This essay must be a historical narrative and explanation of an environmental problem (ecosystem devastation, pollution or health problem, climate change concern, or something similar) that has affected you and/or your hometown in some way. Think specifically about something that has happened, or is happening now, in or near where you live or grew up. You will then use the course material and at least one outside academic source to do the following in this order:

1. Discuss the origins of the problem locally and within a national and/or global context.

2. Discuss who has been affected most by the problem

3. Explain what kinds of efforts have been undertaken to address the problem and how effective these actions have been. Are/were the actions taken equitable? Are/were they sufficient?

The objective of this assignment is for you to deepen your comprehension of the course material up to this point and be able to bring together the material from the midterm with the most recent material on environmental ideas and environmentalisms. This essay is also a way for you to make this class more personal: we all depend on our environment in all kinds of ways. This is an opportunity for you to engage with environmental ideas and understand better how recent history makes our contemporary moment. Moreover, the essay is good preparation for your final essay.

You will be expected to use course material (lecture and/or readings) to write this essay, but you are also expected to use at least one outside academic source that has not been assigned in this course.

To cite lecture, course readings, and your outside source(s) in the text, you must use parenthetical references of author and page numbers. For example, (Guha, 123-5) or (Martinez Alier, 27). You do need to provide a full bibliography at the end for all outside sources you use. Please consult with your TA for his/her bibliography style preference (MLA, Chicago, etc)