AP Environmental Science Summer Assignment 2014

Class Website: www.msbreezeapes.weebly.com

Welcome to AP Environmental Science! Please be sure to bookmark the course website on your

computer. The course website will be a critical resource for course information and materials

throughout the year. Be sure to complete the following THREE assignments this summer in

preparation for next school year. If you have any questions about the summer assignment or

about the course please email me at kelley.breeze@dpsnc.net.

The major topics of APES are as follows:

Energy Systems and Resources – atmosphere, soil, groundwater, and geology

The Living World – ecosystems and cycles

Populations – demographics, dynamics and growth

Land and Water Use – agriculture, forestry, mining, fishing and global economics

Energy Resources and Consumption – fossil fuels, nuclear energy, conservation and

consumption

Pollution – types of pollution and its impact, waste disposal

Global Change – ozone, global warming, loss of biodiversity

Assignment # 1

Due by midnight, June 30, 2014.

Email me at kelley.breeze@dpsnc.net with an introductory paragraph about yourself. Include

relevant details (name, grade, previous science class and interest history, etc.) and any ancillary

information that can help me to develop a sense of who you are and how you learn. Why do you

want to take AP Environmental Science? Anticipate challenges and describe your plan for

succeeding in the class; include your requirements for me—how can I help you to make this year

a success? What are you going to do in order to ensure your success on the AP Environmental

Science exam?

While you may be tempted to create an informal message, please keep in mind that you are

representing yourself in a written piece for an academic setting. Therefore, you should use

appropriate formatting, grammar and language. This will (hopefully) be the only time we’ll

remind you of this for the AP Environmental Science course. You must maintain the highest

academic standards for yourself at all times.

Assignment #2

Due on the first day of class. a. Go to: http://www.h2oconserve.org/ and complete the water footprint calculator. Record

how much water you use as a family and an individual. Print your results to submit.

b. Go to: http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/index.htm and find your

individual carbon footprint. Print your results to submit.

c. Go to: http://www.myfootprint.org/ and find your ecological footprint. (For #2 use the

U.S. Measurement System). Print your results to submit.

Assignment #3 THIS PROJECT IS YOUR FIRST TEST GRADE. Due on the first day of class.

Please submit one paper version in class and one electronic version via email.

Environmental Laws Research Project

Your assignment is to choose one law from the attached list and answer the following questions

about the law.

Essay:

Your essay should be double-spaced, with no specific length requirement. It needs to be as long

as necessary to sufficiently cover the information below. It should be a continuous essay, NOT

just a collection of bullet points! I do not want to read an exact copy of an online source; I need

to hear your voice in this essay. Plagiarism is a serious offense. I am interested in how you can

take this information and make sense of it.

The essay must include but is not limited to the following information:

1. What are the main functions of the legislation?

2. What aspect of the environment (flora, fauna, people, air, water, soil, etc.) does the law

protect?

3. What historical circumstances led to the initiation of the law?

4. Has the law been amended, and if so, what significance did these changes have regarding

the protection of the environment?

5. Under what circumstances can the law be lifted?

6. What violations of the law have occurred? (Find a news release, video, or journal article

about any violations you have found.)

7. What governmental or non-governmental organizations monitor major companies for

violations of these laws, and are their methods effective and/or ethical?

Citing information: you must correctly cite any ideas that are not directly your own, using the

Council of Science Editors (CSE) style1. Failure to do so is plagiarism. You must include a

works cited page at the end of your essay.

Fact Sheet:

As a part of the final product, create a one-page (8.5 x 11 in) fact sheet about the legislation. It

will be publicly displayed on a bulletin board. This fact sheet should contain the essentials while

being succinct and visually pleasing – something the average citizen would feel comfortable

reading without being overwhelmed. The fact sheet should contain basic information (who, what,

where, when, why, how), graphics/visuals, and color.

These projects are due the first day of school. We will hang the fact sheets in a timeline and have

a gallery walk. You will hand in the essays at the beginning of class. Please use the rubric in this

description to ensure the grade of your choosing.

1 There are many on-line resources about CSE style of documentation. This site is one of the most comprehensive:

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch11_s1-0001.html

Helpful Links:

http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/

http://www.opencongress.org

http://scholar.google.com

A note on Wikipedia: I love Wikipedia in my personal life and believe it is a legitimate source of

information. My academic life is something completely different. You will not be able to use

Wikipedia as a quoted resource in legitimate research projects, so let’s start this policy now.

Definitely use it for the legislation chart to find general information so you can choose the law

that is the most interesting to you. It is a great starting point for any research. Scroll down to the

“references” section at the bottom of the specific pages and start exploring from there for your

specific research.

Laws (choose one):

Arctic Conservation Act, 1978

California Desert Protection Act,

1994

Clean Air Act, 1955

Clean Water Act, 1972

Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation and

Liability Act, 1980

Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species, 1975

Emergency Wetlands Resources Act,

1986

Energy Tax Act, 1978

Environmental Education Act, 1990

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,

Rodenticide Act, 1947

Federal Land Policy and

Management Act, 1976

Fish and Wildlife Act, 1956

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act,

1980

Food Quality Protection Act, 1996

Food Security Act, 1985

Forest and Rangeland Renewable

Resources Planning Act, 1976

Freedom of Information Act, 1966

International Environmental

Protection Act, 1983

Lacey Act, 1990

Land and Water Conservation Act,

1965

Low Level Radioactive Policy Act,

1980

Madrid Protocol, 1989

Marine Mammal Protection Act,

1972

Montreal Protocol, 1987

National Environmental Policy Act,

1969

National Forest Management Act,

1976

National Park Service Act, 1916

National Trails System Act, 1968

Nuclear Waste Policy Act, 1982

Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988

Pollution Prevention Act, 1990

Price-Anderson Act, 1957

Renewable Resources Planning Act,

1974

Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act, 1976

Safe Drinking Water Act, 1974

Soil and Water Conservation Act,

1977

Soil Conservation Act, 1935

Surface Mining Control and

Reclamation Act, 1977

Waste Reduction Act, 1990

Water Quality Act, 1965

Water Resources Planning Act, 1965

Wilderness Act, 1964

Summer Assignment, AP Environmental Science One letter grade will be deducted for every day

the project is late. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Scoring Rubric Excellent

5

4

Good

3

2

Unsatisfactory

1

Not

included

0

Essay

Main functions/description

solid understanding of legislation

accurate description of how it protects the

environment

Historical circumstances

clearly stated

Amendments

clearly identified

significance explored

Lifted

circumstances identified

example

Violations

clearly identified

news article included, described, & related

Monitoring agency

correctly identified

methods evaluated

Citations

within text

correctly cited

Bibliography

3 or more sources

CSE format

Alphabetical order

High quality sources

Overall: grammar, mechanics

12 pt font

double-spaced

reasonable margins, etc.

Critical thinking

show higher-order thinking: evaluating,

analyzing, applying

Fact Sheet

Information

correct, organized

Pictures/Graphics

relevant, clear

Color!

Overall effect

consumer friendly

Total possible points: 70