Assignment – Critical Threats to the Global Environment
Overview
The United Nations has continued to retain you as a consultant for a project that deals with climate and the environment. Most developed countries see the dangers of releasing too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and are committed to climate policies that attain a carbon-free future in the next 30 years. They already see the damaging effects that this gas alone is having on the living conditions of crops, wildlife, and humans. As a result, many member states are dissatisfied with the progress of the eight Millennium Development Goals for international development that they established in 2000. The member states see a substantial disconnect between several issues that developed and developing countries believe are priorities. For example, Burundi wants one of the goals to focus on food security, while Austria is adamant that a major global issue should be the negotiation of ceasefires in countries in the midst of civil wars. The UN wants you to work from the list below and prioritize two of the global community’s threats that it deems the most serious to environmental stability.
Instructions
Step 1
Select two threats. Listed below are eight issues that the UN feels pose the most significant threats to global security. Some of these apply to the Earth’s 7.7 billion people, while others are limited primarily to developing countries. Regardless of where these threats are concentrated, your job as a consultant is to identify two of them that you consider the most critical to the globe’s population.
Issue Options
- The use of fossil fuels as an energy source.
- Globalization.
- Insufficient educational opportunities in developing countries.
- A lack of access to technology.
- Civil war (NOT the U.S. Civil War).
- The rise in oceans’ levels.
- Covid-19 and the global pandemic.
- The dangers of poor countries remaining poor.
Step 2
Write a minimum of an 8 page persuasive paper about your two threats.
Write an introduction paragraph of at least one-half page in length identifying the two threats you have selected and the purpose of the paper. Then, for the two threats you chose:
- Identify the factors that make it such a serious risk to the global environment that you would choose to present it to the UN.
- Analyze the role that humans have played in aggravating this threat to the Earth’s environment.
- Suggest initiatives that the global community can take to mitigate the worst effects of this environmental threat.
- Write a conclusion paragraph of at least one-half page in length that summarizes your impressions of these risks for global stability.
Guidelines
- This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). For assistance and information, please refer to the SWS link in the left-hand menu of your course and check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- In order to earn full credit, the answers to each of the three questions must be at least two full pages long, making six pages. You must also include the one-half page introduction and one-half page conclusion at the beginning and end of the paper, adding up to one page of content. Finally, you must include a graph or table (see 5, below) that will be at least one page in length. The entire paper will be a minimum of eight pages long.
- You must use at least seven credible sources (excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries and encyclopedias) that are appropriate for the subjects under discussion.
- You must use only double-spacing and not place extra spacing between paragraphs or section headings.
- As part of your answer to any one of the questions, you must include a graph, table or chart using quantifiable data that supports your argument. You need only one graph for the entire assignment, and although you may download this item from the Internet, it may be no longer than one page in length. You must comprehensively explain beneath the graph what the data means. Otherwise, it will be of no use to the reader.
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is as follows:
- Propose suggestions for mitigation initiatives that address the threats to the stability of the global environment.