| SST201: Sustainable Society Through Innovative Technology |
SECTION A
In your team, craft THREE (3) one-page reports (OPR), one on each of the following topics:
1. Ecological impact measures the biologically productive area needed to provide for everything that people demand from nature: fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton and other fibres, as well as absorption of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning and space for buildings and roads.
In this OPR, give suggestions to reduce the ecological footprint and make a positive impact. Use real life examples to support your suggestions.
2. Geothermal energy is heat derived within the sub-surface of the earth. Water and/or steam carry the geothermal energy to the Earth’s surface. Depending on its characteristics, geothermal energy can be used for heating and cooling purposes or be harnessed to generate clean electricity.
In this OPR, explain how geothermal heat can be harnessed. Debate its advantages and disadvantages. Apply real life examples to demonstrate the problems associated with geothermal energy.
3. An environmental hazard is a type of hazard resulting from chemical, biological, or physical agents either from ongoing or previous human activity or the hazard may be a property present in the natural environment. This type of hazard poses a risk to either human health or to the natural environment. In this OPR, examine the most common types of environmental hazards.
Discuss the strategies used to prevent or control these hazards. Support your report with real-life examples.
SECTION B
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just issued its 6th Assessment Report (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#TS). The report shows that humanity’s damaging impact on the climate is a “statement of fact”. Authors of the report say “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land”.
You can read a simplified version of the report by Carbon Brief: https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/climatechange-ipcc-report-is-code-red-for-humanity.
Write a report to explain the major factors that led to climate change. In your report, examine the role of climate change on weather. Use any THREE recent extreme weather that wreaked widespread havoc as examples. Your examples must include a correlation to climate change. All claims must be substantiated with evidence and references.
As in Section A, you can use either Harvard or Numeric referencing, and you can cite from Wikipedia only ONCE. This report should NOT exceed two pages (excluding references) and must be written in at least font size 12 Times Roman. The list of respective references is to be placed immediately after this section. Be sure to cite your references within the report to make your report credible.
There is a lot of literature on the Internet and Study Guides. In this question, be careful to digest the information and craft the answer in your own words. The cautionary note for the one-page reports also applies to Section B.
