Handling Scientific and Technical Information in Contentious Public Issues

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Handling Scientific and Technical Information in
Contentious Public Issues

• Southern Community Development Educators
  Conference, Tampa, FL
• Steve Smutko
• Dept. of Agricultural Resource Economics
• North Carolina State University

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Scenario 1
Garfield County is a mixed piedmont- mountain
county that is geographically and culturally
divided east and west. The scenic western half
is occupied by
the town of Bluemont and prestigious Hilltop
College. The people in Bluemont generate income
from the college, tourism, and a recent surge in
retiree relocation and second home development.
Eastern Garfield County, anchored by the town of
Fairfield, is heavily farmed and less affluent.
Highway 283 runs east-west. The county is
undergoing explosive growth, and farm fields and
woodlots along Hwy 283 are now sprouting
Wal-Marts and 1/2-acre country estates.
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Scenario 1
While growth has brought income and jobs, traffic
and a changed landscape have come with it. Many
county residents have grown alarmed at the
changes and feel that it is time for county
leaders to take action and enact zoning to
regulate growth. They are pushing hard to make it
happen. Many rural residents, while concerned
about the disappearance of farms and farming,
fear that zoning will limit their ability to gain
future income from their property. A strong
property-rights organization has formed in the
county to fight a zoning ordinance. Recognizing
the need for some dialogue on this issue the
Chair of the Board of County Commissioners has
contacted Cooperative Extension for help.
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Scenario 1

• Some items that have come to your attention
  regarding this issue
• Zoning proponents cite studies showing that
  unchecked growth increases the cost of services
  provided by local governments, ultimately
  resulting in higher taxes to support growth
• Zoning opponents are armed with studies showing
  that zoning drives up housing prices, forcing
  people to settle outside urban boundaries where
  housing is affordable
• Both sides have held community meetings
  featuring the experts of their choice.

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What are the Issues?

• Vanishing sense of place
• Property rights
• Conflicting data/information
• Information as weaponry

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Public Issues Education?

• What is Extensions role in this issue?
• What is your role?
• How to you proceed?

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Scenario 2
An out-of-state investment group proposes
building a 20,000-hog feeding operation in your
county. Concerns have been raised to a fever
pitch as
county citizens grapple with the issue of
balancing economic benefits of livestock
production with quality of life and environmental
protection. Recognizing the need for a public
discussion on the issues surrounding the growth
of the livestock industry, the County
Commissioners pass an ordinance declaring a
moratorium on new intensive livestock operations
and expansion of existing operations until they
can devise a plan about how to proceed.
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Scenario 2
The ordinance calls for the formation of a study
committee to review current research, describe
the impacts associated with intensive livestock
operations, and recommend solutions. Committee
members, appointed by the commissioners,
represent various interests with a stake in the
outcome of any policy decisions. Some members of
the committee are in strong disagreement over the
social, environmental and economic impacts of
swine farming. Extension is asked to help this
group develop its recommendations. Although the
committee has not yet been officially convened,
several issues regarding data have already come
to your attention
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Scenario 2

• Members have been amassing data - much of it from
  the internet - to support their positions for or
  against intensive livestock operations

• 2. Some committee members have stated that they
  mistrust data that comes from the state
  university (your employer)
• The state epidemiologist has testified that
  large-scale hog operations pollute neighboring
  wells
• Studies undertaken by university faculty have
  shown that most waste treatment ponds do not
  leak
• There remains a high degree of scientific
  uncertainty over the rate and extent of nitrate
  transport in ground water

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What are the Issues?

• Water quality
• Air quality
• Freedom to farm
• Conflicting information
• Scientific uncertainty

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Public Issues Education?

• What is Extensions role in this issue?
• What is your role?
• How do you proceed?

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Public Issues Education

• Methods for providing education on issues of
  widespread concern
• Use of facilitated dialogue and information
  exchange
• Typically choice-focused
• Helping people make informed decisions about
  public matters

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Objectives of Public Issues Education

• Increase citizens knowledge about issues
• Help determine appropriate, effective strategies
  for making decisions
• Help citizens craft, evaluate, and implement
  alternative solutions
• Build skills, provide opportunities for effective
  participation

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Handling Scientific and Technical Information

• Public issues are usually complex, often
  contentious
• Scientific and technical information is central
• Science itself can be controversial
• Efforts of Extension educators can be impaired

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New Curriculum
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Curriculum Objectives

• Learners will
• Differentiate roles of Extension educators
• Learn differences between data conflicts and
  substantive conflicts
• Learn appropriate methods of integrating science
  and technical information into collaborative
  processes
• Learn best practices

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Application of Curriculum

• Manage warring or contested science
• Manage distrust in the science from your own
  institution
• Manage scientific and technical uncertainty
• Deal with information imbalances

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Curriculum Modules

• Roles for Extension Educators
• Sources of Conflict
• Key Concepts and Principles
• Tools and Techniques

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Tools and Techniques

• Scoping and assessing the issue
• Designing an educational program
• Defining the problem
• Working with experts
• Negotiating and problem solving
• Making and implementing agreements

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Materials

• Instructors Guide
• Background material
• Discussion points
• Class exercises (case scenarios)
• Sample agenda
• Visuals (slides and video segments)
• Learners Packet

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Availability

• Currently in production
• Preliminary copies available (without video
  segments)
• Will be accessible from the web
• www.publicissueseducation.net