AP Environmental Science

2023-2024
Introduction & Preparation

First, thank you for choosing to do the AP Environmental Science course with me. I do not know you well but I do
already have a good idea of what you guys are capable.

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 2024

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 are at last also going to 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, or the sign-up box in the
Welcome Post, to write in your (school) email address and then click on the <FOLLOW> button.

3. Other digital platforms and programmes: 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:

OBLIGATORY: You may not be familiar with Wakelet, which you will use for building a digital portfolio of
course notes. Create an account with Wakelet (free) and look around the platform and how to use it. You can start
adding files and notes and images to Wakelet just as soon as you are signed in.

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/)
✔ 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 may 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/)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Yes, we will use AI - a lot! AI is going to be a hugely important part of your learning in the next few years. If used
properly and productively, AI has the capacity to speed up teaching and learning and make it more challenging and
fun. I urge you all to familiarise yourselves with Chat GPT, BingGPT, Bard, Perplexity, Gamma, Twee, Almanack,
Forefront ai, Tome, Scholarcy, Elicit and a whole host of other platforms. And keep up to date as the platforms
evolve.

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, 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/0B5YQIzQke99KRWdIVWVqQnRaaEU/view?usp=shari
ng

OBLIGATORY: You should copy the textbook onto your own computer or flash memory so that you have easy
access to your reading.
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 as its 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=PLCru93WgymzWkBAbD1M36XbokuD8Ep5C
G
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 Parcial 1.

7. AP WE Programme
The AP WE Service programme is set up 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:

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: [email protected].

John Osborne
July 2023