Discussion Topics and Resources Jan 20 Can Los Angeles be Sustainable, comments on the video What aspects of Environmental Science overlap with the urban sustainable LA video? Comment on Vandana Shiva's take on agriculture and biodiversity
Jan 26 How far reaching was the impact or re-introducing wolves as apex predators in Yellowstone National Park? Why are viruses not considered life forms?
Feb 1 Alternatives to modern home construction, tiny houses, housing the unhoused, affordable dwellings, innovative materials—rammed earth, straw bale, SIPs, Cob, glass bottles, ferrocement, sand coils, etc.
Feb 8 We continue discussion on building materials, see the video list at the link.
Feb 15 Discuss Food and agriculture The articles cover issues of climate impacts, food policy, world hunger, agrochemicals, alternative protein sources, water scarcity, and agro-ecology. Select two articles and then select two videos (in the linked page) for a discussion.
Feb 22 Discuss Toxics and toxicity. Select two articles from the links on the left and one video from the selected videos. Why are toxic substances hard to regulate? Which one are of most concern today?
Feb 29 Discuss two aspects of the global climate crisis: what new information do we have on causes and pace of change? What emergent technologies or practices offer promise for addressing the crisis? Select two articles and one video.
Midterm Exam
Mar 21 Discuss urban air pollution in Los Angeles from the materials. provided. "Exhausting Our Air" is the most comprehensive.
April 4 Discuss world water: Select one video and one article and discuss in two short paragraphs what world water crisis means
April 11 Discuss one video and one article and address the question, Can the LA River be restored to a more natural channel?
April 19 Discussion: We have three weeks on water that includes articles and some videos. Chose one video and one article and discuss the future of LA water in 2 paragraphs.
April 26 Discussion: select one of the videos and one of the articles on solid waste and provide two paragraphs.
