ENVIRONMENTAL
TRANSPORT AND FATE – Winter 2008
Term-Project Description
In groups of two or three, students are to investigate a recent environmental event that has been reported in the printed or electronic media. Examples are: an oil spill, the discovery of a long-time release of a toxic-waste in a watershed, an explosion at a chemical plant, and the accidental release of a banned substance in the atmosphere.
The starting point of the project is the news article, or series of news articles, recounting the events. Then, the following four aspects of the problem must be examined:
(1) The existing conditions that allowed such a problem to take place;
(2) The early-response actions (relocation of residents, clean-up, mitigation);
(3) The different factions (industry, residents, environmentalists, regulators, ...) and their respective claims (who is opposed to who else and why; how scientific facts are lost to economic/political issues);
(4) The long-term solution to prevent this sort of problem in the future.
Students are asked to be as quantitative as possible, by citing relevant statistics or other numbers that may be available. All statements that are not the opinions of the authors must be documented by appropriate bibliographic citations. (Information may be drawn from web sources, but caution must be exercised as web pages do not always present unbiased information.)
The research project culminates in a written report (10 to 20 pages, including illustrations and bibliography). Students are to deliver two copies of the report; one will be graded and returned to the students, the other retained by the instructor.
Grading will be as follows: 6/20 Amount of research
6/20 Organization and description of the findings
4/20 Critique of the event and proposed remedies for future
4/20 Clarity, style and illustrations.
In the course of this project, students are encouraged to consult the instructor and the teaching assistants.
Instructor: Benoit Cushman-Roisin
134 Cummings Hall
Teaching Assistants: Maria Ximena Fernandez and Chris Polashenski
Dates: Last day to form teams Monday 14 January 2008
Last day to decide on topic Monday 28 January 2008
Project report submission Friday 7 March 2008