Course Conclusion

Question 1

What is a policy?

Answer 1

The set of rules, spoken or unspoken that determines how things are run

Question 2

What levels of policy exist? How does policy change as it changes scale?

Answer 2

-Personal
-Family
-Community
-Institutional
-Municipality
-Province
-Federal
-International

Changes as the earlier levels experience more nuance, flexibility and specificity increasing by scale, impact, players and complexity

Question 3

Why is policy important in political terms?

Answer 3

1. Setting goals and standards: helping to guide action and ensure that progress is made
2. Regulation and enforcement: ensures standards are met and holds people and governments/businesses accountable for their actions
3. Allocating resources: funding for research, development of new technologies, conservation programs
4. International cooperation: facilitates collective action and ensures that environmental challenges are met in a coordinated and effective way
   5.Public engagement: raising awareness, providing information and encouraging participation in decision-making processes, reflects publics values and priorities

Question 4

What is the role of policy in enabling positive changes?

Answer 4

1. Setting goals and targets: help focus attention and resources on priority areas like reducing GHG, increasing renewable energy or protecting biodiversity
   2.Providing incentives: encourage positive behaviours like tax credits for renewable energy production, subsidies for sustainable agriculture, rebates for energy-efficient appliances
2. Regulation and enforcement: pollution reduction or resource conservation. Set limits on harmful activities
3. Facilitating innovation: funding research and development, supporting emerging technologies and creating a regulatory environment that encourages experimentation and risk taking
4. Building partnerships: between governments, businesses and civil society organizations to address complex problems that require collective action that help to leverage resources, share knowledge and expertise and create momentum for positive change

Question 5

Describe the different implications of your identity as a consumer and a citizen

Answer 5

Consumer: defined by purchasing power and the choices you make as a buyer
Citizen: defined by participation in the political and social life of your community or country

Implications

1. Responsibilities: Consumer - individual needs/wants
   Citizen - include needs of community and society as a whole (democratic processes, uphold law)
2. Power: Consumer -purchasing power
   Citizen- political action, volunteering, participating in community activities
3. Rights: Consumer -support what aligns with your values
   Citizen - influence policies and laws that have a wider impact of society

Question 6

How do these different identities shape the kinds of action you might take?

Answer 6

1. Choosing products and services: consumer - eco friendly, fair trade
   citizen - advocate for policies that support these values
   2.Consumption patterns: Consumer - reducing meat consumption, buying locally produced goods, reducing energy use
   Citizen - advocate for subsides for renewable energy, tax incentives for sustainable agriculture, public transportation infrastructure
2. Political Action: consumer - support companies that advocate for corporate responsibilities
   Citizen - protest, lobbying for elected officials, voting
3. Community engagement: consumer - support local businesses community events that promote sustainability and social justice
   citizen - volunteering, community gardens, local businesses

Question 7

What does sustainability really mean?

Answer 7

Resilience, durability, stability, robust principles of sustainable agriculture, principles of ethical consumption, shortened supply chains

Question 8

What are the steps to make something “able to endure”

Answer 8

1. Productive
   2.Equitable
2. Stable
3. Diverse

Question 9

What are structural tensions?

Answer 9

Systemic or institutional tensions that affect all of us, but we have a difficult time individually affecting

Question 10

Why are structural changes hard to enact?

Answer 10

1) they are the product of multiple actions by multiple people all over the world
2) they are often the result of actions undertaken by powerful actors in human societies like states or large corporations

Question 11

Macy’s explanation of forms of action

Answer 11

“The Great Turning”
1. Holding actions
2. Structural change
3. Shift in consciousness

Question 12

What is the basic goal of environmental studies?

Answer 12

Study how our social, political, economic and cultural systems can be better aligned with biophysical or natural systems