Spring 2021
Jonathan Ochshorn
Read the following:
Gross and Dodge, Clean Water Act, chapter 2 (History of the Clean Water Act) and chapter 3 (General Prohibition of Discharges)
Outwater, Water: A Natural history, Chapter 11 (What Sludge Tells You)
Howe, "Wall Street Eyes Billions in the Colorado's Water," NY Times, Jan. 3, 2021
LEED reference guide v.4, credits and prerequisites related to Water
Optional: Dave Barry, "Focus on Canadian Toilets" (parody, humor) available online.
Optional: Clean water act in the news, from 2014 (NY Times), 2015 "Farmers Put Down the Plow for More Productive Soil," NY Times (a reference to the 2010 Clean Water Act can be found towards the end of the article), and, from 2017, in the era of Trump (NY Times).
Optional: My critique of the LEED guidelines for Water (first part only).
Read all selections.
Email the writing assignment (selected students only) or paragraph response (all other students) to me no later than 11:00 am on the day of class. Writing assignments can be sent as attachments (PDF or word.doc). Paragraph responses can be embedded directly into the body of the email.
Did the Clean Water Act achieve its objectives? Compare the chapters from Gross and Dodge and Outwater. What underlying assumptions about economics, politics, morality, science, and sustainability can be inferred from Howe's essay in the NY Times? Do the LEED credits for "water" have any relevance to the issues raised by the Clean Water Act or the fight over Colorado river water rights?
Be prepared to read (or otherwise present) a condensed version of your paper in class (7–10 minutes).
Paper should be 1000–1300 words, or approximately 3–4 typed pages, 1.5 line spacing.
Write a short (1-paragraph) response to a sentence extracted from one of the readings that you found interesting or provocative. Provide a footnote citation for the quotation you have chosen using the "notes and bibliography system."1
Copyright 2017–2021 J. Ochshorn. All rights reserved. First posted: 26 September 2017 | last updated: 18 February 2021
1 You can find information on citations in the Chicago Manual of Style. (You can leave out page numbers.)