Environmental Behavior: Why People Do What They Do?

A Policy Research Institute and Hall Center for the Humanities Seminar Series

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has expressed strong interest in environmental behavior. In particular, the EPA wishes to understand why certain entities--corporations, municipalities, farmers, households--comply, if not over comply, with environmental regulations, while others do not. Similarly, the EPA wants to learn what motivates some entities to voluntarily reduce their emissions in the absence of regulations. Numerous factors may explain these choices. Not surprisingly, the EPA wants to know whether its actions, especially enforcement and monitoring, result in more compliance or lower emissions. Other factors include third-party legal claims, local-community pressure, financial-market pressure, insurance-market pressure, product marketability ("green good"), and social or professional norms.

As we explore the theme of environmental behavior, we will examine the following:

?The effects of monitoring or inspections on compliance
?Compliance in the absence of any significant enforcement threat
?The influence of the relationship between regulators and facilities on the effectiveness of enforcement and monitoring
?Local community pressure

The goal of this series is to promote dialogue and to stimulate interdisciplinary research on important policy-related issues.

This session will be held in the Big 12 Room, Kansas Union from 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Pre-registration is requested. To register, contact Charlotte Talley by email, ctalley@ku.edu, or by phone, 864-9101, and provide your name, department, and the seminar(s) you wish to attend.

Please register at least 10 days before the seminar. Program announcements will be sent out 1 week prior to each seminar.

This event is co-sponsored by:
Kansas Biological Survey
School of Law
Environmental Studies Program