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Chapter 1 Humans Are the Dominant Ecological Force

Discussion Questions

  1. Identify and document two environmental trends that reflect an improvement in the state of the environment over the last 50 years.
  2. To what extent do you think the major global trends in environmental deterioration are unavoidable outcomes of population growth and improved standards of living?
  3. Do you think de-extinction via cloning and other genetic techniques will be a positive development for conservation? Why or why not?
  4. If you were going to consider using synthetic biology to resurrect an extinct species, what criteria would you use to identify which species should be resurrected first? Choose a species and argue why it should be the first.
  5. Land in cities typically costs 10 to 100 times as much as rural land. For the sake of conservation, would you invest $100 million in 10,000 acres of forest or $100 million for 100 acres of urban forest? If the price of conservation were the same in urban settings as in rural settings, would it change your answer?

Group Projects

Useful Websites

Suggested Readings for In-class Discussion