Pesticides: who makes them? who still uses them? why? under what conditions? effect of pesticides on humans? on environment? What are herbicides? What are the alternatives to pesticides/herbicides? How effective are these alternatives? How widely used? If effective and not widely used, why? Investigate the hottest current local pesticide issues?

Sustainable agriculture: what is it? alternative farming techniques (no pesticides, crop rotation, etc)? how do they work? where do they work? how effective are they? how do you get what you want or need from the land without raping it? Is this possible, especially considering world population?

What are the most persuasive environmental reasons for vegetarianism?

Recycling programs: assessment of effectiveness? focus on Stanford's? compare a good one with one that could be better? compare techniques?

Parapsychology: remote viewing? natural psychics? telepathy and brain wave patterns? How much is real/how much is hype? Other forms of paranormal activity... THis is far too vague yet, but interesting.

Environment and culture: How our society and others interact with the environment. Differences between the relationships, how the cultures affect their surroundings and how the environment affects the cultures. How the way the culture treats the environment comes back and affects the culture. Compare two? In a specific area, like agriculture? Music? Puberty?

Wellness: what is it, especially in comparing Eastern and Western conceptions?

Happiness: what is it? is perception of it uniquely human? is it a spiritual force? a biological, even evolutionary, one? is "happiness" "normal"?

Utopias (and/or dystopias): is there an environmental utopia? historically? in the future? is the goal in this happiness (that is, harmony with self and nature)? (Specific to East Palo Alto Historical and Agricultural Society: research the Little Landers Movement, Charles Weeks' utopian society and possibly compare it to another but contemporary agriculturally based utopian community....?)

Does personal commitment to environmentally sound business principles among business leaders matter? any effective difference when an executive promotes environmental values on his/her own initiative as compared to being forced to comply with efficiency or regulatory programs? And/or examine a small environmental start-up or group of them: explore founders' ideas and principles.

Greenwashing: How effective is greenwashing in boosting consumer confidence in and sale of products? Is it really a serious problem? (Focus on a particular company?)

New technologies that have/will have a positive effect on the environment. What does the environmentally responsible business look like? is environmental responsibility cost-effective? What does the environmentally responsible consumer look like?

Does the fuel cell car have a future?

Looking at Stanford University as a corporate entity: what social/environmental responsibility does Stanford have as it both invests and accepts large sums of money? How should Stanford use its economic clout to affect social/environmental change? (Operative example might be R & D in biotech field.)

Tourism and our national parks: are foreign visitors more interested in them than we are? why are Americans interested, or not? why are foreign tourists?

Historical analysis of some aspect of the American West. How railroads opened up the West? The cowboy mystique, vs the reality?

Ecotourism and sustainable development: asa means to build alternative economies in developing countries while protecting the environment and resources? How effective? Advantages? Drawbacks? (Where to focus? Rainforests/indigenous people? Baja? Wild rivers?)

Environmental education: what is it? in public schools? ten years ago? now? how widely practiced? does it work? why/why not? will it pay off in changing attitudes and behaviors in the future?

Eating disorders among female athletes: perhaps focusing on Stanford? and/or elsewhere?

AIDS/AIDS Awareness/AIDS education....

Homelessness: where and how do the interests of homeless persons and populations conflict with sound environmental policies? Which is more important? Focus on Palo Alto or another community as a case study?

Environmental racism: toxic waste sites in urban minority communities? uranium mining in native American communities? Other examples internationally?

Environmental imperialism: developed countries harvesting natural resources cheaply in developing countries and leaving behind environmental devastation and health problems. Examples: deforestation in Central/South American and elsewhere, mining and oil drilling in Africa. Aside from these current examples, examples throughout history.

Sociobiology/biological determinism: social class distinction according to "nature's will"? are there such things as distinct racial traits beyond the superficial ones? if it's survival of the fittest, who's deemed fittest, and by what means? What current debates relate to biological determinism, racism? (Affirmative action??? Who is the "qualified candidate, " and why? Qualifed for what, and on what grounds?)

Animal rights: do animals have emotions? how relevant a question is this? what is the difference between what we want and what we need as a human beings? To what extent do we need to control ourselves and/or do without to spare other life or for that matter exploiting other human beings? Why should we?

Human pheramones -- are they real? Aroma therapy? The history of small? How much of the basic instintual stuff still matters?

The effect of human activity on marine life... (specific types, events, examples, instances to focus the investigation on? I'm lost!)

Current event: Investigate a current, specific environmental effect. (Could be election-related? What's up in environmental news and politics? In the "trenches"? In the Congress?)

Environmental politics/radical activistism -- analyze the efficacy and/or effectiveness of radical environmentalists' tactics -- like EarthFirst! ?

Examination/assessment of the current administration's environmental policy? Too far? Nor far-enough? Promises kept? Promises broken? Direction? Possible outcome in the next presidential elections?

Physics: explore some physical phenomenon (or scientific one?)that affects or may affect our lives in the future...

Tibet: how has China's presence in Tibet affected Tibet environmentally, culturally?

China: The Three Gorges Dam, environmental and political (internal and international) assessment? China's one-child policy as an approach to population control?

Does the United States have a population problem?

International treaties and conventions affecting rainforest development/conservation: which one(s)? where? which treaties and occasions? who are the international parties involved? how and where do their interests converge and diverge? who is aligned with whom? what are the roles (and agendas) of governments as opposed to nongovernmental organizations? how are treaties and convention enforced? what's ahead?

Health issues and environmental education in developing countries. Which specifically?

Illegal trafficking of endangered species -- for example, tropical birds in El Salvador.

Famine as a factor of political upheaval in African countries. The use of famine as a weapon of war?

Motives for genocide.

Our nation's export of pesticides (like DDT) to developing countries -- pesticides that are banned in the U.S. How and why?

Implementing environmental education -- what are the best methods?

The effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on coastal Indian tribes -- economic, cultural, etc. Seen in terms of an ongoing trend/cultural genocide?

"Lunacy"? The moon and human behavior. Related to women/their cycles specifically? Myths and magic? Real?

Women's rights in China, especially reproductive. Misogynist practices in that society, and in "the East" in general?

The Endangered Species Act.. Has it become obsolete or insensitive to human needs? What about people's economic rights as opposed to the rights of other species?

A re-evaluation of the SuperFund for toxics clean-up. Effectiveness/successes or lack thereof? Adequate? Essential?

The suburban/wilderness interface: the problem resulting from human encroachment on wilderness/wild animal habitats, what happens when "dangerous" animals and people come, increasingly, face-to-face in parks, on trails, and even at the suburban city limits. Student will focus on the mountain lion specifically.

Wild animal reintroduction/rehabitation programs: for example, wolves in Yellowstone, the Olympic Peninsula. Good idea or not?

Environmental conservation in African countries (which?).