BACK to Warren 10B: Ecology Syllabus

You may write on either prompt (A) or on prompt (B). ( Don’t write on both!) In either case, your paper should be organized around some specific and relevant theme or claim -- it should not be a list of answers to the questions in the prompts. Finally, these prompts are intentionally broad; you will need to identify some key aspect and focus your argument on that.

Regardless of whether you choose (A) or (B), keep in mind that you are making an argument in this paper as you explore the idea of an ecological position. What claims are you making? How do you ground them? What are the grounds? Are the grounds warranted? How? What is at stake? And so on.

PURPOSE: To begin thinking about how each one of us occupies a particular ecological place in society and the environment; additionally, to begin thinking about whether/how we can actively choose such a place, rather than simply accepting the one given to us.

For this paper, write a narrative argument about your ecological position, focusing on one particular aspect of it.

You might look at how your family history has shaped, or been shaped by their environments and/or societi(es). Or you could look at how you yourself have been so shaped, or how you have influenced the environment in which you live. You might also consider how you might challenge the social and environmental forces that have shaped your position. In any case, be sure to clearly identify your ecological position, and to consider the implications of it.

Regardless of which possibility you choose, I strongly recommend that you limit your examination to one particular aspect of your ecological position. For example, if you choose to focus on the social aspects of your ecological position, you could begin from racial viewpoint, or one of class, or of gender; you would then narrow it down to a particular aspect of that position. What aspect of gender has been most important to you, for example (possibilities: clothing, sexual partners, friends, appearance, types of foods you eat, attitudes towards plants and animals, etc.)? How has your gender identity been shaped? How has your adoption of a gender role influenced the society and environment in which you live?

Or, you could look at the effects your lifestyle has on the environment, as in terms of what goods you consume, what foods you eat, whether you drive a car or recycle, activism, organizations you support, and so on; you could also consider the question from another angle -- how has the environment shaped you? Did you grow up in a rural or urban area? How did your society/family/school/friends teach you to interact with other people, species? How did you come to decide what was “natural” and what was not?