The term environmental planner has a certain catchy quality. It is a hot job title that ,many graduates seek, but become disappointed to find out that there are very few of these types of jobs available. I argue that all planners practice some type of environmental planning. Planning is a holistic and multidisciplinary tak that must consider not only the environment, but also the social and cultural aspects of man interaction with land.
Maybe this is why I like planning. Planners can be a “jack of all trades” if you will a practioner of various disciplines, but not a master. I believe the secret to good environmental planning is not to be an expert at every facet of the physical landscape, but to know where to find the experts. That poses another problem that we have been dealing with in class. What are the experts Values? Are the cornucopian’s and environmentalists? How should our reliance on “experts” be tempered based on hidden agendas. For example maybe a planner requires an environmental assessment for a proposed subdivision. At this point the developer hires a consultant who is paid by the developer. The assessment finds that the impact is negligible. How reliable is this information if the consultant must rely on the developer to pay his salary. I think maybe the system should procure the assessment and then charge the costs to the developer as part of the permit fees.
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