How to turn in: email the assignment (or the web address) to dmason@zebu

Important Information: Since the campus network allows student-to-student communication and since this network is part of the on campus learning infrastructure, students should make use of it. Past experience shows that students won't make use of it unless they are assigned to do so.

For this homework assignment, you are

REQUIRED

OPTIONAL

The Assignment:

Do either question 1 or 2 but not both. Do question 3 and of course, the last question:

1. Find some information on the INTERNET concerning the greenhouse effect. Summarize that information in a couple of paragraphs. Key points that you should mentioned are what is the predicted temperature rise in the next 100 years, what is the predicted rise in sea level, and what are some of the uncertainties associated with making these predictions?

2. Find some information on the INTERNET concerning the ozone depletion problem. Summarize that information in a couple of paragraphs. Key points that you should mention are the principal causes of the ozone depletion, predictions on the consequences of this, and the steps which are being taken to alleviate the problem.

3. Well, it finally happened. There your were, out doing your imitation as a Mall rat, searching for the perfect pair of Nike Air Bag Shoes that would allow you to slam dunk the competition when a computer malfunction at Ma Bell accidentally triggered the end of the world. There wasn't much time available so you had to act fast. While you were noticing the world ending just outside the Mall, you also noticed that you were standing in a Music Store. Off in the corner of the store was a small black box with a big sign that read

This Box is the only Thing that will survive the End of the World

Unfortunately, you are too large to crawl in the box. However, you notice that the box is exactly the correct size to comfortably hold some CD (us old geezers used to call these Albums). Suddenly, you remember Astronomy 123 (bad memories are always the last thing to flash before your eyes) and feel the urge to leave something behind that will represent humanity, in case it is accidentally discovered by some advanced civilization.

What one CD would you choose to leave behind? Make your choice both on the cover art and the contents of the CD. Explain why you made this choice. Extra credit will be given for a URL that would point to the Cover Art itself.

P.S. Note that the following artists are forbidden from being considered since,hopefully, they represent an aberration: David Lee Roth, the Bangles, Poison, Richard Marx, Aerosmith, Tone Loc, Green Day, Def Leppard and Motley Crue ( these guys did it all first anyway )

4. Via email to your friends your group should fill out the following poll. You should get responses from a minimum of 20 individuals.

Here is a preface:

"As the century turned, Africa began to emerge from a Dark Age stretching as far back as life on earth, into all the years that lay ahead - years of Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industry, and, if you will, Anxiety. It is fitting that Grogan made his symbolic trek (across Africa - 1891-92) as a survey for a railroad, the means through which foreign capital, the paraphernalia of technology, and foreigners themselves would enter. But because an incision is also a wound, the railroad was also the means through which the old life suppurated and poured out of Africa. This, then, is the tragic paradox of the white man's encroachment. The deeper he went into Africa, the faster the life flowed out of it, off the plains and out of the bush and into the cities, vanishing in acres of trophies and hides and carcasses. The coming of the white man, who imposed his steel tracks, his brains and his will, on the great continent was attended by glory and courage, ennobled by sacrifice, enriched by science and medicine and law. But it marked the beginning of the end in a land where nature herself had always been sovereign: at once sickness and cure, crime and punishment, beginning and end. Not the least of the signs of decay and dying was the gradual, remorseless end of the wild Game."

--From the End of the Game by Peter Beard

Here is the Poll, 14 questions in all

Answer Yes or No to the Following:

Man is innately (innate means culturally invariant):

1. Territorial

2. Competitive

3. Greedy

4. Arrogant

5. Benevolent

6. Prejudiced

7. Selfish

8. Moral/Ethical

9. Promiscuous

10. Lazy

11. Man is the most intelligent species on the Earth

12. Technology will solve all of our environmental problems

13. Which of the following will cause the greatest loss of life in our species over the next 50 years?

A. Nuclear War

B. Aids

C. Environmentally induced Cancers

D. Starvation

E. Toxic Waste Poisoning

F. Ethnic Wars

14. In a few words state what the term "Wilderness" means to you.