Environmental Apocalypse or Ecologism: The Beginning of a New Era

See the instructions below

IDS 201

Final Paper/Writing assignment

Please write a paper with the following topic: "Environmental Apocalypse or Ecologism: the Beginning of a New Era". 

“Ecologism”: a new worldview that centers on sustainable development in a society that recognizes the importance of an intact ecosystem for the survival of our civilization.

Keep in mind that the title constitutes a question and offers two possible answers. Please think about the title, the question and the possible answers. Deal with both possible answers!  See what you would expect to read in a paper with this title. Then write the paper. You have the freedom to come up with whatever you think is relevant for this topic. I expect the papers to be very different from each other. I do not care as much about right answers as about you developing your own ideas and thoughts.

The question obviously relates to the “Lifecycles of Civilizations” we dealt with at the end of the semester. The question is, if our civilization (USA or global, up to you) is facing an environmental apocalypse? In which stage of the lifecycle in relation to environmental issues do you see us? If you see us in stage 3 or 4, do you see a new worldview/paradigm developing which will enable us to start a new lifecycle? (remember the graph) How so? Does this new world view “Ecologism” enable us to avoid the apocalypse? Do you see signs for that worldview developing, if yes is it maybe developing too slow, too little, too late?  Is there maybe not any apocalypse coming up at all?

I expect you to

1. do quality research and proper citations (check the “citation link”). However, I do not care which citation style you choose! Wikipedia is NOT a valid academic source to cite!


2. analyze and critically evaluate your research outcome


3. develop your own thoughts


4. write a structured paper.

Please check my “Advice on Writing Papers” link.

Please use Microsoft Word. I cannot read it in other software.

Length: 4 full pages, Times New Roman 12 font, line spacing 2

I can only accept papers which

a. have a title, course number, student’s name and are paginated

b. are in Microsoft Word

c. are submitted to the assignment tool in Moodle

d. are submitted before the deadline

e. please do not waste paper on a cover sheet

Here is some advice on how to write a paper: 1. Please read the assignment carefully. Spend a good amount of time on thinking and understanding every detail of the assignment. What is it I am asking you to do? What is the purpose of the assignment? (Don’t give me a summary when I ask you for an application; don’t explain basic concepts when I ask you to supplement) Please check BLOOM'S TAXONOMY OF THINKING (see below) and VERBS REPRESENTING COGNITIVE TASKS IN BLOOM'S TAXONOMY (see below) for better understanding and classification of my questions. 2. Do what I am asking you to do. The most common mistake students make is to pick a few keywords from the assignment and then write a paper that is only slightly related to what I want them to do. Apply appropriate discipline. You must retain a disciplined focus on the assigned work, and not allow yourself to be carried away with issues that especially interest you. It is easy to get lost in project details, descriptions of organizations etc. A paper that is excellent but doesn’t exactly meet my assignment will not earn a good grade. Again, think about what the assignment exactly is about and then apply discipline. 3. Give your paper an appropriate structure. 1. An introduction (here you announce what your plan is for the paper). 2. The body of the paper. (here you do most of the work). 3. The conclusion (does it relate to the intro? Or did you wander off?). Produce an outline before you start writing. 4. The required length of a paper: Whatever you write that I didn’t ask you to do doesn’t count. On the contrary: If I have to read a lot of stuff I didn’t ask for I take off points. Papers that are much longer than required usually miss the point. 5. Very carefully apply the Universal Intellectual Standards (see below) throughout your whole paper. 6. If I ask you to give me a summary of concepts or readings, please do so. But I never ask you for that. So please never give me a summary. I usually ask you for an application, analysis, or reasoned judgment. That means that you understand and comprehend all the necessary concepts and then work with them. I always want a critical reflection on the issue. What I am really looking for in my assignments is your own thinking. Of course you can only reflect critically on subject matters you have a thorough understanding of. 7. I am asking you to go through a thinking process in my assignments. That means the outcome/conclusion should be open. In other words, don’t start your paper with an opinion and then defend it. Rather ask a question and be open to find an answer that might contradict your opinion. 8. When you are done writing the paper, let it sit for a while (a day or longer). Then go back to it and double check if your paper is doing what I asked you to do. Use the assignment as a check list. Use the Universal Intellectual Standards as another check list. 9. Leave time to improve your paper. I can only accept papers which a. have a title, course number, student’s name and are paginated b. are in Microsoft Word c. are submitted to the assignment tool in Moodle d. are submitted before the deadline e. please do not waste paper on a cover sheet Using Questions to Enhance Learning Material for this page was adapted from Eanes, Dr. Robin, Content Area Literacy: Teaching for Today and Tomorrow, Chapter 5, 1997, Wadsworth Publishing, ISBN# 0-8273-5954-3 . Permission to use this material may be requested from the publisher at http://www.thomsonrights.com/grant/index.html Developing Higher-Order Questions Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of educational objectives: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay and Company. 1956 LEVEL COGNITIVE SKILLS Knowledge Recalls information accurately and in appropriate context Comprehension Demonstrates understanding using examples Application Uses abstract concepts and ideas in specific and concrete situations Analysis Separates constituent elements or parts using meaningful categories Synthesis Combines constituent elements or parts in meaningful construction Evaluation Makes judgments using appropriate criteria Verbs Representing Cognitive Tasks in Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge cite, label, name, reproduce, define, list, quote, pronounce, identify, match, recite, state Comprehension alter, discover, manage, relate, change, explain, rephrase, substitute, convert, give examples, represent, summarize, depict, give main idea, restate, translate, describe, illustrate, reword, vary, interpret, paraphrase Application apply, discover, manage, relate, classify, employ, predict, show, compute, evidence, prepare, solve, demonstrate, manifest, present, utilize, direct Analysis ascertain, diagnose, distinguish, outline, analyze, diagram, divide, point out, associate, differentiate, examine, reduce, conclude, discriminate, find, separate, designate, dissect, infer, determine Synthesis combine, devise, originate, revise, compile, expand, plan, rewrite, compose, extend, pose, synthesize, conceive, generalize, propose, theorize, create, integrate, project, write, design, invent, rearrange, develop, modify Evaluation appraise, conclude, critique, judge, assess, contrast, deduce, weigh, compare, criticize, evaluate Universal Intellectual Standards by Linda Elder and Richard Paul Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be applied to thinking whenever one is interested in checking the quality of reasoning about a problem, issue, or situation. To think critically entails having command of these standards. To help students learn them, teachers should pose questions which probe student thinking, questions which hold students accountable for their thinking, questions which, through consistent use by the teacher in the classroom, become internalized by students as questions they need to ask themselves. The ultimate goal, then, is for these questions to become infused in the thinking of students, forming part of their inner voice, which then guides them to better and better reasoning. While there are a number of universal standards, the following are the most significant: 1. CLARITY: Could you elaborate further on that point? Could you express that point in another way? Could you give me an illustration? Could you give me an example? Clarity is the gateway standard. If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant. In fact, we cannot tell anything about it because we don't yet know what it is saying. For example, the question, "What can be done about the education system in America?" is unclear. In order to address the question adequately, we would need to have a clearer understanding of what the person asking the question is considering the "problem" to be. A clearer question might be "What can educators do to ensure that students learn the skills and abilities which help them function successfully on the job and in their daily decision-making?" 2. ACCURACY: Is that really true? How could we check that? How could we find out if that is true? A statement can be clear but not accurate, as in "Most dogs are over 300 pounds in weight." 3. PRECISION: Could you give more details? Could you be more specific? A statement can be both clear and accurate, but not precise, as in "Jack is overweight." (We don't know how overweight Jack is, one pound or 500 pounds.) 4. RELEVANCE: How is that connected to the question? How does that bear on the issue? A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise, but not relevant to the question at issue. For example, students often think that the amount of effort they put into a course should be used in raising their grade in a course. Often, however, the "effort" does not measure the quality of student learning, and when this is so, effort is irrelevant to their appropriate grade. 5. DEPTH: How does your answer address the complexities in the question? How are you taking into account the problems in the question? Is that dealing with the most significant factors? A statement can be clear, accurate, precise, and relevant, but superficial (that is, lack depth). For example, the statement "Just say No" which is often used to discourage children and teens fro using drugs, is clear, accurate, precise, and relevant. Nevertheless, it lacks depth because it treats an extremely complex issue, the pervasive problem of drug use among young people, superficially. It fails to deal with the complexities of the issue. 6. BREADTH: Do we need to consider another point of view? Is there another way to look at this question? What would this look like from a conservative standpoint? What would this look like from the point of view of...? A line of reasoning may be clear accurate, precise, relevant, and deep, but lack breadth (as in an argument from either the conservative or liberal standpoint which gets deeply into an issue, but only recognizes the insights of one side of the question.) 7. LOGIC: Does this really make sense? Does that follow from what you said? How does that follow? But before you implied this and now you are saying that; how can both be true? When we think, we bring a variety of thoughts together into some order. When the combination of thoughts are mutually supporting and make sense in combination, the thinking is "logical." When the combination is not mutually supporting, is contradictory in some sense, or does not "make sense," the combination is not logical. www.criticalthinking.org Copyright©Foundation for Critical Thinking ALL RIGHTS RESERVED To contact author: [email protected] or 707-878-9100