Symposium to focus on society's decision-making

June 2-5, the 9th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management will be hosted by the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and the Department of Recreation and Park Administration at IU. The symposium will consist of presentations and discussions on government policy making, environmental concerns and various other issues relating to natural resource management. \nThe event, at Willkie Residence Center, looks to attract more than 500 attendees, and is titled "Choices and Consequences: Natural Resources and Societal Decision Making." \nThere will be three guest speakers including Winifred B. Kessler, director of wildlife, fisheries, ecology, and watershed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Alaska region; Robert Lewis Jr., deputy chief for research in the Washington, D.C. office for the U.S. Forest Service; and Elinor Ostrom, the Arthur F. Bentley professor of political science and co-director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and the Center for the Study of Institutions, Populations and Environmental Change (CIPEC).\n"A major premise of our symposium is that complex natural resource issues are society problems and thus must be addressed through an interdisciplinary, social science perspective," symposium co-chairman Alan Ewert said.\n"In addition to our main speakers, there will be research papers presented, as well as different forums for the discourse of the issues that we will deal with," he said. \nEwert said anyone interested may attend, and past turnouts have ranged from natural resource managers, professors and students to those who simply want to learn more about current environmental issues. According to the symposium's official web site, one of its main goals is to be "inclusive rather than exclusive," and those who plan to attend discussions or presentations should feel free to ask questions or contribute insights.\nElinor Ostrom, whose presentation is slated for Wednesday, will discuss institutional and biological diversity and some of the related problems. \n"People have a lot of questions about the rules and systems that govern those things, and that is why the symposium can be useful," she said. Ostrom is also the author and co-author of several works, including "Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems" and "Institutional Incentives and Sustainable Development."\n"For anyone that is interested in learning more about current issues and problems relating to the environment, partaking in an event like this symposium that deals with such a copious range of topics should obviously broaden a general understanding, especially because it is so interactive," graduate Steve Arnold said.\n"It seems like a good opportunity to pose practical questions about things that affect everyday life, such as pollution for example," he said.