An in-depth exploration of foods and foodways of diverse populations and cultures. Examination of the effect of ethnic, geographic, ecological and historical factors on foods, foodways, health and diet related diseases.
The full course site is available at https://culturalfoods.commons.gc.cuny.edu/.

D-Lab Development addresses issues of technological improvements at the micro level for developing countries—in particular, how the quality of life of low-income households can be improved by adaptation of low cost and sustainable technologies. Discussion of development issues as well as project implementation challenges are addressed through lectures, case studies, guest speakers and laboratory exercises. Students form project teams to partner with mostly local level organizations in developing countries, and formulate plans for an IAP site visit. (Previous field sites include Ghana, Brazil, Honduras and India.) Project team meetings focus on developing specific projects and include cultural, social, political, environmental and economic overviews of the countries and localities to be visited as well as an introduction to the local languages.

Students learn how the process of soil solarization is used to pasteurize agricultural fields before planting crops. Soil solarization is a pest control technique in agriculture that uses the sun’s radiation to heat the soil and eliminate unwanted pests that could harm the crops. The approach is compared to other pest control methods such as fumigation and herbicide application, highlighting the respective benefits and drawbacks. In preparation for the associated hands-on activity on soil biosolarization, students learn how changing the variables involved in the solarizing process (such as the tarp material, soil water content and addition of organic matter) impacts the technique’s effectiveness. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post-quiz is provided.

This visualization tool shows sea ice data from 1978 to the present. Selected data can be animated to show changes in sea ice extent over time. Data is added by the National Snow and Ice Data Center as it becomes available.

The home of the U.S. Government’s open data. Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. Topics include Agriculture, Business, Climate, Education, Energy, Ecosystems, Manufacturing and more.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists search for carbonized remains of plants preserved in lava flows to find out how long it has taken rain forests on Hawaii to regenerate after a volcanic eruption.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The Earth is undeniably getting hotter. For the third time in a row, the past year has gone down as the hottest on record. While researchers don’t expect every year to be record-shattering, the trend is disconcerting—perhaps nowhere more so than in South Asia. A new study shows that here, unique climate effects converge with poor living conditions and high population density to create the most at-risk hot spot on our planet. Climate data shows that some of the world’s hottest zones lie across Asia. In these areas, the wet-bulb temperature, a measure of temperature that accounts for humidity, reaches life-threatening highs, commonly above 28°C. For perspective, consider that spending just a few hours at a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is enough to cause death. And according to an international team of researchers, this heating trend might only get worse..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This online gallery of photos, illustrations, and videos provides a snapshot of deep sea vents and the ancient forms of life that can be found within them. Transcripts of the videos are provided, and the photos and illustrations are accompanied by explanatory texts.

This NASA animation on land cover change zooms into Rondonia, Brazil. It starts with a Landsat satellite image taken in 1975 and dissolves into a second image of the same region taken in 2009 that illustrates a significant amount of land use change.

This assignment addresses cultural sustainability by asking students to go beyond distinguishing between five subsistence strategies to examining the impact of globalization on diet and culture.

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In this video segment adapted from Navajo Technical College, meet a dendroclimatologist who studies the relationship between precipitation and tree growth in the Navajo Nation.

In this lab activity, students determine density differences of water samples with varying temperature and salinity levels. Students synthesize information to predict the effects of oil in given water samples.

This video segment from NOVA: A Desert Place describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada examines threats to the desert tortoise population.

In this lesson students will learn the 8 steps of the Engineering Design Process.  

Students are challenged to design a permanent guest village within the Saguaro National Park in Arizona. The design must provide a true desert experience to visitors while emphasizing sustainable design, protection of the natural environment, and energy and resource conservation. To successfully address and respond to this challenge, students must acquire an understanding of desert ecology, environmental limiting factors, species adaptations and resource utilization. Following theintroduction, students generate ideas and consider the knowledge required to complete the challenge. The lectures and activities that follow serve to develop this level of comprehension. To introduce the concepts of healthy ecosystems, biomimetics and the importance of sustainable environmental design, students watch three video clips of experts. These clips provide direction for student research and challenge design solutions.

Genetic engineering is responsible for the so-called "second green revolution."  Genes that encode herbicide resistance, insect resistance, drought tolerance, frost tolerance, and other traits have been added to many plants of commercial importance. In 2003, 167 million acres of farmland worldwide were planted in genetically modified (GM) crops equal to one fourth of total land under cultivation.  The most widely planted GM crops are soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, and papaya. Two important transgenes have been widely introduced into crop plants.  The Bt gene, from Bacillus thuringiensis, produces a toxin that protects against caterpillars, reducing applications of insecticides and increasing yields. The glyphosate resistance gene protects food plants against the broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, which efficiently kills invasive weeds in the field. The major advantages of the "Roundup Ready®" system include better weed control, reduction of crop injury, higher yield, and lower environmental impact than traditional herbicide systems. Most Americans would probably be surprised to learn that more than 60% of fresh vegetables and processed foods sold in supermarkets today are genetically modified by gene transfer.  In 2004, approximately 85% of soy and 45% of corn grown in the U.S. were grown from Roundup Ready® seed.

This lab activity allows students to indetify macroinvertebrates and determine the health of an acquatic ecosystem.

This activity is a field investigation where students gather population data on bird species. The students will create bar graphs and interpret their findings. Based on their experiences and data, they will write an answer to the guiding question.

This activity combines field exercise soil collection with lab analysis of soil bulk density. Students develop a lab procedure to measure density and analyze data using Microsoft Excel computer software.