Philosophy 200: Paper #1

Sonoma State University

Philosophy 200

Philosophical Issues in Global Climate Change

Uncertainty, Caution, Community, Equity, Future

Paper # 1: My Global Climate Impacts

Length: At least 16 pages/double spaced

Deadlines:

Monday, March 12, in class (first three days of your log + daily reflections)
Monday, March 19, (complete paper) due both in class and as a posting on WebCT, in the Forum "My Global Climate Impacts."

Topic:

The topic of this paper is to assess, on a qualitative level - but with sufficient quantitative detail that you can, at a next step, for paper #2, take it quantitative - the impact of your activities and life style on Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and to reflect in a number of forms on this assessment and your daily activities.

Organize your paper with the following sections

Part 1: A weeklong daily log of your activities with a record of your Greenhouse Gases impacts.
Log covers Thursday March 8 till Wednesday March 14

For each day, at least attend to the following aspects:

• Transportation (type of transportation, distance, mileage, how many people used the vehicle at the same time)
• Lighting and other uses of electricity (how many lightsources, for how long, what was their ebnergy use (wattage), stereo, computers in your living area)
• Food (kind, quantity, where produced/grown)
• Other consumption (drinks, snack, newspapers, clothing you bought, records, videos) (kind, quantity, where produced/grown)
• Heating (type, for how long, type of energy used, energy demands of the heating devise)
• Education (use of electricity and other energy in your classes, libray, gym, etc. shared by how many people, for how long)
• Out of house entertainment
• Energy used at your job
• Water use (showers, laundry, cooking, drinking, toilet)
• Infrastructure (the general build environment that you make use of).

Collect sufficient detail and quantitative information so that you will be able, for your second paper, to calculate the GHG consequences of your activities. (7 pages)

Part 2: For each day (7 days total) a one page essay with a reflection of something related to Global Climate Change issues you observed that day, or read, or talked with someone about. In this section you need to put in at least 10 references to specific sentences or paragraphs in the readings we did up to now. (7 pages)

Part 3: Discuss the log and the results. Where these results typical or unusual, what were the surprises, how do you think it compares with other students in the class, with people in other parts of the world (Canada, S. Africa, Turkey, India, Belgium), etc.? For certain activities, what alternatives were available, what options that you had but did not choose? Let the discussion go where your own interest and creativity goes. (2 pages)

Posted 03/04/07


	Paper # 1: My Global Climate Impacts


	Length: At least 16 pages/double spaced

	Deadlines: Monday, March 12, in class (first three days of your log + daily reflections) Monday, March 19, (complete paper) due both in class and as a posting on WebCT, in the Forum "My Global Climate Impacts."
	Topic: The topic of this paper is to assess, on a qualitative level - but with sufficient quantitative detail that you can, at a next step, for paper #2, take it quantitative - the impact of your activities and life style on Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and to reflect in a number of forms on this assessment and your daily activities.
	Organize your paper with the following sections Part 1: A weeklong daily log of your activities with a record of your Greenhouse Gases impacts. Log covers Thursday March 8 till Wednesday March 14 For each day, at least attend to the following aspects: • Transportation (type of transportation, distance, mileage, how many people used the vehicle at the same time) • Lighting and other uses of electricity (how many lightsources, for how long, what was their ebnergy use (wattage), stereo, computers in your living area) • Food (kind, quantity, where produced/grown) • Other consumption (drinks, snack, newspapers, clothing you bought, records, videos) (kind, quantity, where produced/grown) • Heating (type, for how long, type of energy used, energy demands of the heating devise) • Education (use of electricity and other energy in your classes, libray, gym, etc. shared by how many people, for how long) • Out of house entertainment • Energy used at your job • Water use (showers, laundry, cooking, drinking, toilet) • Infrastructure (the general build environment that you make use of). Collect sufficient detail and quantitative information so that you will be able, for your second paper, to calculate the GHG consequences of your activities. (7 pages)
	Part 2: For each day (7 days total) a one page essay with a reflection of something related to Global Climate Change issues you observed that day, or read, or talked with someone about. In this section you need to put in at least 10 references to specific sentences or paragraphs in the readings we did up to now. (7 pages)
	Part 3: Discuss the log and the results. Where these results typical or unusual, what were the surprises, how do you think it compares with other students in the class, with people in other parts of the world (Canada, S. Africa, Turkey, India, Belgium), etc.? For certain activities, what alternatives were available, what options that you had but did not choose? Let the discussion go where your own interest and creativity goes. (2 pages)