Instructions
Purpose and scope
The Ballona Wetlands is one of the only ecological reserves in Los Angeles. Tourists and the film industry flocked to the Wetlands in the 1920s and 30s; soon after, it was given over to oil extraction, which grossly polluted the landscape. In the 1950s, it was turned into an airstrip. Since the 1980s, the Wetlands has been a consistent target for commercial and residential development, only to be saved by action from concerned citizens groups like the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands. Nonetheless, debates remain about how best to conserve and restore the landscape, and for whom questions that are central to our course.
The aim of this essay is to analyze restoration efforts currently underway in the Ballona Wetlands. You will read a news article about the history and current status of restoration. You will also read a scholarly article about paradox of ecological restoration in general. In crafting your essay, you will be able to draw upon cross-cutting themes from our course including social construction of nature (Week 2), environmental ethics (Week 8), markets and commodities (Week 5) and several others. Your essay will then synthesize your insights from the Ballona readings, the scholarly article, and what you have learned in the course so far.
Instructions
Write a 500-600 word essay (2-2 pages double-spaced) that analyzes debates about ecological restoration in the Ballona Wetlands.
To prepare to write your essay, you will need to read readings:
The 2015 news article The Los Angeles Wetland Wars by Judith Mernit.
The 2001 scholarly article Borges and the Restorationists Dilemma by Morgan Robertson.
In your essay, address the following questions:
What role do wetlands play in ecological health? What are their ecosystem services?
What are the contours of the debate about ecological restoration in the Ballona Wetlands? What are different groups/people advocating, and what is their rationale?
What is the paradox of ecological restoration that Robertson is talking about? What way of thinking about restoration does Robertson advocate?
Do you think the Ballona Wetlands should be restored? If so, how?
Do you think the Ballona Wetlands should be accessible to the public? Why or why not?
Note that you do not need to use any additional sources for this essay: just the Mernit article and the Robertson article. Citations and a bibliography are not required. If you use a quote from the two articles in your essay, you should include its slide/page number in parentheses.
