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	300 Steele Building CB# 3504 UNC-Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3504 email: fys@unc.edu phone: (919)843-7773

Carolina Environmental Program

ENST 051 [006E]: Balancing the Environment: Science, Human Values and Policy in North Carolina
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science, physical]
Doug Crawford-Brown
Keeping North Carolina's environment healthy is a noble goal. But what happens if policies designed to do that conflict with other values such as aesthetics, social justice or a vibrant economy? Students in this course will visit the major decision-makers in North Carolina. They will learn how those organizations make decisions; the ways in which they use science; the values they cherish; and their responsibilities and powers. They will develop a model for making decisions in the state that balance the many goals of life. The class will be divided into teams of 4 to 5 students each to analyze an environmental problem in North Carolina from the perspective of one of the major "players" in the state. Students will travel to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the legislature, the NC office of Environmental Defense, Research Triangle Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency, The Nature Conservancy, and the North Carolina Council on Business and Industry. They will debate the policy that should be adopted in North Carolina for an environmental problem chosen by the class, with a team of judges from the organizations visited.