News and Events
The Search for Wise Energy Policy
June 11, 2009
On June 11, the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) presented "The Search for Wise Energy Policy," a conference featuring energy experts and academics tackling complex issues on the future of energy. The conference had four panels:
- Policy Drivers: Energy Security, Environmental Protection and Affordability
- Changing Patterns in Energy Supply
- Changing Patterns in Energy Demand and Use
- Climate Policy
Presentations and papers from the conference are available here: Panelist Presentations, Panelist Resources, and Student Papers.
Photos from the conference are available here.
For more information about the conference, including a full list of topics and panelists see The Search for Wise Energy Policy conference website.
Sustainability Research Grants Awarded
Five Indiana University research projects -- examining topics that include forest management in the U.S., land use patterns in Brazil and Honduras and student transportation choices in Bloomington -- have been awarded IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs Sustainability Research Development Grants.
Projects and researchers selected for the awards include:
- "Studying the Sustainability of Urban Social-Ecological Systems through the Urban Forest: Development of the Urban Forestry Resources and Institutions (UFRI) System." SPEA clinical professor Burney Fischer and doctoral students Sarah Mincey and Richard Thurau will lead a project to develop and test a new methodology for assessing urban forest sustainability.
- "Third Party Sustainability Certification: Does the Forest Sustainability Certification (FSC) Program Deliver?" SPEA associate professor Kenneth Richards and master's student Miranda Hutten, in collaboration with Steven Rayner of Oxford University, will investigate whether forestry certification programs increase the global application of credible sustainable forest practices.
- "Sustainable Development Strategies in Western Amazonia: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Land Use, Livelihood and Institutions." Eduardo Brondizio, associate professor of anthropology, and SPEA doctoral student Francisco deSouza will evaluate changes in land use, livelihood and institutions under three land tenure types in Acre state, Brazil.
- "Sustainable Land Use: An Assessment of Technology Transfer Programs in Rural Honduras." SPEA professor J.C. Randolph, assistant professor of anthropology Catherine Tucker, and SPEA doctoral students Monica Paulson Priebe and Carlos Gonzalez Jaimes will study the degree to which technology transfer initiatives by non-governmental organizations influence environmentally sustainable land-use practices, using the example of NGO interventions in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch.
- "Transportation Sustainability at Campus Level: Students' Residential Location Choice and Transportation Mode Shift." SPEA associate professors Diane Henshel and David Good, master's students Yonghua Zou, Craig Harper, Max Jie Cui and Courtney Bonney, supported by adjunct advisers Kent McDaniel (IU Transportation Services), Rob Fischman (IU Maurer School of Law) and Nicole Schonemann (Office of Service Learning), will focus on the relationship between alternative transportation incentives and students' residential and behavioral choices and their impact on goals of transportation sustainability.