Boxtown and the Pipeline
Now that you’ve completed the reading, pick ONE of the following prompts to craft an essay:
VIEWPOINT 1: Without jobs, Americans suffer; rebuilding the infrastructure is one way to ensure jobs for people in local communities.
VIEWPOINT 2: The economy must take a back seat to the environment and individuals, as without a clean country to live in, all Americans suffer.
You may only CHOOSE ONE viewpoint above (use the viewpoint you select, appropriately paraphrased and without attribution, as your argument). Trying to combine both points of view into one essay will earn you a ZERO. In other words,take a position and defend it.
Once you’ve settled on one point of view, do additional research to defend your position. Chapters 20 and 21 of your text may provide you with some useful background and terminology.
Some things you should consider when organizing your thoughts:
What are the ethical issues presented in the reading?
Is this a case of environmental racism? Why or why not?
What ethical responsibility would/do you have now that you know about this situation? In other words, what would you do if you knew this was happening in your home town? What if you were Clyde Robinson?
How can you apply the sociological imagination to this scenario to better understand what’s happening?
Have there been any recent developments on this case, and if so, what are they?
