Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy

Readings

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
Part I: What is Science?
1	Introduction to the Course
2	The Policy Process and the Political Debate Over “Sound Science”	The Political Debate Martino, Joseph P. “Science and Public Policy.” In Politicizing Science. Edited by Michael Gough. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2003, pp. 73-89. ISBN: 0817939326. Michaels, Patrick J. “Science or Political Science?” In Politicizing Science. Edited by Michael Gough. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2003, pp. 171-192. ISBN: 0817939326. Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. “The Junk Science of George W. Bush.” The Nation, March 8, 2004. Union of Concerned Scientists. “Executive Summary.” In Scientific Integrity in Policymaking. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, 2003. The Policy Process Kingdon, John. Chapter 4, and 8 in Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Rev. ed. New York: Longman, 2003, pp. 165-190, 71-89. ISBN: 0321121856. Stone, Deborah. Chapter 1 in Policy Paradox. New York: Norton, 2001. pp. 17-34. ISBN: 0393976254.
3	The Scientific Method and the Production of Scientific Knowledge	Popper, Karl. Chapter 1 in Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. 33-65. ISBN: 0415043182. Zuckerman, Harriet. “The Sociology of Science.” In Handbook of Sociology. Edited by Neil J. Smelser. London: Sage Publications, 1988, pp. 541-564. ISBN: 0803926650. Gieryn, Thomas F. “The Boundaries of Science.” In Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Edited by Sheila Jasanoff, et al. London: Sage Publications, 1995, pp. 393-407. ISBN: 0761924981. Medawar, Peter. “Two Conceptions of Science,” and “Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought.” In Pluto’s Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 28-41. ISBN: 0192830392. Mayr, Ernst. Chapters 2, and 3 in This is Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 24-78. ISBN: 0674884698.
4	Environmental (Regulatory) Science, Experts, and Expertise	Regulatory Science Noss, Reed F., and Allen Y. Cooperrider. Excerpt from Chapter 3 in Saving Nature’s Legacy. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1994, pp. 67-83. ISBN: 1559632488. Murphy, Dennis, and Barry Noon. “Coping With Uncertainty in Wildlife Biology.” Journal of Wildlife Management 55, no. 4 (1991): 773-782. Blaustein, Andrew R., and David B. Wake. “The Puzzle of Declining Amphibian Populations.” In Scientific American, April 1995, 52-57. Graham, John D., et al. In Search of Safety. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991, pp. 179-189. ISBN: 0674446364. O’Brien, Mary. Chapters 2-4 in Making Better Environmental Decisions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000, pp. 17-73. ISBN: 9780262650533. (Skim this.) Miller, Clark A., and Paul N. Edwards, eds. Chapter 2 in Changing the Atmosphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001, pp. 31-65. ISBN: 9780262133876. Sarewitz, Daniel, and Roger A. Pielke, Jr. “Prediction in Science and Policy.” In Prediction. Edited by Daniel Sarewitz, Roger A. Pielke, Jr., and Radford Byerly, Jr. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000, pp. 11-22. ISBN: 1559637765. Scientists as Experts Lynn, Frances M. “The Interplay of Science and Values in Assessing and Regulating Environmental Risks.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 11, no. 2 (1986): 40-50. Hilgartner, Stephen. Science on Stage: Expert Advice as Public Drama. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000, pp. 3-41. ISBN: 0804736464. Kaiser, Jocelyn. “Ecologists on a Mission to Save the World.” Science 287 (2000): 1188. Pool, Robert. “Struggling to do Science for Society.” Science 248 (1990): 672. Goode, Stephen. “Singer Cool on Global Warming.” Insight on the News 20, no. 10 (2004): 42-45. Porder, Stephen. “Science and Policy–Uneasy Partners.” Bioscience 54, no. 1 (2004): 6-7.
Part II: How is Science Filtered Through the Policy Process?
5	Environmental Advocacy: Using Science to Define Problems	Stone, Deborah. “Causal Stories and the Formation of Policy Agendas.” Political Science Quarterly 104, no. 2 (1989): 281-300. Wildavsky, Aaron. But is it True? A Citizen’s Guide to Environmental Health and Safety Issues. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, pp. 201-222. ISBN: 0674089235. Ehrlich, Paul, and Anne Ehrlich. Chapter 2 in Betrayal of Science and Reason. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997, pp. 11-23, 153-163. ISBN: 1559634839. Bolch, Ben, and Harold Lyons. “The Greenhouse Effect: What is the Real Issue.” In Apocalypse Not. Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 1993, pp. 71-82. ISBN: 1882577051. Sarewitz, Daniel, and Roger Pielke, Jr. “Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock.” Atlantic Monthly 286, no. 1 (2000): 54-65.
6	Media Coverage of Science and Environmental Risk	Nelkin, Dorothy. Chapters 5-7 in Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology. Rev. ed. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1995, pp. 62-123. ISBN: 0716725959. Greenberg, Michael, et al. “Network Television News Coverage of Environmental Risks.” Environment 31, no. 2 (1989): 16-20, 40-43. “The Great Greenhouse Debate.” Media Monitor VI (December 1992). Mazur, Alan, and Jinling Lee. “Sounding the Global Alarm.” Social Studies of Science 23 (1993): 681-720. Graber, Doris A. Chapters 6, and 7 in Mass Media and American Politics. 6th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2001, pp. 159-234. ISBN: 1568026358.
7	The Public’s Perception of Science and Environmental Risk	Slovic, Paul. “Perception of Risk.” Science 236 (1987): 280-285. ———. “Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics and Science: Surveying the Risk-assessment Battlefield.” In The Perception of Risk. Edited by Paul Slovic. London: Earthscan Publications, 2000, pp. 390-412. ISBN: 1853835285. Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice.” Science 211 (January 30, 1981): 453-458. Kempton, Willett, James S. Boster, and Jennifer A. Hartley. Chapter 3 in Environmental Values in American Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996, pp. 39-62. ISBN: 9780262611237.
8	Science in Legislative Decision Making	Kingdon, John W. Chapters 8-10 in Congressmen’s Voting Decisions. 3rd ed. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1989, pp. 210-261. ISBN: 0472064010. Brown, George E., Jr. “Environmental Science Under Siege in the U.S. Congress.” Environment 39, no. 2 (1997): 12-20, 29-31. U.S. House of Representatives. “Scientific Integrity and Public Trust: The Science Behind Federal Politics and Mandates: Case Study 2–Climate Models and Projections of Potential Impacts of Global Climate Change.” Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science. November 16, 1995. Layzer, Judith A. “Acid Rain, and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.” In The Environmental Case. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002. ISBN: 1568027265.
9	Science in Administrative and Judicial Decision Making	Science in Agencies Powell, Mark. Chapter 2 in Science at the EPA. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 1999, pp. 21-56. ISBN: 1891853007. Jasanoff, Sheila. Chapter 6 in The Fifth Branch. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, pp. 101-122. ISBN: 0674300629. Graham, John D., et al. Chapters 3, and 4 in Search of Safety. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991, pp. 38-114. ISBN: 0674446364. Wilkinson, Todd. Science Under Siege: The Politicians’ War on Nature and Truth. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books, 1998, pp. 65-112. ISBN:1555662110. Barringer, Felicity. “Interior Official and Federal Biologists Clash on Danger to Bird.” New York Times, 5 December, 2004. Science in Court McGarity, Thomas O. “Judicial Review of Scientific Rulemaking.” Science, Technology & Human Values 9, no. 1 (Winter 1984): 97-106. Jasanoff, Sheila. Chapter 4 in Science at the Bar. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990, pp. 69-92. ISBN: 067479303X. ———. “Judicial Fictions: The Supreme Court’s Quest for Good Science.” Society 38, no. 4 (2001): 27-36. O’Brien, David M. Chapter 3 in What Process is Due? New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1987, pp. 71-106, 153-183. ISBN: 087154623X. Brown, Donald A., and Patrick Zaepfel. “The Implications of Scientific Uncertainty for Environmental Law.” In Scientific Uncertainty and Environmental Problem Solving. Edited by John Lemons. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1996, pp. 377-393. ISBN: 0865424764.
10	Science in the International Arena	Harrison, Kathryn, and George Hoberg. “Setting the Environmental Agenda in Canada and the United States: The Cases of Dioxin and Radon.” Canadian Journal of Political Science XXIV (March 1991): 3-27. Jasanoff, Sheila. “Acceptable Evidence in a Pluralistic Society.” In Acceptable Evidence: Science and Values in Hazard Management. Edited by R. Hollander, and D. Mayo. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 29-47. ISBN: 0195089294. Layzer, Judith A. “Climate Change.” In The Environmental Case: Translating Values Into Policy. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002, pp. 209-237. ISBN: 1568027265. Bierman, Frank. “Institutions for Scientific Advice: Global Environmental Assessments and Their Influence in Developing Countries.” Global Governance 8, no. 2 (April-June 2002): 195+. Eijndhoven, Josee van, William C. Clark, and Jill Jager. “The Long-Term Development of Global Environmental Risk Management: Conclusions and Implications for the Future.” In Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks Vol. 2. Edited by The Social Learning Group. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001, pp. 181-197. ISBN: 9780262692397.
11	Advocacy Science vs. Collaborative Science	Ozawa, Connie P. “Science in Environmental Conflicts.” Sociological Perspectives 39, no. 2 (1996): 219-230. Ehrman, J. R., and B. L. Stimson. “Joint Fact Finding and the Use of Technical Experts.” In The Consensus Building Handbook. Edited by Lawrence Susskind, et al. London: Sage Publications, 1999, pp. 375-399. ISBN: 0761908447. Ludwig, Donald. “The Era of Management is Over.” Ecosystems 4 (2001): 758-764. Coglianese, Cary. “The Limits of Consensus.” Environment 41 (1999): 28-33.
12	Local Knowledge	Wynne, Brian. “Misunderstood Misunderstandings.” In Misunderstanding Science? Edited by A. Irwin and B. Wynne. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 19-46. ISBN: 0521525209. Corburn, Jason. “Combining Community-Based Research and Local Knowledge to Confront Asthma and Subsistence-Fishing Hazards….” Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (April 2002): 241-248. Fischer, Frank. Chapters 8-10 in Citizens, Experts, and the Environment. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000, pp. 147-218. ISBN: 0822326221. Edwards, Rob. “The Price of Arrogance.” New Scientist (October 17, 1998): 18-19.
13	Uncertainty, Adaptive Management and the Precautionary Principle	Meffe, Gary, et al. “Adaptive Management.” In Ecosystems Management. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002, pp. 95-111. ISBN: 1559638249. Berkes, Fikret, Johan Golding, and Carl Folke. “Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Adaptive Management.” Ecological Applications 10, no. 5 (2000): 1251-1262. Harremoes, Poul, et al. “Twelve Late Lessons.” In The Precautionary Principle in the 20th Century. London: Earthscan Publications, Ltd., 2002, pp. 185-215. ISBN: 1853838934.