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Courses
Risk Assessment, Communication and Management
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
Instructor(s): Patt, Anthony
Subject area: Environmental Studies
Department: Environmental Studies
Course number: EE511
Year taught: 2001
Level: Graduate
Please note that the copyright for this syllabus is retained by the instructor.
Overview: This course examines issues of risk analysis, communication, and management. These issues are at the nexus of issues of environmental sustainability, management, and justice, and issues of human decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and stress.
Course Description
Personally, I think the United States is way too safe. We are obsessed with making life risk free, and anything dangerous, whether it is in the form of a food
additive, a technology, or a behavior, is seen as quasi-criminal. Me, I have given up the safe past-times of skiing and wind surfing for the more adventurous pursuits
of ice climbing and paragliding. People say to me: "But isn't that dangerous?" as if it should be against the law or something. "Well yeah, it's dangerous," I respond.
"So is crossing the street. You cross the street because for one reason or another you want to get to the other side, and it's worth the risk of being run over by a truck. I
jump off mountains because I love to fly, and to me it's worth the one-in-one-thousand risk of dying each year in the process." Oh, I still like to ski, but I only do it in
Europe, where nobody bats an eye when you careen off a cliff headfirst. I guess I'd be a chain smoker too, but then the altitude would get to me, and I would have to
give up the other stuff. Choices.
But hey, that's just me. And I'm certainly inconsistent. I would be mad as heck if someone built a toxic waste disposal facility in my backyard, or even across the
street. Somebody ought to be looking out for the risks I think are unreasonable (asbestos in this classroom, for instance) and getting out of my hair when I choose to
accept the risks I like.
Politics. Freedom. Safety. Environment. Who lives, who loses a leg in a traffic accident because some idiot was bicycling while talking on a cell phone. This course is
about all that.
Course Requirements
Woody Allen said that 90% of life is showing up. Not here. You have to show up and be heard. Class participation from everybody is vital for the course to be any
fun for anybody. If you can inspire mass laughter or a shouting fest, that's even better. Please use metric units. Class participation counts 25% of your grade.
You have to read the assigned readings before the class they are listed, and turn in eight problem sets. Each problem set should take about an hour or two to
complete. Of these, I will count your top six. In the aggregate, they count for 25% of your grade.
You have to take a midterm. If you have done all the problem sets and spoken out in class, I don't see any reason to study extra for the midterm. It's all about giving
you feedback on how well you are understanding this stuff. The midterm counts 10% of your grade.
You have to write a short paper, 2000 words or fewer, comparing three alternative viewpoints on risk. The viewpoints are contained in three books we will read and
discuss late in the semester. Lives are at stake. So is 15% of your grade.
You have to take a final exam. It's going to be tough. It will count 25% of your grade.
Readings
There are four books and one reading packet. Buy the books if you want, and sacrifice trees. Share them with your friends. Check them out of the library. Just read
them. The books are:
Should We Risk It? (1999) Daniel Kammen and David Hassenzahl. Princeton University Press
Dealing with Risk. (1996) Howard Margolis. University of Chicago Press
Misunderstanding Science? (1996) Alan Irwin and Brian Wynne (eds.). Cambridge University Press
Breaking the Vicious Circle. (1993) Stephen Bryer. Harvard University Press
Problem Sets and Paper
The problem sets are all out of Should We Risk It?, which is the textbooky book of the course. I list the problems for each problem set on the daily schedule. You
choose the book comparison topic.
Rules
I hate warning label that restate the obvious, but I will throw one in here. You have to stick to the BU code of conduct, and can get in serious trouble if you don't.
Exams are open book, because life is open book, and this course is about life. You can talk about the problem sets and paper with friends, but must ultimately answer
the questions yourself. Nothing handed in late counts; do it early if you are worried that your friend's Firestones will blow and you will have too much on your mind
at the last minute. Turn in the paper in by email; I stop reading after 2000 words.
Schedule
17 January Basics of risk analysis and issues for the course
Should We Risk It, Chapter 1
19 January Basic models and problems
Should We Risk It, Chapter 2
22 January Case study of formaldehyde
Graham, Chapters 2 and 3
24 January Case study continued
No additional reading
26 January Rationality Take One
Freudenberg, Risky Thinking
First Problem Set Due, Problems 1-F, 2-C
29 January Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Should We Risk It, Chapter 3
31 January Rationality and Statistics
Zeckhauser and Viscusi, The Risk Management Dilemma
2 February Social Statistics
Kunreuther and Slovic, Science, Values, and Risk
Second Problem Set Due, Problems 3-A, 3-D
5 February Uncertainty, Take One
Should We Risk It, Chapter 5
7 February Decision-making biases
Bazerman, Chapters 1 and 2
9 February Uncertainty, Take Two
Bazerman, Chapter 3
Third Problem Set Due, Problems 4-B, 4-C
12 February Toxicology
Should We Risk It, Chapter 5
14 February Toxicological Justice
Shutkin, Urban Agriculture in Boston
16 February Rationality Take Two
Graham and Rhomberg, How Risks are Identified and Assessed
Fourth Problem Set Due, Problems 5-A, 5-B, 5-C
20 February Epidemiology
Should We Risk It, Chapter 6
21 February Epidemiology and Toxicology, Intertwined
Ehrlich and Ehrlich, Fables about Toxic Substances
23 February Rationality Take Three
Kasperson and Kasperson, Social Amplification and Attenuation of Risk
Fifth Problem Set Due, Problems 6-M, 6-N
26 February Exposure Assessment
Should We Risk It, Chapter 7
28 February Midterm Examination
2 March Social Discourses of Risk
Dryzak, Administrative Rationalism
12 March Technological Risk, Whatever That Is
Should We Risk It, Chapter 8
14 March Risk Interpretation
Mountaineering Safety and Leadership
16 March Redefining Progress
Dryzak, Ecological Modernization
Sixth Problem Set Due, Problems 7-B, 8-B, 8-C
19 March Decision-Making for the twentieth time
Should We Risk It, Chapter 9
21 March Decision-making for the twenty-first time
Bazerman, Chapter 10
23 March Rationality Take Four
Thaler and Loewenstein, Intertemporal Choice
Seventh Problem Set Due, Problems 9-A, 9-G
26 March Risk Perception and Communication
Should We Risk It, Chapter 10
28 March Risk Communication History
Leiss, Three Evolutionary Phases of Risk Communication
30 March Other Ideas on Risk Communication
Viscusi and Zeckhauser, Hazard Communication
Eighth and Final Problem Set Due, Problems 10-E, 10-G
Week of 2 April Objective Technocracy for the Common Good
Margolis, Dealing With Risk
Week of 9 April Shepherd Muddles and Radioactive Puddles
Irwin and Wynne, Misunderstanding Science?
Week of 16 April Efficiency Unveiled
Bryer, Breaking the Vicious Circle
23 April Putting It All Together in Germany
Renn, Risk Communication and Public Dialogue
25 April Putting It All Together in England
Ireland, Regulating Consumer Risk
27 April Putting It All on Ice
Patt, Extreme Outcomes
Comparative Book Review Due
30 April Synthesis
For additional information: http://people.bu.edu/apatt/teaching.html
This document was last modified on 01/31/2001 05:23:51 PM
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