Hour ___O1 Notepacket Issue Investigation

Name ______Date ______Hour ______

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 __?

O1 Notepacket 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.

2 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. Position: (Describe the position of the Values: (Describe the values you think are Players may be individuals or player. How would they respond to the issue held by the player. Explain why you think the organizations.) question?) player has those values.) Sam Hollen he believes that ethanol Economical - American farmers farmer in Southern production should be can grow crops used to produce Wisconsin expanded ethanol More cost efficient, increases octane in the fuel Environmental – reduces emissions Evaline Mutos Ethanol based fuel is a good Economical - works at GM plant works at the GM plant thing to reduce our where they produce flex fueled dependence on foreign oil vehicles Reduces need for special fueling stations Connie Brider cars are too limited yet Environmental – won’t provide economist for the state the emission reductions they 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.

3 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?)

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.)

4 Easter IslandIsland————LessonsLessons learned

Where? Island in Pacific Ocean

What happened? Who? Used up natural People on resources like Easter What have we learned about trees for cooking, Island sustainability? making ocean originally To manage our resources so that going vessels, from they are there for future usage. Do etc. Polynesia not use more resources than can be Trees became replaced. Take care of what extinct, lead to resources you do have so don’t end animals up like Easter Islanders. extinction. Rats ate seeds that would normally have allowed for regrowth.

How did it end? People began to starve When? War broke out Before Government fell apart 1700’s Knocked over each others statues

5 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.

7 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.

9 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

10 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.

11 Global Population:

From: http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/images/exponential.gif : History of Global Population Growth:

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.

12 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.

13 From: http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/TLSF/theme_c/mod12/img/fig_femlit_sml.gif

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.

From: http://www.ispub.com/xml/journals/ijh/vol3n2/reprod-fig1.jpg

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.

14 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 ____ 6.9 billion people _____.

15 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:

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

Your assigned country = ______

16 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.