Essay Assignment

Your paper should be 2 pages in length, double-spaced (in 12-point font). You can choose among the following two options.

Option 1

Analyze Hurricane Harvey from an environmental justice perspective. Which groups are disproportionately affected by the disaster? How do disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction affect existing inequalities?

Option 2

Pick one environmental problem (local/national/global) and analyze it using the political economy framework we discussed in class. That means you will focus on three dimensions of the problem:

• Benefits: Describe the individuals, groups, or classes who benefit (or benefited in the past), as producers or consumers, from the economic activity that created this environmental problem.

• Costs: Describe the individuals, groups, or classes who bear the environmental costs.

• Political Economy:Why are the beneficiaries able to impose environmental costs on others?