MPA-ESP Students Present their Summer Workshop Final Briefings

The Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy students met on Wednesday, August 15^th for their final workshop briefings. The workshop final briefings are the culmination of semester-long projects on a proposed but not yet enacted state, federal, or local environmental or international agreement, with an emphasis on the scientific issues. Students are required to submit reports explaining the environmental science aspects of a management problem as well as pose a solution to the scientific and technological challenges involved in passing the law to political decision makers who are not scientists.

This summer, students worked on a variety of topics, ranging from national ocean policy to global warming, energy to biological diversity. Guided by their faculty advisors, students explored the complex scientific issues surrounding these proposed agreements. Five faculty members worked with the student teams this summer. Kathy Callahan, working with the National Ocean Policy Group, is the EPA Deputy Regional Administrator of Region 2. Steve Cohen, the Director of the MPA-ESP program and Executive Director of the Earth Institute, advised the team looking at global warming. Tanya Heikkila is an Assistant Professor at SIPA and a researcher for the Earth Institute and advised the team addressing the Great Lakes Water Resources. Working with the team on the Convention on Biological Diversity was Shahid Naeem, the chair of the Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology Department and the Director of Science at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation. Andrea Schmitz is the Director of Environment, Health, and Safety at ConEdison, and worked with the team examining energy policy.

Energy for Our Future Act

Energy consumption in the United States continues to be on the rise, with four billion megawatt hours of electricity consumed in 2005. About 50% of this electricity comes from coal, a nonrenewable resource. Coal also has a variety of negative environmental emissions, including carbon dioxide that leads to climate change, nitrogen oxides that leads to smog, sulfur oxides that contribute to acid rain, and mercury which is toxic. This team examined the proposed solution to cut back on the U.S.’s reliance on coal, the Energy for Our Future Act. This act would repeal tax incentives for fossil fuels and expand the use of renewable resources, through tax incentives and research and development grants. Examining the benefits of solar power, this team explored how a photovoltaic cell works as well as the efficiency and return to investment with solar power. During the fall semester, they will continue working with this bill, looking to develop a one-year implementation plan for this act.

Convention on Biological Diversity

Biological diversity has shown a strong decrease, with drivers including habitat change, climate change, invasive species, over-exploitation, and pollution. As a response to this dangerous trend, the Convention of Biological Diversity has been developed, the first global treaty to explicitly take a comprehensive ecosystem-based approach. It is a multi-lateral, voluntary agreement that allows each party to implement its own provisions according to guidelines. The convention has three main objectives, which include preserving biological diversity as essential to the future of the earth and its ecosystem services, promoting sustainable use of biological resources, and ensuring the equal distribution of genetic resources. Looking at the scientific evidence behind this convention, this team explored how biological diversity leads to ecosystem function, and functional diversity equals ecosystem function. They noted that while decreasing loss of biological diversity is a global challenge, through international cooperation there are solutions that will work.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact

With 18% of the world’s fresh surface water, the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River supports 35 million people and generates $15 billion for the economy. This team examined the water resource compact for this region, which covers 8 US states and has a variety of goals. It aims to improve water management, prohibit new and increased diversions, create a water resource inventory, and encourage water conservation. The group analyzed the impact of low lake levels, which includes a decrease in shipping capacity, infrastructure needing to be replaced, how it will impact coastal wetlands and exacerbate invasive species problems, and water and air quality threats. They concluded by addressing the pros and cons of the compact, such as though the compact would protect water, it could limit growth, and despite protecting existing users, is it necessarily fair.

Global Warming Pollution Act

Global warming refers to the general increase in average global temperatures due to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. As a rising problem, this workshop group discussed the goal of the proposed legislation in the Global Warming Pollution Act, which aims to cut to 1/3 of 80% of 1990 levels by 2030, cut to 2/3 of 80% of 1990 levels by 2040, and cut to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. To achieve these goals, this new bill will impose stricter standards for vehicle emissions, create a cap and trade program for carbon emission, require renewable energy portfolio, investigate carbon sequestration, and provide grants for funding for research and development. This team examined each of these goals, as well as how the success of this bill would be measured.

The National Oceans Act

Marine ecosystems are currently facing many threats, including chemical, nutrient, and biological pollution, overfishing, habitat damage, and unlawful land use and coastal development. To address these problems, this act is taking an Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) approach. This team examined what EBM is, defining it as a holistic approach that includes human elements of ecosystems, works to preserve the health of an ecosystem, has the goal of continued ecosystem service, has science which informs policy, and has cumulative impacts. The science of EBM includes scientific integration, interdisciplinary coordination, and technological innovation. This team specifically examined the scientific convergence in EBM through the case of Elkhorn Slough in California. This presentation concluded with how success of the act can be measured, which includes defining success as enhanced or restored ecosystem health and continued provision of essential ecosystem services.