My 2011 academic portfolio, composed of pieces from both RMSEL (high school) and Naropa (first two years of college, '08-'10), posted as a supplement to my transfer application.

1. Academic Portfolio – 2011
Erin Collier-Zans

2. Portfolio Index
1. Index
2. 2011 Five-Year Plan (pg 3-8)
3. College Course Work:
1. Title Page/Intro (9)
2. Geography: Glacial Isostasy (10-19)
3. History/Environmental Studies: Greens: The Role of
Diversity in the Formation of the German Green Party,
2970s-80s (20-25)
a. ENV207 Final Question Response (26-28)
4. Peace Studies: A Critique of Hannah Arendt’s On
Violence (29-32)
4. High School Course Work:
1. Title Page/Intro (33)
2. Science: Crayfish Dissection (Lab Write-up) (34-44)
3. Science: Climate Change in China/Colorado (45-53)
a. Rubric (54)
4. Maths: Population v. the Planet (55-70)
a. Rubric (71-72)
5. Maths: Orchard Hideout (73-86)
a. Rubric (87-88)
6. Humanities: The Freedoms That Be (89-99)
a. Rubric (100)
7. Spanish: Un Barco Se Hundio (101)
a. Rubric (102)
8. Copper Canyon Reflection (103-106)
a. Rubric (107)
5. Small selection of artwork (’08)
1. Intro (108)
2. Art:
a. Mask (109)
b. Gawain and The Green Knight (110)
c. Gateway (111)
d. Crab (RMSEL Yearbook cover ’08) (112)
e. Figure study sketches (113-17)

3. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 1
01/2011
Five-Year Plan, 2011
In one year’s time, I foresee myself at a new college or university. I will be well on
my way to completing all core/liberal-arts mandated course work and degree prerequisites. I
will be in regular contact with my advisor, and will have elicited their assistance in planning
out my schedules for the following semesters (with enough detail that I can create a
flowchart, so that there can be no confusion when class registration rolls around). I will also
be in contact with department heads/chairs and/or instructors from the majors in which I’m
interested in pursuing, so that I can be sure that I’m prepared for all coursework, and
understand before going in what exactly the focus’ of these programs are. By the end of the
year, my major will have been declared and I will have begun junior/senior level work
therein.
I will have settled into a calm living situation, conducive for learning and my own
mental and physical health. If I’m in a dorm, I will understand all rules and policies, and be
able to plan ahead for the coming year(s). If in an apartment, I hope to have found some place
small, quiet and in a good neighborhood, with good access to bus and/or pedestrian routes. I
will either have a work-study (hopefully) or have found a part-time job in something I’m
interested in (book/art store, etc) and be able to pay for my own living expenses, and
hopefully some of my monthly tuition payments.
In two year’s time, I will have declared my major and be well into prescribed course
work. I will have already finished the planning and begun some of the preliminary work for
my senior thesis/capstone project – I will have likely sources, and have pinned down
fieldwork contacts and opportunities, hopefully with the assistance of instructors who’ve
done work in the field. Ideally, I will already have begun my fieldwork, and be keeping up
with the academic work associated with it. I will also have done a semester abroad, an
internship, or something of the kind, both for fun and hopefully relating to said final product.
I will already have done research on post-graduation options, and have some idea by middle
of my second year what my next steps will be. I hope to have a strong feeling, either of
engagement in a particular area (in which case application to a graduate program will be well
in the works) or of ambivalence (in which case I will already have applied to an internship or
to the Peace Corps – something non-academic that will get me working and help me clear my
head).

4. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 2
In three year’s time, if I haven’t already graduated with a single major, I will be
graduating with a major/minor or a double major. Much of the above applies, if I’ve just
finished my bachelor’s at the three-year mark, but if I’ve already been out for a year, then I
hope to have a good idea of what field I would like to start my first career in. I will either
have finished an internship and be working/attending graduate school, be in the middle or in
between internships, be in the middle of my first masters degree, or in the middle of a Peace
Corps tour. Any of the above should be able to help me refine my focus, if it still needs
refining at the age of twenty-three, and by the end of the third year I should have tentative
plans for my next steps in mind.
At four years, I will either be working, or be pursuing an even higher level of
education – either finishing a Graduate degree, or attending medical school. I will be on my
way to financial security, with some idea of what my average income will be, and should be
able to handle tuition/loan payments, etc. I have begun taking leases on my residences, and be
able to plan my movements and plans at least six months in advance. I will be able to handle
any familial eventuality.
In five years time, I will either have finished my graduate degree and be employed in
the field, hopefully doing research and working on my first scholarly publications, or I will
be finishing medical school and beginning my internship as a general surgeon. I will have a
firm idea at this point of what my basic moral coda is (and hopefully be able to articulate it),
and understand fully why I am doing whatever it is I am doing; I want there to be no doubt in
my mind that the work I am doing is good and important, and valuable to the (global)
community.
I will be handling loan payments and living expenses well and be living simply, with
a healthy short-term savings account and be making (even small) monthly deposits to a
retirement fund. By twenty-five I will have made exercise a much bigger priority in my life,
be able to run a 10K at least once a month, and be on my way to training for a full marathon.
At this point I should start making health decisions that will effect the rest of my life –
corrective surgery on my feet and allergy shots may be considered at this time (if they
haven’t been already). I will be able to play guitar, will be proficient in more media and be
doing art at least once weekly, and will have begun to pursue other interests and hobbies, i.e.
learning a new language or instrument, etc. I will have completed the manuscript of at least
one book (hopefully a trilogy) and be well into the editing process. I will be able to ride a
bike by this point, as well. Finally, at twenty-five I will be able to draft a tentative five-year
plan to carry me through to thirty, with opportunity to reassess at that point.

5. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 3
1. Financial:
a. In school:
i. Find job (preferably work-study), plan out time to balance school/work
ii. Create an honest monthly budget – review transactions at the end of
the month, have self-planning sessions to set reasonable goals for the
next month
iii. Split all extra earnings and deposit in short-term/retirement accounts –
plan to save at least of total earnings 10% monthly.
iv. Speak to financial advisor (use parent’s?), do research and understand
basics of the financial system.
v. Make periodic purchases of stocks/bonds etc when funds allow, begin
creating a portfolio, get help on this.
vi. Get parents’ help learning how to fill out/file taxes – become fluent
with the various tools available.
vii. Assess living situation; are dorms more practical, with cooking
limitations, noise, etc than an apartment/lease, which may be more
expensive but save money in terms of grades, time, etc? Consider this
according to budget, time constraints, personal preference, housing
availability – all possible factors.
viii. Assess loans – will I be able to pay them off after school? Take only
what I am sure of being able to handle.
b. Three years (out of school)
i. Re-asses portfolio, savings accounts, assets, investments. Do whatever
periodic maintenance is necessary on this.
ii. Assess next steps – am I financially secure enough at this point to drop
everything and do a Peace Corps/similar tour?
iii. Re-asses loans – create new monthly budgets, set up automatic
payments near the beginning of the month, keep to the budget and
reassess monthly.
iv. Write-out monthly/bi-monthly goals, plan ahead for recreational
spending, don’t touch savings accounts – set up third savings for short-
term spending money, re-allocate other moneys to emergency savings,
continue making deposits in retirement fund.
c. Five years (beginning career)
i. Assess goals. Make sure that next steps will not set me back
financially, but hopefully continue to carry me forward, or that I can at
least maintain at healthy level. Options:
1. Graduate school.
2. Begin career, put off masters/doctorate a few years (this would
be for loan purposes, if earnings will not be high enough
during/after graduate school to handle additional loans/cost of
living during school time – health of savings account and other
assets may be a factor)
3. Medical school (same concerns as for graduate school)
2. Career:
a. Three years:
i. Best option: take time to continue education, either graduate or
medical school.
ii. Other options: assess whether I have any strong feelings on the matter.
If not, take time to travel, join Peace Corps, live in another country,

6. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 4
work in wilderness – find some way to jump-start myself, take space,
create the sense if not the reality of freedom so that I don’t get bogged
down in no-where jobs, feeling like I’m stuck.
iii. If yes, take action. See options, above.
b. Five years:
i. Best option: if it hasn’t happened already, make additional schooling a
reality – graduate/medical.
ii. If time was taken off, assess if I now have any strong feelings. If yes,
take steps, if no, seriously consider my sanity.
3. Physical:
a. One year:
i. Learn to ride a bike. ASAP.
ii. Assess health/life insurance ASAP: what do I do w/o Cover Colorado?
School-provided insurance? Assess options, fit various into budget,
then take a plan.
iii. Be able to run three miles comfortably. Continually assess foot
situation – do they still feel healthy, safe? If not, speak with parents
about surgical options.
iv. Keep track of body/fat%/calories – make sure that I am maintaining
myself, keeping myself healthy.
v. Begin doing 5Ks on weekends. Look for sponsors?
vi. Stop biting my nails. Do whatever it takes. Find alternate means to
relieve stress.
vii. Continue to work on posture – improve on what I already have, work
on holding head up and back, consciously work on making attitude of
assertive confidence a constant.
b. Next three years:
i. Be doing five miles in three years, three times a week. Continue to
monitor status of my feet.
ii. Consider getting shots for cat allergies.
4. Relationships:
a. Next five years:
i. Work through anger with my father – neutrality is better than
resentment. If necessary, decide not to care and stick to it.
ii. Continue being supportive of my mother – don’t let my feelings get in
the way, honestly assess what will be healthiest for her, keep control of
my tongue so that I am not being hurtful.
iii. Spend time with grandmother.
iv. Look people firmly in the eyes while talking to them, work on
projecting confidence, even if I’m not feeling it.
v. Work on keeping calm, self-contained when interacting with others.
Work on being self-aware, even in engrossing situations – this will
give me the ability to be more aware of what others are doing, which
will enable me to respond appropriately, in a way that will be more
appreciative of and kind to others.
5. Spiritual:
a. Next five years:
i. Reassess my spirituality. Purge as much indoctrination as possible,
find out what I really believe using my thoughts, actions, and reactions
as reference points.

7. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 5
ii. Re-discover the loving, spiritual connection I have with non-human
world and reality.
iii. Re-learn to cultivate silence – God is in the silence.
6. Educational:
a. By three years from now:
i. Have graduated college, with a double-major or major/minor in
biology and anthropology.
ii. Begin paying off loans
iii. Make plans for masters/doctorate/medical school – now, or later?
iv. Learn to read music.
v. Be relatively fluent on guitar. Be proficient enough to start learning
classical Spanish pieces.
vi. Start working on violin – get great-granddaddy’s repaired, if need be,
or buy a used student’s model, get a book, and start learning.
vii. Know how to quickly, cheaply and efficiently retrofit an apartment to
be more environmentally conservative/secure – caulking, heater fixes,
window wrapping, etc.
b. Next five years:
i. Start working with kids again – work at a daycare, volunteer,
something. They have so much to teach!
ii. Keep an eye out for a cheap-ish copy of Rosetta Stone, start working
through languages. Priorities: Spanish (Spain), French, Irish, Swedish,
Arabic, Hindi, Portuguese.
iii. Get a Wacom tablet, work on my digital art skills
iv. Practice with acrylic/oil paints, improve my still-life/portrait skills.
v. Get into a figure drawing class, work on figure studies – keep a
journal, in order to track progress.
vi. Keep subscriptions to a couple of journals pertinent to my majors, keep
up to date wit the new research.
vii. Keep reading – go through bibliographies and keep up a rolling book
list (but find ways to avoid buying new books)
1. Keep notes – write a short essay after each chapter/book, in
order to better absorb what I’m reading.
7. Fun:
a. Next five years:
i. Research for and write books: the two publishable books I have plans
for, also keep notes on ideas for more & get started outlining. Shoot for
having at least one in one series done in five years – preferably a
whole trilogy.
ii. Write short stories as they come to me – try to get them published, and
if they don’t catch, then put them on a blog or something.
iii. Work on art – take ref photos, draw from them, write down/quick-
sketch ideas, get to the point where drawing digitally is fun, rather than
tedious – start posting on dA, consider taking small commissions on
the side, as time allows.
iv. Plan graduation trip, for my mom? Something that would be fun for
her – start saving for this ASAP.
v. Take a sailing trip, or something. Something to be on/near the sea.
Semester at sea, during school, maybe? Anyway, learn how to sail.

8. Collier-Zans, Erin, *6520 6
vi. Track down trails and hike as many of them as possible – keep a hiking
journal, with photos and pressed samples, to keep track of this.
vii. Go to a film festival somewhere.
viii. Go to a Broadway show – maybe Ave Q, S Pacific, something like
that.
ix. Continue going to Cirque shows – take mom!
x. Keep up with things my mum wants – what sorts of things is she
interested in doing/seeing? Maybe plan another Santa Barbara trip for
two-five years from now.

9. Introduction to College Course Work
2008-2010
What follows is a small selection of my academic work from the past two years,
including teacher comments when available. I believe that these three pieces exemplify my work
at Naropa, and though I have some issues with their quality and content looking back, I believe
that they are at least a fair demonstration of my capabilities at this point.
The first is the final paper I wrote for ENV100: ‘Physical Geography – Beholding the
Body of the Earth’ – the only geography class required for the Environmental Studies major at
Naropa. My topic of research, as you may have guessed, was the phenomenon of glacial isostasy.
In writing this piece I learned to navigate the online world of scholarly journal publications, and
the experience of reading researched, scientific articles was like a breath of fresh air. I truly
enjoyed writing the resulting paper.
The second is the final piece for ENV207: ‘History of the Environmental Movement’, for
which I did a cursory study of the history of the German Green Party, or Die Grünen, from the
1960s through 80s. In addition, I have left my response to the final question assigned by the
instructor attached to the end of the document; it contains my most recent thoughts on the
environmental movement and my place, or possible lack thereof, in it.
‘On Hannah Arendt’ is a short paper I wrote in response to said author’s On Violence, an
illuminating work on the nature of power, violence, and the present world order. This piece was
written in 2008; my opinions have changed somewhat and I have developed as a writer, but it is
a good example of the sort of texts I grappled with in my Peace Studies classes.

10. Zans 1
Erin Collier-Zans
Anne Parker
ENV100 Physical Geography
2/12/10
Glacial isostasy is directly related to the planet’s climate and hydrological cycle, and
possibly even to the movement of tectonic plates and the planetary gravity field. Because we
in the present day are living in an interglacial warming period we are clearly able to detect
natural isostatic effects, but it is now clear that anthropogenic global warming has
exacerbated the natural rate of glacial melt creating these effects. Similarly exacerbated
isostatic response is to be expected, and may already be occurring. This may instigate a
greater occurrence of tectonic plate-related natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis,
and volcanic events.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and summarize currant understanding of
the phenomenon of glacial isostasy, and then give a brief overview of what research has been
done on the isostatic-related effects of glacial melt and sea-level rise in the present, warming
climate.
“Isostasy,” in the broadest sense, is the “general equilibrium in the earth’s crust
maintained by a yielding flow of rock material beneath the surface under gravitative stress”
(Mirriam-Webster). An important term to understand here is ‘lithosphere,’ which is “the
surface shell of the earth, [capable of] sustaining long-enduring stress differences without
significant flow,” or the “[that] which comprises the crust, which is relatively cold and brittle,
and the uppermost part of the mantle that is relatively cool, strong, and elastic” (Wolf 96;
Gornitz 374). When pressure is applied to an elastic surface floating on top of a viscous or
liquid substratum, the part of the surface absorbing this imposed pressure will sink or be

11. Zans 2
depressed into the liquid below. When seen on a planetary scale, this phenomenon is an
example of ‘isostasy.’
The term isostasy was first coined by Dutton in 1889 to “describe the apparently
‘compensated’ state of Earths surface topography… [though] the idea that such compensation
must occur dates from the studies performed by both Airy (1855) and Pratt (1855) based
upon the observations of plumb line deflections made during the original geodetic survey of
India” (Peltier 111). A more detailed description is given by Nansen (c.1928):
“The earth’s crust may… be considered as a slowly flexible sheet of solid rock
floating on a viscous substratum. If loaded in one place this sheet will bend slowly
under the load, and the plastic matter underneath will be displaced to the sides… if
unloaded in one place the sheet will rise slowly in that area; there will be an inward
flow in the substratum underneath, and a slight subsidence of the sheet in the
surrounding area” (qtd in Wolf 99).
The concept of isostasy was originally developed in relation to mountains (which are an
external load simultaneously integrated into the crust) (Peltier 111; Gornitz 374), but it
applies equally well to the compensation of the Earth’s surface to superimposed mass, like
transient glaciers or the more permanent ice sheets present at the poles.
The above phenomenon is called “glacial isostasy.” The first use of this term was
made during the second half of the nineteenth century (Wolf 95), and in the broadest sense it
refers to “the response of the solid Earth to any changes in the planet’s ice sheets” (Gornitz,
374). More specifically, it is “the process of lithospheric depression beneath the weight of an
ice sheet and subsequent rebound when the ice mass is reduced or removed” (“Glacial
Isostasy and Eustasy,” Aber). A more detailed description of the process of glacial isostasy is
given by Aber:

12. Zans 3
“Lithospheric depress of [hundreds] of [meters] takes place beneath large ice sheets
due to the static weight of the ice mass. This excess loading causes elastic and plastic
deformation in the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Crustal rock is displaced
as the mantle sinks. Given ice density of 0.9 g/cm3 and mantle rock density of about
3.3 g/cm3, the potential depression beneath an ice sheet 1000 m thick could be as
much as 275 m.”
When mass, like a great volume of ice, is added to the planet’s surface, the initial
response will be an “elastic deformation of the entire lithosphere-mantle followed by a
viscous creep as the mantle stresses relax and the load is increasingly supported by the
lithosphere. The local isostatic limit will be attained as a limit” (Gornitz 375). Conversely,
“when the ice sheet is removed, the initial response is elastic followed by a viscous rebound”
(375). This would seem to imply that, hypothetically, if a glacier were to suddenly be
dropped onto a section of continental crust, a broad area of the surface would be depressed to
a lesser initial degree, with the localized severity of the depression increasing as the total
extent of the depression gradually decreased over time, until the isostatic limit was achieved,
which according to Aber rarely if ever occurs since “several [thousands of] years are required
for complete isostatic adjustment to take place, by which time ice thickness has often
changed” (“Glacial Isostasy and Eustasy”).
Related to the above is the phenomenon of “bulging” in relation to isostatic depress,
where, “in order to compensate for lithospheric depression beneath a crustal load, the
surrounding area may [rise,] creating a forebulge. These principles are demonstrated by the
Amazon delta, where huge sediment loading has created a central depression that is
surrounded by peripheral uplifts… in like manner… the glacial forebulge subsides when the
ice mass is reduced or removed” (Aber).

13. Zans 4
The two above phenomena paint a clear picture: as a glacier forms it gradually settles
farther and farther into the lithosphere, and a bulge is formed around it to compensate for the
matter it displaces beneath. When the ice is removed through melting, the land beneath the
ice rebounds swiftly (i.e. elastically) to a certain comfortable point, and then it gradually
creeps up to its natural position of equilibrium (that is, unless more ice forms over it before it
can accomplish this). As the edges of an ice sheet melt, then, the land rebounds and the bulge
moves inward, and presumably as the ice’s total mass decreases the lithosphere beneath the
remaining sheet rebounds slowly in a more viscous fashion as the weight forcing it
downwards diminished.
In beds created by stationary, intraplate bodies of ice during glacial periods in the
planet’s Quaternary cycle, thee bulges would gradually erode into the two bordering troughs
(the glacial valley and the land directly outside of the bulge), possibly causing the crust to
once again equalize when viewed in relief. However, this sedimentation would increase the
mass of the crust in the two troughs, thereby increasing their weight even without
significantly increasing their vertical depth, which would further exacerbate the isostatic
effect, i.e. the glacier with its surrounding container of packed sediment would continue to
sink to the maximum limit allowed by the rigidity of the crust, as would the land beyond the
bulge, which would cause the crust forming said bulge to continue to rise and be eroded, just
as before. As the bulge continued to lift, the asthenosphere would follow and harden as it
neared the surface. This is the same balance struck by mountains, whose roots extend far into
the mantle, and which may remain at a constant height for 100 kyr’s despite the forces of
weathering and erosion (Peltier 111). This seems to imply that when there is weight
superimposed on the planet’s surface, creating an isostatic effect, it is the forces of erosion
and sedimentation, rather than the forces of lithospheric rigidity v. elasticity, that create the
illusion of equilibrium (i.e., land around a glacier appearing to be level). True equalization of

14. Zans 5
the crust is not restored in such a case until the mass is removed, as happens eventually to
mountains due to erosion and to glaciers as they melt.
Water in it’s liquid form is just as dense as ice, so there is an isostatic adjustment
involved in the melting and freezing of water on a global scale and the oscillation of sea level
that follows, which is called ‘eustasy’. The two are inextricably tied, but the finer interplay
between ocean loading/basin size and glacial mass/isostasy is unclear.
Data on their synchronicity feeds directly into the field of paleoclimatology, however,
demonstrating the interrelationship between global phenomena. Data on glacial isostasy has
been used to facilitate the research and support the conclusions of innumerable researchers in
many other fields considered to be ‘unrelated’ to glaciology. One such realm is the study of
Global Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), which is “the global process… whereby the Earth’s shape
and gravitational field are modified in response to the large scale changes in surface mass
load that have attended the glaciation and deglaciation of the planetary surface” (“Glacial
Isostatic Adjustment; A Survey of Recent Studies”). It is unclear how exactly the shifting of
mass affects the planet’s gravitational field, and what further affect this would have on the
location of ice mass, the behavior tectonic plates, the distribution of ecosystems, etc., but all
of these phenomena are obviously part of an incredibly complex chain of feedback loops.
Isostatic data can also be used in models depicting other aspects of global history.
With said data and additional information on the planet’s viscosity, and as well as parameters
for prehistoric ice sheets, models can be developed that describe “the deformation of the of
the entire planet, that distribute the meltwater in a self-consistent way into time-dependent
and realistic ocean basins, and that include the effects of the changing water load as well as
ice load” (Gornitz 375). In fact, scientists have only arrived at their present understanding of
the earth’s viscosity thanks to the observable deformation of the planet’s surface due to
glacial isostasy: “one of the primary motivations for studying the uplift of formerly glaciated

15. Zans 6
regions such as North America is to deduce a radial structure and viscosity profile of the
inner earth. The disappearance of ice and subsequent isostatic response recorded as changes
in relative sea level at coastal locations is one of a limited set of phenomena that allow
investigation of the earth at depth” (Zweck 321). Glacial isostasy is particularly suited for
scrutiny since it acts on a scale of thousands, rather than tens or hundreds of thousands of
years. There is, however, no model that can include the world’s complexities, so models must
be assumed to give skewed or uncertain results.
This component of uncertainty, and the inability of models to predict the future or
even accurately portray the past, has made understanding the effect anthropogenic global
warming will have on the glaciers in terms of isostasy even more difficult. It is known that
inter-intraglacial cycles run in spans of approximately 100kyr, that the “Last Glacial
Maximum” occurred between 19-30kyr years ago, and that since that time approximately
50x166 km3 of ice has melted, “leading to a rise in global sea level of ~130m” (Shum, Kuo,
and Guo (?) 149).
Whatever the cause of the present intraglacial period, it is clear that anthropogenic
factors are behind the present “global warming” phenomenon, which is raising both
atmospheric and oceanic temperatures. This has exacerbated the melting of both the Antarctic
and Greenland ice sheets, contributing to an estimated rise of average sea levels by between
1.5 and 2.0 mm/year (Shum et al). Since global warming is not likely to abate, it is likely that
glacial melt will also continue, at a continuously accelerating rate.
This acceleration has already been observed. In 2008 an international team of
scientists “estimated changes in Antartica’s ice mass between 1996 and 2006 and mapped
patterns of ice loss on a glacier by glacier basis. They detected a sharp jump in Antarctica’s
ice loss, from enough ice to raise sea level by 0.3 millimeters (.01 inches) a year in 1996, to
0.5 millimeters (.02 inches) a year in 2006” (“Antarctica Ice Loss Speeds Up”). Also in 2006,

16. Zans 7
a team of researchers at UC-Boulder “used data from a pair of NASA satellites orbiting earth
in tandem to determine that the Antarctic ice sheet… is loosing up to 36 cubic miles of ice, or
152 [km3]” (“Antarctic Ice Sheet Loosing Mass”) out of it’s 14 million km2 total, on an
annual basis. In terms of eustatic change, the complete melting of the Antarctic sheet, which
as of 2008 contained about 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of it’s fresh water, would raise
the global sea-level by 56.6 m, while complete melting of the Greenland sheet would raise
the global sea level by 7.3 m (Shum et al). This is theoretically within the realm of
possibility, at least for the Greenland sheet during the summer months, but it is not yet known
whether the Antarctic sheet could ever melt completely.
Neither is it known what sort of effect the tectonic rebound following such a severe
melting of the remaining polar ice would have, how severe it would be, or how soon the
effects would be seen. This uncertainty is largely due to the fact that: a. the future severity of
global warming is difficult, if not impossible, to predict; b. the thickness of the crust beneath
the remaining glaciers and ice sheets is not well documented; and c. that even the viscosity of
the mantle beneath is not yet completely understood. These three factors, in addition to a
plethora of others, make modeling future isostasy difficult.
There are, however, a few researchers doing work related to the subject. In 2000 Wu
and Johnston studied the likelihood of rebound-related earthquakes in the North American
continent, after they noticed that despite the fact that the area “east of the Rocky Mountain
Cordillera is supposedly a stable continental region… it experiences intraplate earthquakes
with magnitude as high as M8” (Wu and Johnston 323). They site a previous study done by
researchers in 1996 which found that “intraplate earthquakes in Eastern Canada,” again, a
supposedly tectonically stable region, “may be a consequence of tectonic forces and
postglacial rebound stress,” largely due to “past tectonic processes [which] created weakened
zones where faults, brought close to failure by the current tectonic stresses, may be

18. Zans 9
Works Cited
Aber, James S. "Glacial Isostasy and Eustasy." Emporia.edu. Emporia State University, 2008.
Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/ice/lec09/lec9.htm>.
"Antarctic Ice Loss Speeds Up, Nearly Matches Greenland Loss." Nasa.gov. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, 23 Jan. 08. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
"Antarctic Ice Sheet Losing Mass, Says University of Colorado Study." ScienceDaily.com. 2
Mar. 2006. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
Detlef, Wolf. "The Changing Role of the Lithosphere in Models of Glacial Isostasy: a
Historical Review." Global and Planetary Change 8 (1993): 95-106. Print.
"Glacial Isostatic Adjustment; A Survey of Recent Studies." Nasa.gov. IERS/GGFC Special
Bureau for Mantle, 10 Apr. 2000. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.
<http://bowie.gsfc.nasa.gov/ggfc/sbm_gla.html>
Gornitz, Vivien, ed. Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. New
York: Springer-Verlag, LLC, 2008. Print.
"Iceland Volcano Eruption Triggers Fears for Glacier." Telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph, 21
Mar. 2010. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
"Isostasy - Definition." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 04 Dec.
2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/isostasy>.
Peltier, W.R. "Global Glacial Isostasy and the Surface of the Ice-Age Earth: The ICE-5G
(VM2) Model and GRACE." Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 32
(2004): 111-49. Print.
Shum, C.K., Chung-yen Kuo, and Jun-yi Guo. "Role of Antarctic Ice Mass Balance in
Present Sea-level Change." Polar Science 2 (2008): 149-61. Elsevier.com. National
Institute of Polar Research, 12 June 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
Wu, Patrick, and Paul Johnston. "Can Deglaciation Trigger Earthquakes in N. America?"

19. Zans 10
Geophysical Research Letters 27.9 (2000): 1323-326. Print.
Zweck, C. "Glacial Isostasy and the Crustal Structure of Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 27
(1998): 321-326. Print.

20. Zans 1
Erin Collier-Zans
Douglas Duper
ENV207
13/12/10
Greens:
The Role of Diversity in the Formation of the German Green Party, 1970s-80s
In many movements, there has been a strong dynamic between people of different age
groups and worldviews. In many cases, this dynamic is antagonistic and counterproductive.
The young demographic is often more radical and craves sweeping reform, while the older
demographic is usually more inclined to try to work within the existing, familiar system to
create less drastic changes than those craved by the young. Within any movement, it follows
that there will also be disagreement about what the focus should be. Should a so-called
“Environmental” movement focus solely on issues of environmental health and preservation,
or should it be flexible enough to include clean energy, citizen health, women’s and
minority’s rights, anti-nuclear, peace and social reform movements among others, in addition
to environmental concerns. Is seeking to accommodate a diverse electorate with an array of
ideals and agendas ‘unacceptable compromise’ on the issues, or is it a success in its own
right?
In Germany, the modern Alliance ‘90/The Greens has gained significant support,
winning almost 11% of the votes in Germany’s last election cycle. But how did a series of
small, diverse groups and movements in Germany coalesce to form the modern Green Party,
and how did this group manage to gain such a foothold in national and even EU-level politics
when many other nations’ Green Parties struggle to gain even municipal-level success?
The diversity of the German Greens, the party’s historic acceptance of diverse
viewpoints and outspokenness on a wide range of issues, all under the banner of “The
Greens,” has been a major contributor to its success. It has gained popular support thanks to
the fact that it does not radicalize its membership and voter base into “Environmentalists” and
“Non-environmentalists,” remaining unspecialized and inclusive of many ‘alternative’ issues
and agendas.
The evolution of the German Green Party, or die Grünen, is considered to have really
begun in the early 1970s with the formation of as many as several thousand “‘citizen
initiatives’,” which were fragmented and entirely local movements seeking to address very

21. Zans 2
specific issues, like the establishment of a particular nuclear power plant or the need for
greater democracy in a workplace (Longguth 6). Soon, however, initiatives with common
goals began looking for support in the greater community and many became part of one of
many umbrella associations, such as the Federal Association of Citizen Initiatives for the
Protection of the Environment, to which over 300,000 people and over 1000 local citizen
initiatives were affiliated by 1977 (7).
According to Longguth, this was the ‘first phase’ of the Greens’ development. The
backbone of environmental initiatives in this period was confronting the proliferation of
nuclear power stations after the Cold War rather than the severe environmental degradation
driving movements in the United States and even other parts of Europe(clarify/split up).
Germany did not have as great an issue with environmental safety concerns prevalent in other
nations due to the fact that, according to Shull, “Germany had had a fairly enlightened policy
toward the environment as early as the nineteenth century, when preunification German
Lander and private business associations regulated water and air pollution… After [WWII], a
premium on strict adherence to legal principles set by the institutions of the Federal Republic
[had] fostered precautionary and preventative attitudes toward potential environmental
hazards” (12). This is in stark contrast to the policies of the United States in the 20th century
onward, which focused on remediation and cleanup after severe damage to the land had
already been committed and the danger recognized, rather than focusing on avoiding such
damage in the first place. (good point)
Thus began the second ‘phase,’ with the above-mentioned consolidation of many
fragmented movements and ideologies into voter initiatives. These manifested in the form of
‘Green’, i.e. ecologically-minded, and ‘Rainbow’, i.e. social-reformist ‘Lists’, which
proceeded to run in various elections, but which failed to gain the requisite 5% of the national
vote in order to send deputies to the Bundestag, or German parliament (Longguth 9). These
collaborative organizations continued to gain support, but it was those such as the “Rainbow
List/Defend Yourself!” and “Alternative List for Democracy and Environmental Protection”
which gained more traction than more conservative, single-issue groups such as the strictly
ecological GLU (Green List for the Protection of the Environment) and later the GAZ (Green
Action Future). These unaccommodating groups were especially unappealing to the younger
portion of the populace, and in 1977 the GLU received only 2.4% of the 18-24 demographics
vote, which conversely gave a large portion of their support (18.2% nationally) to Rainbow
List in that same year (9). It has been suggested that blue-collar workers and others were the
most important and therefore target demographics for alternative parties, including the early

22. Zans 3
Greens, in 20th century Germany (Shull 26-27), but at least in this country the importance of
the younger voters is easy to see, and for a party to have any staying power it must have some
way to continue to capture the imagination, hopes, and loyalties of students and young
professionals if it is to remain viable in the long-term(split up long sentences).
These consolidated second-phase groups brought together a wide range of interests
and issues, from the perceived failings of the democratic system, to the oil shocks of the 70s
and the waning appeal and gradual collapse of a ‘progress’-model economy, to women’s,
worker’s, and gay rights, and anti-nuclear/anti-war protest initiatives (Shull 31). The most
successful managed to maintain this diversity into the late 1970s-early 80s, when the ‘third
phase’ began with the founding of SPV-The Greens, in 1979. This group was specifically
aimed at carrying the ideals of the early protest movements forward into the established
political arena, something that has been viewed alternatively as a wise and effective choice
and as a betrayal of the group’s own ideals. SPV-tG was composed of both conservative
ecological groups like the GLU and the GAZ (‘the Greens’) and a variety of other initiatives
of vital importance to many, more liberally-minded social reformists (‘SPV’ – Other Political
Associations).
The fourth phase of the German Greens’ development arrived with this group’s first
convention, held in 1980, when their first platform was drafted, addressing everything from
abortion and women’s rights, to economic reform and the alleviation of unemployment, to
issues regarding the environment and its protection. The Greens achieved several regional
successes, but national success would not come until the ‘fifth phase’ when, in 1983, the
Greens received more than the requisite 5% of the national vote and were able to send 27
delegates to the Bundestag and 7 to the European Parliament. Their message was clearly
stated: they promised to represent “the interests of all who are affected by the policies of the
European Community but not represented in it” (qtd in Longguth 16). Several like-minded
groups in the EU parliament soon banded together to form the ‘Rainbow Faction’, with the
obvious intention of carrying forward the established precedent among ‘Green’ groups of
advocating for many issues not commonly addressed by their more conservative political
counterparts.
The ‘fifth phase’ of the 1980s, the end of our review of the Greens’ historical
background, was marked by “increasing skepticism… by a portion of [SPV-The Greens’]
voter membership due to and about increasing parliamentary participation, with both
established governments and radical groups feeling the party [had] been compromised by
‘extremists’,” with a major point of contention being their past and possible future

23. Zans 4
involvement with the socialist SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), and other similar
organizations. This led to fragmentation within the party between liberals (mostly younger,
more radical) and conservatives (mostly older, wealthier, strictly ecologically-minded), and
also along the lines of major philosophical affiliations, largely among the “(i) eco-
libertarians”, who believed that market forces were the answer, “(ii) realists”, or those
encouraging political alliance and negotiation, “(iii) fundamentalists,” the eco-conservatives
mentioned above, and the “(iv) eco-socialists”, or those who “insisted on the interrelationship
of social and ecological questions and the need to oppose the capitalist state” (Weisenthal
11).
Some of the more conservative members of the party left to form the ÖDP
(Democratic Ecological Party), but like its predecessors the GLU and GAZ, it failed to
achieve much traction and as of the late 1980s had not managed to gain official party status
by claiming the requisite 5% of the vote. The Greens struggled for a while in this period, but
managed to stay intact and after another trying couple of decades, is now taking between 8
and 12% of the German vote in each of the most recent years’ election cycles.
The Green party emerged from and rode the wave of post-industrial/Cold War
disillusionment and subsequent strife prevalent in 1970s Germany, which sparked a national
movement seeking generally to create a ‘new’ civilization out of the old. The Green Party
arrived on the scene as a distillation of these various movements, first into “Lists” or national
electorates sharing the same general interests and goals for the future, and then into its own
self-identifying ‘Party’. (if you are paraphrasing, be sure to include sources)
It was supported by a vast array of peoples rather than by a small, single-minded,
issue-centric and loyal demographic. Internal conflicts in the party really only became a
problem not after unification, but after their initial success in 1983 when, as a natural step
towards ‘partydom’, various representatives sat down and tried to finalize the groups’
platform and thereby define what exactly the focus and main issues of the party would be.
They were trying to honor the ‘roots’ of this party, but there was disagreement over
what exactly this meant. Would they side with their supporters in workers unions seeking
economic reform? Would they side with radical anti-nuclear activists seeking energy reform
and greater self-dependence for Germany as a nation? Or would they focus solely on issues
of the environment, and thereby further disenfranchise those of their supporters most keen on
addressing other issues?
There is, in any political party, a choice to be made between ‘efficacy’ and ‘identity’,
or diversity v. focus. On the one side, a party may “press intense, often nonnegotiable

24. Zans 5
demands for change,” which with their specific goals have a chancge of achieving great
success, but which also “[conflict] with the guarantee of diversity… or the continuation of the
organization itself” if it fails to capture a significant proportion of its target electorate. The
obvious alternative, then, is a strategy of diversity, which means “articulating the demands of
a range of social movements… By expanding the scope of issues addressed, the aim is to
rally the broadest possible base of supporters” (Shull 45).
If the former path is taken, the “electoral support may be deep (that is, reliable), but
not wide (that is, extensive in members)… [and] to maintain credibility with its base, the
party has to keep up the intensity and momentum of demands for change” (46). This focus on
one issue and on appealing to a single worldview “often implies deferring actual movement –
that is, obtaining tangible gains – in the name of guaranteeing the authenticity and purity of
the mobilizing ideals of the supporting social movement” (46).
This dynamic was clearly seen with the Green Party throughout the 70s and 80s.
Critics of SPV-The Greens often claimed that they had made just such a sacrifice of ‘purity’,
that they were ‘betraying’ the ideals even of those who had rallied to create and support it by
associating with other groups and especially with the SPD and FDP. On the other side,
however, were those groups such as the ÖDP and GAZ which sought to maintain
‘authenticity’ by focusing only on ecological issues, and which summarily failed to gain any
quantifiable success.
Some may believe that taking on social and other issues in tandem with problems of
environmental endangerment is somehow compromising the effectiveness and inherent worth
of the ‘Environmental Movement’. By this logic, the Rainbow List/Defend Yourself!, its
descendent SPV-The Greens, as well as the ‘Rainbow Faction’ of the 1980s EU Parliament
were all failures, despite all evidence to the contrary. They may have made accomplishments
on the ecological and related anti-nuclear fronts, but these accomplishments were already
‘tainted’ due to their simultaneous outspokenness on problems of social inequality, etc,
because their focus was diluted.
But which is better: effectiveness, or ‘purity’? When considering the downright
failure of dedicated environmental groups in 20th century Germany to achieve any lasting,
national-level changes, would it not be better for environmental reform to arrive even as a
footnote of more conservative policies continuing the established, ‘corrupt’ system, than to
have this reform not arrive at all due to the over-dependence on over-identified political
parties such as many of the modern-day “Greens”.

25. Zans 6
It is better to achieve widespread, diluted change by garnering support from
widespread, diverse interest groups than to fetter the movement from the start by remaining
singularly focused on any one issue.. Who is to say that peace movements, women’s and
minorities rights movements, democratic labor movements, etc., have no place in movements
concerned with the ‘environment’. If people and their actions are going to be acknowledged
as being the ‘problem’, then surely people are the answer, and to succeed people, from all
walks of life, seeking a better world through many avenues, must be included in the solution.
If social reform is the goal, then the historic development of die Grünen has a lot to teach us.
The Greens Party of Germany, after all, “might justly be regarded as the finest achievement
of the second wave of environmentalism, referred to by the respectful capital that sets it apart
from its peers and contemporaries: the Greens, as distinct from all other kinds of greens”
(Guha 97).
A solidly presented and researched paper—you do a very good job of tracing the
development of the Greens in Germany. It might be interesting to consider how their
approach could be adapted (or if it could be) to U.S. politics, and if so, what would strategy
look like? Grade: A
Works Cited
Guha, Ramachandra. “The Ecology of Affluence”. Environmentalism: A Global History.
New York: Longman, Inc., 2000.
Longguth, Gerd. The Green Factor in German Politics: From Protest Movement to Political
Party. Boulder: Westview Press, 1984.
Shull, Tad. Redefining Red and Green: Ideology and Strategy in European Political Ecology.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999. Print.
Weisenthal, Helmut. John Ferris, ed. Margaret Curran, trans. Realism in Green Politics:
Social Movements and Ecological Reform in Germany. New York: Manchester
University Press, 1993. Print

26. Zans 7
Final Question:
Reflect upon the history of the environmental movement since the “second wave,”
that began in America about 50 years ago with Silent Spring. Have your ideas about
environmentalism changed or deepened? If so, how? What practices, theories, or people
of the environmental movement in this time period have resonated with you and why?
What do you think are the successes and most effective solutions offered by this wave
of environmentalism? What are its failures and weaknesses? Finally, project your
thinking from the past to the future, remembering that “those who don’t understand
the past are destined to repeat it,” as a philosopher once said. What would be effective
environmentalism for the future? Support your answer with plenty of support from the
readings after the midterm.
There were several, very important concepts that stuck with me from this portion of
the semester, but for the sake of time and space, and because many of the readings have been
removed from the e-reserves(I emailed them most likely), I will only speak on one at the risk
of failing miserably at this assignment
This one, strongest issue for me, which has in a way overridden other concerns, is the
involvement of women and minority groups in ‘environmentalism’, and the issues of social
justice that inevitably follow and become incorporated.
It might be good here to look at the ‘environmentalism of the poor’, of which there are
many examples, each soundly disproving the unfortunately yet prevalent misconception that
“environmentalism is a phenomenon peculiar to the rich nations of the North, a product of the
move toward ‘postmaterialist’ values among the populations of North America and Western
Europe” (Guha 98), a presupposition that leads to the horrible conclusion that for
‘environmentalism’ to take hold in the rest of the world, the world’s poor must first be
brought up to first world-identical living standards, something that various countries and
groups have been trying, often unsuccessfully, to accomplish, probably since the end of the
Colonial era.
I suppose that we might need a new word for what is being practiced in the so-called
‘third world’, because it certainly doesn’t look like most environmentalism in this and other
rich countries. The environmentalism of the poor is often, on some level, driven by the
economic deprivation created by local environmental degradation (105). The livelihoods of
communities are routinely threatened by first-world economic ventures like mining and clear-
cutting, and their form of ‘environmentalism’ is driven at least partially by true, human
desperation. Without the forest, how would they live? Without clean streams, what will they
drink?

27. Zans 8
Along with any spiritual or cultural associations/factors, these are true needs. They are
immediate, and cannot be forgotten or looked over, unlike the oil spill or Katrina for people
in the US not living on the coast, or strip mining for people not living in the Appalachians,
etc. It seems to me that a significant portion of modern ‘first-world’ environmentalist action,
stemming from any number of complicated and unquantifiable emotional/logical attachments,
tends toward detachment or inefficiency, while the environmentalism of the poor, being
attached as it is to an “often more visible concern for social justice” (105) involves blood,
sweat, and tears because they are true movements of the kind we haven’t seen on a national
level since the 1970s feminist movement, itself growing out of the 70-some year struggle for
civil rights and the 100-odd year struggle for women’s votes.
I feel it might be a good time to bring in the possible ‘death of environmentalism’.
The authors of The Soul of Environmentalism say, “in the ‘90s, the declaration that “poetry is
dead” was an attempt to deny and marginalize a rich array of new anti-establishment forms of
poetry. Back then, the writers ignored rap, performance art, and poetry slams. The debate
over “The Death of Environmentalism” feels like a similar exercise in its omissions” (6).
They go on to point out that “environmentalism and other progressive movements in the
United States are not dead, but they are crippled by denial… [Yet] environmentalism, like
poetry, has a soul deeper and more eternal than the one described by its examiners. It’s a soul
tied deeply to human rights and social justice, and this tie has been nurtured by the
Environmental Justice and Sustainability movements for the past 20 years” (6).(good
supporting quote)
Perhaps the soul of environmentalism can be seen in the paradigms of
‘environmentalism for the poor’. This is not to say that the soul is only here – I at least have
the unfortunate habit of associating soul with ‘one’, and thinking that the soul can only be in
‘one’. But the soul is a web. Soul is a verb. The soul is the network of information, energy,
activism, art, tradition, everything that makes us quintessentially human.
Now, a bit of a jump, to wrap up: Why is this important?, I have been asking myself.
Is the history of the environmental movement and its future important to me as a detached
observer? Is it important to me, as a future activist? I think the latter is truer, but that raises all
sorts of other questions that I have been grappling with for a year now. Is my attempting to
become involved in ‘environmentalism for the poor’ a continuation of the unfortunate White
Knight syndrome, whereby wealthy people feel obligated to get involved not out of a real
sense of purpose or belief, but out of guilt, or out of a mistaken and idealistic perception that
‘other is better’? And how could I possibly get involved without being perceived as an

28. Zans 9
ambassador for the Western model of my origin, merely by showing up? Should I even get
involved abroad? If the problems have been largely caused by the actions of first-world
nations, shouldn’t I stay in my own country and spend a significant portion of my life trying
to do something from here?
But then I remembered the early months of the Democratic Movement in China.
Westerners, educators and participants in the civil rights/anti-war protest movements went
there to teach successful models of nonviolence, not because they believed their models were
‘better’ or their audiences ‘ignorant’ but because activists in that country requested that they
come and share information and experience. These educators, then, were serving the common
good and the good of those they were teaching by being there. They were serving, not
enforcing.
So, I guess that my personal model of ‘environmentalism for the future’ is focusing on
preserving human-ecological diversity. If we are animals, and we are not separate, then we
should not be separate and the preservation of unique cultures should go hand in hand with
the preservation of biodiversity. In the end, I’m only going to live a few more decades and I
should do what I feel best about, knowing that whatever change I manage to make happen is
a drop in the ocean, and while not necessarily unimportant, certainly miniscule. Change is for
all generations. Humanity is a work in process, and giving the present a sort of ‘calm before
the storm’ feeling associated with the perception of the future as the coming apocalypse, isn’t
particularly helpful in my mind.
I have no idea what the grand picture of future environmentalism ‘should’ look like. I
can only hope that it is more diverse and vibrant than what we have now, with less emphasis
on individual and personality (unless we find a useful rallying point like Gandhi or MLK),
and that it will be lead by the humble and the sincere. I hope that, if necessary, the world will
leave the US behind and stop waiting for it to lead the way into this more environmentally
friendly future – something that it is quite probably incapable of, at this point. In the end, I
have hope. What else can I do?
A thoughtful response that grounds your study of the class topics with your personal
motives. As one aboriginal elder said, to paraphrase, “only come to help us if you realize that
your liberation is connected with ours.” Grade: Check +

33. Introduction to High School Course Work
2006-2008
For this portfolio I have also provided a selection of my high school work, from
sophomore through senior year.
I have chosen pieces that I believe exemplify my capabilities as a writer during that
period, in the core subject areas. Teacher comments have been included where available, and
rubrics with final grades are also attached to the end of each document. These rubrics are
themselves valuable, in that they give a clear idea of the standards to which RMSEL held its
students; the grades I received for these pieces demonstrate the standards to which I held myself.
I have provided two pieces from Science: one is a write-up for a dissection lab my class
did sophomore year, while the other is the final product for an expedition we did on weather
patterns (and data sets), global warming, and research skills.
I have also provided two math write-ups. The first relates to our senior-year expedition in
expressing exponential growth; in my own words from 2008, “there were other write-ups that
perhaps demonstrated my capabilities as a math student better, but his piece showcases my
ability to work in generalizations and abstractions (of which I am very proud), to go above and
beyond the requirements of an assignment, and to connect statistics reality and especially to
[the] humanitarian issues we will be facing in the future.” The second, entitled simply ‘Orchard
Write-up,’ I wrote at the conclusion of an expedition on geometry and angles. My favourite
element in both expeditions was generating generalized formulae to express the entirety of that
semester’s work – I enjoy working, as mentioned before, in abstractions, and I find formulas
both elegant and beautiful; they are art.
Rather than present yet another investigative piece to exemplify myself as a ‘Humanities’
student (Humanities being the subject encompassing sociology, history, mythology, etc), I have
instead chosen to provide 2008’s best attempt at creative writing – a piece entitled ‘Freedoms
That Be,’ a modern-day interpretation of the myth of Daphne, a nymph. As I said in 2008,
“This subject [i.e. art and myth] is very personal to me; I can paint and draw quite well,
and have often been asked, ‘why don’t you want to become an artist?’ I answer this
question in my myth by creating a [character] who did become an artist, and suffered for
this choice… Art is very personal [for] me, and I am very proud of this myth; I consider it
a work of art unto itself. Perhaps that is why I worked so hard on it, and picked over it
again and again in an attempt to make it perfect, [which] demonstrates another of my
personality traits: perfectionism and an unwillingness to just let something go. This trait
doesn’t serve me well when I’m making a painting, but I believe that the quality of my
myth benefited greatly from an extensive drafting process.”
Finally, ‘Un Barco se Hundio’ is an example from 2007 of the sort of work we often did
in Spanish class. It was a fun, interactive class – we got up on chairs and tables and danced, put
on costumes and enacted plays, in order to enact the vocabulary we were learning. We also wrote
little stories like this one, often with animal characters in silly circumstances, again using
whatever vocabulary words the teacher opted to require. My study of verb conjugation during
my time in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala in 2006 helped a great deal with this piece.

35. -Notice that the main difference between the cephalothorax and the abdomen is
the segmented nature of the former. The thorax bends and is used to move the
animal about, while the cephalathorac is a hard shell, protecting the animals head
and many of its internal organs. The crayfish’s exterior is not similar to that of a
human, as they have exoskeletons, while we have an internal skeleton.
3. Turn the crayfish on its side, and locate the rostrum, which is the pointed extension of
the carapace at the head of the animal shown in the diagram above. Beneath the rostrum
locate the two eyes. Notice that each eye is at the end of a stalk. Diagram observations on
observation sheet.
4. Locate the five pairs of appendages on the head region. First locate the antennules in
the most anterior segment. Behind them observe the much longer pair of antennae.
Diagram observations on a new observation sheet.
-Is is advised that you keep the animal on it’s side for this part of the study,
because the appendages of the head are best viewed from this angle.
5. Locate the mouth. Then observe the mandibles, or true jaws, behind the antennae. Now
locate the two pairs of maxillae, which are the last appendages in the cephalic region.
Diagram observations.
--The appendages related to the eating of food are the maxillipeds, of which there
are three pairs. They all hold food, tear it up, and pass it into the mouth, where the
mandibles crush it. The second pair of maxillipeds are also used for passing water
over the gills. They operate in a similar fashion as our hands, or fingers, tearing
food up and passing it to our own mouths, however our arms are also similar to
the chelipeds, or claws.
6. On the thoracic portion of the cephalothorax, observe the three pointed maxillipeds.
Diagram.

36. 7. Next observe the largest prominent pair of appendages, the chelipeds, or claws. Behind
the chelipeds locate the four pairs of walking legs, one pair on each segment. Diagram.
8. Now use the walking legs to determine the sex of your specimen. Locate the base
segment of each pair of walking legs. The base segment is where the leg attaches to the
body. Use a magnifying glass to study the inside surface of the base segment of the third
pair of walking legs. If you observe a crescent-shaped slit, you have located a genital
pore of a female. In a male, the sperm duct openings are on the base segment of the
fourth pair of walking legs. Use a magnifying glass to observe the opening of a genital
pore. Diagram.
-This specemin was a male. The external reproductive organs of the crayfish are
not similar to humans, as male humans have a protruding reproductive organ,
while both sexes of the crayfish have ducts used to transport eggs and sperm to
the outside.
Exchange your specimen with a nearby classmate who has a crayfish of the opposite sex.
Then study its genital pores. Diagram!
9. On the abdomen, observe the six distinct segments. On each of the first five segments,
observe a pair of swimmerets. Diagram.
10. On the last abdominal segment, observe a pair of pointed appendages modified into a
pair of uropods. In the middle of the uropods, locate the triangular-shaped telson.
Diagram.
11. Now turn the crayfish ventral side up. Observe the location of each pair of
appendages from the ventral side. Diagram
-Notice that the appendages can be better viewed from the ventral side, as when
the animal is on its dorsal side, the area where the limbs are attached to the body
is hidden, as are the swimmerets.
12. Next you will study the internal anatomy of a crayfish. If you must store your
specimen until the next lab period, cover it with a dampened paper towel. Then place the
specimen on the tray in a plastic bag. Close the bag with a twist tie. Write your name on
the bag with a felt-tip marking pen, and give your specimen to your teacher.
13. Clean up your work area and wash your hands before leaving the lab.
Consult with a member from an earthworm dissection group, and create a table of
similarities and differences between your two specimens:
Similarities Differences
Both segmented animals Worms reproduce using the clitellum

37. Both have appendages used in movement Crayfish have true limbs, i.e. pincers
Neither have true lungs Worms breath through pores on their skin,
crayfish using gills
Share same basic organs, heart, stomach, Crayfish are aquatic, while worms are
etc. terrestrial
Both have regenerative capabilities Crayfish have exoskeletons
Both in kingdom animalia Worms have 5 hearts, crayfish has only one
Both have genders Phylum: Worm-Annelida, Crayfish-
Arthropoda
Crayfish fertilize eggs internally, after the
male passes sperm to the female using
modified swimmerets. Earthworms fertilize
eggs externally.
Crayfish are more advanced because they have a more developed respiratory system.
Oxygen, in worms, in transferred directly to the circulatory system by its soft skin, while
the Crayfish passes water over its gills, taking the oxygen from the water, and then
transferring it to the circulatory system (?). The pores on the exterior of the earthworm
absorb oxygen but if the animal is put into water, it will drown. However, when the
crayfish is put on land for an extended period of time, it suffocates, as its gills cannot
function as lungs do, and it must be in water to breath. Therefor, each animal has evolved
to function in specific environments. The earthworm thrives in loam, and other nutrient
rich soil. The crayfish inhabits most freshwater bodies, though it seems to be common in
streams, rivers, and ponds. Its relative, the lobster, lives in saltwater.
Part 2- Internal Dissection:
14. Put on a lab apron and gloves.
15. Using one hand to hold the crayfish dorsal side up in the dissecting tray, use scissors
to carefully cut through the back of the carapace along dissection cut line 1 as shown in
the diagram below. Cut along the indentations that separate the thoracic portion of the
carapace into three regions. Start the cut at the posterior edges of the carapace, and
extend it along both sides in the cephalic region.

38. 37
16. Use forceps to carefully lift away the carapace. Be careful not to pull the carapace
away too quickly. Such action would disturb or tear the underlying structures.
17. Place the specimen on its side, with the head facing left, as shown in the diagram
below. Using scissors, start cutting at the base of cut line 1. Cut along the side of the
crayfish, as illustrated by cut line 2. Extend the cut line forward toward the rostrum (at
the top of the head).
18. Use forceps to carefully lift away the remaining parts of the carapace, exposing the
underlying gills and other organs.
19. Use the diagram below to locate and identify the organs of the digestive system.
Locate the maxillae that pass the pieces of food into the mouth. The food travels down
the short esophagus into the stomach. Locate the digestive gland, which produces
digestive substances and from which the absorption of nutrients occurs. Undigested
material passes into the intestine. Observe that the intestine is attached to the lobed
stomach. The undigested material is eliminated from the anus.
-The teeth on the inside of the stomach are used in grinding up the food, after it is
torn up and passed to the mouth by the maxillipeds. Muscles on either side of the
stomach are used to contract and move the stomach about.
20. Use the diagram below to locate and identify the organs of the respiratory system.
Locate the gills, which are featherlike structures found underneath the carapace and
attached to the chelipeds and walking legs. A constant flow of blood to the gills releases
carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen.

39. -The gills have a very large surface area for greater oxygen absorption. This is
similar to human lungs. A person with larger lungs will absorb more oxygen that
someone with smaller lungs.
21. Use the diagram of the internal anatomy of the crayfish to locate and identify the
organs of the circulatory system. Locate the dorsal tubular heart and several arteries. The
crayfish has an open circulatory system in which the blood flows from arteries into
sinuses, or spaces, in tissues. The blood flows over the gills before returning to the heart.
22. Use the same diagram to locate and identify the organs of the nervous system. Find
the ventral nerve cord. Locate a ganglion, one of the enlargements of the ventral nerve
cord. Locate the dorsal brain, which is located just behind the compound eyes. Note the
two large nerves that lead from the brain, around the esophagus, and join the ventral
nerve cord.
-Many nerves leave from the ganglion, and are used to activate the swimmerets.
23. Use the same diagram to locate and identify the organs of the excretory system. The
blood carries cellular wastes to the disk-like green glands. Locate these organs just in
front of the stomach. The green glands excrete waste through pores at the base of each
antenna.
-The green glands secrete excess water and ammonia. In this, they are similar to
the bladder, storing wastes, and then removing them from the body.
24. Use the diagram once again to locate and identify the organs of the reproductive
system. The animal shown in the diagram is a male crayfish. If your specimen is a male,
locate the testis. The testis is the long, white organ under the heart and a bit forward. The
sperm ducts that carry sperm from the testis open at the fifth walking leg. If your
specimen is a female, locate the bi-lobed ovary. It is in the same relative position as the
testis, but the ovary appears as a large, reddish mass under the heart. Then locate the
short oviducts that extend from near the center of each side of the ovary and open at the

40. third walking leg. Exchange your specimen with a nearby classmate who has a crayfish
of the opposite sex. Then study its reproductive system.
25. Dispose of your materials according to the directions from your teacher.
26. Clean up your work area and wash your hands before leaving the lab.
Conclusion:
The hypothesis proved to be true. Humans and crayfish are both motile animals, and
share many of the same internal structures, such as: organs used for breathing (though
both are adapted to their environment, lungs vs. gills), stomach, intestine (and a similar
way of absorbing nutrients, breaking down the food in the stomach, then absorbing
nutrients through the intestine, into the bloodstream). Both have appendages capable of
grasping things, in humans, it is the opposable thumb, in crayfish, the chellipeds.
However, the skeletons of these two creatures are very different. The crayfish has an
exoskeleton, which it must shed periodically in order to grow, while the human has an
internal skeleton, and stops growing after a certain point. There are other dissimilar
systems, such as the maxillipeds. There are no similar structures in humans. Humans use
their fingers to grasp food while it is put in the mouth, then teeth to grind and tear it into
digestible pieces. In conclusion, excepting a few differences, crayfish and humans are
incredibly similar.
Diagrams:
Observations Inferences

41. Rostrum/Eyes
Antennae
Mandibles and
Maxillae

42. Maxillipeds
Chellipeds and
Walking Legs
Sperms/Egg Ducts,
Modified Swimmerets
(if male)

43. Abdominal
Segments/Swimmerets
Uropods/Telson
Gills

44. Heart
Ventral Nerve Cord/
Green Glands

45. Erin Collier-Zans
2007
Global Warming and Disease Outbreaks in Colorado and China
Is the climate changing? Few scientists would deny that something drastic is going on.
This century has seen a global increase in average temperatures by between .7 and 1.5° F. The
burning of fossil fuels has released aerosols into the atmosphere, which capture and retain heat,
hence the greenhouse effect. The sea ice is retreating, causing the sea levels to rise. Sea-surface
temperature warming is causing more severe and frequent hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons.
Desertification and floods plague non-coastal areas. Is global warming to blame? Are we to
blame? Does global warming really affect us, and what can we do to make positive changes?
Hypothesis:
The average temperature and precipitation for the month of August, collected by weather
stations around Colorado, and the RMSEL weather station, will show a general warming/rising
trend, for the period between 1950 and the present day.
Data from Colorado weather stations:
Average High Temperature for the State of Colorado In
the Month of August By Year
70
69.5
69
68.5
68
Temperature (°F)
67.5
67
66.5
Average High Temp.
66
65.5 Expon. (Average High Temp.)
65
64.5
64
63.5
63
62.5
62
19 0
19 2
54
19 6
58
19 0
19 2
64
19 6
68
19 0
19 2
74
19 6
78
19 0
82
19 4
19 6
88
19 0
92
19 4
19 6
98
20 0
02
20 4
06
5
5
5
6
6
6
7
7
7
8
8
8
9
9
9
0
0
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
Year

46. 2
This chart shows the average monthly temperature (from the month of August), for the period
between 1950 and the present day. You can clearly see the rising trend line. This trend line
shows a raise in the average temperature by approximately .7°F. Below is the dataset:
Year °F Year °F Year °F
1950 63.3 1969 68.1 1988 67
1951 65.7 1970 68.1 1989 64.3
1952 66.8 1971 66 1990 64.8
1953 65.4 1972 64.4 1991 65.5
1954 66.5 1973 65.8 1992 63.5
1955 67.8 1974 63 1993 63.9
1956 64.3 1975 64.8 1994 67.6
1957 66.4 1976 64.2 1995 68.7
1958 68.1 1977 65.7 1996 66.2
1959 67.1 1978 64.3 1997 65.2
1960 67.2 1979 64.4 1998 66.5
1961 66.7 1980 66.4 1999 65.8
1962 66.1 1981 65.3 2000 69.4
1963 64.3 1982 67.3 2001 67.3
1964 63.5 1983 69.1 2002 67.1
1965 64.6 1984 66.6 2003 69.1
1966 64.6 1985 66.3 2004 63.6
1967 63.7 1986 66.2 2005 65.7
1968 62.6 1987 64.3 2006 65.8
Precipitation for the Month of August from the Grand Junction
Weather Station
80
70
60
Millimeters
precipitation in
50 millimeters
40 Linear (precipitation in
millimeters)
30
20
10
0
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
Year
This is the precipitation in millimeters from Grand Junction. The trend line shows a definite
increase as the year’s progress, and the variation year to year becomes more extreme. In the raw
data set shown below, you can see that the precipitation in 2003 was 56 millimeters, the highest

47. 3
since 1999. It should also be noted that the three highest rainfalls during the 1970-2004 period
fall in the last 8 years of data.
Year mm Year mm Year mm
1970 12 1982 24 1994 13
1971 27 1983 18 1995 12
1972 8 1984 46 1996 5
1973 16 1985 7 1997 70
1974 12 1986 25 1998 14
1975 3 1987 25 1999 56.4
1976 9 1988 35 2000 15.2
1977 15 1989 26 2001 38
1978 14 1990 12 2002 21
1979 16 1991 14 2003 56
1980 36 1992 20 2004 5
1981 17 1993 36
Hypothesis:
Global warming causes higher average temperatures and average precipitation. This
higher humidity and temperature in turn causes the outbreak of deadly tropical diseases, like
malaria and West Nile Encephalitis, which pose a serious threat to human health both locally and
globally.
In the summer of 1998, China suffered a massive flooding of the Yangtze River, the
worst in 44 years.1 It had been an unusually wet rainy season, leading to extremely high water
levels in lakes and rivers. This resulted in 7 consecutive flood surges, 3 of which occurred within
a span of 3 days.
It was suggested to the Chinese government that the flood might be diverted, but instead
of paying heed to this suggestion, the government decided that the bank of the river should be
secured instead. To aid in the accomplishment of this, the government “instructed that authorities
at all levels increase material and manpower to secure the bank at all costs. According to the
Ministry of Water Resources data, materials and supplies worth more than 10 billion Yuan
(US$1.2 billion) were expended on the situation.”2
1
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9808/25/china.floods.01/
2
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/4-12-27/25263.html

48. 4
The first levee to collapse was in Waijiang, Hezhen of Jiayu County. It collapsed on
August 1, after which soldiers and rural workers from the area worked nonstop for five days and
nights, attempting to block the hole. Finally, the strategy of sinking of ships and trucks and
fixing wooden boards succeeded.
On August 5th, the levees in Paizhou, Jiujiang, and Jiangxin area of Jiayu County
collapsed. This area was densely populated, mostly around the Paizhou area, which was
inhabited by some 500,000 people. Almost all the able bodied were out working, trying
desperately to block the flow of the river, but to no avail. The levee collapsed completely at
midnight, engulfing about 100 soldiers, locals, and policemen who were working on the dam.
The river swept into the villages all along the riverbanks, flooding homes, schools, and
farmlands. The sleeping children, women, and elderly didn’t stand a chance. They had received
no forewarning, and 11,000 died. A further 1,000 laborers were declared missing, presumably
swept away by the flood crest.
During the rest of the day, the lower reaches of the river flooded, collapsing more levees
in Jiujiang and Jiangxinzhou. The main Yangtze levee collapsed on the 7th, at which point the
government grew desperate, and ordered that any and everything that would pack down be
thrown into the river, to block the hole. 5 million tons of rice, soybeans and other grains were
thrown in, along with some 50 trucks and 18 ships.
A unit of 200 soldiers specially trained to handle flood disasters was dispatched from
Zhangjiakou, who filled the hole with concrete and boards, finally blocking the hole and
stopping the flood. 12,000 people were
claimed by the river upstream, around 6,000
people died in the rivers’ lower reaches, and
the series of levee collapses amounted to some
58 billion yuan, or around 7 billion US dollars
in damages.
On top of that, around 14 million
people were displaced. Many had no homes to
return to, once the floodwaters had subsided.
A soldier helps an elderly flood victim The Yangtze River area contains a booming
economy, and people were quickly moving into the river basin. The fertile lands around the river
contain about 3% of the countries total farm land, the erosion and inaccessibility of which

49. 5
drastically affected the health of the countries economy since China at the time contained 1/5 of
the worlds human population and only 7% of its arable land.
The hardships faced by the survivors continued, without relief. Many remained shelter-
less. Those who returned to the flooded areas were plagued by a multitude of diseases spread by
insects and aided by unsanitary conditions. Many of the flooded areas remained so for months,
preventing people from picking up their lives. Many have wondered if this tragedy could have
been avoided.
The floodwaters could, for instance, have been diverted to some of the rivers smaller
tributaries, minimizing the loss of human life and the damage to property. The severity of the
flood was only exacerbated by the construction of various dams and levees, which inhibited the
rivers ability to regulate itself. This situation was exacerbated by the clear cutting the riverbanks
and the building of roads and mines, which raised the silt levels of the river leading to
abnormally higher water levels: “Zhuang Guotai of the State Environmental Protection Agency
Ecological Section told Worker Daily in early August that for every 70,000 hectares of forest
that is lost, a natural reservoir that can store one million cubic meters of water is lost. Zhuang
said that the peak flow rate of the Yangtze at Yichang this year is below historic highs. Twenty-
three years have had higher flow rates. But the destruction of forests resulted in natural water
storage loss and silting of rivers and lakes and raised the level of the river further. The
encroachment of land-hungry farmers on lakes reduced the capacity of the environment to absorb
floodwaters. Dongting Lake, a major regulator of Yangtze floods, shrunk from 6000 square
kilometers in 1700 to 4350 square kilometers in 1949 and by another third to just 2820 square
kilometers by 1980.”3
The incredible damage that the flood caused was also in large part due to poor resource
management on the part of the Chinese government. “Farmers faced with a declining amount of
arable land- available per capita are increasingly encroaching on lakes and riverbeds. Balancing
the interests of land hungry farmers with the need to protect against flooding is a difficult
question of land use policy formulation, regional coordination and enforcement.”4 As more and
more ‘land-hungry farmers’ flock to flood-prone areas, the amount of damage the floods cause
increases along with the number of people in harms way.
3
http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/sandt/fldrpt.htm
4
-

50. 6
The strength of the country’s defenses against floods also need to be strengthened:
“Chinese river dikes are designed to withstand the largest flood that might be expected to occur
over a ten to twenty year period while in Europe, Japan and the United States, a 100 - 200 year
flood standard applies to large rivers and a 50 - 100 year standard might apply to other rivers.
The Chinese standard is calculated by comparing the cost of avoiding flood losses versus that
cost of building massive dikes and reservoir areas to control floodwaters. This formula…does
not adequately reflect losses to the national economy and to the people of the region.”5
Perhaps the flood was in fact due, in some way, to global warming. Scientists predicted
that a severe flooding of the Yangtze river was likely due to “the strongest El Nino on record in
Spring 1997 continuing into the Summer of 1998, the most serious snow disaster of the century
on the Qinghai - Tibet plateau from November 1997 - February 1998,” and the fact that the
“rainfall along the Yangtze River from November 1997 to April 1998 was the highest ever
recorded” as illustrated by the chart below:
Average Precipitation for the Months of April-
August in China
180
160
140
120
Millimeters
mm
100
Poly.
80 (mm)
60
40
20
0
19 0
19 2
19 4
66
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
76
19 8
19 0
19 2
84
19 6
19 8
19 0
19 2
19 4
19 6
20 8
00
02
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
9
19
19
19
19
20
Year
This chart shows the average precipitation in millimeters of the months between April
and August, which are the rainiest months in China. A trend line has been included, which shows
a gradual decrease in precipitation. You can see a number of high peaks and rapid falls. In
1995, the average precipitation during this period was 73.4 millimeters, but in 1996, the average
precipitation was 124 millimeters. In 1997, the precipitation was 63.6 millimeters, and in 1998,
5
-