Sunset

Grades will be assigned to each of ten short writing assignments. Assignments are due at the beginning of most Monday class periods, as described on the schedule of classes. Late submissions will receive no points.

The typical assignment--of which there are seven--is to respond to one of the following three statements, in a single typed (double-spaced) paragraph:

  1. Describe the most important thing you learned in the previous week's class sessions and tell (a) why it is important to you and (b) how you can apply it to your life.
  2. List one important question derived from the previous week's class sessions, and describe why answering this question is a worthy pursuit.
  3. Relate material from the previous week's class session to an article in the popular print media (e.g., newspaper, website, magazine). Attach a copy of the article.

In addition to these seven assignments, three additional assignments correspond to specific discussion topics: consumption (20 February), population (27 February), and livestock grazing (17 April). For the former two topics, bring a single typed (double-spaced) paragraph that describes a personal solution to the issue under discussion. Your paragraph must indicate the potential impact of the solution and demonstrate how it will be implemented. For the latter topic (i.e., livestock grazing), bring a single typed (double-spaced) paragraph that describes either (1) an impact of livestock grazing ignored by Freilich et al. (2003), or (2) actions that can be taken to mitigate one of the impacts described by Freilich et al. (2003).

The two goals of this recurrent exercise are: (1) encourage you to recall and reflect upon information we discussed the prior week, and (2) hone your writing skills. Each paper must be interesting, well-organized, and grammatically correct. In addition, it must employ appropriate English usage.