EVPP 111
"Ecosphere: Environmental Science II"
Spring Semester 2004
GMU
Instructor: Dr. Kim Largen
Sec 001: MW 9:00am-10:15am
Administrative Introduction and
Human Population - Introduction
Agenda 1/21/04
- Introductions
- Course administrative details
- Distribution & review of lecture syllabus
- In-class activity #1
- Distribution and review of lab syllabus
- In-class activity #2
- Human Population - Introduction
Introductions
- Course Instructors
- Lecture
- Dr. Kim Largen
- Office: David King (DK) Hall, Room 3047
- M & W: 8:15am-8:45am & 10:30am-11:00am, others posted on website
- Phone: 703-993-1033
- Mailbox: DK Room 3042-3043
- email: klargen@gmu.edu
- background
- Course Instructors
- Lab
- graduate teaching assistants
- Hari Dulal (W 10:30am, F 10:30am, F 1:30pm)
- Carolyn Langdon (W 1:30pm)
- Jennifer Cordrey (R 10:30am)
- Ryan Albert(R 1:30pm)
- contact info will be presented in lab
Administrative Details
- Facility
- Class Format
- Website
- Class conduct
- Course goals
- Texts
- Cancelled class
- Honor Code
- Preparing for class
- Facility
- Restroom Locations
- Fire Safety
- Classroom evacuation routes
- fire exits
- posted evacuation plan
- Passable aisles
- store personal belongings under seats
- Class Format
- Time
- MW 9:00am-10:15am
- full class period, no break
- Labs, either W, R, F
- Agenda
- Lecture
- lecture
- discussion
- in-class activities/assignments
http://mason.gmu.edu/~klargen
- syllabus, lecture outlines, study guides, etc.
- distribution of additional information
Administrative Details
- Class Conduct Expectations
- Conduct that interferes with students’ or instructor’s ability to hear and/or focus on lecture cannot be tolerated
- arrive on time
- stay until end of class
- no use of cell phones, pagers, music players
- no side conversations with fellow students
- Course goals
- designed as two-semester lab science sequence
- fulfills the University General Education requirements for undergraduate students
- study components and interactions that make up the natural systems of earth
- course will teach basic concepts in
- biological
- chemical
- physical
- and earth sciences
- in an integrated format
- through a combination of lecture, laboratory, and field exercises
- lab syllabus will be presented and discussed in lab meetings
- Students completing the course are expected to
- demonstrate an understanding of
- basic components of the natural world
- basic laws of natural systems
- how they interact to produce the natural phenomena of planet Earth
- gain an appreciation of
- complexity of natural systems
- linkages which can complicate human efforts to manage the environment
- Students completing the course are expected to
- recognize & be able to apply basic scientific concepts such as
- hypothesis, experimentation, observation, substantiation, proof, prediction
- evaluate scientific information and draw appropriate inferences and conclusions from it
- distinguish between
- issues subject to scientific analysis
- those appropriate to other modes of inquiry
- Textbooks and Supplies
- Lecture
- Environmental Science: A Study of Interrelationships, ,
9th Edition, by Enger & Smith
- many excellent instructional resources available at textbook website at
- Laboratory
- instructor handouts
- EVPP 111 Lab Manual
- student printouts from website
- Cancelled Classes
- call 703-993-1000 for official notification of cancelled classes
- if an exam is scheduled for a day on which classes are cancelled (due to weather or any other reason), the exam will be given during the next scheduled class
- Honor Code
- students are expected to read and adhere to GMU Honor Code
- copying data, falsifying data, cheating on assignments and exams are considered violations of the Honor Code
- Preparing for Class
- read assigned portions of textbook and internet sites
- read pertinent unit objectives
- outline each chapter
- complete review questions at end of each chapter
- use study guides
- use instructional resources available at textbook website
- ask for help when needed!
- having trouble?
- Counseling Center offers variety of sessions
- academic counseling
- stress management
- relaxation
- improving concentration
- exam strategies
Lecture Syllabus
- Changes
- no make-up exams
- optional cumulative final exam
In-Class Activity #1: How Many Humans Can the Earth Support?
- In groups of 3-5, discuss and answer the following questions:
- What is the current population of the Earth?
- Do you think there is a limit to the number of people the Earth can support (a carrying capacity), and why or why not?
- What do think is the carrying capacity of the Earth?
Lab Syllabus
- Changes
- Penalties for
- Missed labs
- Tardiness
- Disruptive behavior
- Late lab write-ups
In-Class Activity #2:
Population Quiz
- 1. What is the most populous country on the planet?
- A. India
- B. Brazil
- C. China
- D. Indonesia
- 2. What country has the world’s highest level of "consumption overpopulation" ?
- A. USA
- B. England
- C. China
- D. Indonesia
- 3. What percent of the world's population lives in an urban setting?
- A. 15 percent
- B. 25 percent
- C. 45 percent
- D. 65 percent
- 4. Will the United States population stabilize?
- A. Yes
- B. No
- 5. What percentage of the world’s population faces chronic water shortages?
- A. 2 percent
- B. 8 percent
- C. 12 percent
- D. 22 percent
- 6. Africa’s population grows by how many people every three weeks?
- A. 20,000
- B. 50,000
- C. 1 million
- D. 5 million
- 7. When is the world’s population expected to double?
- A. 28 years
- B. 49 years
- C. 63 years
- D. 92 years
- 8. Which nation contains the greatest number of refugees?
- A. Russia
- B. US
- C. Congo
- D. Iran
- 9. The United Nations proposes what steps to stabilize the age distribution of the European Union, Japan and South Korea?
- A. Migration
- B. Deportation
- C. Mandatory family planning
- D. Interstellar colonization
- 10. What is Earth’s capacity for human population?
- A. 1 billion
- B. 5 billion
- C. 8 billion
- D. 50 billion
Human Population - Introduction
- In his "Essay on the Principle of Population" an economist and philosopher noted
- "The perpetual tendency in the race of man to increase beyond the means of subsistence is one of the general laws of animated nature which we can have no reason to expect will change."
- He concluded that
- should man struggle against his expanding population, he would "be perpetually crushed by the recoil of this rock of Sisyphus"
- His critics pointed out that, though the world's population is increasing
- the rate of population growth is slowing
- despite a declining infant mortality rate and an increasing average life span
- Who was this economist/philosopher and when was his essay published?
- In 1798, the economist and philosopher Thomas Malthus addressed the issue of human population growth in "Essay on the Principle of Population"
- Some contemporary theorists hold that there is no population problem
- Julian Simon argues
- "Our world now supports 5.5 billion people. In the 19th century the Earth could sustain only 1 billion. And 10,000 years ago, only 1 million people could keep themselves alive. People are living more healthily than ever before, too."
- Some contemporary theorists hold that there is no population problem
- believing human technology and ingenuity will enable us to continually develop solutions to the "population problem" and expand the carrying capacity of the Earth indefinitely
- Other contemporary theorists disagree
- Garrett Hardin, 1968, "The Tragedy of the Commons"
- "There has developed in the contemporary natural sciences a recognition that there is a subset of problems such as population, atomic war and environmental corruption, for which there are no technical solutions."
- The issue of world population has many points of view and few certainties
- we will explore some issues related to human population and the impact on environment
The End