Environmental Sustainability Problem Assignment ESSAY

Environmental Sustainability Problem Assignment

INTRODUCTION

In Geography 310 we cover many complex and challenging issues that concern human-environment relationships in the Anthropocene.

While it is obviously critical to identify, analyze, and understand these problems, this course also endeavours to focus on ways that we can take action to progress towards ‘sustainability’ (recognizing that definitions vary), and more equitable, progressive futures for humans and non-humans in our socio-ecological systems.

This term paper assignment asks you to create your own proposed action or solution to a real-world environmental problem. Specifically, we would like you to research and design a concrete response to a real-world “environmental sustainability” concern in Canada (or, if you are located elsewhere, in the place where you live or are from).

This assignment is broad, in the hopes that it will allow you to engage with an idea that most resonates with your interests and expertise. We encourage creativity, but the execution of the proposal should be clear and demonstrate the appropriate consideration, critical thought and research appropriate for an upper-level course. Your solution must seem feasible and reasonable, and be explained in a detailed fashion, drawing from academic resources.

DETAILS OF THE TERM PAPER

Your assignment is to produce a ~2500 word (approximately 10 pages, double-spaced 12 points font) essay that includes:

1. Your personal definition of environmental sustainability, with an explanation of why you believe this definition is useful; 
This should cite references and literature in the field. Since this is such a broad term, it is important to define exactly what you mean by it.

2. Identification of an environmental sustainability problem that you would like to contribute to solving, including:

(i) Clear statement of the problem;

(ii) Explanation of why this is an environmental sustainability problem (i.e. how does it counter your vision of environmental sustainability that you have proposed);

(iii) Evidence of why this problem is significant (this should be supported with evidence from references to academic literature or government documents).

3. Explanation of how you would innovate to solve this environmental sustainability problem, which includes:

(i) Clear statement of the proposed solution, which may take one of the following forms:

A product – e.g. high-efficiency stove; phone app; or redesigned car.

A service – e.g. a commercial composting pick-up service for 
restaurants;

An event – e.g. a “Clean Up the Streets” block party; or a large 
musical showcase that features no reliance on fossil fuels; or

An action or campaign – e.g. a “sewers and salmon” campaign that dissuades 
people from disposing of household wastes down storm sewers (discussed below)

(ii) Explanation of how the innovation corresponds with your definition of environmental sustainability.

(iii) 
Detailed explanation of the innovation: what would it look like in practice?

(iv) Evidence the innovation is socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.

Note: your essay does not have to include a budget (although you may include one if you choose), but it must demonstrate that you have thought about the components of economic sustainability (in other words, how will the implementation of your solution be paid for or be able to persist in the real world?) Further, your essay must address social sustainability, including desirability: why would people want to use and/or pay for and/or financially support your solution?

4. Research. You must include a bibliography (not included in the page limit noted above) that includes at least 10 items (i.e. journal articles, policy reports, archival documents), no more than 20% of which may be newspaper/magazine articles.

MARKING CRITERIA

Your paper will be marked with respect to the following criteria:

Content (15 marks): strength and relevance of evidence you include to support your claims; correctness and relevance of statements; completeness of answers; lack of extraneous material; originality of thought

Expression, structure and coherence (5 marks): clarity and conciseness of expression, clarity of logic and flow of argument

Presentation (5 marks): correctness of grammar and punctuation, lack of typographical errors, adherence to specified format

Total: The term paper will be marked out of 25, and is worth 25% of your final grade.

GETTING STARTED

There are plenty of avenues that you can follow for this assignment, and we are happy to discuss ideas with you in our office hours, or during our synchronous sessions if there is the opportunity. The scope of projects is likely to vary, but it is important to maintain a reasonable limit to what you can clearly explain, justify and clearly delineate in a detailed fashion. While you may want to address a problem that is very large in scale, as many current sustainability concerns are, your solution by necessity will likely have to contribute to a portion of the solution. As stated above, this project is meant to allow you explore the space between the large scale complex problems, and our daily, lived experiences as members of socio-ecological systems.

Example: An example of the potential scale of a project can be drawn from something you may have come across if you live in Canada. You may have seen these yellow painted salmon beside the storm drains in Vancouver (pictured below). This is an education initiative by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, (Links to an external site.)meant to “remind us that storm drains on our roadways empty directly into local streams”. This simple and even aesthetically pleasing addition to the city’s infrastructure helps keep us aware that even though we have modified the structure of the urban environment, we are still connected to the larger system, and our actions still impact it. In the context of a proposal like this, for this project, you would want of course to relate this to one of many potential large scale sustainability concerns. This is an example of a program already in place – feel free to draw inspiration from existing programs or ideas, and apply them in a novel way, or come up with a totally new idea – but don’t worry about it being perfect – there are no perfect solutions. Once you have a chance to brainstorm some ideas, then you can begin to figure out what best will be feasible and manageable for devising a proposal for.

The important thing, as always, is taking the concepts and ideas that we talk about in this course, and finding ways to make them relevant to our own lives. We look forward to reading what you come up with and share!

Environmental Sustainability Problem Assignment ESSAY

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