There are several hundred thousand Brownfield sites across the country. The large number of sites, combined with how a majority of these properties are located in urban and historically underserved communities, dictate that redevelopment of these sites stands to be a common theme in urban planning for the foreseeable future. Students form a grounded understanding of the Brownfield lifecycle: how and why they were created, their potential role in community revitalization, and the general processes governing their redevelopment. Using case studies and guest speakers from the public, private and non-profit sectors, students develop and hone skills to effectively address the problems posed by these inactive sites.

Examines theories and practice of environmental justice, concerns about race, poverty, and the environment in both domestic and international contexts, exploring and critically analyzing philosophies, frameworks, and strategies underlying environmental justice movements. Examines case studies of environmental injustices, including: distribution of environmental quality and health, unequal enforcement of regulations, unequal access to resources to respond to environmental problems, and the broader political economy of decision-making around environmental issues. Explores how environmental justice movements relate to broader sustainable development goals and strategies. This class explores the foundations of the environmental justice movement, current and emerging issues, and the application of environmental justice analysis to environmental policy and planning. It examines claims made by diverse groups along with the policy and civil society responses that address perceived inequity and injustice. While focused mainly on the United States, international issues and perspectives are also considered.

This course explores the proper role of government in the regulation of the environment. It will help students develop the tools to estimate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations. These tools will be used to evaluate a series of current policy questions, including: Should air and water pollution regulations be tightened or loosened? What are the costs of climate change in the U.S. and abroad? Is there a "Race to the Bottom" in environmental regulation? What is "sustainable development"? How do environmental problems differ in developing countries? Are we running out of oil and other natural resources? Should we be more energy efficient? To gain real world experience, the course is scheduled to include a visit to the MIT cogeneration plant. We will also do an in-class simulation of an air pollution emissions market.

Examines the collision of politics, economics, values, and science in making and carrying out environmental policy at national, state, and local levels. Case studies of environmental policymaking explore the roles of governmental institutions, business, interest groups, the public, and the media in areas of air and water pollution, hazardous waste disposal, public lands management, and wildlife protection. "Environmental Politics and Policy" explores the workings of environmental policymaking in the United States. What are the big issues facing environmental policy? How did we end up with the policies we have today? Why does it take a crisis to move environmental policy forward? Why do political factors - economic interests, social and political values, bureaucratic styles, ideologies, elections, etc. - always seem to overwhelm sound scientific and engineering judgment in determining policy outcomes? Case studies ranging from cleaning up toxic waste pollution to endangered species protection probe the clashes between science and politics at local, state, and federal levels.

Get Energized! is an answer to the need for energy education. Through engaging and entertaining interactive formats, the program enables users to discover more about energy in a self-directed way.

This site describes the first highway by which visitors could see the lakes, glaciers, alpine peaks, and meadows of Glacier National Park. Work on the 50-mile route, which connected the east and west sides of the park and crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, began in 1921. The high technical standards of the Bureau of Public Roads (later the Federal Highway Administration) needed to be balanced with the commitment of the National Park Service to minimize damage to the landscape.

Examines environmental problems and the various theoretical models for understanding them--contrasting theories of environmental problems as externalities versus those that regard them as a breakdown in human and natural rights. Modes of analysis regulation are discussed along with strategies of risk assessment and risk management. Directions for policy reform discussed. First subject in the Environmental Policy and Planning sequence. This course is the first subject in the Environmental Policy and Planning sequence. It reviews philosophical debates including growth vs. deep ecology, "command-and-control" vs. market-oriented approaches to regulation, and the importance of expertise vs. indigenous knowledge. Its emphasis is placed on environmental planning techniques and strategies. Related topics include the management of sustainability, the politics of ecosystem management, environmental governance and the changing role of civil society, ecological economics, integrated assessment (combining environmental impact assessment (EIA) and risk assessment), joint fact finding in science-intensive policy disputes, environmental justice in poor communities of color, and environmental dispute resolution.

Activities offer students the opportunity to learn about multiple facets of waterbodies and pollution, including aquatic life (indicator species), local concerns, and public outreach through research, teamwork, and role-playing exercises.

Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain Basin is home to 1.5 million people and an estuary ecosystem with enormous biodiversity. Activities in the educator’s guide help students in grades 5-12 gain an understanding and appreciation of the Basin and teaches them the skills to identify environmental concerns, make changes, and solve problems.

The study of public policy offers every citizen an understanding of the various roles played by the different branches of the U.S. federal government as well as by state, county, and local governments in various areas of contemporary American life. It focuses on the priorities of American society as portrayed in the public policy choices that representatives make and the size of different interest groups that advocate on behalf of particular policy goals. This course will introduce this various actors involved in the making of American public policy, explore public policy formulation by examining a variety of case studies, and examine the implementation of public policies, the allocation of funding to pay for these projects, and the evaluation of these projects to determine their effectiveness. The rest of the course will examine specific case studies and areas of public policy. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate a working knowledge of various key concepts in the process of American public policymaking and the major steps from start to finish in the public policy process; identify vital issues and specific areas of concern for contemporary American policymakers within the broad fields of economic, national security, public health, environmental, education, rural, and social policy; identify key actors and agencies involved in the making of public policy within the United States and their respective roles in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policy; demonstrate skills in the analysis of the various political, social, economic, military, legal, and ethical goals and cultural values that form the basis of policymaking decisions; identify key debates in contemporary American public policy as well as the issues at stake and the arguments advanced by each side of the debate; demonstrate an understanding of various decision frameworks used by policymakers in creating, developing, and executing various public policies; demonstrate an understanding of the context, evolution, and linkages of specific policies and between certain polices within the broader context of American political history. (Political Science 431)

For the last century, precepts of scientific management and administrative rationality have concentrated power in the hands of technical specialists, which in recent decades has contributed to widespread disenfranchisement and discontent among stakeholders in natural resources cases. In this seminar we examine the limitations of scientific management as a model both for governance and for gathering and using information, and describe alternative methods for informing and organizing decision-making processes. We feature cases involving large carnivores in the West (mountain lions and grizzly bears), Northeast coastal fisheries, and adaptive management of the Colorado River. There will be nightly readings and a short written assignment.

This course examines joint fact-finding within the context of adaptive and ecosystem-based management. Challenges and obstacles to collaborative approaches for deciding environmental and natural resource policy and the institutional changes within federal agencies necessary to utilize joint fact-finding as a means to link science and societal decisions are discussed and reviewed with scientists and managers. Senior-level federal policymakers participate

This class examines the role of science in the US environmental policymaking process. It investigates the methods scientists use to learn about the natural world and the way scientific knowledge accumulates, the treatment of science by advocates and the media, and the role of science in legislative, administrative and judicial decision making. It considers how other political systems use science, in an effort to put the US approach in comparative perspective.

12.103 explores the role of scientific knowledge, discovery, method, and argument in environmental policymaking from both idealistic and realistic perspectives. The course will use case studies of science-intensive environmental controversies to study how science was used and abused in the policymaking process. Case studies include: global warming, biodiversity loss, and nuclear waste disposal siting. Subject includes intensive practice in the writing and presentation of "position statements" on environmental science issues.

Quantitative techniques for life cycle analysis of the impacts of materials extraction, processing use, and recycling; and economic analysis of materials processing, products, and markets. Student teams undertake a major case study of automobile manufacturing using the latest methods of analysis and computer-based models of materials process.

" This course is the first subject in the Environmental Policy and Planning sequence. It reviews philosophical debates including growth vs. deep ecology, "command-and-control" vs. market-oriented approaches to regulation, and the importance of expertise vs. indigenous knowledge. Its emphasis is placed on environmental planning techniques and strategies. Related topics include the management of sustainability, the politics of ecosystem management, environmental governance and the changing role of civil society, ecological economics, integrated assessment (combining environmental impact assessment (EIA) and risk assessment), joint fact finding in science-intensive policy disputes, environmental justice in poor communities of color, and environmental dispute resolution."

11.941 and 11.942 make up a one-year seminar. The goal of this seminar is to explore the role of science and scientists in ecosystems and natural resources management focusing on joint fact finding as a new approach to environmental policy-making. Increasingly scientists and science organizations are confronting a conundrum: Why is science often ignored in important societal decisions even as the call for decisions based on sound science escalates? One reason is that decision-making is often driven by a variety of nonscientific, adversarial, and stakeholder dynamics. Thus, even though science helps inform choices, it is only one of many values and interests considered by each stakeholder. In response to this emerging challenge, scientists, and science agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, are embarking upon research that explores the problems of incorporating science into value-laden societal decisions. This research includes designing experiments that will assess the appropriateness of using the new and emerging approach of Joint Fact Finding to address some of the Nation's most contentious environmental conflicts. In the first few sessions we will examine the problems of using science in environmental disputes. In following sessions, students will analyze and discuss cases that involved or that should have involved Joint Fact Finding of various kinds.