Introduction to Environmental Sciences

This interdisciplinary course examines the impact of social groups and individuals on the natural environment. Critical environmental issues such as air pollution, water sources, energy, and climate change are analyzed and discussed. Special attention is given to national and global policy formation regarding land use, agriculture, energy and waste disposal.
Course Number: GS 1301
Prerequisites: None

UNIT 1
Biodiversity Conservation and the Environmental Movement

Why should humans care about biodiversity?

I want to answer this question without using references, except the information I have "internalized".

Humans should care about biodiversity because every creature on earth has their own contribution for the well-being of the earth environment.
For example, earthworms give contribution for fertilizing the soil, the fertilized soil would provide food for herbivores, the existence of herbivores provide food for carnivore and so on as we commonly know as food chain. In geography, mountains are like the nails of the earth that maintain the balance of the earth position. The jungle as the lung of the earth where fresh air is regenerated, etc.

Now for human, what is the function and contribution from human to this earth?
This huge earth are filled with so many resources that would be very useful. The many resources needs to be well-organized and used so that nothing is wasted, who should do the task of organizing earth resources? Philosophically speaking, human duty can be defined as the manager of this earth because we have something that the flora and fauna don't have, we have the brightest brain that allow us to do a lot more things than the other creatures.

What is the responsible of managers? In business theories, managers are supposed to make the most profit for the company while at the same time improving the quality of life for its every stakeholders including employees, shareholders, government, society, etc. The flora, fauna, and the earth itself are the stakeholders of the Earth "company". That's why human as managers should understand and care about biodiversity, because the task of improving the quality of life could not be done without even knowing every stakeholders involved. What happen if a manager fail to satisfy the need of the stakeholders? Of course in the end, one would be fired and that would mean the destruction of human life itself because we cannot live alone in this world, we need the others too.

UNIT 2
Agricultural Impacts on the Environment and Society. Land Degradation and Preservation

List some of the common plant based drink juices and foods that you regularly consume. Do you know where the juices and food your eat come from? Why is it important to know where your juices and foods come from?

Before you write your discussion you should also read the movie review of Food Inc” from these sites:
http://documentaryfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/food_inc_hungry_for_change
http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/FoodInc.htm
http://independentfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/food_inc_movie_review
Optional: Watch the trailer for “Food Inc”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I&feature=related


List of the common plant based drink juices and foods that I regularly consume:
orange, carrot, spinach, avocado, apple, pear, watermelon, honeydew, onion, garlic, chili, soft and hard soy cakes, sweet and salty soy sauce, many kinds of beans, I guess potato and rice are counted as plant based foods even if they have many carbohydrates.
And about where they come from, I only know as far as I bought them in a local traditional market except for rice, it usually is easier to find one with good quality in modern supermarket. Foods in traditional market usually come from the villages area near our city. Most of them are national products, including the ones I bought in modern supermarket. I don't really like to buy imported items except if I really need them (like imported books that haven't translated into our language yet). It takes more fuel to transport them from other countries, and more fuel means more burden for our mother earth.
Now that I got more information from the suggested sources, I realize that I'm in the right track of buying more food from local traditional markets and less from modern supermarket because then it helps farmers in our country. Although some of farming processes still needs to be revolutionized like the way they use too much pesticides, opening jungles for farming area, not reviving the land after harvest season, etc. It is important for us to know where our foods come from so that in the process of fulfilling our bodies needs there are none (no one, nothing, no animal) are being abused and hurt in the way. Giving ourselves food would be counted as one good deed, but if in the process it hurt animal, it would be one bad deed, destroy the land, one more bad deed, abuse the worker, one more bad deed. Then one good deed plus three bad deeds by one person, and multiply it by millions (people), our mother earth is full with more bad deeds than good deed. No wonder global warming is coming with the intention to remind us that the earth will soon be no place for human race to live except if we do something starting from now, like caring about how our foods processed.