Climate Change & Culture in Brazil
2008 Exploration Seminar to Salvador-Bahia & the Amazon

Program Director:  Richard Gammon & Jeff Richey (Chemistry, Oceanography)
Dates of Instruction:  August 24 to September 19, 2008

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

This course will provide an opportunity for science undergraduates to apply their disciplinary knowledge in a completely unfamiliar context, reaching across boundaries to link their natural science expertise to related questions in the social sciences and humanities. We will examine environmental policy and justice issues encountered from the local (urban air quality) to the global (climate change) scale.  A minimum foundation in undergraduate chemistry (Chem142/152) is required.

We begin in Salvador, the original capital of Brazil.  Salvador, 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, it has a rich and complex history, having served during colonial times as the center of the Brazilian slave trade. Salvador retains a strong African flavor in all aspects of its culture--music, dance, cuisine, and religion. 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. As part of our cultural studies students will be given opportunity to study Portuguese language,practice the marshal arts dance capoeira, and learn about the local Catholic-African syncretic religion candomble.

The seminar will have a major field and laboratory component. We will first study air and water quality issues in the Salvador region. Our local host will be Professor Tania Tavares, Director of the Laboratory for Analytical Environmental Chemistry at the Universidade Federal de Bahia (UFBA).While in Salvador, UFBA will be our primary host institution and lab for our urban studies. Professor Tavares will give several guest lectures.

During Week Two, we will 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 monitoring station of GAW (Global Atmospheric Watch), a global network maintained by the World Meteorological Organization. Measurements made at this site are representative of atmospheric chemical conditions on a regional to continental scale.

Following our week in Arembepe we will then fly to Tersinha in the interior of NE Brazil for a homestay experience, then on to  Manaus in the Amazon, In Manaus,  we will learn about the functioning of tropical rainforest ecosystems at a nearbly LBA field station( Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment) and how the Amazon forest  might respond to  climate change. We may also spend some time on the river. The Amazon part of this course will be led by UW Professor Jeff Richey.

On-the-ground logistics in the Salvador region ( lodging, transportation, culture) will be coordinated by ‘Bahia Street’, a Seattle/Salvador charity foundation founded by Dr. Margaret Willson. Dr. Willson, an anthropologist specializing in the plight of the poorest of Salvador’s residents, will give an introductory lecture in Seattle on the history and culture of Brazil and address social justice issues of Brazilian society.

Participants may choose to earn 3 credits of CHEM 491 (NW) with 2 credits of ENVIR 496, 5 credits of CHID 472 Latin America Study Abroad (I&S), OR 5 credits of OCEAN 496. Participants should check with their advisors to determine how these credits may be best applied toward departmental requirements.

Student costs:
$3,075 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.

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