Environmental Issues

Instructions:

1. Choose one of the assignments below and post your answers or ‘editorial’ in this forum.
   1. Select an article from the mass media (newspaper) that deals with an “environmental” health issue. Analyze and critique the article by answering the following questions:
      • What are the characteristics of the community involved?
      • What appears to be the sources of the problem?
      • What evidence is provided in the article to substantiate the cause?
      • Does the news coverage describe health effects?
      • What population is at risk?
      • Does the coverage provide adequate information for consumers to understand the problem and seek any needed assistance?
      • How would you improve this article for better public awareness?
   2. Identify an environmental health problem in your community.
      • Familiarize yourself about this problem by interviewing or talking with experts in the area, reading recent literature and research reports, and searching the Internet for information about the problem.
      • Contact your Senator or Congressperson who has been involved in legislation related to the problem and learn what he or she plans to do about it.
      • Summarize what you have learned and present it in writing as a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
      • Share the letter in this Discussion Forum
2. Your response should be 50 – 100 words.

Answer preview

1. selected article with an “Environmental” Health Issue

In this article from The New York Times, “In a Factory’s Shadow, Fears About Health,”

by Elisabeth Rosenthal, several issues have been addressed. The article was published on August 8th, 2012. The community’s characteristics focused on the Indian people living in a remote village called Nath-Kuva, facing pollution…