1. Students will compare policies & laws on their topic from government entities around the world and develop and assessment of barriers to its implementation
2. Students will learn how governments communicate problems & solutions on the web and why
3. Students will learn about boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and how they make life a bit easier
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Should the state cement e-scooter regulations into law? Dallas senator wants to try. (2019, April 24). Retrieved October 3, 2019, from Dallas News website: https://www.dallasnews.com/ |
In an ideal world, governments make policies for the maximum benefit for all people. In reality, there will typically be policies that undermine the interests of individuals or even groups, while supporting a greater good. Since a "greater good" can be ambiguous, people talk and argue and research and produce data and elect politicians and pay lobbyists, etc. etc. to promote their criteria of good. Today we'll look at some of the more neutral data, and how people formally weigh choices on the policy level.
Social Explorer (census and other public data visualized on the map. Note: I have a demo here.)
PAIS International (public policy database)
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
GreenFile (worth mentioning again this week)
NEWSPAPERS
US Newsstream
NEXIS UNI
Searching the open web for resources.
Many worldwide governments would like you to know what they're working on related to policy as they're actively working on sustainability problems (maybe poverty, communications, health, pollution, etc.). Companies and engineers will look for large or small jobs by searching for these and then offer solutions on a wide scale from very small to country wide.
Search for "your technology" and RFP (or "request for proposals") on the open web for more.
Note: it may help to search for a specific country/government/company if you want to narrow down the search.
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Searching governments for resources.
Many governments also are legally obligated to put their policies (and policy considerations) online for the world to see -like the United States. Some typical starting places are:
USA.gov (first place to visit -contains everything below)
Department of Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
National Nanotechnology Initiative
Department of Transportation
Bureau of Reclamation -primarily about water, but take a look for your specific tech too.
OR
Search for "your technology" and "government policy" on the open web for governments outside the U.S.
Search for "your technology" and a specific state/nation for a more focused search (California has a ton, for example)
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Global resources.
Other online groups at an international level working on sustainability and policy research:
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Very local resources.
Other online groups at an international level working on sustainability and policy research:
SLC Green (local policy)
Also note that since states are responsible for enforcing EPA standards, most cities/states will have some sort of environmental/sustainability office (hopefully online). For example, here is the one for Utah: http://www.deq.utah.gov/
Part of automobile safety is the technology and design that go into a vehicle, but another part is the government policy on what is acceptable in a country. For example, seat belts, air bags, strategic frame reinforcements, etc. were around long before they were required in new cars in the U.S. -and they're still not universally required in other countries:
Example of current models sold under the safety policies of different countries:
"2015 Nissan Tsuru vs. 2016 Nissan Versa." [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OysZ_4lp0.
And the video below is and example of a current model vs. a much older one:
"IIHS 50th anniversary crash test." [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHp1GAFQzto.
