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Environmental education can deliver benefits to individuals, society and the environment, but few studies have asked practitioners or participants what they feel these benefits are. This research compares the perspectives of practitioners and participants in environmental education projects, using questionnaires, focus groups and participant observation. Practitioners and participants listed a large number of outcomes, with increasing knowledge about the environment mentioned most frequently. For participants, this was often in relation to gaining new skills. Social outcomes, such as making new friends, were more prominent in participant than practitioner responses. Practitioners did not spontaneously mention any negative outcomes of environmental education, and few were suggested with prompting. Participants suggested more negative outcomes than practitioners, notably damage to the environment. The differing views suggest a need for greater discussion between practitioners and their participants.

We use difference‐in‐differences approaches and parcel‐level data from Minneapolis to estimate the effects of light rail on land use change using alternate definitions of treatment area. Results using circular buffers corroborate previous findings that light rail has virtually no effect on land use change in our study area. In contrast, light rail increases the likelihood of land use change along arterial streets that cross the line at station areas. To accurately model the effects of public transit projects on urban land use, one must consider how potential riders access station areas, rather than assuming accessibility improves radially around a station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2006.08.007 Byline: Sarah E. West (a), Roberton C. Williams (b)(c) Keywords: Optimal taxation; Gasoline; Labor supply; Second-best environmental taxes; Demand system Abstract: This study estimates parameters necessary to calculate the optimal second-best gasoline tax, most notably the cross-price elasticity between gasoline and leisure. Prior theoretical work indicates the importance of this elasticity, but despite this, almost none of the prior studies of commodity taxation (and none of the studies on second-best environmental regulation) actually estimate it. Using household data, we find that gasoline is a relative complement to leisure, and thus that the optimal gasoline tax is significantly higher than marginal damages-the opposite of the result suggested by the bulk of the prior literature. Indeed, even if there were no externalities at all associated with gasoline, the optimal tax rate would still be almost equal to the average gas tax rate in the U.S. Following this approach to estimate cross-price elasticities with leisure could strongly influence estimates of optimal rates for other important commodity or pollution taxes. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105, United States (b) Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States (c) NBER Article History: Received 15 January 2006; Revised 29 August 2006; Accepted 31 August 2006 Article Note: (footnote) [star] For their helpful comments and suggestions, we thank Don Fullerton, Eban Goodstein, Larry Goulder, Michael Greenstone, Dan Hamermesh, Shulamit Kahn, Gib Metcalf, Ian Parry, Raymond Robertson, Emmanuel Saez, Dan Slesnick, Steve Trejo, Pete Wilcoxen, Frank Wolak, Ann Wolverton, several anonymous referees, and seminar participants at the Brookings Institution, the NBER Environmental Economics Working Group, the Universities of California (Berkeley and Santa Barbara), Maryland, Minnesota, Texas, and Virginia, Syracuse University, the Southern Economics Association, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For their excellent research assistance, we thank Chris Lyddy, Trey Miller, and Jim Sallee. Williams is grateful for financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2006.03.007 Byline: Soren T. Anderson (a), Sarah E. West (b) Keywords: Open space; Hedonic; Home values; Fixed effects; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Abstract: We use hedonic analysis of home transaction data from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area to estimate the effects of proximity to open space on sales price. We allow the effects of proximity to vary with demographic and location-specific characteristics and include fixed effects to control for observed and unobserved neighborhood characteristics. We find that the value of proximity to open space is higher in neighborhoods that are dense, near the central business district, high-income, high-crime, or home to many children. Using the metropolitan area's average value may substantially overestimate or underestimate the value of open space in particular neighborhoods. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, University of Michigan, USA (b) Macalester College, Department of Economics, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105, USA Article History: Accepted 31 March 2006

A comparison of the policy costs of gasoline taxes and tighter corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards reveals that increasing the gasoline tax would lead to a welfare gain whereas the alternative would almost certainly lead to a welfare loss. Given these results, it is unfortunate that policymakers are focusig on the CAFE rather than increasing the gas tax.

The distributional effects of increasing the gasoline tax, under a range of assumptions about how the revenue is recycled and for a range of different incidence measures are analyzed. The results suggest that using the additional gas tax revenue to fund labor tax cuts makes the policy substantially less regressive while using the revenue to fund lump-sum transfers actually makes it progressive.

Distributional effects, by estimating the joint demand for vehicles and miles, using the consumer expenditure survey is examined. Greater price responsiveness among low income household enhances progress of gas or mile taxes across lower incomes, and mitigates regressivity across upper incomes.

It is argued that a tax on emissions is efficient but the measurement of every car's emission would be inaccurate and expensive. The second-best uniform tax rates on gasoline and on car characteristics are described.

Through an increasingly globalized supply chain, local consumption of goods and services has impacts around the world. The carbon footprint can be used to link local consumption to global greenhouse gas emissions. This study describes the development and use of REAP Petite, a household-level footprint calculator. We describe how the tool integrates geodemographic information with user-inputted data; allows users to compare their footprint with others in their community; and presents them with targeted pledges to help them reduce their impact. Such tools can help individuals to see the impact their consumption has on emissions and help promote alternative behaviors. Based on the lessons learned during tool development and through using the tool with individuals in the UK and Sweden, we make recommendations for the development of new footprinting tools for use in the public domain. We highlight the benefits of using bottom-up methods for calculating footprints; recommend that designers consider future-proofing their tools; discuss the trade-off between complexity and usability; and recommend that designers consider going 'beyond carbon' to increase the appeal of tools to a wider audience. We also highlight the importance of providing opportunity for users to compare their footprints with those of others and of monitoring and evaluating user engagement with the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]