Assignment #9 Clean Air Act

 

Lesson 9 - Global Warming and the Clean Air Act


The following excerpt is taken from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ site:

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that global warming emissions are air pollutants and would be subject to EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act if a thorough scientific investigation showed that they endanger the public’s health and welfare.

In 2009, the EPA released its scientific findings, concluding that global warming emissions presented a danger to public health (known as the “endangerment finding”). Citing extensive scientific research, the EPA found that global warming pollution is connected with:

  1. •hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor, and elderly;

  2. •increases in ground-level ozone pollution, linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; and

  3. •extreme weather events that can lead to deaths, injuries, and stress-related illnesses.


In this week’s lesson, you will explore the connections between the Clean Air Act and global warming and how the endangerment of polar bears is related.


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DUE DATE: May 25, 2012
TO: Environmental Law Students
FROM: Helen Haberman, Instructor
SUBJECT: The Clean Air Act and Climate Change


Assignment (40 points)

Your task this week is to research and write a 1-2 page paper.  Please use the guiding questions provided to organize your paper. You will use the websites provided to read the main article and to research information.

Skills: You will need to read, research, evaluate and compose an essay about the Clean Air Act, polar bears and climate change.

Format: Papers must be word-processed using a 12-point font and double-spaced.



Guiding Questions

  1. 1. What is climate change? What are its greatest risks?

  2. 2. Why is there disagreement about the causes of climate change? What is the argument?

  3. 3.Where do polar bears live, what do they eat and why are they particularly negatively at risk from a warmer climate?

  4. 4. How is the Clean Air Act involved in the climate change issue?

  5. 5. How might polar bear survival be affected by changes in the Clean Air Act?

  6. 6. Do you believe the Clean Air Act should be changed to include regulation of CO2 emissions? What are the costs and benefits of such action?


Web Resources / Research

Climate Change Basics-An overview of the causes and risks of a warmer Earth.  Click on the FAQ section for starters.

Why are Polar Bears at Risk?- The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) explains the vulnerability of polar bears due to climate change in this link.

The Clean Air Act Background information and history

The Clean Air Act (CAA) and Polar Bears-Find out how the CAA is involved in the fight against climate change.

Amazing Video footage of polar bears-taken from 60 Minutes


Evaluation

Your essay will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  1. •Complete answers to the guiding questions (60%)

  2. •Well-organized (intro-body-conclusion) (25%)

  3. •Absence of any punctuation, grammar, or spelling errors; double-spaced(10%)

  4. •Works Cited page (5%)