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Welcome to ENSP 102 for Spring 2008 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Last Updated 1/23/2008 NOTE: ENSP101 is not required for ENSP102 The Four Seasons in Art:
"Edge of the Maple Wood" by A.Y. Jackson
Elmer Schofield
George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley. Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
George Bellows, My House, Woodstock. Source: Unknown
SYLLABUS Syllabus for 2008 as handed out on first day of class
Time: MWF, 9:00-9:50 a.m. Place: 1400 Marie Mount Hall Instructor: John K. Horowitz Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2104 Symons Hall http://faculty.arec.umd.edu/jhorowitz/
Phone: (301) 405-1273
E-mail: jhorowit@umd.edu. (I usually answer my email around 4 p.m.)
Web page: http://courses.arec.umd.edu/ensp102
Office hours: Since students rarely come to office hours anymore, I do not have specific office hours. You should feel free either to drop-by and take pot luck or to set up an appointment.
Mailbox: 2200 Symons Hall
Flickr, Facebook, etc.: Like I’m going to give you these addresses. ________________________________________________________________________ Teaching Assts.: Guy Cole (guywcole@umd.edu) Steve Kasperski (sakasper@umd.edu) Julie Kates (jkates@umd.edu)
TAs have mailboxes in 0102 Symons Hall (main ENSP office)
Course description: The main goal of this course is to help you know and understand environmental policy. A second goal is to introduce you to how each of the social sciences approaches environmental issues. A third goal is to make you smarter, more perceptive, and better informed individuals. I hope to help you to argue, to think on your feet, to not be cynical, and to make concrete progress in improving human welfare. Another goal of this class is for you to be able to read about environmental policy in the newspaper and understand the issues, nuances, and unspoken or misspoken details. Teaching method: Students in this class typically have lots of ideas and beliefs about environmental policy. In this way this class is different from most of your other classes. Please don’t just sit on your ideas – make your views known. We are in a big lecture hall and sometimes I will sometimes have to intercede but generally I think we can handle the give-and-take that will result from your speaking your minds. Teaching method, cont.: I see this course as a joint enterprise between you and me. Intellectual inquiry is a give-and-take exercise. Your active participation is needed: Education is not just a case of my planting knowledge in your silent brains. In other words, I will try really hard not to lead a course like this: “I-lecture à You-take-notes à You-transfer-notes-to-exam” Tradition and inertia and class format will keep trying to push us into this rut. We should try to avoid it.
Class Requirements and Grading (1000 points):
1. Discussion section – 200 points. 2. Papers – 280 points. 2 memos @ 140 points each. 3. Homework – 125 points. 5 homeworks @ 25 points each. 4. Exams – Midterm @ 175 points; Final @ 220 points.
Class Requirements (further details): 1. Discussion section. There will be 9 assigned general-interest readings that students will analyze and discuss. These are readings that I think you will enjoy. Attendance and participation will be worth 25 pts. per session, assessed by the TAs. I will drop the lowest score out of the 9. Therefore, the total will be 8 @ 25 = 200 points. Note: You must attend discussion section. If you do not attend at least 6 discussion sections, you will be marked down one letter grade in the course from the grade you would have received based on the above accounting. There may be exceptions due to illness or athletic participation. Athletes with Thursday or Friday conflicts: (i) Please see me before the first discussion section. (ii) For sections that you have to miss, you may turn in a short paper (300-400 words) that discusses the reading. This alternative must be approved by the TA ahead of time. 2. Short papers. Students will write two short papers about environmental policies of their choosing. You can co-write your papers with one or two other students. In fact, I encourage this. More information about the format and requirements will be handed out 3–4 weeks before the first due date. In the past, students have felt that the papers were graded fairly strictly. Be forewarned. 3. Homework. There will be 5 homeworks @ 25 points each. The homeworks are “informational” rather than “analytical.” They involve searching out key pieces of environmental policy information. This is usually harder than it sounds. Students are allowed to collaborate on homework. 4. Exams. Unchanged for a thousand years.
Textbook: (Recommended, not required) · Salzman, J., and B. Thompson, Jr. Environmental Law and Policy, 2nd ed., 2003.
Readings: Other relevant readings and websites will be mentioned during the semester and will be linked online.
Classroom rules: · There is one key rule. Can you guess it? It’s connected to modern technology.
Important websites: Here are 5 websites that I use a lot for background material and up-to-date details: http://www.epa.gov/ – Federal environmental policy; some non-EPA policies http://www.whitehouse.gov/ – Administration policy http://www.eia.doe.gov/ – Energy statistics. Some greenhouse gas statistics. http://Thomas.loc.gov – Legislation. Note no “www.” http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/ – Economic Report of the President. Economic data, in the Appendix.
Environmental policy blogs: Here are some blogs that periodically deal with environ-mental policy issues. If you have other blog suggestions, let me know. Environmental Economics – Fisheries, many other issues Deltoid – DDT, global warming, science policy Econbrowser – General economics; many good posts on oil Real Climate – Not a policy blog but good information on climate issues. John Quiggin – Global warming, irrigation
Volokh – Law, economics, policy; good but infrequent posts on environmental law Marginal Revolution – Economics, policy, culture; almost never mentions the environment; why? Anyway, here is a sample post (1/22/08): Rambo InflationAlex Tabarrok Number of people killed per minute in the Rambo series. · Rambo: First Blood (1982): 0.01 · Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985): 0.72 · Rambo III (1988): 1.30 · Rambo IV (2008): 2.59
Five tips for doing well in this class: 1. Attend lecture. A few of the topics aren’t covered all that well by the textbook so the lectures will give you a much better understanding of the issues. Also, in many cases I will emphasize different aspects from the text. 2. The keys to a top-notch memo are (i) organization; (ii) learning the real “ins-and-outs” of your chosen topic; and (iii) re-writing. 3. Prepare for exams (of course). Work on practice questions. Think about the material beyond the class presentation format. 4. Attend discussion section and prepare for the day’s discussion. 5. Turn in homework on time.
Syllabus – Spring 2008 (one-page version)REMEMBER: THE CORRECT NOTES ARE IN ELMS!!!! January 28 Introduction (no lecture) January 30 Externalities February 1 Externalities, cont. Political basis for regulation February 4 Congress's role. Environmental laws. February 6 Laws vs. rules. Administration's role. Federal register February 8 Clean Air Act February 11 Clean Air Act, cont. February 13 New Source Review, New Source Performance Standards February 15 Acid Rain Trading Mobile sources. February 18 Mobile sources. Clean Air Act accomplishments February 20 Clean Air Interstate Rule February 22 Safe Drinking Water Act February 25 Benefit-cost analysis. Revealed and stated preference. February 27 Clean Water Act February 29 Clean Water Act. Water quality trading. March 3 Section 404 Permits. Clean Water Act summary. March 5 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act March 7 CERCLA (Superfund); Exxon Valdez case March 10 CERCLA, cont. Non-use value. Brownfields March 12 Exam March 14 No class March 24 National Environmental Policy Act March 26 Federal lands. Wilderness Act. Forest Service March 28 Bureau of Land Management March 31 Endangered Species Act April 2 Endangered Species Act, cont. April 4 Energy policy; CAFE (mileage) standards April 7 CAFE standards, cont. April 9 Ethanol; renewable fuel standards; renewable portfolio standards April 11 International issues (brief intro). Kyoto protocol April 14 U.S. greenhouse gas policy April 16 Carbon cap-and-trade, cont. April 18 Carbon taxes April 21 Federal conservation programs April 23 Local land use policies: overview; Measure 37 April 25 Smart Growth April 28 State farmland preservation programs (PDR) April 30 State preservation programs, cont. (TDR) May 2 Fisheries May 5 Water May 7 Water, cont. May 9 Trade and the Environment May 12 Wrap-up Final exam – May 19 (Monday), 8:00 a.m., in the regular classroom
Homework due dates: Homework #1 – February 13 Homework #2 – February 27 Homework #3 – March 10 Homework #4 – April 2 Homework #5 – April 16
Memo due dates: Memo #1 – March 5 Memo #2 – April 23
Discussion Sections will meet on the following days: No discussion sections on January 31/ February 1 February 7 & 8 February 14 & 15 February 21 & 22 February 28 & 29 March 6 & 7 No discussion sections on March 13/14 March 27 & 28 April 3 & 4 April 10 & 11 April 17 & 18 No discussion sections on April 24/25, May 1/2, or May 8/9
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