Assignment 3b: Analysis on the Threats Defense Argument

Due in Week 10 and worth 100 points

The information you provided in your PowerPoint presentation on Threats to the Global Environment has led to productive debates at the United Nations General Assembly! Hence, they are now asking you to create an additional analysis report to respond to the issues raised in these debates.

Your fourth project as a consultant for the United Nations is to develop a report that addresses the issues raised by some of the member states of the United Nations.

Step I. Consider the Issues

In Assignment 3a, you were asked to create a PowerPoint identifying the four most critical threats out of eight threats provided in the table below.

Energy sources

Civil war

Globalization

Poor health of entire populations

Lack of educational opportunities

Cultural taboos

Inappropriate uses of technology

Climate change

There are four remaining threats that you did not discuss in your PowerPoint. This assignment will focus on two of those four. Here are the specific tasks you will complete:

Review the remaining four threats that you did not use in Assignment 3a.
Pick two of the four to focus on in Assignment 3b.
Identify the reasons why you think these two threats are less critical than the four threats you chose for your PowerPoint presentation.
Step II. Prepare Your Report

The UN has given you the following guidelines.

Introduction

Briefly introduce the topic of the analysis (about 100-150 words).

State the topic and intent of the paper.
Identify the two threats you will discuss in the paper in the order in which they appear in the paper.
Section I. Threat 1

Write an opening statement describing the perception of the threat.
Write one page giving three reasons that explain why you saw this threat as less critical than the four you chose for your presentation in Assignment 3a.
Support these reasons with at least three credible sources.
Section II. Threat 2

Write an opening statement describing the perception of the threat.
Write one page giving three reasons to explain why you saw this threat as less critical than the four you chose for your presentation in Assignment 3a.
Support these reasons with at least three credible sources.
Conclusion

Offer a summary (one page or less) of your defense of your choices that the United Nations can use to address their prioritization concerns.

Formatting Requirements

Your paper may consist of up to four pages (not including the cover or reference pages).
Create headings for each section of your paper as follows:
Introduction
Threat 1 (include the name of your chosen threat)
Threat 2 (include the name of your chosen threat)
Conclusion
Use and cite four to six credible sources in your analysis. You may use the same source for more than one threat as long as you use a minimum of four different sources. A list of potential resources is available at the end of this course guide.
Make sure your paper contains both in-text citations and a source list, per SWS guidelines; refer to the Strayer Writing Standards (SWS) document for reference.
Include a cover page with your name, the date you submitted the paper, and your instructor’s name.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is as follows:

Examine the factors that account for why the growth in the world’s population can negatively affect the global society.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric:

Points: 100

Assignment 3b: Analysis on the Threats Defense Argument

Criteria

Exemplary

90-100% A

Proficient

80-89% B

Fair

70-79% C

Meets Minimum Expectations
60-69% D

Unacceptable

Below 60% F

Included a counterargument paragraph for each of the two threats.

Weight: 20%

Provided a well-written counterargument paragraph for each of the two threats.

Provided a sufficient counterargument paragraph for each of the two threats.

Provided counterarguments of less than a paragraph for two threats.

Provided a counterargument against only one threat.

Did not provide any full paragraphs or counterarguments.

Included three points supporting the counterargument to each threat.

Weight: 20%

Included three or more well-thought-out points supporting the counterargument to each threat.

Included three points adequately supporting the counterargument to each threat.

Included two points supporting the counterargument to each threat.

Included one point supporting the counterargument to each threat.

Did not provide any counterarguments or only completed the assignment for one threat or none.

Included an opening statement and a conclusion for each threat.

Weight: 20%

Included a well-thought-out opening statement and a conclusion.

Included a sufficient opening and conclusion for each threat.

Did not fully include an opening statement or a conclusion for one of the threat paragraphs.

Missed an opening statement and a conclusion for one of the threat paragraphs.

Did not provide an opening statement or a conclusion for either paragraph.

Cited at least three credible sources.

Weight: 20%

Met the minimum credible source and proper citation requirements.

Used 3 credible sources, with a few citation errors.

Used at least 2 credible sources and properly cited sources.

Used at least 2 sources but did not properly cite sources.

Used 1 or fewer sources.

Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting.

Weight: 20%

0–2 errors present.

3–4 errors present.

5–6 errors present.

7–8 errors present.

More than 8 errors present.

ANSWER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment 3b: Analysis on the Threats Defense Argument

Introduction

The global environment in the 21st century continues to face numerous threats that contribute to environmental degradation and climate change, one of the most pervasive threats and issues impacting people, animals (wildlife), and the planet (ecology) flora and fauna. Threats of global environment conservation and preservations keep increasing and enhancing as time progresses, and events such as technological advancements and globalization arise. Environmental risks place many strains on the environment, resources, and in relation to the population as the population continues to proliferate, existing and new threats such as energy sources, climate change, inappropriate technological use, and lack of educational opportunities, to mention a few remain strained, which translates into a threatening environment. These threats have varied impacts ranging from high adverse impacts to less effects on the environment, with the latter being the focus of this report. High and rapid population growth results in much pressure on natural resources and the environment, as humans try to feed, house, and find raw materials for industrialization and sustenance of human life  (LeDoux, 2009). In this report, two environmental threats are chosen as having a lesser impact and danger to the environment, namely, cultural taboos and globalization. The report is divided into three sections. Section I explains cultural taboos as a lesser impact, while section II focuses on globalization in both sections, explaining why they are more secondary environmental threats. The final section concludes the report with a summary of primary findings.

Section 1: Cultural Taboos

Cultural taboos are forbidden, and prohibited norms and values based on cultures in societies termed sacred among people in that society. Like cultural norms and laws, taboos are imperative as they govern people and the whole community’s behavior to regulate people’s interactions. Cultural taboos could be a blessing rather than a threat to the environment, hence, chosen as a less critical environmental threat. First, cultural taboos play an integral role in the protection and conservation of the environment. In most communities and cultures, flora and fauna, including rivers, mountains, forests, and some plants (such as herbs, unique plants), are considered sacred and necessary for religious functions. Nature forms a community’s spiritual and religious beliefs and practices; thus, people preserve and protect them to the latter. It becomes a cultural taboo to cut down some trees, pollute rivers, and destroy some plantation as that would signify the discretion of sacred places of worship, religious houses, and disrespecting the gods. Hence, instead of cultural taboos becoming environmental threats, they become a source of protection (Sachdeva, 2017). Second, as defined, cultural taboos regulate people and the community’s behavior, which means that they become informal social institutions. Just like formal institutions such as governmental agencies with rules and laws that enable the management and conservation of the environment, informal social institutions have also been established as integral in conserving and protecting natural resources and the environment. For instance, in Ghana, cultural taboos, as informal social institutions, among coastal communities have been used to save sea turtles from overfishing and developing community-based sea turtle conservation programs.

Elders have discouraged excessive fishing and dishonor of marine animals such as crocodiles, terming them sacred as they incarnate their ancestors. Frog consumption is a taboo as they are water sources given by their ancestors, and sea turtles are termed holy as provided by their ancestors. These coastal communities in Ghana protect the marine animals as they view them sacred (Alexander, Agyekumhene, & Allman, 2017). Third, cultural taboos have been used to develop stringent environmental conservation and protection rules and punitive measures that have promoted the environment’s protection than it has destroyed it. For instance, in some communities, bush fires, defecating in water sources, killing snakes/sea turtles, and cutting down tree species were taboos. Hence, when an individual is found perpetrating these taboos, they were heavily punished by law and religiously. Perpetrating cultural taboos is associated with curses, and social isolation from other community members, a severe and unwanted punishment carried down generations. Thus, people ensured they protected the plants and animals from remaining included in society and on the right side. These three reasons show that cultural taboos are lesser environmental threats as the three sources prove the reasoning behind the decision and categorization (Anoliefo, Nwokeji, & Ikhajiagbe, 2015).

Section II: Globalization

Globalization is the growing interconnectedness of nations, global economies, people, and cultures enabled by the advancing technologies, increased sharing of information, and dissolution of national borders, making the world a global village. Many authors and people argue that globalization is a critical environmental threat due to increased industrialization, increased trading activities due to many open economies, and decreasing or loose ecological conservation standards. This perception forms a background for the first reason why globalization may be a less critical threat because de-globalization would worsen the situation. In the modern corporate world, industrialization is essential in profit making, however, through corporate social responsibility and the presence of international environmental laws and agencies, carbon print menace and ecological degradation issues have been significant concerns and trends. Adaptable and flexible companies that seek to increase profit-making and competitive advantage must develop sustainable strategies that assume the greening of processes, systems, and procedures. This is achieved through globalization as it involves transferring advanced technologies that enable the sustainable greening strategy where companies adopt cleaner energies with efficient processes. De-globalization would mean clean technologies are not passed across countries and companies from developed to developing countries, making emissions, and environmental conservation difficult (Afesorgbor & Demena, 2018).

Secondly, through globalization, multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and the European Union have been formed, bringing nations together. Through these platforms, global and plurilateral negotiations among countries on environmental conservation occur; hence the development of international environmental laws and RTAs is developed on effective emission control, carbon footprint levels, and handling other environmental-related threats. The coming together of countries to work collectively on environmental protection and sustainable use of resources has been made possible through globalization. While protecting the environment, other laws, negotiations, and provisions have been developed that seek to protect, improve, and enhance the quality of life for animals, plants, and human beings. Through these multilateral negotiations, agreements, and laws, some countries such as China lead to reduce their emissions and carbon footprint and companies going the greenway a new competitive advantage trend in the modern corporate world (Afesorgbor & Demena, 2018). Thirdly, through globalization, increased environmental crisis awareness and education have been developed and enhanced. While international organizations on law, trade, health, and democracy are formed, even environmental concerned agencies and institutions have been created that spread worldwide, creating awareness and educating people on better ecological conservation practices, policies, problems, and mitigation strategies. Thus, globalization offers a platform for addressing and solving environmental issues at global and glo-calized levels. Today we have many environmental agencies, campaigns, platforms, and policies, both offline and online, which has created awareness in all generations (Ilić & Hafner, 2015). Mitigation strategies have thus become globally, nationally, locally, and personally implemented, and personal responsibility on environmental conservation continuing to occur.

Conclusion

Environmental threats are numerous due to the diversity of sources, as seen from globalization and advanced technologies spillover effects. The variations are also seen in the magnitude of the impacts and consequences of these environmental threats. In this report, cultural taboos and globalization have been chosen as less critical ecological threats. Being categorized as less critical is because they minimally affect the environment adversely compared to other risks such as climate change, energy sources, and inappropriate use of technology. Primarily, cultural taboos are more of a blessing as they play an integral role in the protection and conservation of the environment, where plants, animals, mountains, and water bodies are viewed as sacred and destroying them signifies the discretion of holy places of worship, religious houses, and disrespecting the gods. Cultural taboos act as informal social institutions regulating people’s behavior and interaction with the environment, and finally, offer a platform to place stringent and punitive measures for efficient environmental conservation. On the other hand, globalization is categorized as less critical because it enables the development of clean energies, which is easily transferrable from developed to developing countries. This way, companies and countries adopt new policies and strategies to achieve the greenway strategy that has become a modern competitive advantage edge. Secondly, through globalization, multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and the European Union have been formed, bringing nations together, where they address and solve environmental-related issues collectively with shared intelligence, information, and support. Finally, increased environmental awareness and education have been achieved through globalization due to the increased interconnectedness of people and advanced technologies such as social media platforms.

 

 

References

Afesorgbor, S. K., & Demena, B. A. (2018, April 25). Globalization May Actually Be Better for the Environment. Retrieved from The Conversation : https://news.uoguelph.ca/2018/04/globalization-may-actually-better-environment/

Alexander, L., Agyekumhene, A., & Allman, P. (2017). The Role of Taboos in the Protection and Recovery of Sea Turtles. Marine Conservation and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00237.

Anoliefo, G. O., Nwokeji, P. A., & Ikhajiagbe, B. (2015). Influence of Traditional Taboo Practices on Natural Resource Conservation in Uli, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State Nigeria; Sustainable Community Development. Journal of Environmental Sustainability, Vol 4(2). : http://scholarworks.rit.edu/jes/vol4/iss4/2.

Ilić, I., & Hafner, P. (2015). ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION – NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS AND CRISIS. Economics and Organization, Vol 12(2), pp: 109-120.

LeDoux, L. (2009, July 29). Does Population Growth Impact Climate Change? Retrieved from THE SCIENCES: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/population-growth-climate-change/

Sachdeva, S. (2017). The Influence of Sacred Beliefs in Environmental Risk Perception and Attitudes. Environment and Behavior, Vol. 49(5) 583–600. DOI: 10.1177/0013916516649413.