1. Review for the Final

2.  Alternatives Journal doesn’t publish a hard copy of their university guide anymore, but you can find it at: http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community /education http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community /education  Did anyone go to the film on GMOs last week?  I have an evaluation form about the course I would like to get you to fill out. It also gives you a chance to evaluate your own participation.

3.  The exam will cover the material from Chapters 12 to 23, even those that were not covered extensively in class.  How fresh water is used around the world, with allowance for geographic differences.  Problems affecting the ecology and food webs of the oceans.  The sources of air pollution in different parts of the world and its effects.  The nature and sources of climate change, why it is a major threat, and how it ties in with a system of feedback loops.  What caused the ozone layer to thin out.  Different kinds of fossil fuels, their benefits and impacts.  The concept of peak oil.  Alternative conventional fuels, both fossil and others.  Renewable forms of energy, and their strengths and limitations.

4.  The nature of the waste stream in Canada and the U.S. and what can and is being done about it.  Four kinds of environmental hazards.  Ways in which Canada and the U.S. profit from exporting products they themselves have banned.  Why cities are both part of the problem of sustainability and potentially part of the solution.  Definition and origin of urban sprawl.  What the movements ‘smart growth’ and ‘new urbanism’ are about.  Why moving away from automobile dependence towards other forms of transportation is so crucial to making cities more sustainable.

5.  What ethics has to do with our current ecological crisis.  The difference between anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and ecocentrism.  Places in the world where anthropocentrism is being challenged.  In what sense is the current economy both circular and linear?  The conflict between conventional economic perspectives and ecological perspectives.  The notion of (currently) unpriced ecosystem services and externalities.  Some of the key precepts of ecological economics.  Why Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not necessary an accurate reflection of social well- being.

6.  What is traditional knowledge?  What environmental policies are.  Key elements of environmental policies – for instance, at universities like VIU.  Different approaches to environmental policies.  Different strategies for changing institutions in a more sustainable direction (not limited to what we discussed in class).  Different strategies for changing individuals/ households in a more sustainable direction (not limited to what we discussed in class).  What are some positive things being done in different parts of the world to move us in a more sustainable