Notes on Study
The exam will be divided into an ID (identification) section, a short answer
section, and then a longer essay section. The ID section will ask you only to
identify correctly, in a sentence or two, the word or phrase mentioned.
Examples:
Multiple Use – Sustained Yield Act, Wilderness Act, Utilitarianism, EPA, Negative
externality, Pinchot, Bird hats, Forest Service, Conservation refugees, Rulings
One needn't be a genius to answer these correctly. One need only have carefully
done the reading, paid attention in class, and studied a bit. My goal is not to pick
obscure things in the reading, but only concepts mentioned prominently in lecture
and/or the reading. All of the above do. But something like the Safe Water
Drinking Act of 1974 (Rosenbaum, 79) does not. That said, don't underestimate
this section: if you've missed lecture or skipped some of the reading, you could
dig yourself into a serious hole. This section exists to separate those who have
been working in the class from those who haven't.
The short answer section then asks questions with fairly specific answers that
don't require much analysis, evaluation or discussion. Examples would be:
What is regulatory federalism (Rosenbaum, p106)?
Briefly describe the philosophy Pinchot bequeathed to the Forest Service.
What is ʻcommand and controlʼ environmental regulation?
How might contingent valuation be used to measure the cost of an oil spill?
What is the rationale behind administrative rationalism?
Then you'll have to write some larger essays in the last section. These will be
questions with some factual and evaluative element to them. Instead of asking
you to explain the tragedy of the commons, it might ask whether the federal lands
are an example of the tragedy dynamic. Here are some more examples:
What is the role of litigation in setting environmental policy?
Describe/explain how the concept of nature/wilderness has evolved from the
original European settlers' conception to that found in the Wilderness Act?
Explain and critically discuss Leopold's claim in The Sand County Almanac that
"a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the
biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.'
Is CBA superior to the Precautionary Principle?
These essays will be judged by whether you get the facts straight, but of course
also on the depth and persuasiveness of the analysis. Try to make as
compelling a case for your answer as you can. When studying for this, think of
the themes emphasized in class, e.g., science and policy, ways of pricing nonmarket goods, the preservation v conservation split, and so on.