You have been hired, at a substantial fee, to ghost-write the
introduction of a new environmental science textbook. The introduction is called "What Is Environmental Science?" Your client, its author, is a big-name environmentalist who is too busy--or too lazy--to write the
introduction himself.From your background as an environmental science student, you know that environmental science is considered a social science, in that it concerns itself with human impact on the
environment. You also know that environmental science is a highly political arena, with real agendas and real policy outcomes at stake.
You decide to pursue journalistic integrity by writing a fair,
balanced explanation of the nature of environmental science. Knowing that your client's views are quite liberal, you recognize that this may mean the loss of your huge upfront fee, so you decide to keep as moderate a
tone as possible.
Please use your sense of ethics and fair play, balanced with the obligation to please your liberally inclined client, and develop a comprehensive introduction under the title "What Is
Environmental Science." Be sure to include key environmental issues, positions, and policies.
Your article should reflect rigorous research of online and offline sources, and should be presented in a tone
appropriate for a textbook introduction.
Expected Length: 10-12 pages
Assignment 2: Impact: What is Man's Right Relationship to the Environment?
In the biblical account of Genesis,
God directed Adam and his descendants to "subdue the earth." For generations after that, mankind's relationship with nature has been tenuous at best. Human beings have been at a distinct disadvantage against the forces
of weather, wilderness, and wild beasts. Much of human history is recorded against the backdrop of famine or various natural and man-made calamities.
More recently, especially since the Industrial
Revolution, many people have developed an "environmental consciousness." This "consciousness" is often characterized by a sense that mankind's industrial and social activities are harmful to the planet and to nature.
Some even consider industrial and agricultural practices apocalyptic, asserting that we could "destroy" the planet. They concern themselves with rainforest protection and animal rights. Their essential
notion is that nature is mankind's "friend."
Please think carefully about mankind's historical and contemporary relationship to the natural enviroment and answer the question posed above: "What is man's
right relationship to the environment?"
Be as scientific in your discourse as possible. Consider various sources, ranging from the bible to modern environmentalist opinion. Your paper should use be
persuasive in its use of data and synthesis of facts.
Expected Length: 8-12 pages
Assignment 3: Temperature Control: The Truth About Global Warming, Please.
You have been retained as
a policy consultant by a candidate for governor of your state. One of her most important challengers is a green-party environmentalist. Her opponent argues fiercely that your state's industrial output is contributing to
global warming. The opponent has called your candidate "out" on this issue, and it seems to be sticking.
Please provide a lucid, well-documented position paper on global warming. Present the historical and
current state of the issue. Recount the various scenarios and arguments both for and against global warming. Finally, give your candidate a clear, defensible position on the issue, based on facts, not on rhetoric.
Expected Length: 10 pages
Assignment 4: Waste and the Environment: Toxic Waste, Garbage, Landfills
Delighted with your global warming paper, the candidate mentioned above approaches
you with another environmental assignment. Waste management, including garbage, waste water, and even toxic waste, is an important issue to citizens everywhere, and voters in your state are no exception.
A
progressive thinker, your candidate informs you that she knows that technology has made great strides in the area of wasted disposal. She asks you to develop a consumate high tech waste disposal policy for her campaign.
She wants to be able to energize environmentally sensitive voters with realistic but progressive ideas.
Her staff warns you that "pie in the sky" suggestions will only harm her reputation, and that
budgetary concerns will act as a major boundary. So you are charged with developing a high tech approach to statewide waste management that is both realistic and cost efficient.
Can you do it?
Expected Length: 10 pages
Assignment 5: What About the Ozone Hole?
Experts and skeptics abound as to the environmental issue known as the "ozone hole." Please develop a definitive report on the
ozone hole, including its origin, alleged causes, and expected impact. Be sure to include as broad a diversity of opinion as you can find, and engage all of the questions involved.
Provide a paper that
details the ozone hole and your personal position as to its existence and effect.
Expected Length: 6-10 pages
Assignment 6: Water, Water, Everywhere...
One of a society's absolute
necessities is a reliable supply of clean, potable water. Especially as population grows, water availability and quality are key issues for sustaining life.
Please provide a report on the state of our US
water supply. Be sure to consider our water distribution system, filtration methods, quality control, and consumption patterns. Emphasize all threats to our water supply that you may find, from weather, to accidental,
to terrorism. Include any particularly innovative or promising technologies you encounter.
Expected Length: 10 pages.
Assigment 7: The Politics of Environmentalism Agriculture, Development and Regulation
Concerns about the environment have found their way into political discussions on local, regional, national, and even global
levels. The political ramifications of environmentalism, and of environmental policy, are wide ranging and serious.
Please investigate the politics of environmentalism, and of environmental politics. Report
on the various issues and positions involved from a political perspective. As you consider environmental issues from a policy perspective, consider "who wins," given various policy positions, and "who loses."
Focus your report on agriculture and food production, and on "sustainable development." Be sure to note any tradeoffs involved in agriculture and development, their environmental and social consequences, and
their impact on human civilization.
Expected Length: 10 pages.
Assignment 8: Is That You, Goddess Gaia? The Spirituality of Environmentalism
For many, there is a spiritual dimension
to environmentalism, exemplified by the Goddess Gaia and Mother Earth movements. While some consider these spiritual practices merely entertaining, others reflect that "earth worship" has been part of the human
experience almost since the dawn of time.
Please provide a spiritual perspective on environmentalism. Your report should be as wide-ranging and comprehensive as necessary to include the issue's various
components.
Please format your report in comparison-contrast form, comparing a "spiritualist" approach to the environment with a biblical approach.
Expected Length: 10 pages.
Final Paper Assignment: The Energy Question
In light of the recent electicity blackouts and California's ongoing energy crisis issues, some have begun to consider the ability of our nation to produce sufficient
electricity for our needs. Our power grid, it is said, is simply insufficient to handle demand, therefore demand should be limited.
Conversely, technology has greatly enhanced the energy industry's ability
to generate power efficiently and cleanly. It (the energy industry) contends that our constraint is its inability to construct new generating facilities due to environmentalist objections.
Please provide a
comprehensive review of the electric energy industry. Report on the nature of supply and demand for electricity for human society. How is electricity produced? How is it consumed? What important technology innovations
are affecting the energy industry? What are the key environmental issues involved? Are environmentalist concerns justified? What are the key government regulatory issues involved?
Be sure to consider the
electric energy industry from various perspectives: its own, that of environmentalists, that of government regulators, and that of consumers.
Please provide your report in the form of an answer to the
following question: "What happens when I flip the light switch?"
Expected Length: 20-25 pages
