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Politics and the Environment
Test #3 (take-home final)
Directions: This is a take-home final. It is due on the last day of class (no exceptions without an official College Office excuse). Begin early. It is open book and notes, and graded as a paper. Honor code applies, of course. Be sure to use your own words for everything, copying nothing from any text or PowerPoint presentation. There should be no formal citations or references. No quotes. Answer all questions, typed, approximately two and one-half pages per question, double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman. Please write no more than ten pages total for the entire exam. Bring the finished exam with you on the last day of class.
1. Evaluate Edward O. Wilson's solution to the problem of humans destroying the environment as presented in his book The Future of Life. What is right with it, or wrong with it, from your perpective?
2. What are the following complex systems: physical laws, genetic transfers, decision-making? Describe the evolutionary processes that apply to them, i.e., regular, periodic, chaotic, and catastrophic. Be sure to define the terms bifurcation, growth, and maintenance with regard to these processes. Also, what is interdependence? Finally, what are competitive and cooperative decision-making processes? Give two examples of these things that relate to the political environmental system. Explain why these concepts are important to the relationship between politics and the environment.
3. Describe the relationship between the presidential electoral system in the United States and environmental degradation. Be sure to relate these concepts: continued economic growth with its associated environmental costs, oscillations in the control of the White House, delay in public awareness of environmental damage, relationship between public concern for the environment and governmental actions to clean-up the environment, costs of environmental repair, the consciousness of our political leaders. With these factors considered, what type of oscillations can occur over time with regard to environmental damage. Examples are always useful.
4. Summarize the arguments both for and against the reauthorization of the endangered species act. Be sure to explain the mechanics of how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers the act and how species are used strategically to wage larger political/environmental battles. What is an argument for not saving some dying species, at least in some instances, even if one is very concerned about the environment and biodiversity? Give examples.