Please watch the following clip from PBS Frontline. This is a little less than an hour long
Also, use these links below to help build a solid foundation on what the EPA is and its history
History of EPA
https://www.epa.gov/history
Key Milestones
https://www.epa.gov/history/milestones-epa-and-environmental-history
More information about Scott Pruitt and EPA
To Sway Scott Pruitt, EPA Experts Must “Hope Against Hope,” Says Former Insider
So this is a leap forward from the Hot Politics video, so many of you may be familiar with siome of this or at least heard of it. As we discussed about capitlism, politics, and policy, you should see the similarities and differences between this current moment and the political context during Bush, Obama etc.
We also just talked about the “Green New Deal” so now we have a surface level understanding of the political and policy context over the last 20 years or so.
Please use the above sources and this link here >>> The Guardian “Climate Crisis” section>> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-crisis
All of these links should put you in the right position to answer the following.
1. Using your own personal sociological imagination, please SUMMARIZE and ANALYZE the PBS film.
when I say sociologically analyze…reflect on it like we do with all the videos we discussed thus far but keep in mind the components and implications of things like the Malthus perspective, Marx/conflict, environmental racism, and eco-feminism. The connection between the film and some of these perspectives are obvious in some ways and less obvious in others. But if youre paying attention to class discussion and do a little outside reading, this should be fairly straight forward. For more information on technological/sociological jargon, please refer to the chapter reading that is uploaded to canvas with the basic terms and definitions. YOU DO NOT need to align yourself with one of these perspectives, just use the frameworks to help guide your analysis if you find it helpful.
2. Considering that this film is now 5 or so years old, what is happening under the Biden admin and the EPA? Use the website in the above links and any other information you may find helpful. You may want to google, for example, “climate change EPA the guardian” and see what you find. Other things to consider, what do you think of the Green new deal or any other policy developments to address climate change?
