Mae Sexauer Gustin
Mae Sexauer Gustin
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NRES 210: Environmental Pollution Spring 2008
Time/location: TTH 9:30-10:45 KRC 105 Instructor: Dr. Mae Sexauer Gustin mgustin@cabnr.unr.edu Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, MS 370 Fleischmann Agriculture Bldg. 126, 784-4203 Office hours: T/Th 11:00-11:30 or by appointment Webpage – http//:www.cabnr.unr.edu/gustin Teaching Assistant: Jelena Stamenkovic 784-1484 stamenkovic@cabnr.unr.edu Required Text: Understanding Environmental Pollution, 2nd edition, by Marquita K. Hill Cambridge University Press 2004 Prerequisites: Chem 101/ Math 128
Course description This course focuses on discussion of global, regional and local pollution and the impacts of environmental toxins, contaminants and pollutants on humans and our environment. As population grows and globalization of resource use increases our impacts on the systems which support us increase. We have become more isolated from the natural environment and from recognition of our impacts due to resource use. This course focuses first on human population, then on the environmental impacts of our resource use on the quality of the environment in which we live. Impacts on resources of air, land and water are considered along with current energy use.
Course objectives This course will provide an introduction to pollution issues as related to toxicology and exposures to environmental contaminants, air quality, water quality and management, climate change, non-renewable resource use and wastes generated by human endeavors. We will focus on major environmental issues and the data that is used to understand these issues. During exploration of the issues the students will learn how to apply critical thinking skills for drawing informed conclusions.
Course requirements 1. Readings. Readings from your text are listed in the attached course schedule. The students are expected to read the text as noted. The readings supplement lecture material. Some additional relevant readings will also be assigned. For several topics there are materials on two-hour reserve in the Life and Health Sciences Library. Material from all these sources is fair game for exams.
2. Assignments. Five assignments will be given. Each student is expected to do their own work on these assignments and late assignments will not be accepted. If you are ill or there is some unforeseen crisis and you will not make it to class the day an assignment is due you may email the assignment to the instructor. The assignment needs to be received before class. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the assignment gets to the instructor. I typically send an email response after I receive an assignment electronically. If you do not receive a response from me it is your responsibility to make sure that I get the assignment.
3. News briefs. On the schedule under reporting are days scheduled for News Briefs to occur. This item is intended to raise students’ awareness with respect to current environmental issues. For this assignment students will work in groups of 3 to 4 that will be designated the first class. Each group will be responsible for giving a 10-15 minute news brief on recent environmental news. Each group will find two articles related to an environmental science issue that is relevant to the topics in this class. One article may be from a newspaper, or web based news source and the other must be from a science based source. Each student in a group will be responsible for summarizing and critiquing in a written format both of the two articles based on the discussion regarding critiquing information given in the first lectures as well as critically assessing the articles validity based on class readings and discussion. The group will be responsible for supplying to the class at the beginning of their report the references to the articles (author, date, title and source) and to the professor copies of the two articles. The news should have come from the two weeks prior to the week of reporting (so you can start looking right away) or the week including the presentation of the news brief. If you can find information on topics we are covering at that time in class this will enhance your grade. Additionally it would be best if the information in the two articles is related. The following are potential sources of articles: Newspaper articles- New York Times is a good choice since it is free on campus. Articles from web news sources- such as Yahoo News, BBC News, CNN News, etc. Science based journal news sources- such as Nature, Environmental Science and Technology, or Science.All three of these journals have a news highlight section that would be useful for getting an overview of the full article. These three journals and their news sections may be accessed through the UNR home webpage http://www.library.unr.edu/ejournals/Default.aspx
Articles chosen must be at least 1 8.5 x 11 double spaced pages. Longer is better. Presentations will be graded on 1) Quality and relevance of the articles chosen 2) Summary of information presented to the class 3) Critical thinking regarding information given 4) Organization and clarity of the presentation Student papers will be graded based on 1) Summary of important points 2) Critique of information based on first assignment protocols 3) Organization and understanding of information 4. Three exams will be given. These will be short answer and essay exams. Prior to starting on each topic a set of questions will be given that the students should consider while doing the assigned readings and listening to the material presented in classes. These questions should be used to help the student focus on learning the information that will be on exams. Students should make sure they have a complete understanding of the information needed to the answer to the questions. This means that if asked in some sort of discussion the student could clearly and thoughtfully answer the question. See link to the 6 hour D for consideration. www.psywww.com/discuss/chap00/6hourd.htm 5. Class attendance is mandatory. Failure to attend class will affect the participation component of the grade. Please note that we will discuss assignments and readings during class and often lecture materials are not in the text book. Grading Assignments 35 % --7 points for each assignment News brief 18 % --9 points for the paper 9 points for the class presentation Participation (includes attendance and participation in class discussions) 5% Tests 42 % --14 points each test
All students are expected to maintain a high standard of intellectual honesty. Anyone involved in academic misconduct (i.e. plagiarism, cheating) will receive no credit for that assignment. Any repeat offense will result in a failing grade for the class. Policies of the University of Nevada, Reno regarding academic dishonesty can be found at www.unr.edu/stsv/acdispol.html Information derived from the web, journals, newspapers, books, etc. must have the sources appropriately cited when used in any assignment. Failure to do this is plagiarism. The definition of plagiarize is the following: “To steal and pass off as one’s own (the ideas or words of another): Use (a created production) without crediting the source” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Meridian Webster, Incorporated, 1981, pg 1728. Any repeat offense will result in a failing grade for the class.
Course schedule (Note subject to change based on flow of classroom discussions)
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