Sustainability and Design for Environment

ME415, ENVIR 415, and CEE 495

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Environmental Claim Critique

Recently, increased public interest in protecting the environment has been accompanied by a wide range of environmental claims.  These claims profess a wide range of environmental benefits, either using an established rating system, listing and/or quantifying select environmental benefits, or simply stating that a product is "green," "eco-friendly," etc.  Whereas some claims may be well founded and well documented, others are not.  For your environmental claim critique, you should:

  • Describe product, organization, policy, etc. and the associated environmental claim you will critique

    • In your description of the environmental claim, identify the impacts covered (e.g., some claims simply deal with climate change, or simply deal with recyclability or recycled content)

  • Define the function or service provided by the product, organization, policy, etc.

  • Summarize the life cycle of the implications of the product, organization, policy, etc.

  • List alternative ways to provide the function or service and summarize the life cycle implications of alternatives

  • Critique the environmental claim

  • List your references (cite all sources used and see http://wally.rit.edu/pubs/guides/apa.html  for citation formatting examples)

Note that your environmental claim critique represents 20% of your grade and that it MUST be an individual effort.

Presenting your critique

You have 2 choices in how you will present your critique:

  • You may make a presentation to the DFE class

  • You may prepare a critique report, limited to 3 pages, as a report NOT a presentation

Critique presentation materials or critique reports must be emailed with DFECRITIQUE in the subject line to the instructor by 5pm on Feb. 17 (no late submissions will be accepted).  Documents must be in either PDF, .doc, .docx, .ppt, or .pptx format, named as DFECRITIQUE_yourlastname_firstinitial (e.g. DFECRITIQUE_cooper_j.pdf).  Critique reports that are not presented in a readable format from start to finish will not be accepted (i.e., excel files as appendices will not be accepted, so calculations and results must be described in your document).

For more information, contact Associate Professor Joyce Smith Cooper at cooper@me.washington.edu