Final Reflection Post
Valentina Balatsenko With the combination of researching my own area of policy as well as engaging in class activities, I learned a lot about policy discussion and creation. In the class activities such as the policy negotiation roleplay and the mock policy debates, I got to learn about different perspectives from my peers and hearContinue reading “Final Reflection Post”
White Paper Post
Valentina Balatsenko As a citizen activist, one of the most important issues with the topic of climate change and deforestation, is seeing how the future will be impacted if no changes are made. It is clear to see that with the current method of treating the issue of climate change, deforestation will continue to getContinue reading “White Paper Post”
Policy Brief Post
By Valentina Balatsenko With a continued decrease in the number of forest land in the United States, deforestation is an issue that will continue to contribute to environmental issues across the nation. These issues include drought, wildfires, loss of habitat for species, and an increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. One of theContinue reading “Policy Brief Post”
Findings Memo
Valentina Balatsenko Key Findings Here are some of the key findings related to this topic that are relevant to the other posts for this blog: Most of the country’s deforestation happened between the 1600’s and the 1900’s, and was increased by the industrial revolution. Laws and policies passed in the 1900’s that aimed to createContinue reading “Findings Memo”
Facts Sheet
Valentina Balatsenko The Facts So what are the facts surrounding this topic? It’s important to look at both the statistics involving climate change as well as forestry in the United States to better understand the situation. How Much of the United States is Covered in Forest? A good place to start is the question ofContinue reading “Facts Sheet”
Legislative History
Valentina Balatsenko When looking at the history of deforestation in the United States, a good place to start is in the 1600’s, when roughly 46% of the country’s land area was covered in forests (Tom, 2016). By the early 1900’s, this number had dropped to 34% and then dropped again to 33% by the endContinue reading “Legislative History”
Action Memo
Valentina Balatsenko Continuing from the last post, the chosen policy solution for the purposes of this post will be rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. Because of the notification of intention to withdraw from the Agreement, this topic is already a controversial one in the country among policy makers. In order to successfully rejoin the ParisContinue reading “Action Memo”
Decision Memo
Valentina Balatsenko Quick Briefing of Options As stated in the previous post, three possible alternative options to handle the issue of deforestation related to climate change in the United States are: rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, introducing federal forestry laws, and creating more national reserved forest land. What Should be the Priority? When considering whichContinue reading “Decision Memo”
Options Memo
Valentina Balatsenko Why do we need change? With the steady increase in the global temperature, something needs to be done in order to preserve the nation’s environment. Even though deforestation by excessive logging is not at the scale it used to be, deforestation and climate change is still a threat to the future of theContinue reading “Options Memo”
Deforestation Background in the US
Valentina Balatsenko Forests in the US With the United States being in the top five largest countries in the world, it’s no surprise the forests in the nation make up a large percent of the world’s forests. The US, having the fourth largest estate of forests, includes around 8% of the world’s total forests. ApproximatelyContinue reading “Deforestation Background in the US”

About Me
Hello, my name is Valentina Balatsenko and I am a communication major with a concentration in interpersonal and organizational communication. I love to learn about different languages and cultures in my free time, and I love playing games. One of my favorite games is Animal Crossing.
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