Chemistry, Climate Change, Culture
2007 Exploration Seminar in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil

**THIS PROGRAM IS FULL AND NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS**

Program Director:  Richard Gammon (Chemistry, Oceanography)
Dates of Instruction:  August 19 to September 15

Salvador, Bahia the original capital of Brazil, is a city of ~2 million set in a wide and beautiful bay on the coast of the tropical Atlantic Ocean (13 oS).  Founded more than 500 years ago, Salvador has a rich and complex history, having served during colonial times as the center of the Brazilian slave trade. Thus, Salvador retains a strong African flavor in all aspects of its culture--music, dance, cuisine, and religion—the most African city anywhere in North or South America. This African culture is blended with influences of both the colonizing Portuguese and of the native Americans they encountered upon their arrival in the new world.

Most science undergraduates have no opportunity to apply their discipline in the real world, especially not outside the United States.   This course (C4) will provide an opportunity for science undergraduates to apply their disciplinary knowledge in a completely unfamiliar context, reaching across disciplinary boundaries to link their natural science expertise to related questions in the social sciences and humanities. We will examine environmental policy and environmental justice issues encountered from the local (urban air quality) to the global (climate change) scale.  Only a minimum foundation in undergraduate chemistry (at least Chem142/152) is required, as this course seeks to attract science and engineering students from a broad range of disciplines across the university.

C4 will have major field and laboratory components. We will first study air quality issues locally within the city of Salvador, Bahia. In Salvador, our local host will be Professor Tania Tavares, Director of the Laboratory for Analytical Environmental Chemistry (LAQUAM) at the Universidade Federal de Bahia (UFBA).While we are in Salvador, UFBA will serve as our primary host institution and lab for our urban studies. Professor Tavares will give several guest lectures.

We will then move up the coast to the small fishing village of Arembepe to make measurements at the clean air monitoring station run by the Brazilian weather service. The Arembepe site is a designated clean air station of GAW (Global Atmospheric Watch), part of the global network maintained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the measurements made there will be representative of atmospheric chemical conditions on a regional to continental scale. We then travel into the interior of the State of Bahia to visit an agricultural college, meeting with the students there, attending lectures, and living with families in the town.  Our final field station will be down the coast at a tropical rainforest restoration project, where we will also learn about the environmental and social justice movement MST.

Students will be expected to participate in all the scheduled activities of this course (lectures, labs, field trips), to complete the assigned readings, homework, and to maintain a journal.  Final written submissions include: a lab report, a synthesis paper (science/policy/values), and a short personal reflection on the course experience.

Participants will earn 3 credits of Chemistry (CHEM 491) and 2 credits of Environmental Studies (ENVIR 496), or CHID 472, Latin America Study Abroad.  Participants should check with their advisors to determine how these credits may be best applied toward departmental requirements.

Student costs:
$2,600 Program Fee
$200 IPE Fee
Additional costs include round-trip travel to Salvador, Brazil, visa, health insurance, vaccines, some meals, course materials, and personal expenses.

Back to 2007 Exploration Seminar List of Programs