One chapter of Vogel’s book will be discussed each week, along with articles Vogel references. As a group, students in the course will also work to assess possibilities for a precautionary approach to environmental governance in the Capital Region, modeled on San Francisco’s example (see http://www.sehn.org/precaution.html). Their assessment will be presented at the end of the semester. We also hope to host David Vogel at Rensselaer near the end of the semester.

A schedule of reading is below.
week 1
Tuesday, January 22

Introductions
week 2
Tuesday, January 29

Vogel, Chapter 1: The Transatlantic Shift in Regulatory Stringency
week 3
Tuesday, February 5

Vogel, Chapter 2: Explaining Regulatory Policy Divergence
week 4
Tuesday, February 12

Vogel, Chapter 3: Food Safety and Agriculture
week 5
Tuesday, February 19 – No class/Monday schedule
week 6
Tuesday, February 26

Vogel, Chapter 4: Air Pollution
week 7
Tuesday, March 5

Vogel, Chapter 5: Chemicals and Hazardous Substances
spring break

week 8
Tuesday, March 19

Chapter 6: Consumer Safety
week 9
Tuesday, March 26 (Passover)

Vogel Chapter 7: Public Risk Perception and the Preferences of Policy Makers
week 10
Tuesday, April 2

Vogel, Chapter 8: The Law and Politics of Risk Assessment
week 11
Tuesday, April 9

Vogel, Chapter 9: Broader Implications
week 12
Tuesday, April16 (Earth Week Festival)

?Vogel visit
week 13
Tuesday, April 23
week 14
Tuesday, April 30
Wednesday, April 29: UG Research Symposium

?A Precautionary Approach to Risk in NY and the Capital Region