ALL INSTRUCTIONS ARE IN THE PDF BELOW PLEASE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.THIS IS A POWERPOINT. I will type them here as well. Environmental Science is becoming an increasingly important topic these days. From global warming to air pollution, population expansion and how we will use resources to move our species into the 22nd century and beyond how we manage, treat and heal the planet will be of the utmost importance. As part of this understanding, we need to reflect on past events and how we have managed or mitigated them.
For this assignment, you will take into consideration the different topic areas of environmental science you have been moving through. You are to select a topic that has interested you about or relevant to Environmental Science and create a presentation that is specific to Texas. This means that broad problems of global warming, wildfires, pollution, recycling, etc. are not specific enough. Additionally, these are incredibly large encompassing topics that would require an enormous undertaking and many years of studying to fully understand. Instead, you are to research environmental concerns or outreach that are happening inside of this state. Furthermore, as mentioned, where there are environmental issues, there are also environmental justice successes! You are more than welcome to present on a topic, group, political bill, or city that is attempting to address a major concern and discuss how it is making strides- these days all good news is welcome!
- Your project should be comprehensive, meaning that you dig into the issues and discover what concepts, controversies or success , and discussions, are at the core of this topic. Remember, your topic needs to be specific to Texas as we have our own unique political landscape, geographic challenges, and natural resources. Do not simply provide summaries of the information you find through your sources.
- Your presentation needs to have research support. This is imperative. That means you should utilize the electronic sources through the library at UNTD , locate and find peer-review articles (if applicable), or only utilize reputable sources like .gov or .org. News articles are also acceptable as you will be looking into topics that again, are specific to our state.
- Your presentation should include facts, statistics, data, graphs or charts that highlight the research aspect of the research project: Again, be sure to gather those resources and cite them accordingly in your references slide.
- Most importantly, your presentation should not be generic! Again, I know global warming is a problem and I also know it’s due to rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere- this is not anything new you are teaching me or the class. This is why you are researching a topic, concern or success that is specific to TEXAS. If your presentation is presented as if created by a 5th grader without any deeper dive beyond generalized information, you will at best, receive half credit for your presentation.
What does my Presentation have to have?
- Research on specific environmental topic, concern or success for the state of TEXAS.
- A deeper dive beyond very surface statements and generalized facts that anyone living here would know or has heard.
- Slides pertaining to each of the outlined sections below:
- Introduction: What is your topic? Why is this or was this a concern for the given community, city, area or overall state? Basically an overall description which could include the following:
- State the environmental issue specific to Texas that you have identified (HINT: Air pollution, water pollution, waste etc. as a broad topic is not unique to Texas)
- What has happened to cause this environmental problem?
- Who or what was involved?
- Where did it happen or where is it currently happening?
- Other relevant information.
- Pictures, location, maps, etc. Anything that can demonstrate what we are facing is appropriate when trying to tell a story of a problem. You want to draw the audience into not only your presentation but also the issue at hand.
- Use of your peer review research and findings: What stats, facts, graphs, data, charts, reporting, etcagain visually represent why this is a major concern for the community city, area or overall state.
- Relate the topic back to the broad understanding you learned about in class.
- What is the current status of this issue? If you are researching a success story, here is where you showcase how this was a win in addressing the issue and what they continue to do. If you are researching a current ongoing concern, here is where you will look into what is being done about it and tell us.
- Next steps and support: Could we get involved? If so, how!
- Conclusions: what does the research tell us the future is going to look like if we dont solve this problem and if we do?
- References Slide: Here is where you will cite all of the resources you utilized to complete your research; see the following section for this.
To generate enough assurance in your resources, you will need to locate a minimum of 3 research resources in total: 1 peer-review paper and 2 resources (.gov, .org or reputable websites) from the past 5-10 years as research support (facts, statistics, hard numbers, etc.) for your topic. Outside of these requirements, you can utilize sources of your choice (logical, scientific based reporting). Please see the following link for a brief overview of the difference between the two:
