GEOGRAPHY M126 / ENVIRONMENT M126
News Article Op/Ed Assignment (10% of class grade)
For this assignment you will read one (1) of the articles below (available from class website) and write a short review (single spaced,
word processed and totaling 500 to 600 words). Choose an article that you are interested in. The review will be in the form of a
newspaper/blogsite Op/Ed article. An Op/Ed is an Opinion Editorial piece that 1. briefly reports/recaps the findings of the study, and
2. either further supports them and suggests actions, or criticizes the study and suggests alternate courses of action. In your article
you should name the lead author, name the journal the study was published in, outline the type of study and geographic area of the
analysis, outline the most important results identified by author(s), identify the wider societal/ecological implications, and present
your views on the validity of the study and actions that should be taken – if any. You do not have to agree with the scientific paper.
You can be supportive if you agree, but you can also be critical if you disagree. Just be able to support your position based on the
data provided in the paper you are reviewing or from other scientific data you find on the topic
Provide the scientific citation to your chosen article at the end of your Op/Ed. If you do use other sources, please cite those as well.
Please take advantage of discussing your Op/Ed, ideas, and questions on form and format with your TA. They can help you with this
and we want everyone to do well
I suggest you read some shortscience news articles and Op/Ed pieces from Science Daily, the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco
Chronicle, New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, or Wall Street Journal to get a feel for the sort of writing used in
journalism. Unfortunately, some of these sites have paywalls and may only be useful if you are a subscriber. I have included an
example Op/Ed from the Washington Post at the end of these instructions. Please read it.
Websites to search for example Op/Eds and articles (search on “climate change” at the site for example)
https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/global_warming/ (Excellent examples at this site)
http://www.latimes.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
https://www.wsj.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-crisis
Due – No Later than 11:59 PM Friday of the Final Week of Classes (Week 10) via TURNITIN
Submissions will be checked for plagiarism. Any instances of suspected plagiarism will be forwarded to the Dean of Students. If you
are unsure what constitutes plagiarism – please contact TA or Instructor and discuss.
Scientific Articles (choose one to report on in your Op/Ed)
Sea Level and Human Migration – Hauer, M.E., 2017. Migration induced by sea-level rise could reshape the US population landscape.
Nature Climate Change, 7 pp. 321.
Biodiversity and Human Well Being – Pecl, G.T., Araújo, M.B., Bell, J.D., Blanchard, J., Bonebrake, T.C., Chen, I.C., Clark, T.D., Colwell,
R.K., Danielsen, F., Evengård, B. and Falconi, L., 2017. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and
human well-being. Science, 355(6332), pp. 1.
Water Scarcity – Gosling, S.N. and Arnell, N.W., 2016. A global assessment of the impact of climate change on water scarcity. Climatic
Change, 134(3), pp.371.
Heat and Human Health – Pal, J.S. and Eltahir, E.A., 2016. Future temperature in southwest Asia projected to exceed a threshold for
human adaptability. Nature Climate Change, 6(2), pp.197.