Control of Nature Paper Assignment #3: Cooling the Lava

Due Monday, March 19

Write a ~3 page paper on one of the following questions:

1) Compare and contrast the efforts to control the flows of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers with the efforts to stop the lava flow from the eruption of Eldfell. Possible points to compare include the reasons why people wanted to control nature in the first place, the success or failure of the efforts, the response of the local community, the response of the national community, etc.

2) How was the attempt to control the eruption on Heimaey different from other responses to volcanic eruptions (including possibly eruptions on Hawaii, eruptions of Etna on Sicily, the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the US, and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines)?

In either case, make sure you defend all your arguments, and cite appropriate references (including the textbook and The Control of Nature) when you use information from sources other than your own mind.

The grading criteria for the paper is included in the course syllabus.