Introduction to Environmental Policy and Planning

Final Exam

You will need to write three short essays for the final:

  • Choose any three questions from the options below.
  • Your responses should be approximately 500 words. Do not exceed 800 words for any answer. Include your word count below each response.
  • Please include your name at the top of the document and the question number next to each response.

 

Scenario Presentations

Each student must make three oral presentations focused on three of the 14 scenarios available in this section. Two students will sign up at the start of the semester for each scenario. The third presenter will be selected at the beginning of the class to speak about that day's scenario. Students will be graded on both their answers to the assigned questions and the clarity of their presentation. Short descriptions are provided below. These presentations account for up to 30 points of your final grade.

 

Public Participation and Group Decision-Making

There is an ongoing debate between political philosophers and dispute resolution professionals regarding the most appropriate means of conceptualizing the public interest (with regards to the use of natural resources or patterns of urban development). The philosophers believe "deliberative polling" that provides a snapshot of what the "average citizen" prefers should be sufficient for elected officials to determine what actions to take in the public interest. Dispute resolution professionals argue the public interest can best be understood as the product of a consensus building dialogue among contending interests (not individuals) and that public officials armed with polling data can never know or produce on their own the public interest.

Environmental Assessment

Most environmental planners presume that policy decisions regarding the use of natural resources and patterns of development can be enhanced through the application of various analytical tools.

  1. Explain why and how you agree or disagree with this, with reference to each of the tools discussed in Unit 3.
  2. What do you think are the relative strengths and limitations of each of the analytical tools we discussed in Unit 3?

Environmental Ethics

Traditionally economists have argued that humans are utility maximizers, although some behavioral economists and social psychologists have recently raised questions about this. With this in mind, please write a paper addressing the following questions.

National Environmental Policy-making

Given what you have read in Unit 1 and what we have discussed in class, provide the simplest model you can of national environmental policy-making for any country you choose. 

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