Assignment:
Compare and contrast the two basic approaches to dealing with pollution caused by economic activity: the Polluter Pays Principle versus the Precautionary Principle.
We have not spent a great deal of time on these in class, though we have covered the basic concepts. What you are going to going to explore in this essay is your reasoning why you would support one or the other as a superior approach and explain why. You are free to select either.
The text has limited information on these topics: a paragraph on page 205 on the (confusingly named) Precautionary Polluter Pays Principle (I prefer referring to just Precautionary Principle), and then a brief discussion of Polluter Pays policy on page 362 as to how it is applied in CERCLA, or the Superfund Act, where the technical distinctions between legal definitions of various forms of liability are discussed.
For more background, please refer to the Wikipedia entries on them: here are links to the Polluter Pays Principle and the Precautionary Principle.
Because I want you to focus more on expressing your ideas in your own words, rather than searching for research material, the only citations that can be used are these two Wikipedia URLs. You do not need to create any footnotes in your essay; but if you really feel the need, you may cite these sources simply as possible, as in "...as stated in [1]," where [1] refers to a note at the end of your essay, like 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
Lines of Argument: you may wish to consider elements from the following in your lines of argument:
• historical experiences with major pollution events
• effectiveness of policy on affecting the behavior of potential polluters
• ease of implementation as a policy
Writing aids: you are encouraged to take advantage of resources that can improve your writing. I found this excellent summary about writing essays by googling "lines of argument", about Writing Essays.
Please focus on clarity of expression. Make each paragraph count, and attempt to have each paragraph built around its topic sentence. You are encouraged to make use of FRCC's Writing Center, which can be done online, if you give them a couple of days of turnaround time. You can also schedule an appointment time to discuss your online submission via phone. This is an excellent resource for you to get feedback about your writing, beyond my critique.
Your answer should be composed using the Student Template provided in the Course Documents section, be no less than two, and no more than five, pages in length. Do not use any citations or footnotes, as this should be an expository essay.