Global Environmental Systems Project

Over the course of the semester you will apply the things you learn in class by creating a project about a place. You can choose the place from anywhere on Earth except California.

Due Dates

As noted on the syllabus, various aspects of the project will be due as listed below. The project for this class will form 40% of your total class grade. The project grade is broken down into the 100 points listed.

September 2nd	Proposal	5 points
September 30th	Climate	20 points
November 6th	Biology/Tectonics/Soils	20 points
December 2nd	Geomorphology	20 points
December 4th - 11th	Presentations	30 points
December 16th	Synthesis	5+ points

General Guidelines

All materials will be turned in electronically to my email: blissclass at gmail. If you want, your paper could take a non-traditional format, like a webpage, but it will be graded based on the content and not the presentation. Proofread your paper! Use the Chicago Manual of Style for writing guidance and their “author-date system” for citations. Use the [T] form in the text and the [R] form in the bibliography. See chicagomanualofstyle.org. If possible, please include a digital copy of (or a url for) the article(s) you read. Late papers will be accepted until one week after their due dates and docked one letter grade.

For the three papers, answer the questions listed for each in paragraph form. Using your own words, summarize what the data show. Then offer some interpretations or further explanations of the data based on what you have learned in class. If you write concisely, 1 page should be sufficient for each of the sections. Since I will have a lot to read, 2 pages is the maximum. Figures should also be included but do not count towards the page limit. Figures should have captions explaining what the figure shows.

• Accurate description of the data: 7 points.
• Evidence of thought beyond the summary: 10 points.
• Clear and concise writing: 3 points.

If you get stuck at any point with the presentation or your paper, feel free to ask questions.

Proposal

1. What place will your project focus on?
2. Why did you choose this place? It could be a personal reason, could be a geographical reason.
3. What resources will you consult for the project? This list will obviously change as you work on it, but you should make sure that there is enough information available to complete the project.

You should write your proposal in a paragraph form that will allow you to easily transform it into the introduction for your finished project (the Synthesis). The resources cited part becomes the bibliography. If you get stuck, ask questions early.

Climate

1. Describe the climate of the place. Include some data about the seasonal patterns of temperature, precipitation, wind, and solar radiation.
2. Why is the climate the way it is? E.g. San Francisco has mild temperatures year-round because it is close to the ocean and the prevailing winds blow cool air onto land.
3. How does the climate affect the people living in this area?

Biology/Tectonics/Soils

Choose ONE topic to focus on: biology, tectonics, or soils.

• Biology
  1. Describe the biology of your place.
  2. How does the climate affect the biology of the region?
  3. How does the biology affect the people living in this area?
• Tectonics
  1. Describe the tectonic setting of your place.
  2. Does the climate affect the tectonics of the region? Do the tectonics affect the climate? How?
  3. How do the tectonics affect the people living in this area?
• Soils
  1. Describe the soils of your place.
  2. How does the climate affect the soils of the region?
  3. How do the soils affect the people living in this area?

Geomorphology

1. What are the most interesting landforms near your place?
2. How did these landforms form? Are the processes that created them still working today?
3. How does the geomorphology affect the people living in this area?
4. What will this landscape look like in 1 million years? Feel free to talk not only about the geomorpologic changes, but also climatic, tectonic, biologic, anthropomorphic or other changes.

Synthesis

Here you will write a few more paragraphs that bring together everything you've learned about your place. This is also an opportunity to revise what you have turned in so far to make up any lost points. If you are happy with the grade you received on earlier parts of the project then you need not revise those sections. The main sections of the synthesis will be: Introduction, Climate, B/T/S, Geomorphology, Conclusion, Figures, Bibliography. If you prefer, you can send the figures in a separate document.

Presentations

The presentation can take the form of a PowerPoint slide show, a spoken presentation, a skit, a song, a home video, a classroom demonstration, or something else creative. Depending on how many people we wind up with, the presentations will be between 8 and 15 minutes long. The presentations will take place during the last few class periods. Presentations will be graded using the following criteria.

• Clear presentation of the information: 5pts.
• Level of detail in the presentation (it ought to be greater than previous lectures): 10pts.
• Synthesis of ideas from the different data sources: 10pts.
• Engage the audience: 5pts.

Suggested Data Sources

Start with a few good maps. Google Maps and Google Earth are good, but there is also TerraServer, World Wind, the USGS, and various foreign mapping services as well. For the USA and its territories the Natural Resources Conservation Service has an excellent site with information about all of the parts of this assignment.

• Climate: Climate Charts is a nice mashup that graphically shows temperature and precipitation climatologies with data from the World Meteorological Organization. Wunderground can give you the last couple year's worth of data, but remember - climate is weather averaged over a long time, like 30 years. They also have a "Seasonal Weather Averages" section that is closer to a climatology but they don't say where they get their data.
• Biology: try a regular old web search.
• Tectonics: Tectonic plate layer in Google Earth. Also there is the volcanoes layer, which is one of the built-in layers. Geologic maps also often include faults. OneGeology does not have faults but it is pretty cool.
• Soils: The Web Soil Survey has more detailed information than the other NRCS site about soils in the USA. The International Soil Reference and Information Centre has data for many areas around the world. Click on the "search" link on the left and then in the search results look for papers that have maps attached.
• Geomorphology: Observe the landforms in Google Earth and the user pictures you can find there.

While Wikipedia does provide a good starting point to get a sense for a place, you should go to the original sources that Wikipedia cites for your research. Always consider the reliability of the source that you are reading.