Writing-Based Inquiry Seminars:
Descriptions for Fall 2007
(please note: section topics and descriptions are subject to change)
Title: Endangered Oceans
Course: WBIS 188
Section: 026
Instructor: Instructor
Although the ocean covers much of the earth's surface, we here in the Midwest often think of it as distant and insignificant to our lives, except as a destination for a beach vacation. Yet the truth is that the oceans and the resources they harbor are now under siege from both human greed and environmental change. The oceans are among our last great wild places, without national boundaries, and governed by unenforceable international agreements. As a result, the oceans are subject to the insults of waste dumping, oil spills from mineral exploitation, wasteful discard of unwanted fish, and overfishing to the point of precipitous decline of the major species netted for human consumption. Moreover, the vastness of the oceans; makes them the setting for pirates on the high seas, often involving badly maintained ships that pose environmental threats. Then too, industrial fishing is widely perceived as America's most dangerous occupation. In addition, global warming is changing marine environments in unpredictable ways. Are the problems ones for scientists or politicians or naval authorities? Can our seas continue to be self-governing? How can we balance the traditional independence the people who fish with our responsibilities towards our greatest resource? Why should we who live in the Midwest care about what happens on the oceans?
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Last modified: February 16, 2007Send comments, questions, etc., to henson@uwosh.edu