Please see attachment for assignment instructions.

 

Contemporary Public Policy Paper

Assignment Overview

For your final assignment, you will examine the rapidity of change in our contemporary society and what happens when a public policy outlives its original intent. You will analyze the theory of Social Construction of Reality and how public policy is influenced by societal, political, and economic factors. You will choose an existing public policy and conduct an evaluation of that policy. The evaluation will be done in the form of a 10-12 page research paper that can be written with scenario below.

Final Stages of a Public Policy

There are public policies that were created in an era of industry; however, society is now in an era of information and technology, and those policies that were created may have outlived their original intent. Choose a public policy that has evolved beyond its original intent. Examples:

· Social Security

· Immigration reform

Justify whether the public policy should be modified or abolished, and recommend changes and modifications to the policy. Imagine that you would be testifying this information before a committee that is dependent upon the policy you choose.

Assignment Instructions

Along with the overarching ideas from the option you choose, be sure to address the following in your research paper:

· Explain the evolution of the public policy in society.

· Use the Theory of Social Construction of Reality to explain how organizational structure and environment impact public policy.

· Analyze how societal factors drove the evolution of the public policy.

· Evaluate the structure and purpose of the public policy.

· Evaluate the challenges that the federalist structure of the United States governmental system presents for the public policy.

· Recommend changes or modifications to the public policy based on the analysis of its evolution.

Submission Requirements

· Written communication: Your writing should clearly identify where each grading criteria or part of the assignment is addressed. Your points must be logical, substantive, and relevant based on the evidence presented. The writing must be free of errors that detract from the overall message.

· APA guidelines: Resources and citations must be formatted according to current APA style and formatting. When appropriate, use APA-formatted headings.

· Resources: Your ideas must be supported with relevant recent, scholarly sources that are dated within the past five years and are properly cited and referenced in current APA style.

· Length of paper: 10–12 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page and references.

· Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

· Writing assistance is available through the Writing Center or Smarthinking, the free online writing tutorial and review service.

Geoengineering  is the process of creating scientifically engineered devices, or  modifications to the planet in order to produce an atmospheric effect of  protection or repulsion of current climate change. Lackner, 2010  suggested creating a carbon carousel that basically washes the carbon  out of the air. This process allows for CO2 particles to be trapped by  filters and sorbent materials, washed through a filtering process, and  then the CO2 can be reused. The CO2 collected by air capture machines  could be used profitably by industry or be piped underground, as is done  in experimental carbon capture and storage systems, intended largely  for use at coal-fired power plants. Another way geoengineering could  help climate change damage is the introduction of glacial walls. This  is where the walls built on the ocean-floor would come into play. Once  in place, these barriers would “block warm water so you could reduce the  melting rate, and also to provide pinning points that the ice shelf  could reground on as it thickens,” (Angle, 2018)

The  likelihood though that these measures would work are to be determined.  Large scale projects such as these would more than likely require  government funding, and an agreement that these and other proposed  models are safe, will work, and will not harm life on the planet. I like  the idea of carbon washing as a method, because it seems to be cost  effective, the CO2 could be reused. Many industries use carbon  dioxide—to carbonate beverages, freeze chicken wings and make dry ice.  The gas is also used for stimulating the growth of indoor crops and as a  nonpolluting solvent or refrigerant(Lackner, 2010). In addition to  cost, Lackner suggests, critics argue that numerous air capture machines  would consume lots of energy, and they note that the filters are made  of plastics derived from oil. A more substantial hurdle, in my mind, is  that for each ton of CO2 collected, several tons of water would  evaporate to the atmosphere, as wet filters dried. But if air capture  were implemented on a large scale, it could start to correct climate  change(Lackner, 2010) Implementing some form of geoengineering may be  the most necessary next step to slow down human driven emissions, and  climate change effects.

References:

Angle, Andrew. (2018, February 2). Glacial geoengineering—the key to slowing sea level rise?   Columbia University Earth Institute. Module Notes.

Lackner, K. S. (2010). Washing carbon out of the air. Scientific American 302(6), pp.   66–71. Module Notes.