ENVS101 Sustainability Essay
This assignment builds on the conceptual framework for sustainability discussed in Shammin 2008, “Sustainability definition and principles” assigned for Class#2. Your assignment is first to formulate a well posed question that is related to the issue of sustainability and to your own life experience. Include this question at the top of your essay. Then, answer this question in less than 2,000 words. This is about 3-4 pages. Use “Word Count” in the tools menu of MSWord. Your question and answer are constrained to meet the criteria described below. I will use these criteria to grade your essay, so I suggest that you use these as a checklist. As always, I encourage you to brainstorm and share ideas with your classmates. Feel free to answer a question that is similar to that posed by a fellow student. However, your answer must reflect your own thinking and writing (each essay should be written by one student). Submit your essay as a single spaced MSWord document. Use the naming convention for your file (“SELastName.FirstName”) and send it as an attached file in the appropriate section on Blackboard. Although your essay is not officially due until late in the semester, I strongly encourage you to work on it earlier as the work load in this and other courses is heavy late in the semester. You must make a mandatory appointment with the writing center to review your work before you submit it:
Writing
Center Location: Mudd Library, 101A—in the Academic Commons
Writing Center Hours: Sun., 2pm–1am; Mon., Tues., Weds. & Thurs.,
7pm–1am; Fri. & Sat., 7–9pm
There are two approaches that you might take to constructing your first paragraph. The first is to simply start by directly building a clear thesis statement that you then defend in subsequent paragraphs (see “Writing Guidelines” linked on home page of the class web site). The second is to relate a brief anecdote or provide a narrative that sets the context for your essay and then end with a thesis statement.
Consider an essay on what makes for sustainability in student dining cooperatives. Your definition might start with, “For cooperatives (coops), the term sustainability has particular social, economic and environmental components. From the social standpoint, a sustainable coop is one in which the basic personality and atmosphere continue to perpetuate each year. For example, Tank remains a party-oriented….”
‘Think globally and act locally’ (Biologist René Dubos, 1901-1982)