QA

The Nature Conservancy Final Reading Guided Inquiry

Dr. Pool – UCOR 3800

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1. The daily choices we make ultimately impact large scale sustainability challenges like freshwater scarcity, land-use conversion, and climate change. However, the Nature Conservancy article also suggests that governmental collaboration is essential to attain a sustainable global future before 2050. Please explain the authors viewpoint using specific examples from the article.

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2. The Nature Conservancy article referenced a peer-reviewed primary literature manuscript (“An Attainable Global Vision for Conservation and Human Well-Being”) that was published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Figure 4 from that primary source outlines potential differences in regional water stress using sustainable versus business as usual (BAU) models. What does your group find most striking about this figure? How may choices made by individuals in the USA impact water stressed areas abroad?

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3. Your Nature Conservancy reading suggests that a sustainable future for people AND nature is possible with existing and expected technology and consumption patterns. Explain how this might be possible using specific examples from the reading or outside sources. Do you personally agree or disagree with their claim?

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4. A sustainable future will require a mosaic of different strategies to provide healthy food, air, and shelter for everyone on the planet. The authors of the article suggest that biofuels do not fit into any sustainable future scenarios. Explain? What energy alternatives do they argue are the best way forward?

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5. In the beginning of The Nature Conservancy article, they mention “A False Choice”. Now that you have discussed the entire article with your peers, please describe the “false choice” in your own words. Furthermore, “sustainable development” (i.e. a balance between conservation and development) is often viewed poorly within the environmental community because it is viewed as typical development being done at a slower pace. Are the Nature Conservancy authors suggesting that development/resource use must occur in a fundamentally different way than it is being done now?

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