Environment 300 first paper assignment

ENVIR 300

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATION

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FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT:
ARE WE EXPERIENCING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS?

DUE ELECTRONICALLY TUESDAY, APRIL 15 AT 5:00 P.M.

This is a required topic.

In order to improve their own livelihood and security, humans have been modifying the earth for a long time. Sometimes these modifications have resulted in greater biodiversity or greater ecosystem resilience; sometimes they have resulted in depauperization or even system collapse, as detailed in a recent book by Jared Diamond. But it can be argued that until the late 20th century, human modifications of the earth were always local or regional; human interventions never modified the earth environment at the global or biosphere scale.

Since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1961, and especially since the two works you are reading for April 1, people have made the case that human impacts on the biosphere, like everything else, have been globalized. We are almost certainly experiencing the beginning of anthropogenic climate change, and this may bring about many severe alterations in the way the biosphere works in the next few hundred years.

So the word "crisis" is in the air, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "A vitally important or decisive stage in the progress of anything; a turning-point; also, a state of affairs in which a decisive change for better or worse is imminent; now applied esp. to times of difficulty, insecurity, and suspense in politics or commerce." For this paper, you need to argue that we are or are not in an environmental crisis. There are a lot of possible points that you could consider in answering this overall question. They might include some or all of the points suggested below, but the specific points you choose to emphasize and elaborate on are up to you. I don't have the mental strength to read 35 versions of the same paper.

Is "a decisive change for better or worse...imminent"?
Given that neither Ehrlich's mass famine nor Hardin's tragedy of the commons has happened yet, were they making false or irresponsible proclamations of crisis and/or predictions of catastrophe?

If people like Ehrlich and Hardin were proven wrong for reasons that they could not envision at the time, what assurance, if any, do we have that Al Gore and others are not now doing the same thing?

What level of certainty (as measured by error bars, for example) do we need to have before we speak out publicly on something like the existence of a crisis?

What are the likely political outcomes of using or avoiding words like crisis, collapse, or catastrophe?

Is the main difference between past and present environmental damage and dangers primarily one of scale?

Points for writing effective papers:

Each paper should be 1500-2000 words in length, double-spaced, with a reasonably readable font size. Part of learning to write effectively is learning to write within limits of length; this means I will not read word #2001 of the text.

References can be in any standard footnote, endnote, or embedded reference format. The notes or bibliography may push the total over 2000 words.

Papers will be graded on accuracy and pertinence of content, logic, effective and appropriate vocabulary use, cogency of argument, and elegance of argument.

Processes and grading:

Papers should be turned in electronically to The Instructor.
I will grade and return papers, with extensive comments, within one week of the due date.
A is 4.0, A- is 3.7, B+ is 3.3, B is 3.0, etc.
Late papers will be graded down one letter-scale point (A to A-, B- to C+) at 5:00 p.m. on the due date, and one more letter-scale point for each additional calendar day they are late.
If you choose to write 4 papers, you may drop you lowest paper grade. I don't have time to read 5 papers.