Final Review

Environmental Understanding, Ethics & Philosophy

Key Vocabulary
Anthropocentric
Anthropogenic
Biocentric
Conservation
Preservation
NIMBY (not in my backyard)
Utilitarianism
Pinchot

Review Questions
1. What is the present world population?
2. Which countries are the most populated?
3. What percentage of people are considered wealthy and acutely poor?
4. What are the two most important environmental philosophies?

Biodiversity

Key Vocabulary
Adaptive Radiation
Genetic Assimulation
Evolution
Natural Selection
Divergent Evolution
Convergent Evolution
Biodiversity
Captive Breeding
Endangered species
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Exotic species
Extinction
Flagship species
HIPPO
International Wildlife Treaties Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES)
Introduced Species
Invasive species
Island Biogeography
Keystone Species
Threatened species
Vulnerable species
Migratory Bird Treaty Act

Essential Questions
1. How do the mass extinctions in the pass differ from the rate of biodiversity loss experienced today?
2. How long does it take biodiversity to recover after a mass extinction?
3. What are the major challenges to preserving the biodiversity on the planet?
4. What characteristics do most endangered species share in terms of territory size requirements? 5. What other features do many endangered species have in common?
6. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) identifies threatened and endangered species in the US and puts their protection ahead of what kind of considerations?
7. What are some of the shortcoming of the ESA and what might be a better way to successfully protect species?
8. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists species that cannot be traded in what form?
9. Why do invasive species have such a field day in their new environment?
10. What are some examples of endangered and extinct species?

Biological Communities and Species Interaction

Key Vocabulary
Abundance
Adaptation
Biome
Climax community
Commensalism
Competition
Competitive Exclusion
Community
Diversity
Ecological succession
Ecosystem
Evolution
Genetic Drift
Habitat
Indicator Species
Keystone species
Limiting factor
Mutualism
Natural selection
Niche
Parasitism
Physiological
Pioneer species
Population
Predation
Primary productivity
Primary succession
Producers
Range of Tolerance
Resilience
Resource partitioning
Richness
Secondary succession
Selective pressure
Species
Succession
Tolerance limits
Variable
Critical Limiting Factor
Stability

Review Questions
1. What are the various stages of ecological succession in our area?
2. What are the main types of species interactions?
3. What are the reasons for intraspecific and interspecific competition?
4. What is the relationship between physiological adaptations and evolutionary success?
5. Be able to differentiate between non-inheritable traits and genetically transferable ones in an organism.
6. What limits species abundance?
7. What factors influence community diversity?
8. How do abundance and diversity change in relation to latitude?
9. What are the differences between primary and secondary succession?

Land Use

Key Vocabulary
Clearcutting
Closed canopy
Deforestation
Desertification
Environmental Impact Statement
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
National Environmental Policy Act
Old Growth Forest
Open canopy
Overgrazing
Rangeland Management
Selective Cutting
Sustainable Forestry
Tree plantations
Wilderness Act

Essential Questions
1. What are some of the negative results of deforestation?
2. What are the positive benefits of leaving the forest untouched?
3. How can one remove trees for timber with minimal damage to the ecosystem? 
4. What are the different types of forest management and what are their pros and cons?
5. What are the best methods of rangeland management?

Matter, Energy and Life

Key Vocabulary
Abiotic
Aerobic respiration
Ammonification
Assimilation
Autotroph
Batesian Mimicry
Biomass
Biotic
Carbon Cycle
Carnivore
Cellular Respiration
Chlorophyll
Co-evolution
Conservation of Matter
Consumers
Decomposers
Denitrification
Detritivore
Detritus feeders
Energy Cycle
Entropy
First law of thermodynamics
Food chain
Food web
Heat Transfer
Herbivore
Heterotroph
Law of Conservation of Matter
Leach
Legumes
Mullerian Mimicry
Nitrification
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen fixation
Nutrient cycle
Omnivore
Phosphate
Phosphorus cycle
Photosynthesis
Primary consumer
Producer
Scavenger
Second law of thermodynamics
Secondary consumer
Sink
Source
Sulfur Cycle
Tertiary consumer
Trophic level

Review Questions
1. Know how the first and second law of thermodynamics govern ecosystem dynamics.
2. What is the difference between low and high quality energy?
3. Energy doesn't recycle, but does matter?
4. Be able to make a food chain and food web for organisms in our area.
5. What are the major steps to the carbon cycle, nitrogen, phosphorus and water cycles? Which cycle slowly and which are quick?
6. What are the largest storage reservoirs for C, N, P and S?
7. Be able to diagram the tropic levels for organisms.
8. Know the names of each trophic level and be able to give examples.
9. Know the 10% rule of energy flow between trophic levels.
10. What percentage of the sun's rays is actually utilized by a plant for photosynthesis?
11. What is the formula for photosynthesis and cellular respiration?

Biomes and Management of Nature Preserves

Key Vocabulary
Abyssal Zone
Aphotic
Aquatic Biomes
Atoll
Benthic environment
Biome
Boreal Forest
Chapparal
Core
Corridors
Desert
Ecotone
Ecotourism
Ecosystem
Edge Effect
Epilimnion
Estuary
Euphotic zone
Fresh water
Fragmentation
Grassland
Habitat
Hypolimnion
Intertidal Zone
Littorial Zone
Limnetic Zone
Mitigation
Neritic province
Oceanic province
Pelagic environment
Permafrost
Preservation
Reclamation
Rehabilitation
Remediation
Restoration
Riparian
Savanna
Taiga
Temperate Forest
Thermocline
Tropical Rain Forest
Tundra
Wetlands
Zooanthellae

Essential Questions
1. A biome is a large distinct terrestrial region having what kind of similar features?
2. What are the characteristics of the major biomes of the Earth?
3. Specifically where are the major biomes located?
4. What is the impact of park fragmentation on the diversity of the species? How is the edge of a park effected?
5. What are the ways to protect, repair and manage ecological hot spots?
6. Why are wetlands so valuable as a resource?
7. How do wetlands control flooding?
8. Know the major aquatic biomes and the layers within in water.
9. How can parks and preserves be designed to accommodate species with a large range and to protect the biodiversity of the park?
10. Know the degree of restricted use in:

a. National Forest & National Resource lands,
b. National Wildlife Refuges
c. National Wilderness Preservation System & National Parks

 

Population Dynamics

Key Vocabulary
Arithmetic growth
Biotic potential
Carrying capacity
Density-dependent factor
Density-independent factor
Dieback
Dynamic State of Equilibrium
Exponential increase
Environmental resistance
Irruptive growth
J-curve
K strategist
Logistic growth
Malthusian growth
Overshoot
Population
Population density
R strategist
S-curve

Essential Questions
1. How do you estimate the population of groups of organisms in a large area?
2. What factors might regulate the population growth of an organism?
3. What does environmental resistance limit?

Human Populations

Key Vocabulary
Age structure
Age structure histograms
Birth rates
Birth control
Brandt line
Crude birth rate
Crude death rate
Death rate
Demographic transition
Developed countries
Developing countries
Doubling time
Fecundity
Fertility
Histogram
Industrial stage
Infant mortality
Mortality
Natality
Preindustrial stage
Replacement fertility level
Rule of 70
Survivorship Curves
Thomas Malthus
Transitional stage
Zero Population Growth

Essential Questions
1. What are some possible solutions to the soaring world population growth?
2. How does the growth rate of humans affect the use of world resources and health of the environment?
3. How do developed and underdeveloped countries differ in age structure, birth rates, infant mortality, death rates, male to female ratios and population growth?
4. Know how to read age structure diagrams.
5. Know how to calculate the annual percent growth rate (including immigration and emigration numbers).
6. Understand how to read survival curves for different organisms.
7. How do you calculate the doubling time of organisms?
8. How does the birth and death rate change as a developing society becomes more industrialized?
 

Environmental Health and Toxicology

Key Vocabulary
Acute
Antagonisitc toxins
Antigens
Asbestos fibers
Background radiation
Bioaccumulation
Biomagnification
Carcinogen
Chronic
DALY's
Dose-Response Curve
Environmental Risk Analysis
Half-life
HAZMAT (hazardous material)
LD50
Morbidity
Mortality
Mutagen
Neurotoxin
Pathogen
Rachel Carson
Radioactive decay
Radioisotope
Synergism
Teratogen
Threshold level
Toxicology
Toxin

Essential Questions
1. What are the biggest biological and chemical threats to human life? How do the threats to Americans differ from people who live in the third world!
2. Know what happened at Bhopal, India; Minamata, Japan; Chernobyl, Ukraine; Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania; Times Beach, Missouri; Exxon Valdez, Alaska; Iraqi army and American army in Iraqi; and Love Canal, New York.
3. How do you measure the concentration of the toxicity of a substance? Also know your conversions from ppm to ppb!

ex. 550 parts per million (ppm) would be equivalent to
a. 5.5 ppb
b. 55 ppb
c. 5.500 ppb
d. 55,000 ppb
e. 550,000 ppb

4. What is the significance of the LD50 dose and the threshold level of toxicity?
5. How does the damage to an organism differ between a chronic and an acute dose of a toxin?
6. What information is given in a dose-response curve graph? Be able to read the graph.
7. How do the results of toxicity tests relate to environmental degradation and human health?
8. A mutagen, teratogen and carcinogen all affect humans in what ways? Would that be considered a hereditary illness?
9. How does the amount of radioactive material change with each consecutive half life?
10. How is environmental risk measured and analyzed?
11. What are the main toxic heavy metal pollutants and how to they get into the environment?

Environmental Geology

Key Vocabulary
Bauxite
Convection Current
Convergent plate boundary
Crust
Divergent plate boundary
Epicenter
Erosion
Geologic Time Scale
Heap Leach Mining
Igneous
Lava
Magma
Mantle
Metamorphic
Mineral
Open Pit Mining
Ore
Pangaea
Placer Mining
Plate tectonics
Sedimentary
Seismograph
Smelting
Spoil Banks
Strategic Metals
Strip mining
Subduction
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
Tectonic plates
Weathering

Essential Questions
1. How did plate tectonics affect the diversity of organisms in terms of habitat change and evolution?
2. How do volcanic eruptions affect weather patterns?
3. How does the pattern of volcanoes and earthquakes relate to plate tectonics?
4. What major land forms are created by the different types of plate boundaries.
5. Know the major periods and eras of the Earth's history, its dates, and when each major life form appeared.
6. Know how each rock type formed and the most common elements in the Earth's crust.
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of surface mining?
8. How do you read a seismogram?
9. How do volcanic eruptions affect weather patterns?
10. What are the dangers of cave mining?
11. What is the composition of the crust, the mantle, the core?
12. Know how minerals form.
13. What are the ways minerals/rocks are extracted from the earth?
14. What kind of global reserves do we have of our major economic minerals?

Food and Agriculture

Key Vocabulary
Aquaculture
Biotechnology
Capillary action
Castings
Compost
Contour plowing
Crop rotation
Delaney clause
Food additives
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
Food Quality Protection Act
Free range
Genetically Modified Organisms
GRAS list
Green revolution
Gully erosion
Hydroponics
Humus
Infiltration
Industrial Revolution
Irradiating food
Leaching
Leaf litter
Loam
Monoculture
Mulch
No-till agriculture
Organic agriculture
Organic Food
Overcultivation
Parent Material
Percolation
Purse seining
Rill Erosion
Salinization
Sand
Sediment
Slash-and-burn agriculture
Soil
Soil Horizons
Strip cropping
Subsistence farming
Subsoil
Sustainable agriculture
Terracing
Topsoil
Weathering

Essential Questions
1. What are the ways to retard soil erosion in agriculture?
2. What are the methods of mechanical and chemical weathering?
3. How is soil formed? How is humus formed?
4. What is the order of sediments from larger to smallest?
5. How do you identify the different soil types using the texture test?
6. What are the soil horizons in a soil profile?
7. What kinds of soil hold water?
8. What is the drawback of aquaculture?
9. What components of the soil are important for growing healthy plants?
10. What kinds of soil hold the most water? Which kinds drain the fastest?
11. Why is monoculture and decreased genetic diversity in crops a problem in today's agriculture?
12. Should humans eat high or low on the food chain to lessen the impact on limited land resources?
13. Know how to read a soil sediment size chart.
14. What are the major foods of the world?
15. What are the main soil types?
16. What is the human nutritional requirement?
17. What are the types of agriculture?
18. How has genetic engineering effected crop production?
19. What are the types of irrigation?
20. How can agriculture be made to be sustainable?
21. What are the major fishing techniques and their drawbacks?
22. How is over fishing impacting fish populations around the world?

Pest Control

Key Vocabulary
Biological control
Broad-spectrum pesticide
Chlorinated hydrocarbons
ex. DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
Fungicide
Herbicide
Host specific
Insecticide
IPM (integrated pest management)
Natural chemical control
Nonpersistent
Non-point sources
Organophosphate Pesticide (ex. Malathion)
Persistent
Pesticide Treadmill
POP (persistent organic pollutants)
Resistance
Second generation pesticide

Essential Questions
1. How do you measure the success of a pesticide?
2. How are pesticides classified?
3. What are the benefits of pesticide use?
4. What are the negative effects of pesticide use?
5. What are some alternatives to pesticides?
6. What are some examples of IPM?

Air, Weather and Climate

Key Vocabulary
Albedo
Carbon dioxide
Coriolis effect
El Nino
ENSO
Evapotranspiration
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Humidity
Kyoto Protocol
La Nina
Mesosphere
Milankovitch cycle
Stratosphere
Thermal Expansion
Thermosphere
Transpiration
Troposphere

Essential Questions
1. How does the differential heating of the planet create global wind patterns?
2. How are species migrating because of the impact of global warming?
3. How is the energy from sunlight distributed throughout the Earth and its atmosphere?
4. What are the layers of the atmosphere?
5. What affect does El Nino and La Nina have on global weather patterns?
6. How has the level of CO2 changed since the Industrial revolution?
7. How does the greenhouse affect work, what are typical greenhouse gasses, their sources, and how can we reduce the emission of these gasses?
8. What are the global repercussions of the greenhouse affect?
9. What will be the impact of global warming on our Midwestern farmland and Northeastern hardwoods?
10. What is the composition and percentages of the elements in the air?
11. What percentage of C02 emissions does the US emit?
12. How much as the global temperature risen since the industrial revolution?
13. Which areas will be the most impacted by global warming and the rising of sea levels?
14. What causes seasons?
15. How does solar energy change with latitude?

Air Pollution

Key Vocabulary
Aerosols
Acid deposition
Acid precipitation
Alkaline
Ambient standards
Bronchitis
Carbon dioxide
Carbon monoxide
Catalytic converter
CFC (Chlorofluorocarbons)
Chlorosis
Clean Air Act
Criteria pollutants
Electrostatic precipitators
Emphysema
EPA
Fly ash
Fugitive emissions
Heat Island
Hydrocarbon
Incinerator
Inorganic compounds
Legionnaires Disease
Methane
Montreal Protocol
Nitric acid (NHO3)
Nitric oxides
Noise pollution
NOX
Open Burning
Ozone (O3)
Ozone hole
PAN (peroxyacetylnitrates)
Particulate material
Photochemical smog
Primary pollutant
Radon
Scrubbers
Secondary pollutant
Sick building syndrome
SOX
Sulfuric oxides
Temperature (Thermal) Inversion
Ultraviolet Radiation
Unconventional pollutant
Volatile organic compounds

Essential Questions
1. What are the main types and consequences of air pollution in the developing versus the undeveloped countries?
2. At what pH is rain considered acid rain?
3. What are the affects of acid rain on the environment?
4. How can we remediate lakes that have become too acidic? Is this a long term solution?
5. How do we reduce the emission of pollutants that cause acid rain?
6. How do weather patterns affect the deposition of acid precipitation?
7. How does weather and topography relate to air pollution?
8. What substance is causing the thinning of the ozone?
9. How is the ozone layer being protected and why is that important to us?
10. What are the main primary and secondary sources of air pollution and the solutions for their reduction.
11. What regulations do the Clean Air Act cover?
12. What is sick building syndrome and its causes?
13. How does radon enter a home?
14. What is the cause of ozone on the ground and what effect does it have on humans?
15. How can we reduce the amount of sulfur in coal?
16. What are the sources of noise pollution, its effects and how can it be controlled?

Water Use and Management

Key Vocabulary
Aral Sea
Aswan High Dam
Aqueduct
Aquifer
Brackish water
Buffering Capacity
Center pivot irrigation
Cloud seeding
Condensation nuclei
Cone of depression
Desalinization
Drainage Basin
Drip irrigation
Drought
Fish Ladder
Gray water
Groundwater remediation
Hard water
Hydrologic cycle
Hydraulic gradient
Infiltration
Mono Lake
Nonconsumptive water use
Ogallala Aquifer
Potable water
Rain shadow Effect
Residence time
Saltwater intrusion
Seep
Sink hole
Soft water
Storm water
Subsidence
Surface water
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Three Gorges Dam
Turbidity
Water table
Watershed (drainage basin)
Xeriscaping
Zone of aeration
Zone of saturation

Essential Questions
1. What are the most common pathways in the water cycle?
2. What is the percent distribution of fresh and salt water on the Earth? Where is most of the fresh water located?
3. What defines a watershed (water drainage basin)?
4. What are the patterns of domestic water use in the U.S. versus worldwide usage?
5. What indoor water conservation tips would you give to your family to cut down on your home water use?
6. Be able to illustrate a cross section of groundwater before and after heavy well pumping and be able to identify the zone of aeration, zone of saturation and the water table.
7. How is the hydraulic gradient affected by wells?
8. What are the consequences of groundwater depletion?
9. What is the difference between soft and hard water and why is hard water a problem for shower takers?
10. What is the biggest watershed in the US?
11. What is the level of water use for agriculture, industry and residential?

Water Pollution

Key Vocabulary
Activated sludge
Aeration Tank
Algae
Algae bloom
Aquatic Species Monitoring
Biological nutrient removal
Biosolids
BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand)
Chlorination
Clean Water Act of 1972
Coliform bacteria
Constructed wetlands
Cultural eutrophication
DO (Dissolved oxygen)
Effluent
Eutrophic
Eutrophication
Fecal coliform test
Grit chamber
Groundwater pollution
Heavy metal
Hypoxic Zone
Indicator organisms
Indicator species
National Priority List
Natural biological control
Non-point source
Oligotrophic
Oxygen sag
Pathogenic Organisms
PCB (polycholorinated biphenyls)
Point source
Primary treatment
Red Tide
Safe Drinking Water Act
Secondary treatment
Septic System
Sewage Treatment
Sludge
Tertiary treatment
Thermal pollution
Treated sludge
Trickling filter system
Turbidity
Waste lagoons
Water purification
Water remediation
Water quality act

Review Questions
1. How can aquatic insects be used to determine the level of pollution in a river or stream?
2. What is the normal source of DO in water? Why does it fluctuate daily?
3. Explain the process of eutrophication including its sources, immediate and long term consequences.
4. How does it affect the levels of BOD and DO at the site of polluted effluent versus farther downstream?
5. What is the relationship between BOD and DO?
6. What are the ways we can reduce water pollution?
7. What is the flow chart and operations of a sewage treatment plant?
8. What is the comparison of nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved suspended solids, BOD, fecal coliform and toxic substances before and after sewage treatment?
9. What would you be measuring if you tested for water acidity, salinity, turbidity, hardness, BOD, and DO? How would you test for them?
10. Why are human feces NOT used on agricultural lands (besides the gross factor)
11. How could a sewage treatment plant MAKE energy?
12. How is water purified?

Solid, toxic and hazardous waste

Key Vocabulary
Biological Treatment
Brownfields
Chemical Treatment
Composting
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act
Demanufacturing
Hazardous Waste
Incineration
Integrated Waste Management
Law of the Sea
London Dumping Convention
Low Level Radioactive Policy Act
LULU
Mass burn
Methane
National Priorities List
Nuclear Waste Policy Act
Recycling
Refuse-Derived Fuel
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Sanitary Landfill
Superfund

Review Questions
1. What are the major drawbacks of incinerating waste?
2. What are the major components of landfill?
3. How do sanitary landfills work?
4. How can we reduce the quantity of solid waste?
5. What are the types of hazardous waste?
6. What is the best treatment and disposal of hazardous waste?
7. How are contaminated sites cleaned of hazardous waste?
8. When is it best to use chemical versus biological treatment of waste?
9. What is the best method of waste disposal from the most to the least energy used?

Environmental Economics, Policy, and Law

Key Vocabulary
Agenda 21
Bottle law
Communal Resource System
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit ratio
Debt for Nature
Demand
Earth Summit
Endangered species act
External Cost
Externalities
Garrett Hardin
GNP (Gross National Product)
Green Businesses
Human Development Index
International Money Fund
Lacey Act
Lobbying
Madrid Protocol
Marginal Cost
Market Equilibrium
Mitigation
NIMTOO (Not in my term of office)
Nonrenewable resource
Renewable resource
Special Interest group
Steady State Economy
Supply
Tragedy of the Commons
True cost
World Bank
WTO

Review Questions
1. What are the local state and national laws that apply to the air, water and toxic waste regulations?
2. How are cost-benefit ratios determined and how are they used in natural resources?
3. What are the different Earth summits, their location, focus and achievements?
4. What is the impact of economic globalization on the environment?
5. What is the influence of the World bank in the protection of the environment?

Conventional Energy

Key Vocabulary
Arab Oil Embargo
Anthracite Coal
Blackouts
Bituminous Coal
Boiling Water Reactor
Breeder reactor
BTU (British Thermal Unit)
Chain reaction
Chernobyl
Containment Building
Deregulation
Energy Crisis
Enriched Uranium
Ethanol
Exxon Valdez
Fission
Fission products
Fluidized Bed Combustion
Fossil fuels
Fusion
Fuel assembly
Fuel rods
Half Life
High level waste
Isotope
Land subsidence
Lignite
Low level waste
Meltdown
Natural Gas
Nonrenewable resources
Nuclear power
Oil sand
Oil shale
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
Operating efficiency
Peat
Potential energy
Power grid
Pressurized Water Reactor
Spent Fuel
Steam Generator
Synthetic Fuels (Synfuels)
Tar sands
Three Mile Island
Turbine
Turbogenerator
Watt

Essential Questions
1. What are renewable and nonrenewable resources?
2. How do you determine the rate of energy use for a private home?
3. In your home survey, which items required the most electricity to run? Which items were the most inefficient to run in your house (lost the most energy to heat)?
4. How can the use of conventional energy resources be reduced?
5. What common products are derived from petroleum?
6. What are the different stages of the development of coal?
7. What is the history of energy use in the world/U.S.?
8. What is the percentage of energy is used by industry, commerce and private homes?
9. What percentage of world energy does the US use versus its population percentage?
10. What energy sources do we rely most on now and what is our percent of use?
11. How long are our world and U.S. oil reserves predicted to last?
12. Relatively how efficient is the production of electricity from nuclear power, coal and natural gas? 13. What is the efficiency of a coal fired plant?
14. Know the parts and functions of a nuclear power plant.
15. What are the problems with relying on nuclear energy in terms of safety?
16. What new types of automobiles are being invented/produced that would reduce our dependence on oil? What are their draw backs?
17. Know the factor-label method for calculations. Know the UNITS involved.
18. Study the energy conversion problems we did in class.
19. Review how to do simple mathematical calculations without a calculator!
20. What toxic substances does burning coal emit?
21. What percentage in weight is sulfur found in coal?
22. What are the different types of nuclear reactors?
23. How does a breeder reactor NOT use up its energy?
24. How is oil and natural gas formed?
25. What are the extraction and purification methods of oil and gas?
26. What is a synfuel and how likely is it to relieve our energy crisis?
27. What is the impact of radiation on human health?
28. What are the present methods of storing nuclear waste?
29. How likely is nuclear fusion as an energy source on Earth?

Sustainable Energy

Key Vocabulary
Alternative Energy
Bioconversion
Biogas
Biomass
Cogeneration
Fuel cells
Fuel wood
Gasohol
Geothermal
Hybrid Electric cars
Hydroelectric Power
Hydrogen Fuel cell
Maximum sustainable yield
Passive Solar Heating
Photovoltaic cells
Recycle
Renewable Energy Resources
Tidal power
Turbogenerator
Waste-to-energy
Wind turbines

Essential Questions
1. How do the different alternative energy uses compare in terms of consumption rate and efficiency?
2. How do we conserve and preserve energy resources in terms of reducing use, using efficient energy devices and alternative renewable resources?
3. How could the U.S. alter its energy use to become 100% sustainable? Why aren't we doing this?
4. Know the positive features and negative drawbacks of each type of alternative energy source.
5. Which types of alternative energy are the most feasible to replace our oil/nuclear power dependency?
6. What is the fastest growing renewable energy resource?
7. What is required to install passive versus active solar heating systems in a home?
8. How is silting, floods and salmon migration impacted by dams?
9. What is the energy efficiency of alternative energy sources?
10. What are the CAFE standards?
11. What are some excellent ways to conserve energy?
12. How are ocean wave and small-scale hydroelectric energy harnessed?
13. How does geothermal energy work? If it is located away from a magma source, is it better for warming or cooling a home?
14. How does a hybrid electric car work?
15. How does a hydrogen fuel cell work?

Urbanization, Sustainable Cities and Personal Action

Key Vocabulary
Consumptive Use
Federal Highway System
Planned development
Sustainable development
Sustainability
Urban blight
Urbanization
Suburban sprawl

Essential Questions
1. What factors have caused urban sprawl throughout the world?
2. What are some alternative uses of land that create an economical, ecological, uncontaminated and sustainable environment?
3. What are the goals of sustainable development?
4. What changes in urbanization are predicted in the next 50 years?
5. How could American cities be redesigned to be more ecologically sound and culturally amenable?
6. What are the principles of cluster development?
7. How can you as an independent, educated citizen alter your lifestyle to live more sustainably?
8. What creates urban blight?
9. What methods do we have to encourage politicians to enact more environmentally sustainable policies?
10. What kinds of governmental regulations would be necessary to promote a sustainable American society?
11. What is the impact of canals and channels on transportation infrastructure?