Ellie Saake -- December 1 2011:

• Title: Food Security & Climate Change
• Purpose: The purpose of my presentation was to educate my peers on a different, but equally important, aspect of the effects of climate change on our world's ability to feed itself. Though the greater solution to this issue is indeed in making our planet greener, I thought that focusing on this specific aspect of climate change helps to show how a hotter climate has the capability to affect the normalcy of so many different things humans depend on.
• Discussion Questions:
1. Which “solution” to food insecurity do you agree with most?
2. Do you think “neocolonialism” is a realistic outcome of nations 
   competing for food security?
3. Do you think that we will ever have a world where almost 
   everyone is food secure? Why or why not?
• Follow-Up Research:
• Video: EU's Discussion of Food Security Solutions
• UN Warns of Food 'Neocolonialism'
• Video: Food For Future (Part 1 of 3) -- Part 2 and 3 are easily accessible to the right of the video, initial focus on Australia.
• Additionally: the video the was already linked in my powerpoint: Nasa Earth Science Food Consumption Video
• Picture: This graph is created by a firm called maplecroft and it evaluate food security on 12 criteria. Some of these include: the nutritional and health status of populations, cereal production and imports, GDP, natural disasters, conflict and the effectiveness of government. Red countries are most food insecure, followed by orange, yellow and then green. There is not enough information to make conclusions about grey colored countries.

        

• Links:
• articles:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security
  http://www.celsias.com/article/food-insecurity-and-climate-change/
  http://www.pnas.org/content/104/50/19703.full.pdf
  http://yubanet.com/world/African-nations-Afghanistan-dominate-Maplecroft-s-new-Food-Security-Risk-Index.php
• images:
  http://dineshthakur.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/water-problem-india3.jpg
  http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/88915/rice_fields.jpg
  http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/41746/full/MoscowFire.jpghttp://7billionactions.org/uploads/stories/cache/1319689973-over-population_1319689973_I_920_611.jpg
  http://cfs16.tistory.com/image/33/tistory/2010/08/24/02/23/4c72ae91a10a5
  
  
  Link to Presentation

Zach - The California Delta

1) Name and Date: Zach Zeff, 12/01/2011

2) Title of presentation and purpose:

• Title: The California Delta
• Purpose: Educate the class on the delta and a recent development that they can participate in.  A development that would affect all people in california.

Discussion questions prepared for the class to consider:

• What do you think? Should the tunnels be built? Why?
• What would happen to the delta if too much water was used?
• How would this impact us? The bay?

Follow up research to add to the discussion:

• Getting involved by visiting www.bdcpweb.com, Bay Delta Conservation Plan Website. 
• Currently, the legal battle between water contractors and representatives of california ongoing.  Just talk as of now.

Picture:

http://www.usbr.gov/mp/BayDeltaOffice/images/delta_map.jpg

Links to all resources: (Content, Video, Images)

• Content:

http://www.water.ca.gov/swp/delta.cfm

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-10-31/news/30344434_1_water-suppliers-delta-accord-bay-delta

• Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j04_HEnt2uU

• Images:

http://www.usbr.gov/mp/BayDeltaOffice/images/delta_map.jpg

http://www.water.ca.gov/suisun/photos/images/SMHMrelease.jpg

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/06/01/delta_smelt_in_hand2_usfws_peter_johnsen_2008_1_1_1.jpg

http://www.cldadmin.co.uk/get_involved.gif

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/06/03/nyregion/lens-533.jpg

http://www.stainlesswaterbottles.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/plastic_water_bottles.gif


PowerPoint:

Claire Schurz, 11/15,

Title: 7 Billion and Counting
Purpose: To examine the effects of the growing population on our world's water supply, specifically the Tibetan Plateau
Discussion Questions:
How does overpopulation ad the water crisis relate to Tragedy of the Commons?
Is it hopeless? Should population control intervene?
What can change? How can we learn to live with less?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOLf2RbxmzE&feature=relmfu

No! It is not hopeless.  Change can come in one of two ways.  Either there will be a disaster (war, poverty, hunger, disease, etc.) that will decimate the population OR we can learn to live with less.  Population control does not need to intervene we just need to learn to live with less.  From a water lens, this can be done by eating less meat.  As seen in the video above, livestock requires tons of water from the time it is born to the time it arrives on your dinner plate.  I'm not asking that everyone becomes vegetarians but the whole American idea that dinner must consist of beef cannot sustain us any longer.  We must adapt! Also, we can take shorter showers, turn the sink off when we are not using it,  drink tea vs coffee, etc.  There are also fundamental changes we can make in our irrigation systems to make sure that not one drop of water is being wasted.  Planning irrigation can help tremendously with this.  Just imagine how much water we can save if everyone thought more consciously about how much they were using and how to cut down on it.

Picture: major rivers flowing from Tibetan Plateau
http://delhigreens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/tibetan-plateau-and-its-signifiance-to-India.jpg

Sources:
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2008/world/china-tibet-and-the-strategic-power-of-water/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/tibetan-plateau/larmer-text