Gratto, Charles P.

English

Research Papers in Economics

ENVIRONMENT  POLICY EDUCATION
Charles P.  Gratto
Associate Professor of Food and Resource Economics
University of Rhode  Island
The environment  is  the  aggregate  of all  the  external  conditions
and  influences  affecting  the  life  and  development  of  an  organism.
For most organisms,  the effects  of environment proceed  in one direc-
tion only.
Organism  -Environment
Whatever  social  behavior  such  organisms  manifest  is  adaptive,
not  a method of purposeful manipulation  of the environment.
People,  however,  have  a  more  complex  relationship  to  their
environment.
People< - Physical Environment
Social  Environment
People shape and in turn are influenced  by their physical environ-
ment.  People  organize,  and  in turn,  are  conditioned  by  their  social
environment.  The  social environment influences  the physical environ-
ment;  the  physical  environment  affects  the social  environment.  The
sum  of these  forces  as  they  act  on  the human  organism  constitutes
the human  environment.
It  is  not  very  fruitful  to  view  the  People<(  Environment  re-
lationship  at the  aggregate  level;  aggregation  obscures  the structure
of the  relationships.  It is the  workings of the intricate  structure  that
result  in what  we call problems.  It is  in the  purposeful manipulation
and adjustment of that structure that we will find solutions to problems.
A problem  is  the difference  between  what  a system  is  supposed
to do and what the system  actually does.  We specify  what the system
is  supposed  to do by  knowing what the goals of the system  are.  The
choice of goals and the choice of ways of reaching goals  are, of course,
up  to the  people  in  the  system.  Thus,  manipulation  of the  system  is
not  exogenous;  it is  done by the people  themselves.
Extension  public policy  education  is  a specialized form of educa-
tion geared  toward helping people define  and solve  problems.  In that
sense, extension  public affairs programs have always  been in the area
143of environment  policy,  for  they  have:  (1)  assisted  people  to  under-
stand  problems  and  (2)  helped  people  choose  among  alternative
solutions  to problems.  Relatively  greater  emphasis has  been  given to
helping people understand alternatives  than to helping people choose
goals.
In designing  a program  in environment  policy  education,  the em-
phasis  needs to be changed.  The process of helping people and groups
of people  form  goals  will  be  relatively  more  important  because  the
examination  of  alternative  goals  and  the  trade-off  of  possibilities
among  goals  has  not  received  the  attention  necessary  for  accurate
definition  of  environment  policy  problems.  What  trade-off  possi-
bilities  exist  between:  (1)  air  pollution  levels  and  levels  of  gross
national  product,  (2)  noise levels  and  spatial  efficiency,  (3)  efficient
highway  design  and  natural  landscape  features,  (4)  residential  site
space  and  salt  marshes,  and  (5)  mining  operations  and  clean  water?
If  the  coefficients  of substitution  were  known,  what  would  be  the
appropriate  mix  for  now?  What  would  be  the  appropriate  mix  for
the  future?  Questions  like  these  remain  largely  unresolved  and  are
the stuff  of which environment  policy  issues  are made.
Programs  in  environment  policy  education  rest  on:  (1)  greater
emphasis  on  helping  people  in  their  attempts  to  choose  the  kind  of
environment  they  want,  (2)  greater  reliance  on  outside  help  in  ex-
ploring  policy  alternatives,  (3)  greater  emphasis  on  the  concept  of
treating  the  People<  >Environment  relationship  in  its  totality.  The
instructor  in  environment  policy  will  need to  be  a generalist  relying
on specialists  in  fields ranging  from anthropology  to zoology  to pro-
vide the detailed  information  required  by the clients.
Programs  in  environment  policy  education  should  begin  on  a
small  scale  and  rely  on treatment  of an  issue  with  which people  are
vitally  concerned.  In  addition  to  the  usual  materials,  the  specialist
should  present  materials  on:  (1)  concepts  relating  to goal  setting  in
a democratic  society;  (2) concepts  relating to facts, values,  and beliefs
that  have  relevance  to the  general  goal  setting  process;  and  (3) the
structure  of the  problem  and  alternative  solutions  as  seen by special-
ists  in  disciplines  other  than  agricultural  economics  and  rural
sociology.
Extension's  role  in  environment  policy  education  calls  for:
(1)  more  emphasis  on  goal  setting,  (2)  more  use  of  outside  help,
(3)  the policy  specialist  becoming  less  a subject matter  specialist  and
more  of an  educational  generalist,  (4)  a  broader  view  of the  nature
and  structure  of  problems,  and  (5)  continued  use  of proven  tech-
niques  along  with  a liberal  infusion  of innovations.
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ENVIRONMENT POLICY EDUCATION

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Research Papers in Economics