AP Environmental Science

2018-2019
Summer Preparation

First, thank you for choosing to do the AP Environmental Science course with me. I am looking
forward to working with a motivated and successful group, all of whom should be well able to
take the AP exam in May next year.

If you are interested in environmental activities and in Environmental Science as a study, and if
you are willing to devote energy and time to the course, you will be very successful. Interest and
a desire to better understand the environment and our connections to it are clearly the two most
important “prerequisites” for this course. Another requirement is that you fully commit yourself
to meeting expectations of the course - reading, assignments, labs, class work, etc. The time we
at LCV have to prepare for AP Environmental Science is shorter than is ideal.

Although your primary summer assignments must be to relax and enjoy the summer, I am
asking you to get to work on what should be an easy and enjoyable preparation for this course.
My intention is to get you to focus on some of the issues we will cover during the school year.

E-mail me if you have questions: josborne@liceocampoverde.edu.ec. All of these assignments,

as well as your textbook link and other course information are posted on your Blog:
https://2bguapeslcv.wordpress.com/.

You should register and sign up to the Blog, becoming a follower. I will know when you do
that, that you have received these Summer assignments.

1. Blog: The APES LCV Blog is the fundamental teaching and learning resource for the
course. Everything, absolutely everything which you will need already is or will be posted on
the Blog.

You MUST become a FOLLOWER of the APES LCV Blog, so that you can receive alerts and
keep on top of the reading and assignments. Use the menu at the bottom of any Blog page to
click on the <FOLLOW> button.

This is the link to the APES LCV Blog: https://apeslcv.wordpress.com/

2. Textbook: Which textbook to use and how to make it available?

The most popular APES textbook is Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller and Scott
Spoolman, now in its 19th Edition. This costs $128 so is clearly out of our range. Earlier
editions of the same textbook can be found in digital or pdf form on the internet, the most recent
of which is now 5 years old. It is a dense textbook!

Essentially the same textbook, by the same authors, with added and spectacular visual content
from Nat Geo, is available digitally and in pdf format. This book is called Environmental
Science, 15th Edition

Here are the links to Environmental Science, 15th Edition, by Miller and Spoolman:
Blog link:
 https://apeslcv.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/340692679-environmental-science-15th-
edition.pdf
Google Drive link:
https://drive.google.com/a/liceocampoverde.edu.ec/file/d/0B5YQIzQke99KRWdIVWVqQnRaa
EU/view?usp=sharing

You should copy the textbook onto your own computer or flash memory.

3. Concept Map: Your very first assignment at the start of next school year will be to make a
poster concept map which links the 7 concepts we will study in Environmental Science. These
topics, themes or concepts are:
1. Earth's Systems and Resources
2. The Living World
3. Population
4. Land and Water Use
5. Energy Resources and Consumption
6. Pollution
7. Global change
You already know what is meant by a concept map. The content will be taken from the
textbook, which is linked above and on the Blog.

During this Summer vacation you could start on this by looking very briefly through the
textbook, to find out what the book and the course are all about, as well as to specifically find
the information you need. Maybe make a few notes to prepare yourself.

The concept map will have a central concept - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. Around this
will be located the 7 sub-concepts, each with a 4 or 5 line summary about what is its content and
focus. Concept maps are an essential tool. If you wish to find out more, including CMap Tools,
here is a Blog link: https://apeslcv.wordpress.com/skills-and-tools/concept-maps/

4. Watch a Video: Find time to watch some or all of these 4 video films. They are all available
on YouTube:
I. The Greening of Eritrea (17 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CvRy97TJVE&list=PLCru93WgymzWkBAbD1
M36XbokuD8Ep5CG
II. Baraka. (1hr 37mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btds6k0XlEQ
III. Affluenza / Escape from Affluenza (1hr 48mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtveS1kZqYA
IV. Empty oceans, empty nets (56 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VbcfQfmwPw

 'The Greening of Eritrea' is obligatory. We will analyse and review the film when we
begin work next term.
 'Baraka' is just a stunning film. If you enjoy it, then you are ready for the APES course!
 'Affluenza / Escape from Affluenza' is long but carries a strong message for us all.
 'Empty oceans, empty nets' discusses one of the more serious environmental issues
facing us today.
5. Read a Book: Get hold of an environmental book and read it. There are so many books with
an environmental focus or with a strong environmental message. Choose one or more from this
list. Or perhaps you have another choice?
1. "Being the Change: Live well and spark a climate revolution" by Alan Kalmus
2. “Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion” by Alan Burdick
3. “Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of 4 Meals” by Michael Pollan
4. “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic” by David Quammen
5. “Exposed: Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power” by
Marc Schapiro
6. “Plastic: A Toxic Love Affair” by Susan Freinkel
7. “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond
8. “Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World’s Coasts and Beneath the Sea” by Carl
Safina
9. “Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development” by J. Fitzgerald
10. “Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to
Sustainability” by David Owen
11. “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash” by E. Humes
12. “Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water” by Marc Reisner
13. “Over a Barrel: The Costs of US Foreign Oil Dependence” by J. Duffield
14. “Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness-Radical Strip Mining and Devastation of
Appalachia” by E. Reece
15. “A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder has Endangered our Food Supply” by M.
Shaker
16. "Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World" by Mark Kurlansky
17. "Toms River: a Story of Science and Salvation" by Dan Fagin
18. "World On the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse" by Lester Brown
19. "The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World" by
Russell Gold
20. "Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics" by Sarah Mittlefehldt
21. "Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey Through Carbon Country" by Courtney White
22. "Chasing Water: a Guide for Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability" by Brian Richter
23. "The World According to Monsanto" by Marie-Monique Robin
24. "Where the Wild Things Were" by William Stolzenburg
25. "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water" by Charles Fishman
26. "Eco-Scam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse" by Ronald Bailey
27. "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
28. "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn

6. Case Study: Read this case study: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/06/nauru-island-

country-destroyed-by.html
Despite the fact that it appears on a web page called "Amusing Planet", this story is far from
amusing. This sort of deliberate or thoughtless exploitation is behind most of the world's
environmental problems.

John Osborne
July 2018