Volume 3 • Issue 2 • May 2008

(stock exchange photos)

New Faces at ESPP & MSU Inside this issue

• New faces pg 1
ESPP welcomes Arika Ligmann-Zielinska as assistant • Student highlights pp 2-4
professor in the Department of Geography and ESPP. - Fellowship recipients
Ligmann-Zielinska, originally from Poland, comes to MSU - Graduates moving on up
in fall 2008 from sunny California, where she is a joint - Third Thursday breakfasts
doctoral program student in Geography at San Diego
State University and the University of California, Santa • Class feature pg 5
Barbara. At MSU, she will research human-environment • Faculty out in the world pg 6
relationships using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
modeling, with a particular focus on the consequences of human land-use. • Initiatives: pp 7-10
- Green packaging forum
She plans to teach three courses each year in GIS and spatial modeling, - The Risk Initiative
which assess dynamic landscapes (looking at water, elevation, vegetation, - Campus environmental stewardship
etc.). Her research will use GIS modeling to understand how human decisions
affect aspects of the environment, such as land cover change. “I am eager to • Research highlights pp10-11
collaborate with other researchers, especially within ESPP,” she says. - A call for reform in China
- Study on efficiency of nitrogen
Ligmann-Zelinska is currently researching whether and how compact urban removal in streams
development can be achieved instead of the low-density sprawl that is occurring.
She is looking at alternative arrangements of land that will ameliorate the From the Editor
negative effects of current growth in suburban areas. So far, she has built and
tested two land-use models: one spatial agent-based model, which is a computer Welcome to the
program that assesses a landscape based on an individual’s preferences; and fifth newsletter of
a mathematical model. the Environmental
(continued on next pg) Science and Policy
Program (ESPP) at
MSU. I’m Anisa Abid,
ESPP welcomes Marcy Heberer, who joins us as the the graduate assistant
Executive Secretary for ESPP. Heberer is the assistant news writer for Green
to the Director, Thomas Dietz, and is in charge of ESPP’s Ink.
finances, including fellowships and grants, and schedules.
This issue features exciting
She comes to us from the Visiting International Professional student news, and important
Program, part of International Studies and Programs at initiatives that are exploring new
MSU, where she worked for two years. Of ESPP, Heberer research horizons and making MSU
says, “I love it here.” Working at ESPP meshes with her greener.
interest in environmental science and policy.
Comments and suggestions on how
Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Heberer traveled extensively throughout to improve our communication with you
the United States before settling down in East Lansing with her three children. are always welcome.
She has lived in South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Minnesota. Before coming
to MSU, she worked for 14 years in East Lansing’s public schools. She has Visit our website for the latest
strong MSU links, with her daughter having graduated from MSU in 2005 and a environmental news and updates.
son who now studies economics here. www.environment.msu.edu
 Student Highlights
(Ligman-Zielinska profile continued)
One of her immediate goals is to develop a participatory
experiment using an Internet-based gaming simulation tool,
available to the general public. Participants would fill out
surveys about their values and preferences, related to how
they want to use a piece of land (e.g. they type of place they
want to live). Based on their responses a computer-based
agent would be created and make decisions, with ongoing
involvement from participants. An agent can also look at a
landscape in an ecological sense, to estimate how suitable
or unsuitable an area is for a certain plant or animal. In the
long-term she hopes for the model to be utilized in some
real world setting. The result would reveal new land use
patterns.
Student Fellowship Recipients
Max Melstrom is a first year graduate
student in ESPP and the Department
of Agricultural, Food and Resource
Economics (formerly the Department
of Agricultural Economics). His focus
is on how environmental regulations
interact with economic activity and
why problems occur in making the two
work together. Contrary to what some
believe, “what is good for the environment is also good for
the economy” he says.
He is also interested in researching the level of demand
for environmental preservation and recreational resources,
and how we should model different forms of value, such as
recreational value and intrinsic value. “Different approaches
to modeling this demand can have a significant influence on
how we assess the value of natural resources,” he says.
As an undergraduate, Melstrom studied economics at
Kalamazoo College. He is a Michigan native, raised
in Cadillac. Melstrom spent a year in London studying
environmental management and economics, which
encouraged him to develop his interest in the subject. His
undergraduate projects included a local-level analysis of
tax increment financing (a tool to use future gains in taxes
to finance the current improvements that will create those
gains), and a survey of the prevalence and attributes of
urban food gardens.
At Kalamazoo he met ESPP student Ben Gramig, who was
giving a presentation on agricultural economics, as well as
Scott Loveridge, professor in the Department of Agricultural,
Food and Resource Economics and Director of Graduate
Studies. His interactions with them, and MSU’s status as a
top school for both economics and agricultural economics,
encouraged Melstrom to pursue a degree here.
People love living near the water,
especially here in the Great
Lakes, but shoreline development
can incur environmental costs.
First-year graduate student Emily
Norton is interested in how human
activity affects lake ecosystems,
shorelines and the wildlife that
inhabit them. She is a student in
the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and ESPP.
Norton pursued her interest in the environment by working
for the Department of Natural Resources in Indiana for three
years, on permitting related to lakes and streams. Originally
from Anderson, IN, she did her undergraduate degree at
Purdue University in biology with a specialization in ecology
and a minor in anthropology. Her undergraduate advisor
recommended that she apply to MSU, based on her interest
in the environment and MSU’s excellence in environment-
related studies.
Currently, Norton is working on an economics project
relating lakes’ water clarity (a measure of water quality) to
the value of surrounding residential properties, in the Lower
Peninsula. She is studying 20 counties, over 100 lakes, and
over 1400 properties, and expects to conclude the project
this summer. Previous studies have found water clarity and
housing prices to be positively correlated. She hopes that
her results will build on past studies and help inform water
quality regulation in Michigan, by demonstrating the value of
water clarity through housing prices.
Norton is considering future research on the effects of
shoreline development on surrounding habitat and wildlife.
She is interested in whether wildlife are affected by simply
the level of development around a lake (i.e., having more
people on the lake) or the diminishment of specific habitat
types as a result of development. She is also interested in
impacts of lakeshore development on fish. Her career goal
is to work for a conservation organization like the Nature
Conservancy.
She has taken ESP 801 so far and appreciated how it
“brought in a broader spectrum of ideas,” by covering a
range of environmental issues and ways to assess impacts
and minimize environmental harm.
pg 2
 Student Highlights
Student Fellowship Recipients
(continued)
Every environmental
issue has philosophical
underpinnings, and
understanding them can
lead to better decisions.
“The world would be a
better place if we all sat
and thought things through,” says Matt Grisko, who began
at MSU this year as a graduate student in the Department
of Philosophy and ESPP.
Grisko studies environmental philosophy, with a focus on
environmental ethics. In particular, he studies how non-
human entities such as ecosystems are valued, and how
that affects their treatment. A central theme in his field is
the idea that policy attempts to enact existing societal goals
and values, “but the question isn’t just what our goals and
values are, but rather what they should be,” he says. This
is a fundamentally philosophical question. “Despite what
is sometimes said, we cannot answer such questions by
merely looking at the world.”
Grisko advocates more engagement between philosophers
and other fields of human life and activity. That’s why he
likes ESPP, he says. “Everyone seems so interconnected,
and that’s really important.” Philosophy is good at clarifying
poorly understood assumptions and important concepts, he
says. For example, discussions of wilderness protection
often exclude humans from the concept of wilderness.
Building policy on this concept can result in indigenous
groups being forcibly removed from ‘wilderness’ preserves,
because the accepted concept of wilderness requires no
permanent human habitation in the area.
Grisko is originally from Des Plaines, IL and has a masters
degree in philosophy from the University of Idaho, where he
studied ecosystem restoration. There, he studied questions
like what people mean when they say that they want to
‘restore’ an ecosystem. Do they seek to restore it to its
state at a specific date or to a certain level of ecosystem
services? Grisko first became interested in environmental
philosophy in his undergraduate studies at the University of
Wisconsin.
ESPP Students Moving on Up
Some of ESPP’s first students are
graduating. Kim Hiller Connell and
Rachel Shwom say ESPP acted as a
crucial stepping stone in getting them
the teaching jobs they wanted.
Kim Hiller Connell, Ph.D. student in
ESPP and the Apparel and Textile (stock exchange photos)
Design program, is preparing to start
her new job at Kansas State University. She has been
hired as assistant professor in the Department of Apparel,
Textiles and Interior Design. “I’m very excited,” she says,
because her department has a sustainable initiative, and so
her research will tie nicely into her teaching.
Her first course will be a product development
class for undergraduates in which she will
guide students through the entire process
of developing apparel and textiles; from
collecting materials to advertising and
marketing. She hopes eventually to transition
(Hiller Connell) her course material toward developing
environmentally sustainable textiles and
apparel. Hiller Connell is finalizing her dissertation on
environmental sustainability within the textile and apparel
industry. She will defend it in June and start at Kansas
State August 10.
One of Hiller Connell’s ESPP peers is also excited to be
starting a new job. Rachel Shwom, Ph.D. student in ESPP and
the Department of Sociology, has accepted a job at Rutgers
University as an assistant professor in the Department
of Human Ecology, in the School of Environmental and
Biological Sciences (formally Cook College).
“I’m excited to be teaching environmental
classes,” she says, as she has been
teaching Sociology courses at MSU.
Shwom will teach undergraduate courses
in Environmental Politics and Institutions,
within the Department of Environmental
Policy Institutions and Behavior program,
as well as graduate courses in Sociology. (Shwom)
She will also be researching the human
dimensions of environmental issues, (e.g. deforestation),
within the subject of climate, society and environmental
(continued on next pg)
pg 3
 Student Highlights
(ESPP Students Moving on Up continued)
change. She will defend her dissertation this fall and start at
Rutgers in January.
Ben Gramig, former Ph.D. student in the Department of
Agricultural Economics and ESPP, has already begun
teaching at Purdue University, as assistant professor of
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Gramig’s
research blends economics, public policy and decision-
making to improve management of livestock disease.
All say their experiences in ESPP complemented their
overall studies. ESPP’s interdisciplinary nature and the
resources it provides, helped Hiller Connell and Shwom land
jobs, they say. The program “was one of the reasons why
Kansas State was interested in me.…It makes me unique,”
says Hiller Connell. Prior to coming to MSU, she did not
have a natural science or social science background, and so
the interdisciplinary nature of ESPP gave her a well-rounded
perspective and shaped the direction of her dissertation.
“I don’t know what it would have been without taking the
[ESPP] courses,” says Hiller Connell.
Likewise, for Shwom, “ESPP classes helped me make
the case that I can do the interdisciplinary stuff.” Also,
through program funding Shwom was able to attend several
conferences through the years that she otherwise would not
have attended, she says.
Shwom and Hiller Connell also say the program gave them
a cohort of other graduate students with whom they could
talk about their research. These students shared all ESPP
classes together, and as Shwom says, “[that] doesn’t often
happen in graduate school.”
ESPP Third Thursday Breakfasts
ESPP students present studies and share ideas
over breakfast meetings
Every third Thursday, ESPP students convene in 273 Giltner
Hall at 8 a.m. for more than a nutritious breakfast. They come
to hear each other present their dissertations (in the making,
or completed), and to discuss a range of environmental
issues. It’s also a chance to mingle with classmates they
don’t otherwise get to see anymore after taking the core
ESPP courses. “It’s life beyond the classroom,” says ESPP
student David Bidwell, one of the organizers.
The informal presentations are on a range of environmental
subjects, from the mysterious Buruli ulcer to why people buy
sustainable clothing. Afterward, students provide feedback
to presenters and discuss other subjects.
“It’s organic conversation,” says ESPP student Stephen
Aldrich, another organizer of the breakfasts. Aldrich says
it’s a chance to discuss bigger environmental issues with
fellow students - like laws, changes to regulations, and
carbon taxes - and to hear opinions from people in a variety
of disciplines.
“It builds your interdisciplinary knowledge; it’s educational,”
says Stephanie Miller, an ESPP student who says she never
gets up that early unless it’s a third Thursday. Her fellow
ESPP student Linda Novitski agrees on the educational
value of the breakfasts.
“I think a lot of students are interested in environmental
science but don’t have the interdisciplinary component to
their dissertation,” she says. “It’s hard to even know what it
is to be interdisciplinary until you do it.”
The motivation behind this event is the desire to build a
community of environmentally-related scholars, and to give
them an opportunity to share with each other what they are
working on. Bidwell explained that students often don’t
think of each other as people to network with but that it’s an
important connection to make. “Socially, we don’t run into
each other otherwise,” he says.
Breakfasts are open to all students and members of the
ESPP community, and occur every third Thursday of the
month.
For more information contact Maya Fischhoff, mayaef@
msu.edu.
(stock exchange photos)
pg 4
 Class Feature
Wilderness First Responder Training
Course at MSU
If you have ever wandered in the wilderness, far from medical
help, you have probably wondered what would happen if you
or a companion got seriously injured. Who would come to
your rescue? MSU recently began offering a course to train
students and others how to respond to such emergencies,
and it’s already become hugely popular.
MSU is offering the Wilderness First
Responder course through the National
Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness
Medicine Institute (WMI). The 10-day
course is offered annually, either during
spring break or the first week of summer,
and can be taken for credit. The course
covers treatment of frostbite, hypothermia, dislocations,
wilderness wounds, spinal cord injuries, poisoning and many
other wilderness- related predicaments.
The Wilderness First Responder course fills up very
quickly, says Joe Arvai, assistant professor in Community,
Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies and ESPP,
who sponsors the course. The course has 30 spots and is
open to the public, but MSU students receive priority. Pre-
med students, graduate students, and students enrolled in
study abroad have had the highest enrollment in the course.
Some students need WMI certification for certain jobs that
require work in the outdoors, such as park or forest rangers,
or work with the Bureau of Land Management.
Having taken the course himself, Arvai says that the skills
he learned were handy, especially during a climb on Mt.
McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, when one of the
climbers had a heart attack. Several members of Arvai’s
group also had wilderness medicine experience, and worked
together to keep the climber alive for seven hours until help
arrived. “The course was instrumental in teaching the skills
I needed to be an effective part of this emergency team, and
not just a bystander,” Arvai says.
Stephen Aldrich, graduate student in Geography and ESPP,
says that the course “gave me the tools to evaluate my own
medical issues.” After taking the course last spring, he was
able to use his training when he acquired Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever in the Brazilian Amazon. His knowledge of
symptoms of bacterial infections, and discovery of a tick bite,
helped him identify his illness.
WMI certification is a
step below EMT training
and is good for two
years. Recertification is
then required, which can
be fulfilled by taking a
two-day refresher course
(offered each year before
the full course). Those
interested in taking the
course should contact
Arvai before registering:
sknkwrks@msu.edu
photo of training session provided by
WMI instructor, Melis Coady
For more information visit: http://www.nols.edu/wmi/courses/
wildfirstresponder.shtml
Fall 2008 Courses in ESPP
ESP 801: Physical, Chemical, and Biological Processes of
the Environment (3 credits)
This course will provide an overview of environmental
systems and the processes that control them, and then use
this understanding to analyze a series of environmental
problems and their solutions. These problems will be placed
in their societal context, and attention given to the human
and ecological health endpoints.
ESP 803: Human and Ecological Health Assessment and
Management (3 credits)
This course examines the most commonly used
methods for integrating scientific information into a form
useful for decision-making. Special emphasis is placed on the
role of uncertainty in the scientific information used to inform
decisions and the qualitative and quantitative procedures for
dealing with uncertainty.
ESP 891 (Special Topics): Promising Research Paths for
Sustainability: Cutting Edge Perspectives from the Natural
and Social Sciences (1 credit)
This seminar series will focus on the work of six
internationally renownedspeakers from the social and
natural science disciplines. Through in-depthdiscussions
with speakers, we will explore what their discipline has to
offer to sustainability. In addition to learning about the cutting
edge of the research in their discipline, we will explore future
research directions and connectionsbetween MSU and the
world.
pg 5
 Faculty Out in the World
MSU Faculty Serving on the National management practices, as well as the social, economic and
political factors involved in influencing farmers to adopt such
Research Council practices in the US and globally. The panel has looked at
many case studies from around the world and outlined the
changing structure of world agriculture and the role played
MSU faculty regularly sit on the boards and
by alternative agriculture, Batie says.
committees of the National Research Council
(NRC), contributing their expertise to definitive
“It gives me back more than I give it,” Batie says of her
studies that help shape policy. NRC involvement
experiences with the NRC. She chaired a committee on
enriches faculty members’ knowledge and allows them to
soil and water quality in 1993. In recent years, she says,
bring back what they learn to MSU. But what is the NRC,
the Internet has made communication easier and faster,
and how does it work?
improving efficiency. The process is “fairly intense,” she
says, “but a worthwhile experience.”
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is the parent
organization to the NRC, a private, non-profit organization. “People have to be willing to think outside their
The NAS was established by President Lincoln in 1863
to advise the nation on science. After it started servicing field and be open-minded” -Dietz
research requests from the government, the workload
Likewise, Scott Swinton, professor of Agriculture, Food and
became too much, and so the NRC was established in
Resource Economics says his experience, though “awkward”
I916. The NRC operates as the principal operating agency
at first, was very worthwhile. He felt odd initially as the
of the NAS, consisting of scholars from the larger scientific
only social scientist on a committee of biologists studying
and technological communities. They seek to ‘participate
the status of pollinators in North America, but says he
in research dedicated to the furtherance of science and
learned a great deal about this area of ecological research.
technology and to their use for the general welfare’ (http://
Swinton’s committee compiled population and trend data of
www.nasonline.org).
pollinators (including bees, bats, butterflies, hummingbirds)
to determine if they are in decline and, if so, the causes and
The research process begins when the federal government
potential solutions.
commissions the NAC to initiate a study. The NRC
Governing Board then selects a balanced committee of
Swinton highlighted methods to estimate the value of
experts to actually conduct the study. Members of an NRC
pollinators. A great deal of value is placed on honeybees,
committee are supported by the NRC staff and go through
Swinton says, because they are the leading commercial
a series of meetings, workshops and information-gathering
pollinator of horticultural and nut crops. Yet their numbers
activities before issuing a report. This report goes through
are declining while agricultural demand for their services
external peer review, a response and revision, and is finally
is on the rise. Swinton helped illuminate the intrinsic and
published for the public. Congress and federal agencies are
economic value of species that pollinate wild plants, so that
then briefed of its conclusions and recommendations, which
all species of pollinators are included in the study (not just
helps to shape policy.
honeybees and other commercial pollinators).
“No organization is flawless, but the NRC is about as definitive
“People have to be willing to think outside their field and be
as it gets,” says Thomas Dietz, director of ESPP, who has
open-minded,” Dietz says. The NRC tries to foster deep
served as a chair and member of various NRC committees.
knowledge on a subject by bringing together great minds,
All members of a committee are reviewed for their biases in
so that the results can be applicable to broader science, he
order to account for all aspects of a subject, he says. Draft
says. Having such collaboration allows for new insights,
reports receive an average of 10 reviews, and the overall
and better prepares scientists to answer questions about the
process can take 18 months to 2 years, before a report is
world and its challenges.
published.
By serving on NRC committees, “I learn so much about the
Sandra Batie, professor of Agriculture,
diverse problems facing us and the critical science questions
Food and Resource Economics, has
that need to be explored,” says Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin
served the NRC three times. Currently,
Chair in Water Research at MSU. She says that scientists
she is a committee member for a study
must be thoughtful and true to the science because NRC
underway on “Twenty-first Century
reports are taken so seriously by government. Rose has
Systems Agriculture.” This study
served as a board member on two occasions and on
identifies the scientific foundations
committees eight times, representing water microbiology.
of sustainable farming systems and
She says that the NRC process should be conducted at a
(A recent NRC publication, written by a committee chaired by Dietz) local governmental scale, as well. pg 6
 Initiatives
MSU Hosts Green Packaging Forum
School of Packaging holds first executives
forum on sustainable packaging
MSU’s School of Packaging (SoP) held its first annual
Packaging Executives Forum earlier this year, bringing
industry leaders from around the United States together with
MSU faculty to discuss how to package products, from food
to computers, in ways that minimize waste and pollution.
The forum also created an opportunity for the SoP to get
industry input into its future direction. The SoP’s involvement
in sustainable packaging includes holding this yearly forum,
working with industry, and hiring more faculty in the area.
Presenters emphasized that sustainable packaging can
make an environmental difference, consumers are interested,
and sustainability is here to stay. They addressed whether
sustainable packaging makes a difference when more
“Environmental impact is the number one issue
for industry today” -Lyons
energy-intensive industries seem to have a larger impact on
sustainability. Theresa Lyons, director of account planning
at MARSadvertising, a consumer products advertising
agency, said that packaging has an importance beyond
its direct environmental impact, because it is so visible to
consumers. Claire Sand, consultant and adjunct faculty at
the SoP, agreed: “Packaging does relate very intimately with
consumers. We don’t take showers with our cars…. We
interact with our packaging,” she said.
Packaging also has concrete environmental impacts that
accumulate through its life cycle, or from the “cradle to the
grave.” Presenters explained how in designing packaging,
developers should consider product design, materials,
manufacturing, transportation and delivery, usage, recovery
process and return to raw material. “[Packaging] is a small
part of global warming, but it is a part of it, and a big part with
consumers,” Sand said.
“[Consumers] will support the cause- if it’s easy,” said Lyons.
She stressed the importance of educating the public about
purchasing sustainable products and how easily they can
make a difference. Packaging itself can be used as an
educational tool, Sand said. Companies can inform
consumers directly on packaging about a product’s origin,
content, and recyclability. Some companies (such as Home
Depot) are already doing this.
“Environmental impact is the number one issue for industry
today,” said Lyons. Wal-Mart was highlighted by nearly every
presenter, as driving the industry through a sustainability
scorecard that suppliers must meet. The Wal-Mart
scorecard quantifies sustainability aspects of products and
their packages. “Right now we all care about [sustainability]
because we want to sell to Wal-Mart,” said Susan Selke,
acting director of the SoP. She stressed additional reasons
to care, including corporate citizenship, increasing customer
demand, and other financial benefits.
photo by Francie Todd
The forum provided the SoP with industry input on its new
strategic plan, which emphasizes sustainable packaging
research. The strategic plan seeks to make the SoP a key
academic center of excellence for research and education
by creating and strengthening partnerships and outreach
functions (such as the forum), and securing financial support.
The SoP is also planning seven new hires, several of which
will be joint hires with the College of Engineering, and related
to sustainability. SoP faculty roles include working with
government agencies, the food industry, the pharmaceutical
industry, and material and packaging suppliers.
The forum will be held annually, as this one was such a
success. “The [participants’] reaction was that the content
was extremely valuable and informative….There is a clear
interest [expressed] that we can be and should be leaders,”
said Peggy Nuerenberg, coordinator of Outreach Education
Programs in the SoP and forum organizer.
More initiatives on the next page...
pg 7
 Initiatives
The Risk Initiative
Making risk and decision-making a focus at MSU
Almost every personal
decision involves risk,
whether the decision
is minor - like what to
eat every day - or more
significant, like whether
to get married. Policy
makers also face risks and
their decisions have broader effects. Risk management and
decision-making is a field dedicated to understanding the
nature of risk and the means of handling it best. MSU’s Risk
Initiative has been established to promote risk research and
education across campus. A primary goal is to help MSU
become a leader in risk governance, which is the ability to
help decision-makers plan and act to achieve their desired
outcomes.
The initiative is supported by the Office of the Vice President
for Research and Graduate Studies and is co-chaired by
Edmund McGarrell, director of the School of Criminal Justice
and Thomas Dietz, director of ESPP.
The Risk Initiative is engaging the MSU community in many
ways. In spring 2008, a speaker series brought in experts
to talk to the MSU community about risk and decision-
making. New interdisciplinary risk courses are developing
across several departments and colleges. The co-chairs
of the initiative are investigating risk-focused faculty lines
which will help to develop interdisciplinary risk research and
education, and McGarrell says a risk specialization may
develop. A new Angel website provides information on the
initiative, lists the 125 risk scholars at MSU, and facilitates
campus-wide discussions on risk.
The speaker series began in January and included Joe
Arvai, a faculty member in the Department of Community,
Agriculture, Resource and Recreation Studies at MSU;
Baruch Fischhoff, professor of Social and Decision Sciences
and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon
University; Terry Jeggle, senior officer of International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction at the United Nations; and
Eugene Rosa, professor of Natural Resources and Policy
and Sociology at Washington State University.
In his talk, Arvai discussed how individuals handle risks and
the process by which they make decisions. He talked about
the need for insights into how to improve decision-making, and
especially how to avoid systematic biases, such as those that
result from relying too heavily on either emotions or scientific
analysis. “Just because we are knowledgeable about a
problem, does not mean that we can make well-informed
decisions about it. Without research focused on how and
why how our brains process information, our abilities to truly
improve our decision-making capabilities will be limited,” he
said. Fischhoff discussed ways to communicate risk, using
“I think there’s a frontier of science here”
-Fischhoff
pharmaceutical labeling as an example. Information on drug
labels affects people’s diagnoses of their ailments, yet is
often incomplete. Fischhoff called for more collaboration
between behavioral scientists, design specialists and risk
experts. “I think there’s a frontier of science here,” he said.
Courses in risk and decision-making at MSU already exist
and new courses are expected to develop. The curriculum
will “build on strengths already here,” said McGarrell,
as risk relates to many disciplines being studied at MSU.
Risk involves a combination of economic, psychological,
sociological, and cultural frameworks, explained Carol
Zimmermann, assistant professor in the School of Criminal
Justice, and risk governance can be used to address an array
of issues such as infectious disease, critical infrastructure,
nanotechnology, climate change and genetic engineering of
crops and food.
Risk scholars at MSU are clearly excited that the discipline
is growing, and note its importance to a spectrum of fields
as well as the challenges that can arise. One of these
challenges is the process of making decisions about
which risks to assess and manage. “The process of risk
assessment can take years and it doesn’t always work as
intended,” says Arvai. He gave terrorism as an example. It
has grabbed national attention since 2001, with billions spent
on assessing and managing the risks to the country, because
it is an emotionally charged issue. “But there are many
other big risks out there,” he said. “Decaying infrastructure
will kill many more people and affect the national economy
in a strongly negative way – perhaps more so than terrorism.
But we don’t see a global war on shoddy infrastructure. The
same is true of climate change.”
Zimmermann says that risk assessment is a matter of being
able to realize the “constellation of factors” that are involved
– something that is often very difficult to do in a short period
of time. This is why it’s important to engage many disciplines
in the field of risk and decision-making, she says.
pg 8
 Initiatives
Faculty, Students, and Staff Leading
MSU to a Greener Future
Environmental stewardship recommendations
to make MSU more sustainable
You may have heard MSU’s ‘Be Spartan
Green’ slogan on the radio or seen it
on posters, bike billboards, T-shirts,
and even Facebook. MSU is taking
‘go green’ to a new level by changing
university operations and trying to
motivate the campus community to
make more environmentally conscious
decisions. While many universities are
greening operations, MSU’s approach
is unique in its systemic and research-driven approach.
With 45,000 students, 10,000 employees and a network of
more than 400,000 alumni, being “Spartan green” can make
an impact locally and globally.
Diverse staff, students, and faculty (including many affiliated
with ESPP) have worked together in teams to find ways
of improving environmental stewardship on campus. The
initiative was started in 2006, by the Office of the Vice
President for Finance and Operations as part of President
Lou Anna Simon’s “Boldness by Design” campaign. An
overarching systems team and five smaller technical
teams have addressed energy reduction, materials (e.g.,
waste), purchasing, behavior and culture change, and
communication. The teams gathered data on MSU’s
environmental impacts and potential changes, assessing
everything from how much coal we use to the savings from
reducing heating and air conditioning by an hour a day. In
January 2008, the team presented 26 recommendations for
action to the MSU Board of Trustees. This will be the first of
an annual series of recommendations.
“We’re adopting a strategy on all levels… there’s no one big
silver bullet,” says David Skole, professor in the Department
of Forestry and co-leader for the energy team. MSU’s
energy efforts are driven by the University’s commitment
to the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), North America’s
only legally-binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading
system. By 2010, MSU must reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions to six percent below 2000 emissions. “We won’t
meet the target this year,” says Skole, as it took time for
the team to analyze MSU’s energy use and develop an
appropriate strategy. For now, MSU is purchasing carbon
credits, but it will meet the 2010 target.
Ultimately, energy reduction strategies require the
participation of both building management and individual
users. Heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems
consume 40-60% of all energy used in buildings, but lighting
and equipment are also important.
The team’s energy reduction
approach involves a 3% reduction in
HVAC, lighting and equipment use,
along with using 10% alternative
fuels in the MSU power plant. This
would meet MSU’s commitment to (stock exchange photos)
the CCX while saving 114,000 metric
tons of CO2 and $900,000.
Strategies for reducing materials use center on a
comprehensive recycling plan, which includes greater
collection of materials and a new recycling facility on
campus, which will be operational in 2009. All campus
buildings will be collecting white paper, mixed paper,
newspaper, cardboard and different plastics. The recycling
facility will collect and compact these materials so that they
can be sold in the market. The recycling plan resulted from
research on how much the university recycles and whether
behaviors would change with more opportunity to recycle.
“We want to create a culture and a place so when
people step on campus, they know this is who we
are” -Sowa
Another recommendation seeking to reduce material use is
for all printers on campus to print double-sided. “[It] pays
for itself without even looking at the environmental benefits,”
says Scott Swinton, professor of Agriculture, Food and
Resource Economics and part of the Costs and Returns for
Environmental Stewardship Team.
What we buy contributes to what and how much we waste.
With this in mind, the team recommends a purchasing initiative
to have more take-back leverage (having suppliers take
back items that would otherwise be wasted) over packaging
materials, replaced equipment, and products at their end of
life (e.g. ink cartridges). The team will also be capturing data
on the environmental impacts of purchases, such as whether
items have Energy Star or eco-labels, to give an accurate
picture of MSU’s energy and materials consumptions. Skole
says that MSU’s purchasing department will have a ‘G’ logo
on the environmentally friendly items (to represent that they
are ‘green’), to better inform consumer decisions.
(continued on next pg)
pg 9

(Sustainable recommendations continued)
On a systems management level, the
team’s recommendations to improve
sustainability include better metering
of campus inputs and outputs in
buildings. “It’s amazing that we know
so little…because MSU provides its
own utilities,” says Swinton. But with
studies underway, this is changing.
Energy and water usage is now
being monitored more widely, and the
heavily-used first floor restrooms in the
Main Library have
been renovated to
conserve water, he
says.
(stock exchange photos)
A particularly challenging task is getting
people to change their behaviors,
so that environmental stewardship
becomes part of MSU’s ethos.
“We want to create a culture and a
place so when people step on campus,
they know this is who we are,” says
Jennifer Sowa, project coordinator
in the Office of the Vice President for
Finance and Operations at MSU and
communications team leader. Teams
of environmental stewards (faculty,
staff, and students) in all buildings will
communicate best practices and weave
environmental changes into their
departments’ culture. An emerging
green certification program will
recognize departments and units that
practice environmental stewardship
behaviors.
For more information on how
to be Spartan green visit:
www.bespartangreen.msu.edu
environment.msu.edu
phone: 517.432.8296
Environmental Science and Policy
fax: 517.432.8830
Research Highlights
A Call for Reform in
China
MSU professor proposes
revolutionary changes for China’s
environment
While China has been improving its
environmental protection strategies,
the condition of the environment
will continue to worsen unless great
changes are made, says Jianguo Liu,
professor in the Department of Fisheries
and Wildlife. “An environmental
revolution is needed,” Liu says.
“Nothing short of this will work.” He
outlines needed changes to China’s
administrative system and economic
development model in a recent paper
in Science (January 4, 2008), co-
authored with Jared Diamond of UCLA.
Change will occur, Liu says, because
“if the government wants to keep
social stability, they need to address
environmental issues.”
Liu says that administrative priorities
must change in multiple ways. China’s
State Environmental Protection Agency
(SEPA) needs more power, staff and
money, he says; although China’s
population is four times greater than
that of the United States, SEPA has
only one-eighth the employees of the
U.S. EPA. Environmental laws need
to be stronger because companies are
willing to pay the current nominal fee
for breaking them rather than abide
by the laws. He also proposes that
when officials are being selected, their
environmental and economic track
records be weighed equally.
China’s development model should also
emphasize environmental protection.
Liu urges that the prime minister enforce
release of the Green GDP report to all
Program
Chinese policy makers. Otherwise,
he says, “they will see the money
being made but no environmental
(stock exchange photos)
assessment.” This report subtracts
the costs of environmental impacts
from the Gross Domestic Product,
thus more accurately measuring the
country’s progress. The second report
is currently being withheld due to
disagreements between SEPA and the
National Bureau of Statistics, which
co-produced it. Liu also suggests
increasing rewards for environmentally
friendly companies and taxing polluting
companies, reforming land ownership,
and developing environmentally-
friendly technologies that would
increase employment and economic
efficiency.
Insufficient actions to address
environmental problems in China are
already having far-reaching effects,
outlined in an earlier paper by Liu and
Diamond in Nature (June 30, 2005).
Two-thirds of China’s cities suffer
water shortages and much of the water
available is unfit to drink due to algal
blooms and chemical spills. Carbon
dioxide emissions are rising rapidly,
largely due to the increasing number
of coal fired power plants. China ranks
133 out of 146 countries studied for their
environmental sustainability, according
to Yale University’s 2005 sustainability
index.
(continued on next pg)
pg 10

(Reform in China continued)
Jiaguo Qi, director of MSU’s Center for
Global Change and Earth Observations
and professor of Geography,
views the situation in China a little
differently. He doesn’t believe that
the government can or ever will weigh
environmental performance equal to
economic performance when choosing
leaders. He suggests improving the
implementation of existing policies
instead of reforming them. He does,
however, agree that SEPA needs more
power.
Research Highlights
His team conducted field experiments
for over three years to assess how
various waterways handle nitrogen, a
potentially harmful pollutant in water
that stems from fertilizer runoff and soil
erosion. Too much nitrogen in the water
can depletion oxygen for plant life and
other organisms in streams as well as
downstream lakes and ocean waters.
By refining techniques and comparing
The study was published in Nature
(March 13, 2008) and was funded
by grants from National Science
Foundation. If additional funding is
available, Hamilton says a follow-up
study might happen. This spring he
will be conducting pilot experiments
to research remaining questions, such
as the longer-term fate of the nitrogen
taken up by the stream.

Qi also agrees with Liu that China

needs to improve its technology. The
United States and China should talk
about a “technology transfer,” he says,
so that China can replace the mounting
numbers of coal plants with renewable
energy. Liu’s paper is good for initiating
discussion, he says, but more work is
needed as to how the proposed ideas
will work.
Want more MSU
environmental news?
Visit our website for updated news
and information:
(stock exchange photos)
multiple locations, the study found that
streams and rivers of all sizes remove
nitrogen to different extents.

Hamilton was part of one of the eight

MSU Researchers Shed
Light on Efficiency of
Rivers and Streams at
Removing Nitrogen
By: Mollie Grewe
A new study reveals an unprecedented
amount of detail about the level of
efficiency that rivers and streams
have in combating pollution. Stephen
Hamilton, professor of Ecosystem
Ecology and Biogeochemistry at the
Kellogg Biological Station, has just
published a five-year study on nitrogen
in waterways, conducted with a team
of researchers from MSU and the
University of Notre Dame.
teams scattered throughout the U.S. http://environment.msu.edu/news/
index.html
and Puerto Rico. Hamilton’s group
looked at nine streams in Southwest
Michigan that drained into the There you can find...
Kalamazoo River Watershed. They
• ESPP’s newsroom
focused on the headwaters, or smallest
of the streams. • The Michigan Environmental
Portal
The headwaters are the “most important • Calendar of events
• Information on conferences
because of the greater contact of the
water with sediments, which is where • Educational programs
• Employment and funding
much of the nitrogen transformations
take place,” Hamilton says. His team opportunities!
found that some nitrogen is taken up
by organisms found there, while some
of it turns into nitrogen gas through
the process of denitrification, making
that nitrogen unavailable as a nutrient
for algae and plants, which reduces
problems downstream.

environment.msu.edu
phone: 517.432.8296
Environmental Science and Policy
fax: 517.432.8830 Program
pg 11
Environmental Science and Policy Program
Michigan State University
274 Giltner Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824