Dr. Toni Marzotto

Posc 421.001/101

The following essay questions and briefly discuss topics are likely to be on the midterm exam but not in exactly the same form. Also, there will be a news article with an essay and that I can not anticipate.

[Essays should be more than 3 paragraphs.]

1. The EPA is criticized by both environmentalists and the environmental opposition. Discuss the history of this agency and why it is both loved and hated. (Mostly hated – you might find the DC lead controversy useful as an example here. So read the paper!).

2. Environmentalism is dead. We are all environmentalists now. From Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, through the first Earth Day in 1970, to the international Eco-Summit in Brazil, the basic job of consciousness raising has been done. Even recent recessions did not stem the growing recognition that the quality of our lives depends to a great extent on what the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, and on the wild and open spaces that define us as a country and renew us as individuals. Discuss the environmental awakening. The rise of the environmental decade and the successes and shortcomings.

3. Monitoring is one of the keys in the enforcement of environmental policy. Yet, monitoring often relies on the industries and agencies to report their finding and results. What’s wrong with this picture. What are the prospects for change? What does federalism have to do with this. What are the problems with standards and enforcement?

4. They come in all shapes, sizes, and concerns, and they influence the outcome of public policy. Or that is what we (and they) assume. After reviewing the classification of interest groups, discuss how they influence the policy process. Pick three groups and discuss their efforts and actions. (You may use your own group for one of the groups but make sure that you have some examples of the group influencing policy at some level of government.)

5. In some respects we could call Richard Nixon as the first "environmental president" although George Bush and Bill Clinton and even George W. Bush should also get some credit for efforts is this area. Compare and contrast the "environmental presidencies" of Nixon and Bush. What got accomplished on each of their watches. Specific laws and policies are needed here.

6. Environmental policy is not constructed in a vacuum. Policy emerges from the interaction of a large number of forces. After defining public policy, discuss the factors that affect the development of environmental policy in the United States. What makes problem definition so critical? What assumptions must be built into environmental policy choices in the United States.

7. Discuss the tradeoff between pollution control and economic growth. Why is this likely to be a major issue for some time to come? The video, Politics, People, and Pollution, discussed the willingness of people to pay more for "green products" and the desire to be informed (via product labeling) of the environmental consequences of consumer products. What do you think about the public’s willingness? [ I want more elaboration than, "I think it’s a lousy (or great) idea.]

8. Why is the trade-off between economic development and conservation such a hard one for nations and individuals to make?

9. Why do you think it is so hard for governments, industries, and people to agree on solutions to problems?

10. Discuss the policy cycle model and compare it with the policy advocacy coalition framework. Give examples of how each is applied and can help us understand the complexities of the policy process especially the role that interest groups play. (So now you do have to read my book!)

11. It may be hard to believe that there was a time when the condition of the environment was not a public concern. And yet environmental policy is a relatively new field. When did environmental issues first begin to appear on the institutional agendas of governments. What form did these issues first take? What form do they take today

Briefly Discuss:

But not too briefly. Dates and Specific Names Encouraged.

1. NAAQS 20. Policy subsystems

2. 1^st Generation Environmental Problems

3. Nonattainment areas 22. Advocacy Coalitions

4. Dominant Social Paradigm 23. Multiple use

5. Tragedy of the Commons

6. SIP 25. NRDC

7. EIS

8. Command and control regulations

9. Mobile sources

10 Technology forcing

11. Policy gridlock

12. Nonpoint source pollution

13. Lite green

14. EPA

15. CEQ

16. Environmental Decade

17. Mainstream Environmental Groups

18. Disturbance Theory

19. Radical Environmental Groups

20. Policy Subsystems

21. Iron Triangles

24. Sierra Club