Decision-making process societal costs

Needs in environmental education derive directly from the dozens of problem areas which need to be addressed and trtiich all share certain charateristics. They are portions of a continuum. Study of a toxics problem may start at any point for example, with the chemical process by which a toxic is first made, or with impact on aquatic ecosystems. But societally useful knowledge means learning about the entire continuum, not just details of a specialized portion. Environmental education directed toward toxic substances must extend beyond a chemical technology and its direct impact to the full range of Impacts and options — what will make them "safe", their internal and external costs, and the way they may fit into the fabric of society — all such knowledge must reach decision-makers. The fact that such problems exist, and that past education has not prepared a generation well to deal with them, leads to the rationale behind UCLA s Environmental Science and Engineering. 

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