A “Political Ecology” approach has been deployed in this course to look at a range of topics. For this final exam, write a 1500 word essay that contains:
– what a political ecology approach entails (defining and describing it)
– an clear argument about how this approach can be useful and important for understanding the human-environment interface – and/or what its shortcomings are in doing so
– illustrate your argument about the usefulness of PE by outlining what perspective brings to the understanding of at least two (2) seminar topics covered in during the course of the semester (you can bring in more to the essay if you would like of course).
This essay should be structure argumentatively – you should take a stance on the usefulness of the “political ecology approach” and be able to defend that – but you must ALSO include at least some mention of the counter arguments.
e.g. – if you argue that political ecology fundamentally is useful, then you must at some point also address its shortcomings, and vice-versa if you decide to argue that political ecology is fundamentally flawed (which is a very acceptable approach) – you then must as well address some of its potential strengths.
The Seminar topics we’ve learned are
– Perception and Perspective Social Construction and Nature
– Environmental Subjects and Arts
– Conservation
– Consumption and Degradation
– Global Issues: Using Political Ecology
