Ethical Decision-Making
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Assignment 5: Personal Reflection
Read more: Assignment 5: Personal ReflectionPlease write 250-500 words (total) addressing the questions below.
- Please describe one idea you encountered during this course that you found powerful.
- Please critically reflect on the idea in your own terms. What makes it powerful or meaningful to you? How is it related to things you had thought before taking the course? How does it connect (or disconnect) with ideas that you take to be common or popular?
- Is there any way in which the course has affected your actions and choices (note that “not at all” is an option!)? Do you think any of the arguments should prompt you to change your actions, even you aren’t inclined to change? Are there ways they may change your actions in the future? (Why or why not?)
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Assignment 4: Food for Free
Read more: Assignment 4: Food for FreePlease write 250-500 words (total) on the following questions.
Please go to Food for Free and have a look at the 2016 report on hunger in Massachusetts and write a reflection answering the questions above with respect to what you learned from these resources about Food for Free’s work.
- Please describe one idea that you found powerful. What message did you get from it?
- Please critically reflect on the message in your own terms. Do you see connections with readings we have done so far on food justice, food security, food sovereignty, the social meaning of food/water, capitalism, labor justice, waste, industrial agriculture?
- If you were to teach someone something you learned from the presentation, what would you tell them?
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Assignment 3: Activism
Read more: Assignment 3: ActivismPlease read Brian Martin, “Activism, Social and Political.” and reflect on the question: do we all have a moral responsibility to be engaged in activism in the current social context, (and if not all, then who)? You may consider activism on any topic, e.g., food security, animal welfare, LGBTQ rights, feminism, antiracism, smaller government, pro-life, pro-choice, prayer in public schools, or any other topic that matters to you.
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Assignment 2: Flow
Read more: Assignment 2: FlowPlease write 250-500 words (total) on the following questions.
- Please describe one segment of or image from the film Flow that you found powerful. What message did you get from it?
- Please critically reflect on the message in your own terms. Did you see connections with readings we have done so far on global justice, food security, food sovereignty, the social meaning of food/water, capitalism, labor justice?
- If you were to teach someone something you learned from the film, what would you tell them?
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Assignment 1: Pond and Charity
Read more: Assignment 1: Pond and CharityIn his essay, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," Singer argues that there is a close analogy between POND and CHARITY (see p. 38 of FES).
- What are the relevant similarities between POND and CHARITY for the purposes of Singer's argument?
- Do you think that the analogy supports his conclusion? Why or why not?
- Suppose someone objected: But in POND, there is one drowning child. In CHARITY, there are too many starving children to help by a single action, so I would have to give something additional up daily for my whole life. This is too much to ask. How would Singer respond?
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Project of Change or Research Paper
Read more: Project of Change or Research PaperBeginning in week four, students should form groups of not more than four students to work collaboratively on either 1) a final research paper or 2) a proposal for a project that responds to a contemporary issue in environmental justice. The project of change or research paper may be designed in collaboration with a local public agency or community-based organization, or by the team without outside consultation.
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Current Event Facilitation
Read more: Current Event FacilitationOn the first day of class, each student will sign up for one week of the course’s readings that are of interest, to relate the day’s readings to a current event and to facilitate a 20-minute discussion about the assigned material.
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Weekly Response Papers
Read more: Weekly Response PapersEach student will write brief weekly response papers of not more than 500 words each (35%). These should present a critical assessment of the assigned material and not a mere restatement of content (link to class readings). The responses give you an opportunity to analyze key ideas that cut across readings, identify questions the readings prompt you to ask, suggest critiques of the data, methodology, or conclusions, or raise concepts you want to clarify.
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Discussion Question – Innovative Games
Read more: Discussion Question – Innovative GamesBoth authors emphasize the potential of games to address relevant social issues and educate the gamers. What are some cultural, political, or ethical issues that you think might be usefully addressed by games? How would you design a game to address this issue? (Brainstorm and get creative!)
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Discussion Question – Why Eat Less Meat
Read more: Discussion Question – Why Eat Less MeatThe website Why Eat Less Meat cites four major reasons to eat less meat: the efficiency of the global food system, the environment, health (both personal and public), and animal welfare. Which of these reasons to eat less meat do you find most compelling? Are any of these reasons (or the combination of them) compelling enough to make you think you personally should eat less meat? Why or why not?
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