Key Concepts for the Physical World

For each of the four parts of the IA 101 syllabus, you will receive a list of basic concepts/events.  These concepts/events come from your reading and lectures.  In an introductory survey course such as this, the emphasis is on building up your knowledge of basic concepts to prepare you for more advanced work and to unsure that you have the conceptual tools necessary to understand the basics of international affairs as a field on inquiry.

On your quizzes, you will identify and define concepts from a list (in addition to mapping questions and short-answer questions taken from the study questions handed out).  For your concepts, do the following: define, offer date and example when applicable, and explain why the concept is important to the study of international affairs. 

Ozone layer
Tradable emissions permits/pollution credits
Pollution
Carbon dioxide
Carbon sink
Photosynthesis
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Greenhouse gases

Law of the sea
Cod wars
Grand Banks

Fertile Crescent
Sustainable development
Green revolution
Famine
Agriculture
Agrarian reform
latifundio
Cash crops
Genetically modified organisms and food
Subsistence farming

Natural resources
Fossil fuels
Hybrid cars
Deforestation
Desertification
Erosion
Extinction
Endangered species
Primary products
Mining and minerals
Col-tan
Sahel Drought
CILSS (Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought in the Sahel)

"Silent Spring" (Rachel Carson)
Environmental Protection Agency
Green Parties
Greenpeace
Earth First!

Malthusian Dilemma
Global warming
"Tragedy of the commons" (Garret Hardin)