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Open Course Library ENVS&100 Learning Activities

READINGS FOR Module IX: Humans in the Environment

The Habitable Planet Textbook http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/

• Unit 6 : Risk, Exposure, and Health We are exposed to numerous chemicals every day from environmental sources such as air and water pollution, pesticides, cleaning products, and food additives. Some of these chemicals are threats to human health, but tracing exposures and determining what levels of risk they pose is a painstaking process. How do harmful substances enter the body, and how do they damage cells? Learn how dangers are assessed, what kind of regulations we use to reduce exposures, and how we manage associated human health risks.

1. Introduction 2. Risk Assessment 3. Measuring Exposure to Environmental Hazards 4. Using Epidemiology in Risk Assessment 5. Cancer Risk 6. Other Risks

7. Benefit-Cost Analysis and Risk Tradeoffs 8. Risk Perception 9. The Precautionary Principle 10. Major Laws 11. Further Reading

• Unit 13 : Looking Forward: Our Global Experiment

Emerging technologies offer potential solutions to environmental problems. Over the long-term, human ingenuity may ensure the survival not only of our own species but of the complex ecosystems that enhance the quality of human life. In this unit, examine the wide range of efforts now underway to mitigate the worst effects of human-made environmental change, looking toward those that will have a positive impact on the future of our habitable planet.

1. Introduction 2. Measuring (and Reducing) the Human Footprint 3. Multiple Stresses on Interconnected Systems

4. Confronting the Climate-Energy Challenge 5. Further Reading

Regulating Toxic Chemicals (CQ Researcher) http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/gj/EnvirChemRisksProCon.pdf

• Read this issue of CQ Researcher. (Reload/refresh the webpage if it shows up as unreadable code.)

Waste-Related Fact Sheets (U Michigan) http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/gj/ENVS100/ENVS100-W11/UM-CenterForSustainableSystems.html

• Read the following one-page fact sheets:

o Social development indicators o Residential buildings o Commercial buildings o U.S. material use

o Municipal solid waste o U.S. wastewater treatment o U. of Michigan waste management and recycling

Supplemental

• Environmental Science: A Self-Teaching Guide, by Barbara W. Murck – Ch.7: People, Population, and Resources; Ch.13: Water Pollution and Soil Pollution; Ch.15: Cities and Waste Management

• Fact Sheets & Quick Reference Guides from University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems:

o Biodiversity o Biofuels o Carbon footprints o Climate change: Policy & mitigation o Climate change: Science & impacts o Commercial buildings o Green I.T. o Greenhouse gases o Municipal solid waste o Personal transportation o Photovoltaic energy o Residential buildings o Social development indicators o Sustainable tourism (article)

• U.S. cities o U.S. energy system o U.S. environmental footprint o U.S. food system o U.S. material use o U.S. renewable energy o U.S. wastewater treatment o U.S. water supply: Distribution o U.S. wind energy o U. Michigan 2005 environmental performance o U. Michigan air & water pollution emissions o U. Michigan energy consumption & conservation o U. Michigan waste management & recycling

• CAA = Clean Air Act o CERCLA = Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, & Liability Act o CWA = Clean Water Act o EPCRA = Emergency Planning & Community Right

to Know Act o FIFRA = Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, &

Rodenticide Act o NEPA = National Environmental Policy Act o OSHA = Occupational Safety & Health Act o PPA = Pollution Prevention Act o RCRA = Resource Conservation & Recovery Act o TSCA = Toxic Substances Control Act

(I can post additional resources for you. Please let me know which particular topics you would like to learn more about.)