Research Efforts: Environment-Society Interactions/title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link href="../EI.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body class="research"> <div id="container"> <div id="head"> <div id="nav"> <ul> <li id="home"><a href="/">Home</a></li> <li id="academics"><a href="/academics/">Academics</a></li> <li id="research"><a href="/research/">Research</a></li> <li id="outreach"><a href="/outreach/">Outreach</a></li> <li id="people"><a href="/people/">People</a> </li> </ul>  <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/u/LehighEI"> <input type="text" name="q" size="15" maxlength="255" value="" alt="search box" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Find" /> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.ei.lehigh.edu" /> <input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="www.ei.lehigh.edu" checked="checked" /> </form>  </div> <a href="/"><img src="/images/eilogo.png" alt="E I Logo" border="0" /></a></div> <div id="main"> <div class="secondary" style="position:fixed;margin:0 0 400px 502px;"> <h1>Menu</h1> <h2><a href="index.html">Home</a></h2> <h2><a href="water.html#home">Water</a></h2> <h2><a href="ee.html#home">Energy and Environment</a></h2> <h2><a href="gc.html#home">Global Change</a></h2> <h2><a href="esi.html#home">Environment-Society Interactions</a></h2> <ul><li><a href="esi.html#policy">Environmental policy design</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#comm">Environmental communication</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#hist">Environmental history</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#eth">Environmental ethics</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#risk">Environmental security and risk</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#grow">Smart growth</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#coor">Interjurisdictional coordination</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#impact">Climate impacts assessment</a> </li><li><a href="esi.html#part">Community participation and environmental justice</a></li></ul> <h2><a href="el.html#home">Environmental Literacy</a></h2> <h2><a href="sp.html#home">Student Projects</a></h2> </div> <div id="maincontent"> <h1>Environment-Society Interactions</h1> <a name="policy"></a><h2>Environmental Policy Design</h2> <h3>Gillroy, Holland, Briggs, Sahagian</h3> <a name="comm"></a><h2>Environmental Communication</h2> <h3>Friedman</h3> <a name="hist"></a><h2>Environmental History</h2> <h3>Cutcliffe</h3> <a name="eth"></a><h2>Environmental Ethics</h2> <h3>Gillroy, Holland, Kraft, Girardot</h3> <a name="risk"></a><h2>Environmental Security and Risk"</h2> <h3>Briggs, Friedman</h3> <a name="grow"></a><h2>Smart Growth</h2> <h3>Holland, Sahagian, Wurth, Munson, Thode</h3> <p>Modern development in the Lehigh Valley is being conducted on a landscape with a legacy of land use that did not concern itself with the health of the environment upon which it depended, in part because ecosystem function was not understood in terms of the services it provided at no cost, and in part because development was done incrementally and in an uncoordinated manner that did not allow for strategic growth. Now, owing to new directions of economic growth in the context of changing population structure, economic base, and climate, there is an opportunity to develop the region in ways that will optimize the availability of environmental resources while enhancing opportunities for economic growth in a region on its way to full recovery from massive clear-cutting, mining, and heavy industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. Examples of environmental goods and services performed at no cost (the loss of which incurs potentially great cost) that directly contribute to economic health of the region include, but are not limited to: water quantity and quality; fish and game habitats; flood control; soil fertility (and availability) for agriculture; contaminant filtration/decomposition; recreational resources; aesthetics; migratory pathways; tourism; species diversity and resistance to invasive species; and provision of an attractive regional environment that attracts and retains the talented workforce needed for economic development in the 21st century. The natural ecosystems of the Lehigh Valley, like many such watersheds throughout America, have been transected and reconfigured by haphazard land use patterns that have disrupted migration patterns, soils, and the networks within the water sheds that provide the ecosystem goods and services that help sustain economic growth as well as environmental health. As such, we seek to answer the question:</p><p style="margin-left:20px;margin-right:20px; text-align:justify"> "In the context of Smart Growth, what is the optimal configuration of natural and developed lands, whether public or private, to ensure the maximum delivery of ecosystem goods and services required for the health of the local economy, environment, and citizenry?"</p><p> While the absolute amount of land available for natural systems and wildlife is relevant, it is even more important to manage the configuration of such lands to maintain, for instance, connectivity between habitats, natural barriers for runoff and erosion, and strategically distributed wetlands for contaminant filtration and biogeochemical cycling, while providing the backdrop for renewed economic growth, development of light industrial, housing and transportation systems, and a vibrant and integrated urban/suburban/rural community.</p> <a name="coor"></a><h2>Interjurisdictional Coordination</h2> <h3>Holland, Wurth</h3> <a name="impact"></a><h2>Climate Impact Assessment</h2> <h3>Sahagian, Felzer</h3> <a name="part"></a><h2>Community Participation and Environmental Justice</h2> <h3>Holland</h3> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <p>Environmental Initiative at Lehigh University<br /> 31 Williams Dr., Office Suite 105<br /> Lehigh University<br /> Bethlehem, PA 18015<br /> p: 610.758.6380, f: 610.758.6377<br /> <a href="http://www.ei.lehigh.edu">www.ei.lehigh.edu</a>, <a href="mailto:ei@lehigh.edu">ei@lehigh.edu</a></p> </div></div> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-392904-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </body> </html>