Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior (BS)
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus
Description
Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior (EPIB) examines the human dimensions of environmental problems. It addresses such issues as how human actions affect the environment; how societies adapt to changes in natural resource availability; and how individuals, nations, and international agencies respond to environmental hazards. Courses in the program deal with local, regional, and national differences in the use of resources; social and environmental aspects of health and illness; strategies for environmental management; ethical, moral, and legal dimensions of environmental and resource issues; and roles of industry and governmental and nongovernmental organizations in environmental affairs.
Learning Outcomes
Students graduating from EPIB will understand and analyze the varied perspectives offered by the social and natural sciences regarding the causes and consequences of social, ecological, and environmental change. This includes interactions among natural resources, climate, population, energy use and technology, health, forces of globalization, social institutions, and cultural values. Students will acquire the skills to use appropriate conceptual and methodological tools to structure inquiries about human-environment interactions. And finally, students will undertake their work guided by ethical considerations. They will identify their own values with respect to environmental, health, and food issues; and they will evaluate and address the ethical dimensions and implications of related problems, assessments, plans, and communication, including their differentiated social impacts.