Delta State University

SOC/COD 521

Fall 2004

Writing Assignment No. 5

Due:  Monday, October 11

Instructions:  Prepare a two page essay on the topic identified below.  Be sure to develop an explanation or argument in your essay.

Topic:  The video Cadillac Desert: An American Nile examines some of the choices that must be made in order to support both industrial growth/concentration and population growth/concentration, and the effects of these choices on the environment.  Draw on the discussion in Our Common Future on energy, industry and urbanization to assess human efforts to control rivers in the western U.S. 

Are there opportunities to create sustainable development in the cases studied in the video, by linking industrial and urban needs to environmental protection?  What factors work against a sustainable solution?  What factors favor a sustainable solution?