Deck 16: Environmental Policy and Sustainability

Question 1

Debate this question: Is sustainability an achievable goal? What do you think are the main barriers to attaining this objective? What ideas in this book give you reason to believe sustainability is possible? What are the alternatives?

Answer 1

Many things which are done by the school and students promote sustainable living as, schools can be foundations of information and experimentation in sustainable living. They have an idea to discover how to do new things, and they have students who have the energy or power and passion to do much of the research, and for whom that discovery will be a costly learning knowledge. Many collage and universities provides the campus for students have inspections to examine the following examples of sustainable resources utilization:
1. Water and energy use.
2. Waste production and removal or dumping.
3. Paper use.
4. Recycling.
5. Buying nearby produced food.

Question 2

Why is the U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission controversial?

Answer 2

The photovoltaic cell:
In general the photovoltaic cell is a convertor, which converts solar energy into electric energy. The photovoltaic cells are those devices that lock-up the solar energy and converted it directly into electric current.
The photovoltaic cells work by capturing the electrons form the solar energy and transport the captured electrons by one-way electrostatic barrier formed in between the two different types of semiconducting materials.

Question 3

List two broad goals of environmental education identified by the National Environmental Education Act.

Answer 3

The National Environmental Education Act, approved by Congress in 1990, recognized environmental educations as a national priority.
Two board goals of environmental education identified by the National Environmental Education Act:
1. To develop public understanding of our environment or surroundings.
2. To promote postsecondary students to chase careers connected to the environment or surroundings.

Question 4

What is citizen science , and what are some of its benefits? Describe one citizen science project.

Question 5

List five things each of us could do to help preserve our common environment.

Question 6

Describe some things schools and students have done to promote sustainable living.

Question 7

Define sustainable development and describe some of its principal tenets.

Question 8

In your opinion, how much environmental protection is too much? Think of a practical example in which some stakeholders may feel oppressed by governmental regulations. How would you justify or criticize these regulations?

Question 9

Campus Environmental Audit
If you want to understand how sustainable your campus is, the first step is to gather data. A campus environmental audit can be a huge, professionally executed task, but you can make a reasonable approximation if you work with your class to gather some basic information. Among the many places to find established listings of factors to consider, one widely used audit is that of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. You can find details of their full audit system online, but you can do a simplified version yourself or in collaboration with others in your class. Factors involved in an audit include building efficiency, transportation alternatives, waste management, dining facilities, administrative actions, and other factors. How sustainable is your school? Go to Connect to find a basic campus environmental audit. Then you can collect and evaluate your own data to find out.

Question 10

What is a policy ? How are policies formed?

Question 11

Which is a better choice at the grocery store, paper or plastic? How would you evaluate the trade-offs between packaging choices? What evidence would you look for to make this decision in your life?

Question 12

Describe three important provisions of NEPA.

Question 13

Do you agree with Margaret Mead that a small group of committed individuals is the only thing that can change the world? What do you think she meant? Think of some examples of groups of individuals who have changed the world. How did they do it?

Question 14

List four important U.S. environmental laws (besides NEPA), and briefly describe what each does.

Question 15

Suppose that you were going to make a presentation on sustainability to your school administrators. What suggestions would you make for changes on your campus? What information would you need to support these proposals?

Question 16

Why are international environmental conventions and treaties often ineffective? What can make them more successful?