As you all know, I’m finishing up a master’s in public policy here at OSU. Now I’m starting to have to think about my essay, which is, for all intents and purposes, a master’s thesis.
I’ve bandied about a couple of ideas, first thinking about the concept of defense consciousness which I found so fascinating in Japan, but I’m not sure how exactly I could work in a policy angle. That’s more of an international security issue, though I suppose there’s some sort of sociology involved.
What I’ve started to lean toward instead–and this forces me to admit the influence this very green, very rural university has had on me–is a study of natural resource management. Essentially, I want to explore why some cultures are more protective of natural resources and more conservation minded, whereas others are willy-nilly about it. I could look at the US and China, for example, in that order. The US federal goverment has been reluctant to drill in ANWAR, has significantly restricted timber production here in Oregon, and so forth. At the same time, China is overfishing and could potentially completely deplete fish stocks in a very short period of time.
The odd thing is that there’s no cultural precedent for this in the US. China has plenty–Chinese historical culture has lots of edicts about balance, preservation, and in general, East Asians are much more nature-minded. The US has none of that–much of early American policy while expanding westward was slash and burn. So the question is, what’s the driver? Is it pluralism in the US? Have the environmentalists gained enough political clout to force this shift in American policy? Is it the command government in China–one that censors information it doesn’t like to hear, especially when it comes to feeding over a billion–to blame for bad resource management?
I think it’s interesting and a worthwhile perspective. If anyone has any ideas, please ask some questions!
