You are an intern in the office of your member of the US House of Representatives, and you have been charged with writing a position paper for the representative on climate change. The representative, your supervisor, is a new member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which will
be recommending a position and action on climate change, and your paper will provide the necessary background for the representative to participate knowledgeably in the discussions and evaluate possible legislative actions. Write a formal, well-
reasoned, grammatically correct, and fully annotated paper that presents both sides of the arguments about climate change, draws conclusions about its importance and human contributions
toward it, and makes specific fully supported recommendations about actions that should be taken by the US House of Representatives.
You should include in the paper:
– the evidence for climate change;
– the natural variations in climate that impact and
have impacted on climate;
– the impact of human activities on climate;
– the potential consequences (political, economic,
sociological) of climate change, locally and globally;
– a reasoned evaluation of the seriousness of the
concern about climate change;
– ways of mitigating the consequences;
– recommendations about the position and
specific actions the US government can/should take
– supporting arguments for those
positions/actions and responses to anticipated opposition to your recommendations.
Please note that you may conclude that the concern is
either minimal or extremely severe (or something in
between), but your position(s) and recommendations must
be clearly supported by evidence, not emotion or political
leaning. This paper represents 20% of your final grade and
must reflect both a knowledge of the course content and the
ability to apply that knowledge and draw conclusions.
Review the rubric before submitting your paper to ensure
you have included all required information.