Sample Blog Post for Monday

Research Question:
Should the United States be more involved in the current situation in Darfur?

Faris, Stephen. "The Real Roots of Darfur." Atlantic Monthly Apr 2007: 67-69. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source . Edina High School. 21 Apr 2008 http://www.sirs.com.

Stephen Faris is a freelance journalist whose article appears in Atlantic Monthly, a magazine broadly considered as informational. In this article, Faris examines the conflict in Darfur from an ecological perspective. He purports that the “ethnic cleansing” that is occurring right now actually has its roots in a 1980s drought. He argues that this drought has caused land conflicts between nomadic herders (Arabs) and settled farmers (black Africans). He claims that the following sequence has led to the current squabbling over land: a decline in rainfall; “imprudent” use of land; over exposure of rock and sand; and a disruption of monsoons. Faris acknowledges that this theory is controversial, and that it is difficult to determine whether these climate changes could in fact be the result of human activities. If climate change is to blame, he suggests that there will have to be a solution beyond politics. Finally, he asserts that the United States is already involved in the conflict due to the factories they own overseas that may have caused pollution and subsequent climate change.

Perry, Alex, and Chad Iriba. "How to Prevent the Next Darfur.(The Well; World;Darfur)." TIME 169.19 (May 7, 2007): 38. Professional Collection. Gale. Edina High School Library. 21 Apr. 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS.

Alex Perry is a frequent contributor to TIME. This article is more recent than some of the others evaluated in this list and echoes the arguments that the situation in Darfur has its roots in the global warming crisis. He calls the situation in Darfur a “man-made disaster” after depicting a desert that is a “dead zone.” He suggests that global warming is going to affect 90 million Africans, a statistic that the Bush Administration is skeptical about. Perry suggests that right now Darfur acts as a test case for what might happen to many other regions in Africa since the conflict there is not simply about ethnic animosity. Instead, it has its roots in the land. The opposing interests there worked symbiotically in the past. Perry writes that in order to move forward, there needs to be an increased focus on teaching both sensible land-use and water management policies. He ends by suggesting that global inaction will in fact be “devastating.”