SPRING 2007
ENV 555 –
THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE:POLICY INTERFACE
Meeting Times: Wednesdays 3:30-6:00
3 credit hours
Room: Physical Sciences 111
Course Prerequisites: Graduate student status or consent of instructor
Course Web Site: www.envsci.nau.edu/sisk/courses/env555
Instructor:
Dr.
Thomas D. Sisk
Office: PS 118; Phone: 523-7183
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10:00-Noon (or by appt.)
WHAT IS THIS COURSE ABOUT?
· This class will examine how scientific information is presented, evaluated, and applied as political forces shape environmental policy.
· Our focus will be on the integration of various disciplines in approaching, understanding, informing, and developing environmental science and policy.
· We will see how the misuse of science in policy formulation is widespread, and how this failure may lead to public policy based on ideological, rather than scientific arguments.
· We will examine criticisms of scientific and policy processes and explore alternative forms of integrating democratic, environmental, and scientific values in the development of environmental solutions.
HOW WILL THIS COURSE WORK?
A. Seminars
Seminars will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Weekly topics, as described in this syllabus, will cover the key points of the class. You are expected to attend and participate in discussions, and you are invited to take an active role in shaping the content and direction of the class meetings. Prior to seminars, each student will prepare a “thought piece” on each weekly theme, based on the readings. This 1.5-2 page synopsis should include key points and questions that will help guide your participation in the class meetings.
B. Readings
Class participation is an
important part of the course, and it will account for 10% of your grade.
“Thought pieces,” prepared
prior to the beginning of each topic, will be collected and graded at the end
of the class meeting. Collectively, they
will account for 30% of the course grade.
Research Teams (1-3 students) will produce a term paper that traces the science and policy process of an environmental issue of their choice; teams will present their finding to the class. The combined outline, paper and presentation will be worth 30% of your course grade. Topic selection and development of the research project will take place in close consultation with the instructors.
Two Midterm exams,
consisting of take-home essay questions, will each be worth 15% of the course
grade. Requests for regrading of exam
essays are welcome; requests must be submitted in writing, along with the paper
in question, within one week of the return of a graded assignment. Regrades will not be considered for weekly
thought pieces.
Course grades will be
determined on a percentage basis. Grades will be assigned as follows: 90-100% = A;
80-89.9% = B; 70-79.9% = C; 60-69.9% = D; below 60% = F.
Incompletes: It is my policy not to assign a grade of “incomplete” except in extreme circumstances beyond the student’s control. Incompletes will not be given because of a student’s failure to complete an assignment or dissatisfaction with a grade.
All due dates are firm; no extensions will be given.
D. OTHER ISSUES
Special
Needs: Students with physical handicaps or learning disabilities who need to
make special arrangements for class assignments and examinations should consult
the instructors within the first two weeks of the semester.
We
encourage students to come to us for help in understanding the readings,
discussions, writing assignments, or for other course-related assistance. All that we ask is that you respect office
hours. If you cannot make our scheduled
office hours, we can make an appointment to see you at another time (for
example, you could make an appointment by calling or speaking to us after or
before class). Remember, that our
telephones have Voice Mail, so you can always leave a message. We will respond!
Attendance:
Students are expected to assume full responsibility for class attendance and
are responsible for all work missed due to absences. The instructors are under
no obligation to make special arrangements for students who have been absent
unless such absences have been explained by a formal written medical or
institutional excuse. If you need to be absent on an examination day, you must
notify the instructor at least one day prior to the exam. If you do not notify and receive permission
from the instructor prior to the exam and you miss the exam, you will receive
'0'points for that test.
Institutional
Excuses: Institutional excuses permit
students to be absent from classes in order to represent the university at
athletic, extracurricular, or academic activities. These excuses must be approved and signed by
the appropriate university staff. Institutional excuses must be presented to
the instructor or graduate assistant before the absence takes place.
Challenges
to Assigned Grades: Challenges to assigned grades are welcomed, because they
demonstrate that you are seriously thinking about the material in the
course. However, we will only consider
challenges in writing. Our hope is that
written challenges will accomplish two goals:(a) a written format provides you
with the opportunity to present an articulate and well-considered argument (and
therefore more likely that we will favor your challenge with an improved
grade); and (b) a written request provides a record of the grade transaction in
case there are questions at a later time.
Challenges must be submitted within one week of the return of a graded
assignment
Plagiarism
and Cheating: Any form of misconduct including cheating, fabrication, fraud,
facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Violators will be subject to a failing grade
in this course. We do encourage students
to collaborate in studying and to review each other's written assignments, but
all work turned in for a grade must be completed solely by the student
submitting the work. Please see the Student Code of Conduct and the section on
Academic Dishonesty in the Northern Arizona University Student Handbook.
Incompletes:
Our policy is not to assign an Incomplete except in extreme circumstances
beyond a student's control. We never
give an Incomplete because a student is dissatisfied with a final grade and hopes
to complete additional post-course work to improve the grade.
Withdrawals:
The last day for Withdrawal (last day to drop with a W) is October 25. The last
day for Drop/Delete is September 20. For
other deadlines, please refer to the University Calendar in the Directory of
Classes.
Safe
Working and Learning Environment: The Center for Environmental Sciences and
Education and the Department of Political Science are committed to a safe
working and learning environmental for students, faculty and staff. Any form of discrimination and/or sexual
harassment will not be tolerated.
Procedures for the resolution of complaints appear in the Student
Handbook.
Membership
in the academic community places a special obligation on all members to
preserve an atmosphere conducive to a safe and positive learning
environment. Part of that obligation
implies the responsibility of each member of the NAU community to maintain an
environment in which the behavior of any individual is not disruptive. It is the responsibility of each student to
behave in a manner that does not interrupt or disrupt the delivery of education
by faculty members or receipt of education by students, within or outside the
classroom. The determination of whether
such interruption or disruption has occurred has to be made by the faculty
member at the time the behavior occurs.
It becomes the responsibility of the individual faculty member to
maintain and enforce the standards of behavior acceptable to preserving an
atmosphere for teaching and learning in accordance with University regulations
and the course syllabus. At a minimum,
students will be warned if the faculty member judges the behavior to be
disruptive. Serious disruptions, as
determined by the faculty member, may result in immediate removal of the
student from the instructional environment.
Significant and/or continued violations may result in an administrative
withdrawal from the class. Additional
responses by the faculty member to disruptive behavior may include a range of
actions from discussing the disruptive behavior with the student to referral to
the appropriate academic unit and/or the Office of Student Life for
administrative review, with a view to implement corrective action up to and
including suspension or expulsion.
SEMINAR
SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
(Note: readings may change; substitutions will be announced in class and posted on the web)
Date Topics _____
Part 1:
Introduction -- The Science and Policy Processes for Beginners
17 Jan. An
Integrated and Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Problem Solving.
Sarewitz, Frontiers of Illusion, Preface through page 29
24 Jan. Purist
Views: Science and Policy
Platt: Strong Inference
Ehrlich and Ehrlich: Betrayal of Science and
Birkland: An Introduction to the Policy
31 Jan. Impediments
and Corruptions 1: Science
Shrader-Frechette and McCoy:
Method in
Ludwig et al.: Uncertainty,
Resource Exploitation, and Conservation
Murphy
and Noon: Coping with Uncertainty in Wildlife Biology
07 Feb. Impediments and Corruptions 2: Policy
Guest Lecturer: David Schlosberg, NAU
Political Sciences (invited)
Lindblom and Woodhouse: The Policy-Making Process, Chs. 6, 10,
11
Lindblom: The Market as
Prison
Weiss: Data Quality Law
Is Nemesis Of Regulation
Boykoff and
Boykoff: Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the
Part 2: The State
of
14 Feb. Past and Current Cases of Misuse
Yaffee: Lessons About
Leadership from the History of the Spotted Owl Controversy
Lomborg: selections from The Skeptical Environmentalist
Thompson: Science
Friction
21 Feb. Key issues in Integrating Science,
Policy, and Democracy
Beck: The
Risk Society
Fischer: Citizens, Experts, and the Environment,
Sarewitz: How science
makes environmental controversies worse
Part 3:
Reconceptualizing Science
28 Feb. Science and the Psycho-Sociology of
Information
Guest Lecturer: Dave Mattson,
USGS- BRD and
Stone: Causal
stories and the formation of policy agendas
Karlberg: News and conflict: how adversarial news
frames limit public understanding of environmental issues
Ruud and Sprague: Can't see the [old growth] forest for the
logs: dialectical tensions in the interpretive practices of environmentalists
and loggers
07 March Validating Alternative Viewpoints
Forsyth, Critical Political Ecology: The Politics of Environmental Science, Chapters 8-9
Peña: Los Animalitos: Culture,
Ecology, and the Politics of Place in the
14 March Post
Modern and Feminist Perspectives on Science
Guest
Lecturer: David Schlosberg, NAU Political Sciences (invited)
Keller: “Feminism
and Science”
Haraway: “Situated Knowledges”
Latour:
We Have Never Been Modern,
Soule: “The Social Siege of Nature” from Reinventing Nature
28 March Case Studies in Reconceptualizing
Science
Sayre: Ranching, Endangered Species and Urbanization in the American
Southwest,
Brown: Popular
Epidemiology and Toxic Waste Contamination: Lay and
Part 4:
Democracy and Environmental Science
04 April Democracy and Environmental Science:
Effects on the Practice of Science
Sarewitz: Frontiers of
Byerly and Pielke: The Changing Ecology of
Kleinman: Democratizations of Science and Technology
Fischer: Local Knowledge and Participatory Inquiry
11 April Democracy and Environmental Science:
Effects on Public Policy
Guest Lecturer: David Schlosberg, NAU Political Sciences (invited)
Fischer: Discursive Institutions for Environmental
Policy-Making
O’Brien: excerpts from Making Better Environmental Decisions
Sclove: Science, Inc. vs. Science‑for‑everyone
*** Outline of Term Paper
Due ***
Part 5: Case Studies
and Student Presentations
18
April Cases Studies at the
Science/Policy Interface: Groundwater and Springs
Guest
Lecturer: Vernon Masayesva, Black Mesa Trust (invited)
USGS: Reports on N-aquifer, Black
NRDC: Groundwater pumping of the N-aquifer in
northern
25
April Cases Studies at the
Science/Policy Interface: Participatory Approaches
Niemeyer: Deliberation in the Wilderness: Displacing
Symbolic Politics
Sisk et al.: ForestERA Project and Restoration Ecology
02 May Student Presentations
*** Final Group Papers and Peer
Evaluations Due ***