The module is divided into Units, i.e., sections that are thematically coherent and that could, if necessary, stand alone. In addition, the module contains a Reference Section, Supporting Materials and an Appendix. The Supporting Materials can be used to facilitate the teaching of this module or simply to augment it with interesting ideas and information. Additional sections with further information may or may not be present, e.g., a list of acronyms, or a glossary. A separate section on Active Pedagogy comes with every module purchase.

Each Unit consists of Background Information that can be used as a hand-out for students or as the basis for an in-class presentation; an Instructor's Guide, consisting of suggestions on how to teach the various learning activities associated with a given Unit; Student Worksheets; and the Answers expected for each activity.

Some activities have their own Student Worksheet for ease of preparing hand-outs for students.

The activities are geared toward the theme(s) and concepts discussed in a particular Unit. The particular skills and themes emphasized vary among the activities. Choose one or more activities per unit to fit you class size, time, resources, overall course topics, and student skill levels. Be sure to vary the types of activities you choose throughout the module.
 
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Module Overview

 
 
    The word industry often conjures up images of dirty gray buildings with smokestacks that soil the air and drainpipes that pollute rivers. This module takes a much broader view of industry, proposing that industrial systems are analogous to ecosystems:  both consist of producers and consumers interacting with one another in the input, output, and internal exchange of material and energy.  In industry, however, rapid technological advance has increased the speed at which society converts raw material into products and accompanying waste.

 This module seeks to provide students with an understanding of the key principles, concepts, and problems in the emerging field of industrial ecology.  We ask students to decide for themselves whether industry can become “greener”: can it be made to replicate ecological systems in the way ecosystems reuse all the organic material they produce?

 The module explores three broad themes:
 

• the linkages among technological change, industrialization, and global change;
• the utility of a systems approach to analyzing industrial activity; and
• the opportunities and constraints involved in making industries more closely resemble ecosystems in their productive and consumptive processes.

 In Unit 2, students use a systems approach to analyze industrial processes; students are asked to pay particular attention to material and energy “inputs,” their internal processing, and their “outputs” of products and waste.  The activities engage students in systems analysis by having them critique their own homes, their local industrial sites, and popular case studies of their own choosing.

 The third unit examines the problems and possibilities involved in industrial ecology study and practice. In the activities, students grapple with the socioeconomic, technical, informational, and other constraints to making society’s industrial activities sustainable. Students also identify instances where elements of industrial ecology are being practiced or where the potential exists to do so.
 

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Summary:  Industry in Concert With the Environment:  Technological Change and Industrial Ecology

 

Abstract    This module stresses the key principles, concepts, and problems in the newly emerging field of industrial ecology. The focus is on three broad themes:  the linkages among technological change, industrial change, and global environmental change;  the utility of a systems approach to analyzing industrial activity;  and the opportunities and constraints involved in making industries more closely resemble ecosystems in their productive and consumptive processes.  The activities are designed to address these themes through more specific scenarios, such as product life cycle analyses and the examination of local businesses.    Module Objectives  The module has four major objectives:  to demonstrate the linkages between industrial processes and the environmental and human aspects of global change at a variety of scales. to involve students in using a systems approach to understand industrial processes and draw analogies to ecological processes. to enable students to make generalizations about technological innovations and change. to demonstrate the opportunities, constraints, and values involved in the industrial ecology approach to building industrial systems in tune with the environment. Skills  data gathering (field work), presentation, analysis, and interpretation  interviewing map reading and interpretation critical reading and writing role playing  creative writing library/Internet research debating oral presentation team collaboration issue analysis and position formation   Activities  Activities are designed for individuals, small groups, and/or the entire class:  group discussions map/collage presentation quantitative data gathering and interpretation film review and interpretation debate field work (local industry and the home) critical reading and writing

Material Requirements  Student Worksheets (provided) Suggested readings (some provided) World map Colored markers or thumb-tacks Access to World Wide Web (optional, but very helpful) Film Koyaanisqatsi (optional)  Human Dimensions of Global Change Concepts   technological change systems, feedbacks, inputs, and outputs thermodynamics, entropy Type I, II, and III ecologies industrial ecology industrial metabolism driving forces impacts   Geography Concepts  scale (local-global) core-periphery relationships nature-society relations Time Requirements  2-3 weeks (i.e., 2 sessions per unit)    Difficulty  Intermediate to challenging. Students learn to apply system, ecology, and thermodynamics terminology to industrial systems at the local (firm) to global (North-South) scales through critical readings, field research, and discussions.

 
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