ESS 3550 - Environmental Policy

Credits: 4

This course will examine environmental issues from a policy perspective. The course will focus on both domestic and global environmental issues with an emphasis on national, state and local policy. We will examine both how values influence environmental policy and how different policy approaches, including regulation, taxing, law and incentives, influence values. The course will focus on what constitutes effective environmental policy and how we achieve it to protect the environment and promote sustainable systems. In addition, students will develop and apply knowledge of environmental analysis in planning and policy making. This examination will be conducted through numerous hands-on exercises focusing on environmental issues in New England. The main course goals are to build student competencies in the political, organizational, scientific and economic drivers shaping past and current environmental policy and policy debates. At the conclusion of this class, each student should be able to place the efforts for clean air and water, sustainable growth, biodiversity protection as well as a sustainable and equitable climate, in institutional, historical, theoretical, and informal contexts.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing in the ESS major or consent of the instructor.

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