ESI98 Project Plan

(Updated 6/8/1998)

Topic:

Policy Issues and Global Climate Change

Faculty Mentor:

Dr. Bob Tucker

Project Team

List of team members.

Scientific objective:

To understand how individual and societal behavior may influence, and/or be influenced by changes in global climate.

Educational objective:

To show that use of the scientific method, the formation and testing of hypotheses, is valid for research in the social and policy sciences. To develop strategies for involving students in scientific research on policy issues.

Description of Research:

Issues for research may include: investigations of lobbying activities against international climate proposals and treaties by some companies, especially auto manufacturers and those producing energy from fossil fuels; how federal flood and disaster insurance encourages building on barrier beaches and in flood plains, and what policy changes are needed in light of increased risk from sea level rise; how individual citizens (including students) can influence watershed management through participation in volunteer watershed associations or other NGOs; what actions consumers can take to reduce production of greenhouse gases and what might constitute effective public education in this area.

Resources:

Field work, including interviews with policy leaders as well as citizens, will supplement information available in the library and on the Internet.

About the mentor:

Dr. Tucker heads the Ecopolicy Center and teaches environmental policy at Cook College. The Ecopolicy Center focuses on interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research on agricultural, environmental, and technology policy issues. Dr. Tucker came to Rutgers three years ago, following an 18 year career at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. For the last 10 years at NJDEP he was involved in a wide range of environmental policy research as Director of the Division of Science and Research.

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
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