Science, politics, and environmental policy

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

All sides of the debate agree that environmental policy should be based on "sound science." But adversaries disagree on what constitutes sound science, as well as on the extent to which we can and should rely on science to furnish answers to policy questions. The goal of this course is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of science and scientists in environmental policymaking. We begin by investigating the methods scientists use to learn about the natural world and the way scientific knowledge about the environment accumulates. We then examine the treatment of science by advocates and the media, as well as the role science typically plays in legislative, administrative and judicial decision making. We also look briefly at the extent to which science shapes international environmental regimes, as well as how other political systems use scientific information, in an effort to discern which attributes of the U.S. approach arise out of our peculiar institutional arrangements and which are more universal. Finally, we consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of mechanisms to increase public participation in both science-based decision making and decisions about which scientific endeavors government ought to fund.

This is a seminar course, so students must come to class prepared to contribute thoughtfully to a discussion of the assigned reading. To that end, students will write a 2- to 3-page essay on the reading each week (please take careful note of the style and format points below). Students can skip essays for any two of the 12 weeks for which short essays are assigned. Hard copies of weekly essays are due on Mondays at 5 p.m. (Late essays will get only partial credit; no essays will be accepted after 5 p.m. on Tuesday.) In addition to writing short weekly essays, students will write a 7- to 8-page final essay.

Students will be evaluated on the quality of their contribution to the class as well as on their written work. Grades will be based on the following, approximate, formula:

As you compose your weekly and final essays, please keep the following points in mind:

Don't show me this again

This is one of over 2,200 courses on OCW. Find materials for this course in the pages linked along the left.

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free & open publication of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum.

No enrollment or registration. Freely browse and use OCW materials at your own pace. There's no signup, and no start or end dates.

Knowledge is your reward. Use OCW to guide your own life-long learning, or to teach others. We don't offer credit or certification for using OCW.

Made for sharing. Download files for later. Send to friends and colleagues. Modify, remix, and reuse (just remember to cite OCW as the source.)

Learn more at Get Started with MIT OpenCourseWare