Environmental Futures

April 2004 Futures Newsletter Archives About this Goal Reading Room Links Contact

EPA's Office of Research and Development established a goal within our strategic plan "To anticipate future environmental issues." ORD's Office of Science Policy leads this goal's implementation. This goal has three objectives which are to:

• Devlop an organzational capability for enviornmental foresight
• Stimulate dialogue both inside and outside EPA on future environmental developments and their significance
• Pilot futures analysis for a few key environmental issues

Under this goal, we expect to identify and understand potential future risks to human health and the environment; recommend new directions for research and program management decisions; and identify innovative, cost-effective solutions and alternatives through an ongoing futures effort. This effort is not intended to predict the future, but rather, "to interpret the present in a new way---a way that makes more sense and seems more conventional the farther into the future one goes."