Reflections on Topics in the Course
One of the most important aspects of natural science and about the environment is communication. Communication occurs at all levels, from peer reviewed research publications to product literature, from warning labels to neighbors gathering over a cup of coffee. This assignment is designed to get you thinking about some topics and experiences we have shared over the past few weeks.
PICK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS TO DO
Option A:
Describe the journey that water takes through your family's home using
either a poster (3' x 3'), a 5-7 page paper, or a series of informational
web pages. Investigate the source and quality of your family's
drinking water. What kind of treatment (if any) does it go through?
Who supplies it? Are there any chemicals added to it? Investigate
how your family's wastewater is processed. Where does it go?
What is done to it prior to its release back into the environment?
What do you normally "flush" down the drain? Does any of it pose
substantive environmental issues?
Option B:
Share what you learned about yourself, society, and the environment
through one of our class field trips to Sheldahl or the Metro Waste Treatment
Facility in a 5-7 page paper. Feel free to describe processes, feelings,
opinions, perspectives, legal issues, or the science involved in any aspect
of the experience. It is intentionally open-ended.
Option C:
Go to the Alternative Fuel Data
Center website, company websites, the Office
of Transportation Technologies Case Studies website and other resources
to investigate alternatives to internal combustion engines for vehicles.
Select one type of alternative fuel technology or one type of vehicle chasis
and construct an informational poster (3' x 3') or powerpoint presentation
describing the scope of your study, the organizations involved in the research
and development efforts, the choices one may have in the near future regarding
transportation, and the perceived environmental impact of this work.
Option D:
During the past few years, Hollywood has quietly responded to conundrum
of 'losing an enemy' by creating a new enemy, the environmental polluter.
John Travolta, and Julia Roberts have recreated silver screen sized portraits
of individuals in modern day America in their battle against corporate
polluters. Watch one of these movies and then write a scientifically
sound, environmental chemistry based 5 page movie review. Your review
should not only capture traditional aspects of movie reviewing (acting,
set design, costumes, story, etc), but it should also compare the film
to the factual data/story - or at least as much as possible. You
might have to do a little bit of digging here - online and in the library.
Erin Brokovich Universal Studios/Universal Pictures (2000), America's newest screen eco-hero. Julie Roberts portrait of a modern day file clerk in a law office who brought suit against an electric company.
Erin Brokovich - Movie
& Story Website
Famous
Trials on the Web - ANDERSON v PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC
Chromium (VI) information
- Chromium Information Bureau
Health Effects
of Chromium - EPA website
A Civil Action Disney's Touchstone Pictures (1999), John Travolta plays the lead as a civil litigation lawyer and his decade long case against an American corporation in a water pollution dispute brought by citizens of Woburn, Massachusetts town in 1981. The families of several leukemia victims in a small Massachusetts town sued Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace, two large, powerful corporations. Based upon: The book by Jonathan Harr, based on a true story.
Lessons from the
Woburn Project - Harvard Law & Seattle University Website
EPA
data on Wells G & H - EPA Superfund Site in Woburn, MA
Beyond A Civil Action
- W.R. Grace's Informational WebSite related to Woburn, MA
Before the Movie
(A Civil Action) - Charles C. Ryan's Compilation of Information
on Woburn, MA