Environmental Policy Option
Coordinator:
Professor Jack Manno
211A Marshall Hall
tel. 315.470.6816
e-mail: jpmanno@esf.edu
Policy has been defined as “the consistent behavior of organizations over time”. Although seemingly dry, this simple phrase encompasses the rich complexity of how governments, businesses, interest groups and citizens interact to make decisions that protect, enhance, and all too frequently, diminish our environment. The Constitution provides a formal framework for all public policy, the checks and balances between the executive, legislature, and judicial branches, and the sharing of rights and responsibilities between the federal government, states, and citizens.
During the 1970’s, which has been called the “decade of the environment”, Congress created numerous new topic-specific laws and programs to address the issues of clean air, clean water, hazardous waste, and habitat loss. Although successful in addressing many large “point” problems such as factory waste discharges, these narrow focused, Washington-based, “command and control” technical policy approaches have proven to be limited in effectiveness. Watershed protection, ecosystem restoration, controlling suburban sprawl, and global climate change are examples of the broad multifactor issues that now face policy makers. Policy approaches increasingly involve public-private collaborations of diverse actors and stakeholders that are individually constructed to address the unique environmental, legal, social and cultural components of the resource systems to be managed.
The Environmental Policy Option promotes understanding of and develops skills for the many facets of the policy process, including:
- how policies come into being (proposed, advocated, communicated, adopted, implemented, evaluated, reformed)
- types of policies (laws, regulation, economic incentives and disincentives, education and communication),
- scale (personal, local, state, national, international, global),
- activities (industrial processes, consumer behavior, resource extraction and use, transportation, marketing and social infrastructure.)
- how society selects among competing aims (individual freedom, economic efficiency, social cohesion, safety and security and others.)
- the role of politics and political ideology in policy making (conservatism, liberalism, environmental radicalism, deep ecology, government and governance)
- the interaction between environmental policy and social justice (racism and the environment, feminism, indigenous and First Nations rights and perspectives, issues of globalism and global resource inequities).
Policy graduates have career opportunities in all environmental sectors, working for federal, state and local governments, industry and consulting firms, and environmental non-government-organizations (NGOs). Many, either directly upon graduation or after a few years of work experience, go to graduate school in programs including law, public administration, planning, landscape architecture, and environmental management.
Environmental Policy Option Requirements
| Course | Credits | |
| ENS 550 or LAW |
Environmental Impact Analysis or Law Course |
3 |
| Environmental Policy Methods Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Methods Course | 3 | |
| Law Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| 27 | ||
Environmental Policy Methods Courses
Methods are tool related topics that are used to analyze existing policies, to evaluate the need for new policies, and to facilitate effective collaborations. Below is a list of approved courses. Your Policy advisor may substitute, without petition, other courses that they determine meet the analysis/facilitation tool intent. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one Geographic Information Systems course.
- ERE 450 Intro. To GIS
- FEG 430 Engineering Decision Analysis
- FOR 333 Managerial Economics for Env. Professionals
- FOR 507 Environmental Economics
- FOR 556 Spatial Modeling (GIS)
- GEO 361 Global Economic Geography
- GEO 370 Political Geography
- GEO 386 Quantitative Geographic Analysis
- LSA 330 Landscape and Site Assessment
Environmental Policy Option Courses
Many courses at ESF and SU are policy focused. The courses below are illustrative. In addition, all of the Law courses listed below may also count as Policy Option Courses. Students are strongly encouraged to work with their advisor to develop a coherent set of courses that provide the breadth and depth suitable for entry-level professional positions and/or a foundation for graduate study.
- FOR 360 Soil and Water Conservation Policy
- FOR 372 Fundamentals of Outdoor Recreation
- FOR 465 Natural Resources and Environmental Policy
- FOR 478 Wilderness and River Recreation Management
- GEO 558 Sustainable Development
- LSA 451 Comprehensive Land Planning
- PAF 451 Environmental Policy
- PSC 318 Technology, Politics, and Environment
Environmental Policy Law Courses
Legal processes play a critical role in the creation and implementation of environmental policies. In addition to the judicial court system, all governmental management and regulatory agencies have administrative processes designed to ensure fairness, provide public access, and resolve conflicts. The emerging arena of international law is beginning to address trans-boundary and global systems. All students must take at least one law course and are encouraged to take additional offerings from the recommended list below:
- FOR 496 Environmental Law and Policy
- FOR 488 Natural Resources Administration Law
- LPP 255 Introduction to Law
- LPP 458 Environmental Law [1]
- PSC 304 The Judicial Process
- PSC 324 Constitutional Law I
- PSC 325 Constitutional Law II
- PSC 352 International Law
Senior Synthesis
The Senior Synthesis is an integrative experience, intended to both connect material from previous courses and to address a current real-world issue. Students may satisfy this requirement through a Professional Internship EST 499, an independent research project, EST 400 Senior Paper, or Honors Program Paper ESF 499 Honors thesis/Project, or completion of an advanced integrative course such as CMN 493 Environmental Communication Workshop, or LSA 453 Community Land Planning Workshop. The key to successful completion of this important program component is for the student to work closely with their advisor in the junior year to investigate the many potential choices that are available.
Typical Course Sequence
This is a possible sequence for the option. In consultation with your advisor, you will probably need to adjust this sequence to suit your specific situation.
| Junior - Fall | Credits | |
| EFB 320 | General Ecology | 4 |
| CLL 410 | Writing for Environmental Professionals | 3 |
| EST 361 or EST 366 |
History of the American Environmental Movement or Attitudes, Values and the Environment |
3 |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| 15-16 | ||
| Junior - Spring | ||
| EST 321 | Government and the Environment | 3 |
| APM 391 | Introduction to Probability and Statistics | 3 |
| EST 388 or EST 390 |
Psychological Principles of Risk Communication or Social Processes & the Environment |
3 |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
| 15 | ||
| Senior - Fall | ||
| Upper Division Computing or Natural Science Course |
3-4 | |
| Environmental Policy Methods Course (GIS recommended) | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Law Course | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
| 15-16 | ||
| Senior - Spring | ||
| ENS 550 | Environmental Impact Analysis | 3 |
| Environmental Policy Option Course | 3 | |
| Environmental Policy Methods Course | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Senior Synthesis (3) | 3 | |
| 15 | ||
[1] Since this course is the same course as FOR 496 Environmental Law and Policy, students may only take LPP 458 if they are unable to take FOR 496.