User:Sabina Mahavni/Choose an Article

Article Selection
Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.

Option 1

 * Article title
 * "GRID Alternatives"


 * Article Evaluation
 * The article gives a very basic overview of GRID Alternatives' mission, history, and awards/recognition. It seems like the article was written by one person for the purpose of giving a brief description of the organization, as more in-depth information can be found on the non-profit's actual website. It would be nice if the article had sub-sections for the organization's various programs, such as the Tribal Program and Women in Solar. Also, I don't think this article is up-to-date because GRID has expanded to 8 offices nationally, plus international programs in Nicaragua, Nepal, and Mexico.
 * This article is flagged as having multiple issues, including needing more links to other articles and featuring a major contributor that appears to be closely connected to the subject. There are no comments in the "Talk" page.


 * Sources
 * “What We Do.” What We Do, gridalternatives.org/what-we-do.

Option 2

 * Article title
 * "Solar Power in California"


 * Article Evaluation
 * This article gives an in-depth description of solar power in California, covering both past, present, and planned solar development projects, government support, challenges, and public opinion. Overall, I though the article provided a thorough look into California's solar power generation, history, and policies. However, at the top of the article, there is a recommendation to modify the lead to better summarize the article's content and "provide an accessible overview" of its main points. I agree with this recommendation because the body of the article contains so much useful information regarding multiple aspects of solar in California, but the lead mainly focuses on statistics instead of main concepts.
 * A major critique of this article that I found in the "Talk" section is that it seems to be very biased toward projects developed by Bright Source and does not maintain a "neutral" tone throughout the article. The article includes statements such as "the majority of Californians in desert country support large-scale solar development," citing only one study in the entire Public Opinion section when in reality, this section should contain a diversity of perspectives from more than one source.
 * Sources
 * Sources for environmental injustice in renewable energy industry:
 * 1) Finley-Brook, Mary, and Erica Holloman. “Empowering Energy Justice.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 13, no. 9, 2016, p. 926., doi:10.3390/ijerph13090926.
 * 1) Finley-Brook, Mary, and Erica Holloman. “Empowering Energy Justice.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 13, no. 9, 2016, p. 926., doi:10.3390/ijerph13090926.

Option 3

 * Article title
 * "Environmental Justice"


 * Article Evaluation
 * I like how the article begins with the U.S. EPA's official definition of the term "environmental justice," but after that, the structure becomes a little confusing. There is no clear flow to the article, and I think it might be better to have at least the first couple sections in chronological order, especially in order to organize all the critical movements that have shaped the EJ movement throughout history. It's such a broad article topic, so I understand why it may be hard to have a clear structure, but I definitely would have liked to see more chronological organization. Also, maybe a sub-section of the "Affected Groups" section could pull all the policies and statistics of each affected group into that particular group's sub-section so it's easier to see the progression of each group.


 * Sources
 * Congressional Research Service. “Role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Environmental Justice.” 29 Aug. 2019, doi: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10529/6.

Option 4

 * Article title
 * "Energy Democracy"


 * Article Evaluation
 * This article is relatively short with no clear structure. It gives a basic working definition of energy democracy then briefly cites a few theoretical papers on the subject. I think this article could use a lot of improvement just in terms of adding more content. The term "energy democracy" itself has not become very mainstream yet, which is why I think there is a lack of information on the Energy Democracy movement, but I definitely would like to see at least one section that describes the movement and all its key players. Many association the Energy Democracy movement as somewhat of a sub-set of the Environmental Justice movement, so that connection definitely needs to be made in this article.


 * Sources
 * Fairchild, Denise, and Al Weinrub. Energy Democracy Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions. Island Press, 2017.

Option 5

 * Article title
 * "Just Transition"


 * Article Evaluation
 * I do like how this article is organized, especially the section on policies because it's clear and easy to comprehend. However, the lead and introduction of the article read more like an advertisement for a "just transition" as opposed to an analysis of the concept and movement as a whole. Also, it seems like some information has just been randomly thrown into the article, like the last sentence of the introduction that reads, "'Just Transition' is an ecological application of economic conversion, which was developed in the 1980s when anti-war activists sought to build a coalition with military workers and give them a stake in the peace economy." This statement doesn't really relate to the previous paragraph and doesn't really add much to the article since the concept of economic conversion isn't discussed further.


 * Sources
 * Smith, Samantha (May, 2017). "Just Transition". Just Transition Centre.