Essays and Research Papers on Environmental Issues & Ecology

This 5 page paper provides an overview of the pros and cons of the dredging of Boston Harbor. In particular, this paper demonstrates the complexity of environmental issues, because there are distinct pros and cons regarding the choice to dredge the harbor, including the economic gains from this choice and the negative environmental impacts. ...

This 6 page paper considers the draft document 'A Way With Waste' published by the UK government in order to reduce the effect of waste ion the environment. The writer considers the way that this change in policy, if adopted, will impact on waste management companies, forcing them to change the way they operate and ...

This 10 page paper provides an overview of the correlation between urban development and the impact that this has on the natural environment. This paper considers how cities are impacted by air pollution and how cities impact the natural environment. This paper specifically assesses the significance of issues like acid rain. Bibliography ...

A 10 page overview of the issues surrounding Native American water rights. Although water rights are not always mentioned in historic treaties, the Supreme Court ruled in 1908 that by establishing Native American reservations Congress implied and reserved the priority water rights necessary for present and future use. This paper provides an overview ...

5 pages. The purpose of this paper is to explain the ethics regarding the hunting of trophy animals versus that of hunting for food. This will be tied in to the book Bloodties : Nature, Culture, and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote. The purpose herein is to emphasize that one way to curtail ...

A 5 page discussion of the most important political and environmental events of the last two decades. Identifies the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. as being one of the most important political events and overpopulation and global warming as two of the most important environmental concerns. The author details the importance of each in ...

5 pages in length. Culturally differing attitudes toward the concept of nature and environment significantly impact upon ideas of human existence as they relate to knowledge, inasmuch as there is no way to escape the influence that nature has upon virtually every aspect of life. Fikret Berkes' "Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Perspective" acknowledges ...

An eleven page paper which looks at the way in which different nations and different international blocs view the problems of combating terrorism and global warming, and the various strategies which have been proposed for each. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 8 page report discusses the phenomena of acid raid. It has been a research topic for, literally, more than a century and therefore offers a wide variety of information sources for the student to choose between in presenting his or her argument about acid rain. That variety of sources allows any person researching the topic to discover conflicting and contrasting ...

5 pages. This paper will serve as a policy statement about the effects of landfills in the state of Wisconsin. This includes the controversial topic of the shipping of garbage into Wisconsin from surrounding states. This policy statement is concerned with how to stop the state to state dumping in Wisconsin and how ...

5 pages in length. The extent to which the terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center has impacted both the nation and the cradle of humanity as a whole is undeniably far-reaching. However, people are not the only entities to suffer from this display of social intolerance, inasmuch as the explosion aftermath has ...

This 10 page report discusses non-native, invasive plants and the fact that they have often damaged more habitat than development. Non-native plants or invasive weeds follow a growth pattern opposite the native plants and overcome habitats either before or after the native plants are in season. They may be harmless and beneficial in their natural surroundings, but they can totally devastate ...

When the subject of the earth comes up in conversation, most people do not immediately think of soil, although it is a known fact that soil is an essential component to the existence of the planet earth. This 5 page paper provides a sample paper that assists the student in preparing a general information paper on soil. ...

5 pages. This paper explains the pros and cons of moral pluralism in the environment. This is based on two issues: endangered species and population control. Can the people agree on these issues? Bibliography lists 6 sources.

8 pages in length. What, exactly, is clean air, and how is the nation fighting to acquire it? If local, state and federal laws do not protect the environment and all its inhabitants from the hazards of smog, what will? Currently, scientists have been able to detect smog in considerably minute amounts, ...

An 8 page discussion of the issues surrounding environmental restoration and mitigation. The author provides a critical analysis of the contention that a restored or created habitat, in addition to almost always being inferior in terms of diversity and ecological value to the original, is inferior aesthetically as well, that the very knowledge that ...

A 10 page discussion of the use of eco-sabotage and civil disobedience to alter the rampant environmental destruction which we are witnessing at the hands of development, pollution, and alteration. Distinguishes between the two actions asserting that while both are illegal, eco-sabotage is a form of violence which is not only ethically and morally ...

5 pages. Gives an overview of the unsightliness and pollution being caused by the oil platforms off the coast of California. While there are some positive aspects of the oil platforms, such as the fact that they support marine life, the negative ones in the form of pollution far outweigh the good. Included ...

This 15 page paper looks at the problems of pollution in the Hudson River and what can be done about it. Dredging is recommended as the most practical course of action. Bibliography lists 7 sources.

An 11 page paper. Most adult Americans have probably heard of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank but few understand exactly what they do. Even fewer know that their projects and programs have acted as catalysts for the destruction of forests. This paper explains how the programs of these two very powerful institutions ...

This paper examines Nature and Madness by Paul Shepard. Explained throughout the paper is Shepard's contention that the reason why the planet suffers ecologically today is because we have strayed from our roots as hunter-gathers.

An 8 page essay that contrasts and compares three very different texts. The writer points out that Reeling in Russia, The Riverkeepers, and The Earth is Enough: Growing up in a World of Fly Fishing, Trout & Old Men were all published in the late 1990s and all deal with ecological concerns. These books dramatize ...

This informative 36 page paper looks at the issues of poor air quality in commercial buildings. The paper starts by defining the problem, with some background on the causes and effects of poor air quality. The paper then moves on to consider the problem of sick building syndrome and the way the situation may be ...

This paper examines the theme and theories of environmentalist Paul Shepard in his book Nature and Madness. The paper discusses the book, and examines how Shepard ties the idea of humanity's departure from hunting and gathering into the environmental problems we are now experiencing. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

8 pages in length. There can be no argument against the fact that tropical forests give life to the entities who flourish within its protective cover. The effects of deforestation and logging upon indigenous populations comes in many forms, including issues of air quality, food supply, shelter, protection from predators, habitat, population and ...