Applying Earth Science Methodology to Solving Environmental Problems - A Summer Course

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Frodeman 9619671 The "Southwest Earth Studies Program" will be a 6 credit hour, 5 week Summer program for 20 upper-division college students (half from the sciences, half from the humanities) from colleges and universities throughout the U.S. The goal of this Program is for science students to grasp the philosophic (e.g., epistemological and ethical) implications of scientific issues, and likewise for humanities students to better appreciate the role scientific information can play in philosophic and public policy debates. This will be accomplished by having students gather and evaluate data; discuss the philosophical issues surrounding the interpretation and use of this data; and combine this data with philosophic perspectives for the devising of public policy alternatives. This will result in an increase in the student's capacity to critically analyze controversial environmental problems, thereby helping to overcome the current estrangement between the sciences, the humanities, and the problems of contemporary society. Three controversial environmental issues will be studied in successive years: 1) the effects of dam projects on ecosystems and communities, (the Animas La Plata dam project); 2) the scientific and social issues surrounding the extraction of energy resources, (coal-bed methane); and 3) scientific and ethical problems surrounding the extraction and control pollution from mineral resources (acid mine drainage.)