POSITION PAPERS: WHY WHAT, HOW

POSITION PAPERS: INTRODUCTION

This course is designed to give you the opportunity to think through and develop perspectives on difficult ethical and political questions. Our focus is environmental health and injustice but what you learn about yourself and ways to refine your thinking about issues (partly through research; partly through reflection on your own values) will be relevant in a wide array of topical domains (in your personal and professional lives). We will ask you to develop positions on particular issues -- knowing that you may not have a strong or any position on the issues to start with. You’ll need to do a little research and reading, and are encouraged to talk through the issues with your classmates, friends and family.

POSITION POSTS: RUBRIC

Position Post Rubric:

You’ll write individual position posts and (in the last section of the course) contribute to a group Position Paper. You will not be graded on which position you take. You will be graded on the quality of your arguments and supporting evidence

Each individual position post will be given points for 1) answering the question posed 2) reasoning 3) including a specific example 4) clarity and good writing 5) adequate length (approximately 200 words) 6) including a reference in Chicago author-date style 7) include an author bio statement (see http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/examples-biographical-statement-and-abstract).

SAMPLE RESPONSE TO A QUESTION

QUESTION:

Should the United States require individuals to reduce their carbon footprint?

In my view, the United States should pass laws that require individuals to restrict activities that produce carbon pollution. While some people may think this would undermine constitutionally-protected liberties, there is a clear precedent and reasons for laws that prevent people from doing things that harm others. We are required to stop at stop signs, for example, and there are bans on smoking in most public places. Failing to curb carbon pollution also harms others, though sometimes across great distances or time. The activities of people living in the United States create disproportionately large amounts of carbon pollution, with particularly harsh impacts on people living in the Arctic, on islands, and on low-lying coastlines. In the United States, carbon pollution is contributing to extreme weather events, and is expected to create increasing water scarcity -- negatively impacting current populations as well as future generations. Course materials documenting the impacts of climate change on Bangladesh influenced our thinking on this question. It seems particularly unfair for people who are already among the poorest in the world to be impacted by pollution caused by people living much better and very far away. Sea level rise and melting glaciers (both associated with climate change) are already causing regular, sometimes permanent, catastrophic floods in Bangladesh, for example, and conditions are expected to worsen in coming years. Robert Glennon (2017), writing in Scientific American, highlights that the people of Bangladesh are greatly affected by such changes while not being significant contributors to the cause of the problem. The country as a whole emits just 0.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Glennon 2017). “ (270 words)

Reference:

Glennon, Robert. “The Unfolding Tragedy of Climate Change in Bangladesh.” Scientific American Blog Network. Accessed November 14, 2018.https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-unfolding-tragedy-of-climate-change-in-bangladesh/

Kathryn Saclarides is a second-year social administration student at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. She is interested in migration patterns, ethnic neighborhoods, and transnational communities.