Geog' 3111 Geography of Minnesota

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Geog. 3111 Geography of Minnesota

• 11.15-12.15 Wednesdays, AndH 235
• Rod Squires, 546 Social Science Building
• Tel. [phone]
• E-mail squires_at_umn.edu
• Office hours before and after class
• 12.15-1.15 Wednesdays 455 Blegen Hall

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Subject Matter
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Spaces and Behavior

• How has space been organized?
• How has behavior been organized?
• Answers through the lens of public policy

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• Minnesota is one type of space simultaneously
• contained in other spaces
• containing other spaces
• Federal, State and Local Governments

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The organization of space and the organization of
behavior has changed over time
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Through a changing public policy
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Changes appropriately seen as Muddling
through the process of disjointed
incrementalism

• The political and legal entity we know as
  Minnesota - comprising landscapes and people
  reflects the result of several iterations of
  debate involving the federal, state, and local
  governments
• Most, if not all, of its geographical
  characteristics, both tangible and intangible,
  have evolved as we have "muddled through" 150
  years

Nuclear waste in Minnesota
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Most outcomes represent some sort of definition
of public interest, reflect compromise, and
have positive and negative impacts
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In the course I view Minnesota as

• The outcome of numerous debates about the role of
  government, commonly termed public policy or law,
  prompted by the demands of individuals,
  corporations, and governments usually about
  what goods should be produced and what services
  offered and how and how space and behavior
  should be organized
• The response of those same individuals,
  corporations, and governments to such public
  policy

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What are the reasons for these land use patterns?
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Characteristics of Milk Production in Minnesota,
1967-1976 and ...

• United States Department of Agriculture

• Minnesota Department of Agriculture

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Pedagogy
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• Knowledge is of two kinds
• We know a subject ourselves or we know where to
  find information on it
• Intelligence is not the ability to store
  information but the ability to find it

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Structure of the course

• The course satisfies the environment theme and
  citizenship/public ethics theme of the CLA
  liberal education requirements
• Each afternoon will be divided between a lecture
  and a demonstration of some electronic resources
  useful to complete the required projects  

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Powerpoint presentations

• My lecture notes, which you may not fully
  understand without my narrative
• Practical way of organizing my thoughts
• Convenient method of displaying the information I
  think is important taken from a variety of
  sources
• A bibliography for the class

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• You will notice that I concentrate on certain
  aspects of the geography of Minnesota
• I do not, for example, talk about immigration or
  urban centers
• What I talk about represents what topics I find
  interesting and important about Minnesota, topics
  that are not covered in other geography courses

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The Web as a Textbook
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The nature of governments
United States, Minnesota, Metropolitan Council,
Counties, Municipalities, Townships
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The legislative process

• The Legislative branch of government enacts
  legislation, statutes, acts that
• define and establish broad social goals
• outline what behavior modifications are needed
  to achieve those goals
• delegate authority necessary to change behavior
• appropriate revenue
• Minnesota Constitution
• Minnesota Statutes

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The regulatory process

• Minnesota Statutes
• Department of Natural Resources
• Department of Agriculture
• Pollution Control Agency
• Public Utilities Commission

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Minnesota Judicial Branch

• Resolves disputes that concern
• legislation
• regulation

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• The legislature defines and establishes broad
  social goals, outlines what behavior is needed to
  achieve those goals, delegates authority
  necessary to change behavior, appropriates
  revenue
• The executive creates (promulgates) rules that
  are designed to implement legislation and change
  behavior
• The judiciary examines claims by individuals,
  organizations, even governments, that specific
  legislation or specific regulation violates their
  constitutional rights and cause some harm

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Geography of Minnesota