C. Argument paper: 40%
This is to be a thesis-driven assignment, meaning you will outline a clear and plausible argumentative position in your first paragraph and defend it throughout. Grading criteria: a) clear and precise thesis statement and elaboration (5pts); b) demonstration of detailed engagement with class readings from weeks 7-9 and the further reading (see below) (15pts); c) good balance of argumentation for and against your thesis (10pts); d) demonstration of reflection on topic and your own thinking about it (10pts).

Write a 6-page paper in response to one of the following prompts:
1. According to Figueroa and Mills: “Environmental justice refers to the conceptual connections and causal relationships between environmental issues and social justice” (Companion, p. 427). Expand on this definition by explaining the further notions of distributive justice and participatory justice. How does Naomi Klein’s account of post-Katrina New Orleans illustrate the ethical claims of the environmental justice paradigm?

Relevant texts (all must be directly cited at least twice):
A) Companion, “Environmental justice,” “Politics”
B) Naomi Klein, “Change everything or face a global Katrina”
C) D. Rossiter, “Negotiating Nature: Colonial Geographies and Environmental Politics in the Pacific Northwest,” Ethics, Place and Environment 11:2, 2008, 113-128.

2. Henry Shue notes: “We are parked in [the global poor’s] spaces, and no empty spaces exist. Our unnecessary emissions are blocking their vital ones, except at the price of speeded-up climate change, which will be most unmanageable for them” (Companion, p. 452). What is the ethical basis of environmental activism in relation to climate change? Are there strict moral limits to such activism or is it relative to the scale of the problem being addressed?

Relevant texts (all must be cited directly at least twice):
A) Companion, “Environmental disobedience,” “Climate”
B) Bill McKibben, “Obama and climate change: the real story”
C) S. Hale, “The new Politics of Climate Change: Why We are Failing and How We Will Succeed,” Environmental Politics 19:2, 2010, 255-275.

Optional extra article relevant to both questions:
I. Blühdorn and I. Welsh, “Eco-politics beyond the Paradigm of Sustainability: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda,” Environmental Politics 16:2, 2007, 185-205.

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Week 7: Environmental Justice
M: R. Figueroa and C. Mills, “Environmental justice,” pp. 426-38.
W: Naomi Klein, “Change everything or face a global Katrina,” http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2015/08/change-everything-or-face-global-katrina

Week 8: Climate Change and Global Responsibility
M: H. Shue, “Climate,” C: pp. 449-459.
W: B. McKibben, “Obama and climate change: The real story,” Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-and-climate-change-the-real-story-20131217
George Monbiot, “Let’s make Britain wild again and find ourselves in nature,”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/16/britain-wild-nature-rewilding-ecosystems-heal-lives

Week 9: Environmental Disobedience and Activism
M: N. Hettinger, “Environmental disobedience,” pp. 498-509.
W: B. McKibben, “It’s time to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry,” The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/30/fossil-fuel-divestment-climate-change
Dan Roberts and Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Pope Francis calls for urgent action on climate change in White House speech,” The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/pope-francis-climate-change-white-house-speech