MB 145
Research Projects
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Your group should do a 10 minute verbal presentation of your findings for
a question below. You may allocate the work in any way you wish, but all group
members will need to fill out a peer evaluation form.
The numbers below correspond to your group numbers. There is no written paper
required.
7 . Pollution in the United States
Your goal is to describe pollution in the United States and compare it to
Canada and Mexico. Chapter 10 of Environmental Crime describes the
Right to Know Network website (http://www.rtk.net)
where you can click on "Databases" and go to the bottom of the page
and click on "CEC Taking Stock Query Builder" (http://www.takingstockquery.org)
that allows you to look at pollution statistics by states and by the countries
of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Which states are most polluting? How do we
compare to Canada and Mexico? There is a lot of data here, so you may wish
to narrow your finding down to a smaller number of pollution problems and
a recent year.
6 . Environmental Management at the State Level
Do a web search to find out how environmental issues are handled at the state
level. Show us an organization chart and describe the functions of the different
departments of the state environmental protection agency.
5 . Local Hazardous Waste
Your objective is to look at which organizations are producing hazardous waste
in the local towns of Newton, Waltham, and Watertown. Look at the Right to
Know Network website described in Chapter 10 of Environmental Crime
(http://www.rtk.net),click on "Databases",
and click on the Biennial Reporting System (http://data.rtknet.org/brs/)
and search by geographical area where you can find out who the hazardous waste
producers are in the three local cities. Identify the companies, their pollutants,
and where they ship their hazardous waste. Do an Internet search of the companies
that are disposing of the hazardous waste. Go to http://www.scorecard.org
(also discussed in the book Environmental Crime), click on The Community
Center under Environmental Justice (left side of website). Enter a local zip
code (mine is 02460), and you will find data for Middlesex County, the county
we are living in. There are a lot of comparisons there, so pick a few that
look interesting and tell us about them.
4. Environmental Management at the Local Level
Do a web search to find out how environmental problems are handled by the
Newton city government. Explain the environmental programs of the city of
Newton. Show us an organizational chart identifying the environmental functions.
What initiatives are the city pursuing at the moment?
3 . Ecological Footprints
What is an ecological footprint? Go to www.footprintnetwork.org to find out
and calculate the footprint for everyone in your group. Report your results.
2. Environmental Consultants
Do a web search to find out what environmental consultants do. Identify the
environmental consulting companies in the area. Find out what professional
associations for environmental consultants exist in the Boston area.
1. Environmental Management at Boston College
Find out how environmental problems are handled at Boston College. Find a
Boston College organizational chart and identify the environmental function.