ENVR 202 ASSIGNMENT 1

HUXLEY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Western Washington University
Envr 202 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: A SOCIAL SCIENCE APPROACH:
Professor Gene Myers
Assignment 1: Environmental issue analysis
DUE Oct. 13, in class (16 points).

Purpose:
This assignment will give you an experience exploring and describing a current environmental issue. We have been discussing such issues in class, and this is your chance to learn about one of your choosing. Your task is to provide a condensed and objective summary of the basics of the issue. It is also the first step in the series of short assignments that will create a special continuity in this course for you.

Topic:
You have the responsibility of finding an issue of interest to you on which to write. You may be familiar with many issues. But what qualifies as an environmental issue in the sense in this class? Remember the key features -- every such issue involves:

  1. Some human-environment interaction, which creates...
  2. Some threat to human well-being
  3. Players who hold positions about the nature of the problem, and what should be done about it
  4. Some disagreement among players' positions regarding the problem or solution
  5. Values and beliefs that underlie this disagreement.
  6. Human intervention should be able to improve situation (non-anthropogenicly induced natural disasters would not be acceptable)

SEARCH TIPS:
Here is an excellent web site (created by a Huxley student) that may be helpful in finding good issues and analyzing them. Huxley Environmental Website Guide
Here's a list of some different values that might be reflected in players' positions

You may want to look ahead at the later assignments to see what else you will need to find out about your issue. You'll see that you'll need to look in some depth at the human-environment interactions (for example what some ecological research has revealed). The issue ought to involve political, economic or other social aspects; it should ential multiple points of view -- you should find an issue where you can discern a VARIETY of needs and perspectives (the news media often distill issues into a conflict between two artificial "sides," but you should look for greater complexity). You'll need to find expressions at least one of these points of view for the third assignment. Finally, you should start searching for solutions from the get-go, whether scientific, technological, or especially social, legal, economic, institutional and behavioral.

Please note that if you plan to do the Service Learning option for Paper #3, you need to choose an issue at this time that you can match with a suitable Service opportunity. If you plan to do this option, you should contact the Center for Service Learning by Oct. 6 to set up a placement, because this arrangement with a sponsor organization must be set up by Oct. 13. Contact Kristi Slette at CSL between 7 and 12 on Mon., Wed., or Fri., at 650-6515. New information: Contact Stacey Wood, at x 7542, or at staceyrwood@hotmail.com If you plan to do this option, you should expect to spend about 1/2 hour with Stacey getting oriented, put in about 10 hours of service, keep a journal of your reflections, and write it up at the end for paper #3. Please read the web-page for paper #3 now for more information. This option is a wonderful way to enhance your learning with real-world experience, and is usually very rewarding.

By Wed. October 4: Using newspapers (particularly the major ones) magazines or websites, locate several potential issues from which to choose. Pick an article* treating your chosen issue, and answer the following questions in preparation for writing:

  1. What are the key human-environment interactions in this issue? How do people change the environment, and how does this influence people in return?
  2. What is the problem or threat? And, what has been done about it?
  3. Who are the players, and what are their positions?
  4. Identify and discuss as many of the underlying beliefs and values in the players' positions as you can, basing your inferences on their statements in the article, or on other evidence.
*Not every article will provide enough information for all questions - if there are serious gaps, use another issue, or do a litttle additional library research.

BRING YOUR INITIAL RESULTS WITH YOU ON Wed., Oct. 4, FOR SHARING AND DISCUSSION IN CLASS - THIS WILL HELP YOU AND YOUR CLASSMATES COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT!!

Evaluation:
Each of the above questions is worth 3 points, plus 4 more for overall writing quality.

Writing & technicalities: Be sure to see the general instructions.

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