify how the wastes associated with various energy resources are handled.
25. Identify how energy efficiency in industry, automobiles, and building design could drastically reduce our dependence on nonrenewable energy resources.
    • Discuss strategies for transitioning to a more sustainable energy future.
26. Discuss nonrenewable mineral resources and identify the environmental effects of extracting these resources.
    • Describe the economic factors that control the profitability of mining and processing various grades of ore.
    • Describe the various methods of extracting mineral resources.
    • Discuss the distribution of the world’s mineral resources and explain the concept of economic depletion.
27. Discuss options for the sustainable use of the world’s mineral resources.

LAB OBJECTIVES:

The laboratory experience will reinforce lecture concepts and laboratory skills. Students will:

• Use computers as a tool for communication, data collection, and data analysis.
• Read a topographic map.
• Use geographic information systems (GIS) software to analyze geographic data.
• Demonstrate understanding of operating a variety of instrumentation and equipment normally utilized in field and laboratory settings, including:
• Soil sampling via hand auger
• Multiparameter environmental sensor measuring temperature, conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen
• Turbidity sensors
• Soil nutrient test kits
• Demonstrate the procedures for collecting representative samples of environmental media (soils and surface waters).
• Investigate the effects of common environmental contaminants on the growth of plants in a controlled setting.

• Problem solve using the process of scientific inquiry during laboratory experimentation including:

• Developing hypotheses based on the observation of natural phenomena.
• Designing an experiment based on a testable hypothesis.
• Conducting an experiment using an appropriate experimental design.
• Recording and organizing data resulting from quantitative measurement using tables and graphs.
• Performing appropriate statistical analyses on the data.
• Summarizing the data using graphs, tables, and descriptive statistics.
• Communicating through writing the results of a scientific investigation using scientific arguments and explanations.

Feel free to contact a member of the Science Department or the Science Department Chair.