Learning   Portfolio

            There are many existing solutions to help conserve water and our other resources we rely on daily, but implementing these ideas can be a real challenge. Ideally, informing the entire population of these ideas should encourage everyone to follow them, but this is not the usually the case. Creating public policy is necessary to ensure that citizens and companies will follow environmental solutions. However, there are quite a few difficulties regarding policy-making. “Policy implementation … suffers from a range of challenges, including how to improve horizon scanning and preparedness, learn from past policy experiences, deal with policy interdependencies, and develop forms of more citizen-centric policy.” (Daniell) When creating policies, policy-makers need to account for an array of issues such as preparedness, past experience, and citizen approval. By keeping these sorts of fundamentals in mind, policies can be effectively introduced.

 

            When facing many different challenges, finding the right way to implement new changes is crucial. “When these challenges are responded to effectively, it can lead to enhanced foresight and planning, better understanding and communication of policy complexity, and communication of uncertainty and ambiguity.” (Daniell) It is extremely important to take into account the many possibilities the future can hold, and how people of certain areas will react to the changes that must be made. Because there are so many factors that need to be addressed, the most effective way to implement new policies is by making them very flexible. One example of flexible policy-making is using “'low regret' policy and infrastructure options that encourage flexibility in responding to possible futures.” (Daniells) This form of policy-making prepares the policy to change as time progresses in order to adapt to new environmental and public approval concerns. This approach can be presented to the public in an inclusive way that allows viewers to see how the change will affect them. Some ideas for informing an audience about low regret policies might be including attractive visual charts and graphs displaying how these environmental changes can affect them economically in a positive light. Encouraging an audience that these policies will benefit them can be essential in maintaining their interest.

 

            Studying political science and ethics leads to a better understanding of how to create effective policies for the environment. Taking statistics on historical information regarding policies can also help greatly. For instance, Carbon emissions policies once largely focused on taxation in an effort to discourage the use of environmentally-unfriendly products. “… Emission taxes do not necessarily prevent a completely offsetting increase in out-of-state emissions when states add a state-level emissions tax to the national emissions tax.” (Accordino). When a federal emissions tax is in play, polluters will operate in states without emissions taxes or with lower taxes. The issue then isn’t quite resolved because citizens continue to emit the same amount of pollution in other locations. A more effective strategy is one known as “cap-and-trade.” “Under a national cap-and-trade regime that allows states to be carved out, a state of any size can reduce national emissions by setting a tighter state cap.” (Accordino). “Cap-and-trade” strategies have proven to be more effective than emissions taxes because states can regulate their own emissions zones by limiting emissions of certain gases and offering incentives to businesses that produce less emissions. Understanding the history of past policies is essential to environmental science.

 

             By creating effective policy-making techniques, the potential of society can be safeguarded and prepared for any future that may come its way. Maintaining flexibility in policy making, using the “low regret” policy, allows for a better means of addressing all issues involved in the process. Providing an audience with information on the economic upside to water policies can keep their attention. Reviewing the historical effectiveness of policies is also essential to creating new ones. Understanding and making policies with this knowledge will create better feedback from the public, and push them towards success.