EVS Essay Practice

1. EVS Essay Practice

2. Essay question 1 • Evaluate the anthropocentric view that it is important for everyone in society to 
participate in environmental decision-making. Discuss one example of the successful involvement of communities in solving environmental problems. [8] • (Paper 2, May 2011)

3. Evaluate: • Assess the implications and limitations • Strengths and weaknesses

4. Strengths… • Participation has an important role to help educate people about environmental issues; • Participation means that people who may be causing the problems are less likely to do so if they are involved in decisions about their own environments; sometimes poorer/less powerful/marginal groups in society have the best knowledge about what is right for an environment e.g. indigenous groups, and if they participate their knowledge can be shared; • People who believe in democracy argue that everyone has a right to have a say in how communal resources/environments are managed; • Ecosystems need to be managed holistically so people from all walks of life who have useful skills can contribute;

5. Weaknesses • Sometimes leadership needs to be taken by political groups to ensure change happens; • Too many people being consulted can slow down progress when the need for action is urgent; • Many groups in society may not care about the environment or see it as important;

6. Example: Tree planting in Nepal • Villagers provided with seedlings / individual responsibility for protecting forests given to local community groups; • Forests provide fuel wood resources for villagers;
soil also conserved as forests protect from erosion; • Communities benefit directly from standing forest reserve and are therefore more likely to participate in protecting trees as they grow;

7. International Agreements are not accepted • Kyoto/Montreal protocols” as a valid example of involvement of communities unless the discussion explains how communities are involved at a local level. • The responses must be an example of the involvement of LOCAL people in a “community project.”

8. Essay question 2 • Describe and evaluate ecocentric and technocentric responses to eutrophication. [8]

9. Describe and Evaluate • Give a detailed account • Assess the implications and limitations

10. Ecocentric responses • Minimize the impact on the environment by encouraging people to be restrained; • Use methods which are more in harmony with natural systems; • e.g. use of organic fertilizers/manure on agricultural fields; • e.g. practice of mixed cropping/crop rotation so less or no fertilizers are needed; • e.g.educationalcampaigns to encourage people to use less detergent/more environmentally friendly detergent; • e.g. plant a buffer zone between the fields and the water courses to absorb any run-off;

11. Technocentric responses Emphasize the use of technology/human ingenuity in managing environment/resource issues;
e.g. developing an alternative to phosphates in detergents;
e.g. applying fertilizers more carefully so there is reduced run-off/wastage;
e.g. using technology to screen water to remove pollutants;
e.g. pumping air through lakes to avoid the low oxygen conditions;
e.g. dredging sediments;

12. Evaluation of ecocentric responses • people are reluctant to adapt lifestyles/accept lowered standard of living so ecocentric approaches can be hard to enforce; • alternative approaches e.g. organic fertilizers/manure may not work so effectively or can still cause run-off and eutrophication;

13. Evaluation Technocentric responses • technocentric solutions may increase the costs of e.g. detergents/may require a financial commitment; • technocentric can be a short term solution but is unsustainable; • technocentric solutions may not be an option in less-developed areas/for less wealthy farmers; • some solutions are time consuming/do not get at the root cause e.g. pumping air; • can be hard to identify who is the cause of the pollution so hard to target educational campaigns effectively; • alternative products may still cause other environmental problems;

14. Notes.. • Give credit for candidates who recognize that the same response may be classified as technocentric or ecocentric. • Award [8 max] if both viewpoints are mentioned and each point made is evaluated.

15. Essay question 3 • Discuss, with reference to two contrasting environmental problems, the technocentric belief that technology may provide solutions to environmental problems. [8] (Paper 2, May 2011)

16. Discuss: • Give an account including a range of arguments for and against the relative importance of various factors or comparisons of alternative hypothesis • Note: “Reference” means you have to talk about real examples and refer to them.