Part 1: Self-statement and intro to program of study
I have known since I was a child that I wanted to make a difference and help people. Exactly how I wanted to do that has changed over the years. But what I kept coming back to were the projects I had done while in high school, like the energy saving one I did where I compared different light bulbs and measured the energy output they each needed, or the one where I studied cloud cover and recorded different aspects of the weather that could have caused what I was seeing. I always knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I wanted to do something with the environment, or more specifically, sustainability. I just didn’t know exactly what. As a career, I had thought of being an architect and designing buildings that encompassed green and sustainable ideas where, instead of tearing down and building new buildings, I would instead take older buildings and find ways to renovate and upgrade them. During my Junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to travel overseas. While I was there, I realized I was more interested in how cities and urban areas were designed to sustain the population that lives within them, how they were preparing for the future, and what elements went into designing such an ecosystem. That’s why, when I looked at colleges, I chose UW-Green Bay. When I was visiting and looking at colleges during high school, not many of them had an Urban Planning major, but UW-Green Bay did, so I decided to go there. But then I took an Environmental Planning class. That class took what I thought I wanted to do and turned it on its head by taking my previous interests and ideas and showing me that what I was more interested in and concerned about was how the environment was involved. Like how can we maintain the large populations we currently have without sacrificing the environment in the process? How can we use and implement sustainable ideas? These questions that I had to answer during my Environmental Planning class are what really made me realize that Urban Planning wasn’t the specific course area I really wanted to do. Urban Planning focuses more on the city and the communities within it—it doesn’t really go beyond that—whereas Environmental Planning considers more than just the one area. I am also very interested in sustainability and sustainable systems, which is what led me to pursue a minor in sustainability. Knowing all the aspects of sustainability is more than just rethinking how we use our resources; it also considers how to help others understand the importance of it as well. This includes changing the way we design our infrastructure and how we operate it, use it, and dispose of it. This moves us from a cradle-to-grave philosophy to one of cradle-to-cradle.
In terms of public action, a big part of it is making decisions to help better the lives of others. One does that by listening to what the people you work for want and or need. Working for an organization that helps the environment while also helping those who live within it would be the answer for fulfilling my driving need in life. Of course, how this looks will vary and will likely change throughout my life. I want to help move our society towards better understanding the environment, including the resources within it. Helping society move towards more sustainable practices and bettering their overall lives is what I want to do. I want to work and be surrounded by people driving sustainable practices in the United States and actually implement the best practices and show people the benefits they provide. By saving our architectural heritage and utilizing reusable resources, we can help preserve our culture and way of life for future generations.
The Learning outcomes that are included within my Major of Environmental Planning and Policy with a Planning Emphasis are:
1.Exhibit an understanding and ability to implement sustainability as an engaged citizen.
2.Demonstrate basic knowledge of environmental science and selected other areas of natural science.
3.Express knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories of environmental policy, law, and planning.
4.Engage in ethical decision-making and critical thinking in environmental policy and planning.
5.Communicate clearly and effectively about environmental policy and planning.
6.Use technical skills in environmental policy and planning.
7.Qualify for graduate work in schools of environmental studies, public policy, public affairs, planning, or related fields, or to qualify for entry-level professional employment in environmental policy and planning.
Part 2: Relating curriculum and artifacts to learning outcomes
For each learning goal that I introduced in the section before, I will provide an artifact, a paper, or a project I have done in a class to prove that I have achieved the goal and am able to apply the knowledge I have learned in the last 3 ½ years to real world situations. The purpose of the seven learning goals set for my major of study are to ensure that as a graduate I have all the skills necessary to be a successful Environmental Planner, while also having knowledge in Environmental Policy due to the fact they go hand in hand. These learning goals are to ensure that I am a well-rounded student and one that can handle all the different aspects that can come with the role in the field. For the first learning goal for my major, which is "Exhibit an understanding and ability to implement sustainability as an engaged citizen," I will be including my project for my Sustainable Landscape class.
This project consisted of me choosing and designing a sustainability project that I could then build and implement in the location of my choosing. I chose to take a rain barrel, modify it, and hook it up to a rain gutter on my parents' garage that would decrease the usage of new water from the well for watering flowers and instead use collected rainwater. My main objective was to get water to the side of the garage that is notorious for not getting enough rainwater. I implemented the knowledge I learned throughout the class in order to achieve this. This project shows sustainable practices, such as conserving water and reusing water, as well as implementing better irrigation practices with the slow-drip hose.
Landscape Paper
For the second learning outcome, "Demonstrate basic knowledge of environmental science and selected other areas of natural science," environmental science in Environmental Policy and Planning is an undertone of basic knowledge you should have, which is why I have decided to focus on an ecological footprint assignment I did for my Environment and Society class. This assignment used an ecological footprint calculator that compiles all the uses of resources one would use—such as a car, electricity, waste generated—and would spit out a number showing how much of an impact a person is having based on the resources they use day-to-day.
Ecological Footprint
For the third learning outcome, "Express knowledge of the concepts, principles, and theories of environmental policy, law, and planning," I decided to include my Natural Resources Law research paper. I feel this paper shows my understanding of Natural Resources Law and the different provisions included as well as my understanding of current natural resources issues, having the ability to look at the different parties involved in an issue, and understanding what actions they are allowed to take and where those involved in the issue have overstepped their authority. It also demonstrates my understanding of how to recommend changes to policies and plans set by government agencies and ensures that my recommendations are set on facts and follow the correct procedures within that area of expertise.
Natural Resources Law research paper
For the fourth learning outcome, "Engage in ethical decision-making and critical thinking in environmental policy and planning," I have chosen my Institutional Review Board Training Certificate in which I have made sure that any research I partake in will not harm anyone within the study or the research being done. I chose this certificate because when I was a Research Assistant conducting research on flood events, even though I was not collecting any personal information, I still had to ensure that any information I collected did not in any way potentially violate any standards of ethical research and potentially harm anyone or any organizations.
Certificate
For the fifth learning outcome, "Communicate clearly and effectively about environmental policy and planning," I have chosen to include my Environmental Planning Writing Component that went along with a physical project of redesigning University Avenue in Green Bay, WI, to make it not only more sustainable but to also implement Environmental Planning techniques we had learned in class. Through this project and the paper I wrote, I clearly communicate about the environmental planning practices I learned and was able to accurately include them within my project to ensure that everything in the projected community area would benefit. I also created additional sustainable ideas that I included in figures that I would include within my redesign that would further promote the sustainability of the area to make it a more walkable community.
Environmental Planning Writing Component
Using technical skills in Environmental Policy and Planning, the sixth learning outcome, can be thought of in a few different ways. In planning, the specific technical skill used is GIS, which stands for Geographic Information Systems. GIS is a mapping software that is heavily used in Environmental Planning in order to see the layout of a location, the different layers, data, and other important information within the specific location, and what could be done to that location to complete the project while also staying within the rules and regulations. It can also be used for research purposes and showing differences over time, such as demographic changes. For my GIS example, I will be including my final project in which I analyzed broken down CO2 emissions data and compared the years of 1980, 2000, and 2018. I looked at the state of Alaska and analyzed the differences in emissions from year to year.
GIS Project
Finally for the last outcome, in which I should be able to apply for graduate school or an entry-level job, I definitely believe I have the knowledge and skills to do both. I say this because through my internship with the nonprofit New Leaf Foods, I used the skills I had already acquired while also acquiring knowledge and information on nonprofits while I interned for them. Interning with New Leaf Foods allowed me to not only put my environmental science and sustainability knowledge to practice but also my communication skills. The report I am including outlines the responsibilities I had while interning with New Leaf Foods as well as the projects I was involved in during that time as well. Although there was some uncertainty as to whether the event would happen during the pandemic, the Garden Blitz did happen Spring of 2020 and was very successful.
Internship Report
Part 3: Relating Curriculum to Ethics
Ethics is not a topic that is only within one area of study or one type of industry. Instead, it’s a topic that is within all areas and fields due to its moral applications and objectives. It seems cut-and-dried and yet, it’s not. This is why Environmental Policy and Planning is influenced by ethics, both the policy aspect as well as planning. The three classes I have taken over the past 3½ years that best exemplify the major’s relationship with ethics that will be focused on here are Environmental Planning, Natural Resources Law, and Environmental Politics and Policy.
To begin, Environmental Planning is not just simply planning and designing. It’s much more than that. It involves understanding the environment, the best sustainable practices for each location and project, knowing who in the community will be affected by any changes made, how the whole area will benefit or be disadvantaged, and ensuring that the decisions you are making are the correct ones. If one is an Environmental Planner and works for a community or a city government, then they would most likely be considered a public servant. A public servant is someone who works in the civil service, is a career staff person in government, or is a part of the professional staff in a nonprofit organization. Environmental Planners would likely be partaking in what is known as administrative ethics, which is defined by James Svara as “a term that refers to ethics of persons who occupy career leadership and staff positions in government and nonprofit organizations” (Svara 1). So how exactly does ethics apply to Environmental Planning more specifically? Each person who works in public action has to create their own personal ethical code, and this code often mirrors the ethics code already established by the establishment they are working for. Environmental Planning is not immune to an ethical code. Timothy Beatly in an article titled "Environmental Ethics and Planning Theory" states that environmental ethics "addresses the basic questions of how we ought to use and manage the natural environment and to the extent to which man must exercise certain moral and ethical constraints in their relations to the natural environment” (Beatley 1989). Therefore, in order to be an ethical environmental planner, one must understand the limits of the natural environment while also understanding the best practices and uses for all the available resources and how to ensure that no additional harm will result with the actions and decisions one takes.
Along with making the correct and ethical decisions for the environment, an Environmental Planner is also dealing with ensuring the actions they perform for the communities they work for are not being swayed by financial incentives. Due to the financial considerations, the American Planning Association created a set of ethical principles that planners must follow; three of the principles apply to environmental issues. Those three principles are: "serve the public interest, recognize the comprehensive and long-range nature of planning decisions, and maintain public confidence” (Spencer 1996). Environmental Planners are held by the same standards as policy makers or governmental officials. The only difference is their education is focused more on how to make a difference and what types of things they need to know for designing and planning changes over which actions they should and shouldn’t take. Yet, there is an underlying understanding that although one may not be making policy or making laws, one must still abide by the moral rules that govern our sense of right and wrong. A lot of the environmental ethics and considerations I have discussed previously can also be considered when thinking about Natural Resources Law.
Natural Resources Law governs how people can use the parts of the environment that have some economic or societal benefit, meaning the air, wind, sunlight, water, soil, animals, vegetation, and the resources on and below ground (Klein 2019). In terms of ethics, the biggest area is ensuring these resources are being used justly and are not being used for purposes they are not intended for. For instance, within the law there are many different processes, statutes, and rules that must be followed based on the action being taken. This is why Natural Resources Law follows the 6 pillars of character created by the Michael Josephson Institute of Ethics, included in Svara’s book The Ethics Primer. These include trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. In order for people to follow and respect the law, they have to trust it, which is why the law has checks and balances. Nothing happens without following a set procedure in which elements are checked off to ensure that the actions taking place are lawful and fair. The reason why the law is respected is because it follows this checks and balances model—and the model is a tried-and-true model. Further reasons why people trust, respect, and find the law fair is because there are elements in place to ensure it is fair. For instance, in Natural Resources Law under the Judicial Review, if a person is found to be suffering from legal wrong due to an agency action, they are eligible for some type of relief. This relief is decided by courts through a Standard of Review. These checks and balances are essential, as it makes sure those who work in Natural Resources Law, the public administrators, are following their own professional code of ethics and are not acting in ways they shouldn’t be, nor are they approving plans that would breach the trust of those in their communities.
One cannot effectively be a Natural Resources Law lawyer or policy maker without being knowledgeable of not only the environment and its systems and functions but one must also understand all the policies put into place to not only protect the environment but also the citizens living in it. That is the reason why ethics plays such a large role. Not only is the law involved, which is entirely based on the idea of ethics, but those working in the field also have to have a strong sense of ethics to ensure they themselves do not fall victim to corruption. Another way to look at it is how a Natural Resources lawyer is bound ethically. According to Waldo’s Ethical Obligations of a Public Servant map, which is provided in O’Leary’s book The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government on pages 18 through 19, there are twelve ethical obligations any ordinary public servant is bound to; however, for lawyers, the major ones they are bound to are the Constitution, law, and democracy. Those are three major pillars that make up the law and so lawyers must uphold them. According to Waldo, in order to uphold these three pieces of Waldo's map of ethics, one must uphold the regime and regime values according to the Constitution, the laws made pursuant to, and in addition to, the Constitution, and democracy is the will of the people. These three main obligations of lawyers have to be followed. Lawyers must also follow all the other ethical rules while practicing to ensure they are upholding these three main ones. This leads me into my final class I will be discussing, which is Environmental Politics and Policy.
Environmental Politics and Policy is very similar to Natural Resources Law in how it relates to ethics and in what type of material is covered; however, it’s also different. It is different because if one is a public administrator working in politics or policy, the public lens is much more on you. One misstep, and everyone will see it. One misconduct, one accepted all-expenses paid trip, and the people’s trust will evaporate. It is a much more walking-on-eggshells environment. Environmental Politics and Policy focuses on how to fix issues by using policies and laws and proposed policies (Environmental Politics and Policy class). It has to follow what was already in place and can only propose changes that do not directly go against another policy or law that is already in place. It deals with violations of the set policies and laws and the consequences of violating them. It is, essentially, ensuring that the laws and protections that have been put into place are being followed, and if they are not, then ensuring those violating them are punished. It’s also being able to look at the policies that are in place and revamping and changing them to fit the needs of the world and its citizens as times change. Policies and laws were not meant to be stagnant but instead are meant to change as needs change (Environmental Politics and Policy Class). However, to do this, those making those changes need to be acting ethically. For instance, a huge part of Environmental Politics and Policy is the policy process, in which there are five steps: problem identification and agenda setting, policy formation, policy adoption, policy implementation, and policy evaluation. Within each of these steps, there are steps in place to ensure that the policy creation is not only addressing the real issue but that it is following the rules in place to avoid poorly written policies and or policies written to help one group over another. This is essential, as the policies they are creating are affecting resources, resources that tend to be more limited. Therefore, the handling of resources needs to be more specific and thought out. In addition, all resources are public resources, making the job of deciding how they should be protected/used even more difficult because technically, they are open to whoever wants to use them. In order to avoid the Tragedy of the Commons, though, there has to be a way to ensure that all the resources are not completely used up. This is why it is important for policy makers to act in an ethical manner and be true stewards of the environment.
In terms of ethics, the public administrators who work in politics and policy are bound by what Svara calls the Basic Components of Administrative Ethics, which includes Principle, Duty, and Virtue. Principle is defined as the fairness/legality, duty is to serve the public and putting the public interest over self-interest, and finally virtue, which is to maintain honesty and integrity. These three components seem simple to us, and yet for those working in politics and policy, the lines can become blurred. These three components are included in what Svara calls approaches, in which each approach results in a different way of acting in different situations. The duty-based approach is defined as elected officials who are also bound by ethics of public action. I think it is also important to add the duty to procedural fairness and law, which is the basic value of responsible administrators as it is related to the principle of justice and social equity. What this approach does is it bounds a person to their duties. In this case, those working in policy would be bound by duty to ensure they are making ethically responsible decisions and are staying fair and abiding by the law. The decisions affect large groups of others, such as citizens, concerning the public use of our natural resources. Policy makers need to have a good understanding of what is right and wrong and need to be able to weigh the different possible outcomes that could occur based on the decisions they make. This sense of duty connects with the virtue-based approach that focuses on looking at the qualities of the good person for standards of ethical behavior. This can be a bit misleading, as one does not have to be the perfect citizen in order to act ethically. A person just has to be open to learning and understanding why different actions are weighed the way they are, and for policy makers, it is even more essential for them to exhibit these behaviors because they are constantly under scrutiny by the public. Finally, the principle-based approach focuses on ethical principles, which are rules of conduct. This approach ensures that people are not treated in an instrumental way. Meaning because policy makers work for the public and are held in check by the public, they cannot treat the public as if they are just a means to an end. They have to abide by these three approaches to be successful in their political careers but to also remain ethical in an environment that can breed unethical behavior.
After viewing and discussing these three classes and how they relate to ethics, it is easy to see that ethics play a major role in Environmental Planning. It is clear that to be successful in this field, one has to have a strong sense of not only their own personal ethics but also the ethics associated with their job and position. One needs that sense in order to ensure the decisions they are making are the right ones for the citizens they represent, as well as the organization they work for. One also needs to make smart decisions in how environmental resources are used and allocated and present ideas that will not harm the environment but allow for growth.
WORKS CITED
Beatley, Timothy. "Environmental Ethics and Planning Theory." Journal of Planning Literature. Vol 4, Issue 1 (January 1989). Accessed October 29, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1177/088541228900400101.
Klein, Christine A., Federico Cheever, Bret C. Birdsong, Alexandra B. Klass, Eric Biber. Natural Resources Law: A Place-Based Book of Problems and Cases. 4th ed. Frederick, Maryland: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2014.
O’Leary, Rosemary. The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government. 2nd ed., pp 18-19. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2014.
Spencer, Shannon. "Ethics of Environmental Planning." The Ethical Spectacle. January 1996. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.spectacle.org/196/shannon.html.
Svara, James. The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations. p 1. Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Learning, LLC., 2015.
*All my artifacts are contained within the subpage titled Artifacts