AP Environmental Science

2021-2022
Introduction & Preparation

First, thank you for choosing to do the AP Environmental Science course with me. I know what
you guys are capable of and I am looking forward to this with optimism.

There are three goals for a student starting this APES course:
1. To learn some good environmental science, in an enjoyable way
2. To become an engaged and campaigning environmentalist
3. To prepare for the APES examinations in May 2022

If you are interested in environmental activities and in Environmental Science as an academic

discipline, and if you are willing to devote energy and time to the course, you will be successful
and the course will be fun. Interest and a desire to better understand the environment and our
connections to it are clearly the most important requirements for this course. Another is that you
fully commit yourself to meeting expectations of the course - reading, assignments, labs, class
work, etc. The time we have to prepare for AP Environmental Science is shorter than is ideal.

Customarily schools get you into the spirit of APES and make a start to you becoming an
environmentalist by suggesting some Summer preparation. At LCV, we do not even do that!

1. Blog: The APES LCV Blog is one of the four digital platforms for the course at LCV.
Everything, absolutely everything which you will need already is, or will be posted on the
Blog - the curriculum, teaching scope and sequence (annual plan), textbook, assignments,
advice, media articles, learning skills, links, exams and tests, labs, campaigns - everything!

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

OBLIGATORY: 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 write in your (school) email address and then click on the <FOLLOW> button.

3. Other digital platforms and programme: These will be fundamental to the course,
whether we are on-site, in school, or at home. The course will be structured in a digital, virtual
manner, supported by on-site activities in the classroom or field.

The four core, platforms are:

 The Blog (www.apeslcv.wordpress.com)
 Google Classroom
 Wakelet (www.wakelet.com)
 Idukay

OBLIGATORY: Of these, you may not be familiar with Wakelet, which you will use for
building your course portfolio of notes. Create an account with Wakelet (it is free) and look
around the platform and how to use it.
We will not use too many other digital programmes or resources but those we do use, you will
see often and you need to ensure that you can competently operate them all. These programmes
include:
 Google Slides – the base utility programme
 Google Sheets – graphing and spreadsheets
 Google Forms – quizzes, questionnaires, etc
 Canva – presentations and other utilities (https://www.canva.com/)
 Padlet – brainstorming and collaboration (https://padlet.com/)
 Stormboard – brainstorming and collaboration (https://stormboard.com/)
 Whiteboard.fi – individual and collaborative tasks (https://whiteboard.fi/)
 Openboard – whiteboard (https://openboard.ch/index.en.html)
 MyViewWhiteboard – whiteboard (https://myviewboard.com/)
 Flipgrid (https://info.flipgrid.com/) or Screencastify (https://www.screencastify.com/) –
short videos
 Mote – for audio (https://www.mote.com/)
 CMap Tools – concept mapping (https://cmap.ihmc.us/)
 Wooclap – quizzes, exit tickets, etc (https://www.wooclap.com/)
Many of these you should already be familiar with and already have accounts. Many can be
used in Google Slides as add-ons. Very few actually need you to sign in with an account
although having an account is always best.

I will also require you to generate your notes by using the formal Cornell template. You will
probably want to do this in Google Slides and the link will be shared with you later.

Here is a link for the Blog, to find the Cornell Template as well as advice on using the Cornell note-taking format:
https://apeslcv.wordpress.com/templates-and-formats/)

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

The most used APES textbook is Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller and Scott
Spoolman, now in its 20th Edition. This costs a wild amount of money, even rentable, electronic
versions, and is clearly out of our range. It is anyway a dense textbook! Perhaps not best
recommended for us!

Essentially the same textbook, by the same authors, with recently added and spectacular visual
content from Nat Geo, is available digitally and in pdf format. This book is called
Environmental Science, 15th Edition. This will be our textbook, all 596 pages of it!

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

OBLIGATORY: You should copy the textbook onto your own computer or flash memory.
4. Concept Map: Your very first assignment at the start of the school year, in the preparation
week before the academic year formally starts, will be to make a poster, concept map which
links the 5 THEMES and their contents, which we will study in AP Environmental Science.
These 5 THEMES, with their Units and sub-topics, are:
1. THE PLANET EARTH
a) The Abiotic World
b) The Biotic World
i) Ecosystems
ii) Biodiversity
2. POPULATION DYNAMICS
a) Population Biology Concepts
b) the Human Population
3. RESOURCES AND THEIR USE
a) Land and Water Resources
b) Energy Resources and Consumption
4. POLLUTION
a) Atmospheric Pollution
b) Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution
5. GLOBAL CRISES
a) Global Change
b) Legislation & Global Agreements

The concept map will have a central concept - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. Around this
will be located the 5 THEMES and their sub-sections, each with a short, short 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/)

5. Watch a Video: Find time to watch an environmental video. Any video! There are so many!
All of the 4 video films below are 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 in school. This will be part of your Diagnostic Evaluation.
 '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.
6. 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

OPTIONAL: Read an environmental book and make a short summary of the book. This will
give you an extra grade of 9 (done!) or 10 (done well!) in Idukay Block 1.

7. AP WE Programme
We are trying to set up the AP WE Service programme inside the AP Environmental Science
course and inside PPE, as an alternative to the formal activities required by the Ministry. Simply
put, the AP WE Service programme requires AP students to undertake some sort of service
activity which has as its theme, an APES topic. In our case that will be biodiversity and the need
to conserve biodiversity in Ecuador. The hours devoted to the AP WE Service programme are
the same as the hours for the PPE activities. College Board provides a certificate to all AP
students who successfully complete the AP WE Service programme. An extra qualification!

9. 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 lies behind most of the world's
environmental problems.

OPTIONAL: What do you think about this case study? In the Diagnostic Evaluation in
September, you will be asked to state an opinion about the mining of phosphorous on Nauru
Island, and justify your opinion. You might like to think about this assignment right away.

E-mail me if you have questions: josborne@liceocampoverde.edu.ec.

John Osborne
August 2021