2. You should have a cover page with title, date, and your name. 

3. Each paragraph should be numbered.  After the end of the essay, attach an outline of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.

4. Each essay should be approximately   3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted/Works Cited page).

5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page.  I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on when and how to cite sources. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.  

6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections.

Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in  Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay. 

Choose One of the following questions/prompts:

1. Discuss where Leopold’s "Land Ethic" falls on a continuum between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric. Be sure to define terms and give examples from the text.

2. In your view, what is at stake in debates over the importance of non-instrumental or intrinsic values in nature? Be sure to define terms and reference at least two of the pieces we read.  (the recommended Palmer reading on e-reserve has a nice discussion defining these terms)

3. Explain why Leopold and Naess are doubtful about economic solutions to environmental problems. In your view are their doubts well-grounded? Why or why not?

4.  How do Leopold and Naess understand "ecology" and why is this central to their thinking?

5.  Leopold emphasizes the notions of the "extension" of ethics to include the land and the importance of the interdependence of  all members of the biotic community.  How are these connected and why are they central to his argument in his essay "The Land Ethic."

6.  How are the sections "January" and "February" related to Leopold's essay "The Land Ethic" in  Sand County Almanac?  For example, do they contradict, reinforce, expand, or clarify any of the main points he makes in "The Land Ethic"?  

7. Discuss two types of definitions of religion as laid out in ( essential, functional, family resemblance, and constructionist). Make a case for one of these as more suited to discussing the relationships between religion and the environment.

8. Discuss at least two key issues at stake in the debate between environmental individualists and holists? If you had to choose a place on the continuum, where would you come down and why. Be sure to define terms and reference at least two of the pieces we read.  For more background on this see the recommended Palmer reading on e-reserve

9.  What does Naess mean by Self-realization?  Describe one strength and one weakness of this concept in your view.  Be sure to explain on what basis you are evaluating.

10. Why do you think that the Lynn White article had such a widespread influence--so much so that Taylor refers to it as the "Lynn White Thesis"?

11. Pick one of Whitney’s criticisms of White. Outline the criticism, explain how White might most effectively respond, and offer your own final evaluation.

12.  What are your first thoughts on whether religion is the cause and the solution to the environmental crisis---or as Whitney puts it when writing about White's article, "Because the environmental crisis has its source in religious values, those values must also be the solution" (Whitney, 155; cf. 151) or as White himself puts it, "Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not" (1207) ?  Be sure to give reasons and refer to White and Whitney.