Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing

Helena McMonagle '16 describes how some methods of shrimp farming in the US and abroad can be extremely harmful to the environment due to pollution and loss of valuable habitat.

Synthia Hernandez '15 argues that without leatherbacks, our fishing industry and oceans will pay a steep price.

Sapna Jain '14 questions whether rapid genetic testing companies give consumers useful and accurate information.

Alice Sun '15 contends that the ACA has good intentions-- lowering unsustainable health care costs-- but is doing so in an inefficient and harmful way. Regulating how doctors practice and restricting reimbursement rates lead to restricted access, increased waiting time, and poorly rationed care.

Victoria Hills '14 argues that zoos are not only accessible and affordable, but they also contribute substantially to the protection of animals in the wild. Visiting a zoo is often the first step a person takes toward becoming an environmentally conscious citizen of the world.

Andrea Bae '14 examines the link between population growth and environmental decline. She questions the cost of transforming our environment to sustain more people. Shouldn't we consider reproductive restraint as a solution to alleviating environmental strain? Andrea argues that a positive step in attenuating growth would be universal availability of contraceptives.

Zoe Moyer '15 reviews The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates by primatologist Frans de Waal. She examines his contention that moral behavior does not begin and end with religion but rather is a product of evolution. Zoe describes how de Waal credits social animals with high intelligence, understanding of self and death, fair societies, and altruism. The lines between what is uniquely human and what is not begin to seriously blur.

Mai Yer Xiong '14 probes the transnational surrogacy industry and the exploitation of Indian women who become gestational surrogate mothers.

Dania Wright '14 explores quorum sensing, a method of bacterial communication, and its potential uses in healthcare. She focuses on research by Bonnie Bassler at Princeton which might offer a treatment for cholera.

Kalina Yingnan Deng '14 discusses the flaws in bioethicist Julian Savlescu's principle of Procreative Beneficence. She shows how it is not supported by philosophical theories of well-being, disregards principles of individual rights, and allows inequality to fester.