Tuesday, February 4. 2025...nope Wednesday February 5. 2025

Today's schedule is BADC

A Block Physical Geography - Today we'll start with time to work on yesterday's topic of "spheres" - the interacting systems that we'll work through this year. Remember I'd like you to interpret the relationships among the four spheres as a result of humans burning fossil fuels (where do they come from? what are they made of? how do we extract/process/use them? What happens to the carbon byproduct after combustion? How does that impact the spheres?) 

If you're having trouble with this consider the carbon cycle (pages 186 - 197 in the Geosystems Core text) or look at Earth Observatory Carbon Cycle from NASA. You could also look at Annenberg Media's "The Habitable Planet" Carbon Lab or their Chapter 8 Global Carbon Cycle from their online text or the Cool Geography Global distribution of major stores of carbon website.

 

Planet Earth (text) Chapter 2 Earth Systems

An Interactive Introduction to Organismal and Molecular Biology Chapter 8 Systems Thinking and the Carbon Cycle

Understanding Global Change: The Carbon Cycle

Understanding Global Change: Burning of Fossil Fuels

United Nations Causes and Effects of Climate Change

 

B Block Criminology - Today we'll look at the difference between deviance and criminal behaviour (acts that are criminal but not deviant and deviant but not criminal). What is deviant behaviour? A simple explanation of deviant behaviour could be any action that violates cultural norms (formal norms like laws - or informal norms like nose picking). This is a difficult concept because what an individual or sub culture in society defines as deviant is contextually situated (meaning what I think is deviant may be different for you; it is subjective - influenced by personal considerations).

  

From Diffizy

So, I want you to come up with a list of things that are deviant but not criminal and a list of things that are criminal but not deviant. Then, you'll need to take one act from either list and explain why it should be criminalized or why it should be decriminalized. This should be based on an evaluation of harm...in other words how deviant or not is the action? If the action would cause great social harm then perhaps we should criminalize that behaviour. If the action causes minimal social harm then perhaps we should decriminalize that behaviour. Take smoking in public. You may think that this behaviour is acceptable because an individual has the choice to consume a cigarette and they are merely harming themselves...no problem right? You may, however, think this behaviour is unacceptable. Second-hand smoke is hurtful to others because they could be harmed by someone else's behaviour. So what is deviant in many cases is subjective. What is criminal is the codification of what a society as a whole deems as deviant.

Today's Fit...