Research and Synthesis Assignment:

Environmental danger and injustice are right now having serious impacts on the lives of many Americans, though these may be hard for those of us not living next to a dangerous facility to appreciate.  In the course of this project, students will pick one recently reported episode of a polluted community and get to know its backstory and larger context.  This will involve looking up and synthesizing news coverage and other published literature, also culling available information on government and other websites.  In the process, help students start thinking about pollution from a historical perspective how certain communities have historically grown up around and struggled with dangerous industries; also the accomplishments as well as limitations of government oversight and regulation of industrial pollution.  This project will also introduce students to some basic medical and public health knowledge about the possible or actual dangers, just what the associated chemicals do to the human body. 

Part 1–