Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Influences Reproductive Rights Policy? State Abortion Restrictions And The Level Of State Democracy, Dylan C. Naughton

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 greatly altered the way reproductive rights policy is regulated in the United States. Sole policy-making jurisdiction was given to individual states, and many states have already passed legislation that both expands and restricts abortion access. This research examines what factors have the most influence on state-level abortion policy-making, specifically testing to determine how significant the level of democracy is in deciding how restrictive reproductive rights policies are implemented. Multiple regression models were run using various other variables to examine their impact on state reproduction restriction ranking using multiple subsets of data. Through …

Not-So-Super Superfund: Cercla’S Biggest Issues, Cameron Berthiaume

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund) is a federal law that allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up contaminated sites and hold the parties responsible for the contamination financially liable. However, CERCLA faces a number of challenges to fulfilling its mission. This report examines some of the biggest issues facing the law in the past and present.

International Environmental Agreements On Climate Change, Katie Crawford

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper analyzes International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) as tools to fight the threat climate change poses on the environment and sustainable development. The paper reviews the literature that provides a theoretical foundation for the IEAs. Particularly, the issues such as the greenhouse gas emissions levels, investments in green technology, the duration of agreements, and the process of negotiation that goes behind these agreements are reviewed. Past agreements (such as the Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord, and Paris Agreement) are studied to determine their effectiveness and potential problematic aspects related to the contracts.

Russia's Use Of The Energy Weapon: How Russia Manipulates Ukraine, Georgia, And The Baltic States, Sierra Brown

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Russia’s stranglehold on oil and gas as a resource, and use of energy as a weapon is a long standing humanitarian crisis as shown by the cut off of oil exports to former Soviet Republics, in efforts to gain political and economic dependence, resulting in, as one example shows, electricity and heat suspensions of innocent citizens homes. Other concerted efforts of Moscow include control over export routes, the attempt to reinstate the Soviet Union, and the intimidation of the Western World. The Soviet Union may have collapsed, but the drive for state control over resources, people, and land did not. …

Climate Refugees: Establishing Legal Responses And U.S. Policy Possibilities, Steven Tetrick

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

“Climate Refugee” describes a person who is forced to leave their home or community due to changes to the local environment, such as rising sea level, drought, famine, or other side effects of climate change. A study from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that with the current rate of climate change, 250 million people will become climate refugees by 2050. Under the current global institutions, climate refugees are not granted legal refugee rights and there are no specific legal frameworks protecting them at the international or national levels. This paper will focus on refugee and immigration policy …

Our Second State Of The State Issue

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Minnesota's Drug Problem, Tony Bouza

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Bias, Prejudice, And Human Rights In Minnesota, Stephen W. Cooper

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The Children's Agenda: A Promising Beginning, Marlene Johnson

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

New Rules, New Technologies, And The Shape Of Minnesota Farming, Steven J. Taff

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The future development of Minnesota agriculture will be strongly influenced by new technologies and government policies that will alter prices for farm inputs and outputs. While some farm operations will fail under most expected price regimes, a loss of farmers will probably not have a significant impact on overall farm production. However, the new technologies and government policies could shift Minnesota farming into either a more intensive (less land, higher yield) or more extensive (more land, lower yield) mode of operation. A shift either way will have important implications for Minnesotans. Ownership and residence patterns, ground water quality, habitat and …

Learning From Each Other: Better Schools And A Brighter Future, Joe Nathan Phd

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Recent Minnesota experience shows that it is possible to make rapid, significant improvement in our public schools. Despite the skepticism of some and opposition of others, Governor Perpich's school choice initiatives helped thousands of youngsters, while not producing the chaos opponents predicted. This paper argues that we should build on the success of recent reforms to rethink the roles of parents and students in our schools. While Minnesota has the nation's highest graduation rate and above-average test scores, additional reforms are necessary if we are to continue to make economic and social progress.

The State Of Public Primary And Secondary Education In Minnesota, Ruth E. Randall Ed.D

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Managing Minnesota's Solid Waste, Thomas Meersman

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

New Approaches Needed For Water Quality Gains In The 1990s, Gerald L. Willet

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

In the land of 15,000 lakes, 91,944 river miles and a trillion gallons of ground water, the summer of 1988 saw the unlikely come to pass. The mighty Mississippi dropped to less than one-tenth of its normal flow. Crops withered, grass turned brown, and well pumps burned out in the most hellish heat wave since the 1930s.

While the drought was primarily an issue of insufficient water quantity, it also served to focus additional attention on water quality. Water quality concerns are not new to Minnesota, which has led the nation in protecting the environment for two decades. Nonetheless, the …

Providing Quality Health Care For All, Vic Ellison

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus In Minnesota: Summary Of 1988 Statewide Hiv Risk Reduction And Disease Prevention Plan, Kristine L. Macdonald M.D.

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The AIDS epidemic continues to grow in Minnesota. As of December 10, 1988, 447 cases of AIDS had been reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and 252 Minnesotans had died from AIDS. An effectively implemented risk reduction and disease prevention plan that has broad support and involvement of all segments of the statewide community is essential to reduce the tragic morbidity and mortality caused by this disease in Minnesota. The Commissioner's Task Force on AIDS approved a statewide human immunodeficiency virus (HN) risk reduction plan in the spring of 1986.

Suburban Congestion The Twin Cities Real Transportation Problem, Richard P. Braun, Amy M. Vennewitz

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Suburban Congestion. What is it and why is it the Twin Cities' rea/transportation problem?

Webster's dictionary defines the word "congestion" as a condition of overcrowding, overburdening, or an excessive accumulation to the point of obstruction. Though the term "suburban congestion" does not have a precise definition, most persons living in urban areas today have a clear perception of what suburban congestion entails. Images of overcrowded freeway lanes, snarled intersections, endless queues of cars and bumper-to-bumper, stop and go traffic jump quickly to mind.

The Twin Cities and metropolitan areas all across the nation are reaching a "suburban congestion crisis" brought …

R&D Funding In The Midwest: Are We Stuck In The Backseat?, Stephen J. Gage

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Organ Procurement, Values And Public Policy, Ronald P. Hamel

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The success of organ transplants in recent years has created a shortage of transplantable cadaver organs. Voluntarism, the primary mode of organ procurement currently in use nationwide, appears to be no longer successful. Policy makers and others are examining alternatives to the current system, namely, presumed consent (routine salvaging) and required request. In this process, there is a danger in considering only the effectiveness of the means and neglecting the value and belief commitments that underlie them. These need to be brought to the surface because they ultimately contribute toward shaping the moral character of society. In this light, required …

A Broad Perspective On Biotechnology And Environmental Regulation, Glenn L. Radde

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Siting: A Political Process, James Pehler

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

A Geographer's Response To The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Robert Bixby

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Elementary And Secondary Education Policy In The Minnesota Legislature, Joyce Krupey, Gene Mammenga

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This discussion of the political climate in which elementary and secondary education is funded in Minnesota begins with the Minnesota Miracle of 1971. In each successive legislative session some adjustments have been made in this formula. In this paper we describe the various lobbying groups that try to affect education legislation. We also discuss the role played by the governor, key legislators, legislative and Department of Education staff, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner of education in educational policy formation. In conclusion, we summarize major formula changes since 1971 and review the many education-related issues before the legislature …

Currently Existing Mosquito Control Programs In Minnesota, Arthur H. Mason, Doree A. Maser

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Mosquito Control in Minnesota is governed by three statutes: Local Pest Control 18.021 -18.022, Mosquito Abatement 18.041 -18.161, and Mosquito Control 473.701 -473.717. Of these only two are actively utilized, 18.021 -18.022 in outstate Minnesota and 473.701 -473.717 in the seven county metropolitan area. Local Pest Control Statute 18.021 -18.022 governs the control of many pests including mosquitoes. The statute is enforced by the Municipal Pest Control Section of the Division of Plant Industry in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Pesticides are generally applied to kill adult mosquitoes upon citizen demand.

Land Use For Timber And Recreation: A Case Study In Victoria, Australia, Lawrence C. Merriam

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

For many years the United States has had major problems in public land use for timber and recreation. Problems in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area are an example. Australia is a country with Simi !tar concerns. The State Forests of Central Victoria, administered by the Forests Commission, were heavily burned m 1939. They now have regenerated to commercially mature stands, particularly of mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell.). Within 100 kilometers of the 3 million people in Melbourne, the forests are popular recreation sites. This paper reports on a study made for the Forests Commission aimed at the effective integration …

A Basis For Legislation To Encourage Conservation Of Automobile Energy Fuel, James Pinson Ludwig

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

A detailed basis for legislation to institute a system of rating automobiles according to their energy costs is proposed, together with mechanisms to tax wasteful uses of energy associated with cars. A complementary rebate system for owners of very efficient vehicles also is proposed. This proposal is advanced instead of systems of increasing energy supplies or gasoline rationing to control consumer demand.