Your essay should draw from the materials provided on our class Canvasspage (i.e., power points, videos, linked content), our lectures and any other citable source. Your essay should be no less than four (4) double-spaced pages. Please use the Modern Language Association (Research essay writing service – MLA) format. The essay is due to me viaTurnitin by 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, May14, 2019.Essay Prompt #1: Consumerism(based on “The TrueCost” documentaryThe garment industry is the second-most polluting in the world. A significantamount of this pollution is from “fast fashion”“disposable” clothing; a business model that relies on people, including children, making clothes under conditions that we would consider intolerable. As we have seen this semester, our buying and consumption is largely driven by psychological impulses of which we may not be fully conscious. Indeed, as experts posit in the film, consuming more can have a negative effect on our psyche.What social, ethical, economic and/or philosophical issues are raised by the documentary?Why do we tolerate such a system? Describewhether a “Fair Trade”model could represent a more sustainable and ethical alternative to the existing garment-consumption model.Essay Prompt #2:InequalityWhat is happening in terms of the distribution of wealth and income in the United States since the 1970’s? Why? What are some of the implications and ramifications of these trends?What social, ethical, economic and/or philosophical issues are raised by this phenomenon? The following prompts are not structured as questions but as true prompts –statements that provide the substance and framework for your thoughtful investigation and exposition.Read and reflect carefully on the following statements. Each makes profound assertions about the current and evolving state of society and the role of business, capitalism, and Western economic, religious and philosophical thought.Your paperwith respect to your chosen prompt is your response to these questions:Your paperwill be assessed based on your demonstrated understanding of the selected content and your demonstrated analysis of its implications for your future
.Essay Prompt #3: The Anthropocene and Climate Change(From Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si, On Care for Our Common Home, paragraph 67 (also in The Anthropocene and Climate Change powerpoint)“We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judaeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man “dominion” over the earth (cf. Gen 1:28), has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering anddestructive by nature. This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church.Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our beingcreated in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over othercreatures.The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to “till and keep” the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15). “Tilling” refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while “keeping” means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community cantake from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. “The earth is the Lord’s” (Ps 24:1); to him belongs “the earth with all that is within it” (Dt 10:14). Thus God rejects every claim to absolute ownership: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev 25:23).”What social, ethical, economic and/or philosophical issues are raised by the statements in this prompt?With which of these statements or assertions do youagree or disagree, and why? How will youchoose to use this information as you move forward with yourlife?
