Welcome to the HPL 480 Course Guide, designed to assist students in researching topics related to environmental policy. Click through the tabs to learn more about how to access books and e-books, reference sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, popular and scholarly articles from databases, as well as reliable information from the internet, NGOs and government sources.
This course covers, in depth, the challenges environmental policy is facing in the twenty-first century. Social determinants of policy making with respect to environment would be analyzed. The emphasis is given on understanding the new demands worldwide for dealing with the risks of climate change, threats to biological diversity, and similar issues which will force governments everywhere to rethink policy strategies and find new ways to reconcile environmental and economic goals. The importance of active citizen participation in the decision making process would be addressed. A discussion on the going environmental policy debate introduces students to all those variables like economy, politics, ethics, private sector, which shifting environmental communication from the environmental protection focus to a cost/benefit analysis.
Furthermore, it compares the similarities and differences of the American environmental policies with the ones in other countries (including Canada and European nations), in order to expose students to factors like culture, socioeconomics and education, which in the long run affect the enforcement of environmental policy strategies.
