Plant-based meat

Formal Report Assignment

Context

For much of the semester thus far, we have focused our attention on learning more about the challenges that climate change, water, pollution, energy, livable cities, food, and waste and recycling pose for sustainability and life as we know it. In our class discussions we have considered that how we live, eat, travel, buy, eat, farm, use energy, drink water, and consume natural resources have disrupted the delicate natural equilibrium of our planet. Given the gravity of the consequences, we want to know what we can do to chart a new course or to mitigate the damage.

This paper is an opportunity to research some answers that may offer solutions; it can also inform your audience and help it to make smarter choices, despite tradeoffs, that can help to create a more sustainable future.

Broad and deep knowledge of sustainability, as we have read about and discussed, is critical to your success. This final descriptive and persuasive report should be 8-10 pages of text, single-spaced. It will be due online on Wednesday, April 24 at 11:59pm. The formal report is worth 22.5% of your final grade.

Purpose:

Your goal is to present credible, academic research to inform an audience (of your choosing) about a sustainability challenge facing it and motivate them to work toward a well-defined sustainability goal.

Assignment

1. Define a sustainability challenge that you think we need to address, and choose an audience that you would like to inform and motivate to work toward solving it.

2. You will write a formal report (8 single-spaced pages) that defines the particular sustainability challenge, offers context for understanding it, presents evidence that action is necessary, and explains the consequences of inaction.

3. Explore at least three possible solutions or approaches available to this group. For each one, define the solution, provide evidence that the actions taken to achieve sustainability are or can be successful, and explain the potential benefits of this solution. Offer detailed descriptions of what could or should change.

4. Having presented this information to your audience, draw conclusions for them. Which of the three approaches that you have presented is the best one for the audience that you have chosen? Consider potential costs and benefits. Offer at least three reasons why you think this is the best one. Draw conclusions based on the information that you present in the discussion section; use this as a bridge to the concrete recommendations that conclude the paper.

5. Conclude with a set of at least 4 numbered recommendations that your audience should take to implement this solution or approach. Think of the recommendations as steps to achieve the result.

Research

In order to persuade your readers, you will need to discover the following information.

· What is the nature of the problem, precisely? What are its causes and effects? What are we currently doing to address this problem? Who is doing it? How effective are these measures?

· Whom do you most want to reach out to, to inform about the problem and encourage to change or to adopt specific measures? Why?

· How aware are members of your target audience of the problem? Why should they care?

· What is the most compelling evidence to motivate them, not just to acknowledge the problem, but also to act?

· Consider the range of options. What is the easiest solution? What will have the greatest or most lasting impact? What is the most feasible?

· Recommend concrete steps for your chosen audience. Why should your audience take these particular steps? Why are they better than the alternatives?

You may certainly begin with the textbook and the lists for further reading at the end of each chapter, but you should also rely on academic research, government research, and research conducted by non-profits and think tanks. This paper must cite at least 10 academic sources, not including our book. It is not enough to merely list them in your bibliography; you must also work this research into your paper. You are welcome to continue to think about the material you presented to the class or go in a different direction. I ask only that each paper focus on something unique from the others.

Formatting

This paper must adhere to APA formatting not just for the in-text citations and the references page, but also for the format of the report, including the title page, headings, and subheadings.

Length

Front and Back Material do not count toward the page total. You must have 8 single-spaced pages of text.

** The final paper will be penalized 5 points each day it is late. Any papers handed in within the first 24 hours after the 4/24 deadline will be considered one day late.