Optional Paper topics

Hey Everyone,

So I'm thinking about the optional paper topics and I want to write about the ethics of reading, and draw heavily from Thoreau's essay in Walden on reading. It was a close call between that and plastic trees. I was wondering what other people picked for a third topic, and, would it be possible for us to put our third papers online or something for the whole class to see? It might be fun to just see the variety of specific things that interest different people. If you don't like the idea, feel free to veto it.

-Arjun

PS--I haven't done the Blog so far b/c I thought I was bad with computers, but this is pretty easy.

New National Park Service Director

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113697978

Here's a link to an interview with the new director of the National Park Service. Pretty short, but mentions restrictions on snow mobile use in Yellowstone.

-Dana

Life After People

We were talking about anthropocentrism in class today. Many people are concerned about how the environment will change but is this really about how the environment will change the lives of human beings? What about life after people?

The History Channel made a film about this (link below)

Life After People

Hope you enjoy it!

Child Labor in Uzbek: Repercussions of Speaking Out

This is going back to the 11/10 lecture and the article referring to examples of paternalism... I'm wondering if the individual who divulged the information to BBC would have changed his mind if he knew he was going to be harmed out of his attempt to help others.

Activist 'beaten' after BBC story