First, share what you found interesting, surprising or confusing. Next, explain whether you would choose political parties or interest groups to advocate your position and why. In your discussion draw on at least 3 relevant details from each chapter (see especially 8.3 and 8.4 and in 9.1 and 9.3) to consider the functions/types of activities to defend and explain which one you would use. Connect these details to specifics on what you learned about parties and groups active on the issue of climate change from the Module 2 Discussion folder. In a final few sentences consider whether your choice of using interest groups or parties is specific to this issue in particular or is it a broader preference. Explain your thinking. After this is is to help you with this assignment and answer what is said above.” I have a couple of purposes here. The two main ones are to have you explore the climate change issue and compare and contrast the role of political parties and interest groups in our democracy. Political parties and interest groups are key “intermediaries” in American Politics — they work “in between” the people and political leaders, elected and appointed, to facilitate communication, and other things. A few weeks ago, President Trump announced that the US would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. If you held a passionate opinion on this issue, on either side, which would be the best route to express your opinion, through an interest group or a political party, and why? Take a look at these resources on the issue. It looks like a lot of information but I provide some guidance about how to be efficient on the longer ones. In the post I ask you to share what was most interesting and surprising to you here, and then choose groups or parties – and you must choose one over the other — and use the functions and activities of groups and parties in Chapters 8 and 9 to defend your preferred mode of organized pressure. (Details on the Paris Agreement and our withdrawal) — This is a clear and quick discussion of the Paris Agreement from a really neat resource if you are interested in politics, The Conversation. It is followed by Trump’s announcement from the White House web page. Even if you just listen for a few minutes — he begins at 6:06 – make sure you take a look at the details on the website, they are a nice summary of his decision points. The Conversation Paris Agreement Primer https://theconversation.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-at-a-glance-50465 https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/06/01/president-donald-j-trump-announces-us-withdrawal-paris-climate-accord ** the President’s remarks on his decision begin at 6 minutes 06 seconds (Political Party Platforms) – Compare the positions of the political parties on the issue of climate change. The major parties are very well organized – just find the section of the platform about Climate Change or Energy and the Environment (it is the last few paragraphs on Energy in the Republican). Note your reactions. https://www.democrats.org/party-platform https://www.gop.com/platform/ https://www.lp.org/platform/ http://www.gp.org/platform (Interest group activity) – I try here to represent a good range of types of groups and perspectives on each side to the issue. Compare these different descriptions of the groups on each side with the types of groups https://hbr.org/2016/10/research-whos-lobbying-congress-on-climate-change http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/07/five-groups-leading-the-charge-to-halt-climate-change/ https://cei.org/sites/default/files/20170508%20CEI%20Paris%20Treaty%20with%20logos%20-%2044%20Final.pdf http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/fight-misinformation/global-warming-skeptic.html#.WVuYB4jys2w US public opinion https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html,” I will be providing you guys with the chapters 8.3, 8.4 and 9.1 and 9.3 pictures of the book that I am supposed to be reading to help you out with this assignment.