ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ISSUES

Geography & Urban Studies/Environmental Studies 250/455

Fall 2006

Monday 2:40-5:10

 

 

 

Instructor Info:

 

            Robert J. Mason

            316/330 Gladfelter Hall

            Tel: 215-204-4483

            E-mail: rmason@temple.edu

            Office Hours: Monday 10-12, and by appointment

 

            My Web:  http://astro.temple.edu/~rmason

            Environmental Studies Web: www.temple.edu/env-stud

            Geography & Urban Studies Web:  www.temple.edu/gus

 

Course Prerequisite: Geography & Urban Studies/Environmental Studies C050

                                   (Environment & Society) or Equivalent.

 

About the Course

 

While the United States has been cast as both an environmental leader and a laggard, there is little disagreement about the enormously important place we occupy on the global environmental scene.  Our immense consumption of resources, combined with our financial and political dominance, produces correspondingly huge global impacts.  Our domestic environmental policies and programs--especially those developed in the 1960s and 1970s--act as models for other industrialized countries.  In this course, we consider US policies at a variety of scales: we situate the US within a global context, as well as examining the role of national, regional, state, and local initiatives and concerns.  We also consider the roles of special interests in shaping environmental policy, and focus especially on the unique place of non-profit organizations (NGOs) in the policy process.

            Contrary to much popular thinking, environmental issues were important in the US before the 1960s.  We will review US environmental history, but then focus mainly on events of the past several decades.  We consider various issues and themes--among them the development and practice of environmental impact assessment, protection of natural areas, and environmental equity and justice.  You should be aware of the complementary, yet often competing, views of environmentalism as 1) ecological protection and 2) protection of human health and welfare.

            This is a combined graduate/undergraduate class.  Graduate students will be expected to take leadership roles in group projects, and class exercises and discussions.  Also, requirements for some assignments will differ; this will be made clear when those assignments are distributed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academic Honesty: Here is the official Temple policy, and it is my policy, obviously, as well.

 

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's words, another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses -- papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations -- is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources -- journals, books, or other media -- these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources -- suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language -- must be cited. Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide Web is plagiarism.

Academic cheating is, generally, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person.

Students must assume that all graded assignments, quizzes, and tests are to be completed individually unless otherwise noted in writing in this syllabus.  I reserve the right to refer any cases of suspected plagiarism or cheating to the University Disciplinary Committee; I also reserve the right to assign a grade of "F" for the given paper, quiz or test.

 

In short, document everything, including and especially web-based information.

 

Disability Statement: This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation.  Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible.  Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

 

Statement on Academic Freedom:  Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02. 

 

 

Required and Optional Texts

 

Gottlieb, Robert. Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement. Washington, DC: Island Press.

 

Layzer, Judith. 2005. The Environmental Case: Translating Values into Policy. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

 

Vig, Norman J. and Michael E. Kraft. 2006. Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century. 6th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

 

These texts are available at the SAC Bookstore.

 

Additional materials will be distributed or posted on Blackboard, as required.

 

 

 

Attendance and Class Participation: Class attendance and participation constitute part of your grade in this course. It is essential that you attend class, participate in presentations and discussions, and keep up with assigned readings.

 

 

Course Grade consists of the following components, weighted as follows:

 

Midterm                                    20

Final                                         20

Assignment 1                                       15

Assignment 2                          25                   

Presentation of Case                  10             

Attendance/Participation          10

 

Late papers policy. Grades will be lowered when papers or other assignments are received late.

 

Exam absence. I must be notified in advance--in person, or by telephone or e-mail.

 

 

 

TENTATIVE Schedule of Class Topics and Assignments

 

August 28       Introduction

 

Sept. 4             LABOR DAY -- No Class

 

Sept. 11           Assignment of Cases, Topic for Assignment 1           Gottlieb,

                        Brief history of American environmentalism              Intro; Ch. 1,2

                                                                                                            Solecki and Shelley                                                                                                                 (see below)

                                                                                                           

 

Sept. 18           Modern environmental movement                               Layzer, Ch. 2

                                                                                                            Gottlieb, Ch. 3, 4

                                                                                                            Vig and Kraft, Ch. 4

 

Sept. 25           The Feds                                                                     Vig and Kraft, Ch. 8

                        CASE:  Arctic National Wildlife Refuge                     Layzer, Ch. 6

 

Oct. 2              Toxic exposure                                                            Vig and Kraft, Ch. 1

                        CASE:  Love Canal                                                     Layzer, Ch. 3

 

Oct. 9              Asst. 1 Due                                                                 Gottlieb, Ch. 4, 5

                        NGOs: mainstream versus the grass-roots                  Vig & Kraft, Ch 4, 13

                                                                                                           

 

Oct. 16                        MIDTERM

                         

 

Oct. 23                        Devolution to the states                                               Vig and Kraft, Ch. 2

                                                           

 

Oct. 23                        CASE: Snowmobiles in Yellowstone                         Layzer, Ch. 9

                        CASE: Jobs vs. Spotted Owl                                      Layzer, Ch. 8

 

Oct. 30                        Collaborative ecosystem management            

                        CASE: Habitat protection in Southern California        Layzer, Ch. 16

 

Nov. 6             The corporate sector/Economic incentives                   Vig and Kraft, Ch. 12

                        CASE: Acid rain and 1990 Clean Air Act                  Lazyer, Ch. 14

 

Nov. 13           Environmental equity, justice                                      Vig and Kraft, Ch. 11

                                                                                                            Gottlieb, Ch. 6, 7, 8

                        CASE: Dudley Street neighborhood                           Layzer, Ch. 5

 

Nov. 20           Environmental equity, justice--Continued

                        CASE:  ??

 

Nov. 27           Urban and regional sustainability                                Vig and Kraft,

                        CASE: ??                                                                    Ch. 3, 17

 

Dec. 4              Our international role                                                  Vig and Kraft, Ch. 13

                        CASE: Climate policy                                                 Layzer, Ch. 11

 

Dec. 13,           FINAL EXAM

2:00-4:00

 

 

¥ W.D. Solecki and F.M. Shelley, ÒPollution, Political Agendas, and Policy Windows: Environmental Policy on the Eve of Silent Spring.Ó Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 14: 451-468