Dorothy M. Daley and Tony G. Reames
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262028837
- eISBN:
- 9780262327138
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028837.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter examines public participation in federal environmental decision-making from an environmental justice perspective. The authors begin with a broad overview of past research on public ...
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This chapter examines public participation in federal environmental decision-making from an environmental justice perspective. The authors begin with a broad overview of past research on public participation and environmental decision-making, and then discuss the opportunities and challenges that arise in the specific context of environmental justice. The chapter describes and analyzes the way that federal agencies have involved the public – particularly, low-income and minority individuals, and the groups that represent them – in environmental decision-making, which is an important part of government efforts to achieve procedural justice. The analysis compares efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Transportation. Among the key findings are that there is significant variation in how public participatory processes are used to address environmental justice concerns across the three agencies examined, and that, while opportunities for public involvement have increased since the signing of Executive Order 12898, actual participation from low-income and minority communities has been uneven.Less
This chapter examines public participation in federal environmental decision-making from an environmental justice perspective. The authors begin with a broad overview of past research on public participation and environmental decision-making, and then discuss the opportunities and challenges that arise in the specific context of environmental justice. The chapter describes and analyzes the way that federal agencies have involved the public – particularly, low-income and minority individuals, and the groups that represent them – in environmental decision-making, which is an important part of government efforts to achieve procedural justice. The analysis compares efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Transportation. Among the key findings are that there is significant variation in how public participatory processes are used to address environmental justice concerns across the three agencies examined, and that, while opportunities for public involvement have increased since the signing of Executive Order 12898, actual participation from low-income and minority communities has been uneven.
Karen Bell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781447305941
- eISBN:
- 9781447302933
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447305941.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
Environmental justice aspires to a healthy environment for all, as well as fair and inclusive processes of environmental decision-making. In order to develop successful strategies to achieve this, it ...
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Environmental justice aspires to a healthy environment for all, as well as fair and inclusive processes of environmental decision-making. In order to develop successful strategies to achieve this, it is important to understand the factors that shape environmental justice outcomes. This optimistic, accessible and wide-ranging book contributes to this understanding by assessing the extent of, and reasons for, environmental justice/injustice in seven diverse countries - United States, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom, Sweden, China, Bolivia and Cuba. Factors discussed include: race and class discrimination; citizen power; industrialisation processes; political-economic context; and the influence of dominant environmental discourses. In particular, the role of capitalism is critically explored. Based on over a hundred interviews with politicians, experts, activists and citizens of these countries, this is a compelling analysis aimed at all academics, policy-makers and campaigners who are engaged in thinking or action to address the most urgent environmental and social issues of our time.Less
Environmental justice aspires to a healthy environment for all, as well as fair and inclusive processes of environmental decision-making. In order to develop successful strategies to achieve this, it is important to understand the factors that shape environmental justice outcomes. This optimistic, accessible and wide-ranging book contributes to this understanding by assessing the extent of, and reasons for, environmental justice/injustice in seven diverse countries - United States, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom, Sweden, China, Bolivia and Cuba. Factors discussed include: race and class discrimination; citizen power; industrialisation processes; political-economic context; and the influence of dominant environmental discourses. In particular, the role of capitalism is critically explored. Based on over a hundred interviews with politicians, experts, activists and citizens of these countries, this is a compelling analysis aimed at all academics, policy-makers and campaigners who are engaged in thinking or action to address the most urgent environmental and social issues of our time.
Thomas Dietz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- December 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198716600
- eISBN:
- 9780191807572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716600.003.0016
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter reviews the literature on how values influence individual decisions about the environment. Theory suggests that three values—self-interest, altruism toward other humans, and altruism ...
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This chapter reviews the literature on how values influence individual decisions about the environment. Theory suggests that three values—self-interest, altruism toward other humans, and altruism toward other species and the biosphere—will influence decision-making. These three values have been reliably measured in survey instruments around the world. Most studies support the theoretical expectation that altruism, and especially altruism toward other species and the biosphere, influence environmentally consequential decisions, but that influence is often indirect through identity, beliefs, and norms. Overall, research on environmental values has produced well-developed theory, reliable and flexible measurement strategies, and a substantial body of empirical results confirming the influence of values on environmental decisions.Less
This chapter reviews the literature on how values influence individual decisions about the environment. Theory suggests that three values—self-interest, altruism toward other humans, and altruism toward other species and the biosphere—will influence decision-making. These three values have been reliably measured in survey instruments around the world. Most studies support the theoretical expectation that altruism, and especially altruism toward other species and the biosphere, influence environmentally consequential decisions, but that influence is often indirect through identity, beliefs, and norms. Overall, research on environmental values has produced well-developed theory, reliable and flexible measurement strategies, and a substantial body of empirical results confirming the influence of values on environmental decisions.
David M. Konisky (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262028837
- eISBN:
- 9780262327138
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028837.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the federal government’s implementation of environmental justice policy. Decades of scholarly research has demonstrated that low-income and ...
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This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the federal government’s implementation of environmental justice policy. Decades of scholarly research has demonstrated that low-income and minority communities experience disproportionate environmental burdens. During the mid-1990s, the federal government initiated several policies to address these environmental inequalities, including an executive order signed by President Clinton in 1994 (Executive Order 12898) that called on federal agencies to consider environmental justice concerns in its programs, policies, and activities. Yet, twenty years later, there has been not been a systematic evaluation of the implementation of the executive order or the other environmental justice policy commitments made by the Environmental Protection Agency. This book provides such an evaluation. The chapters in this book carefully examine federal environmental justice policy as it has been carried out over the past two decades, with an emphasis on the performance of the Environmental Protection Agency. The contributing authors focus on different aspects of environmental decision-making, including permitting, standard-setting, economic analysis, public participation, enforcement, and use of the courts, but reach a similar general conclusion: the federal government, and the EPA in particular, has generally failed to deliver on the promises articulated in Executive Order 12898 and in subsequent policy commitments. Although the conclusion is a disappointing one, the authors also share optimism that progress can be made, and they each provide recommendations for improving policy moving forward.Less
This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the federal government’s implementation of environmental justice policy. Decades of scholarly research has demonstrated that low-income and minority communities experience disproportionate environmental burdens. During the mid-1990s, the federal government initiated several policies to address these environmental inequalities, including an executive order signed by President Clinton in 1994 (Executive Order 12898) that called on federal agencies to consider environmental justice concerns in its programs, policies, and activities. Yet, twenty years later, there has been not been a systematic evaluation of the implementation of the executive order or the other environmental justice policy commitments made by the Environmental Protection Agency. This book provides such an evaluation. The chapters in this book carefully examine federal environmental justice policy as it has been carried out over the past two decades, with an emphasis on the performance of the Environmental Protection Agency. The contributing authors focus on different aspects of environmental decision-making, including permitting, standard-setting, economic analysis, public participation, enforcement, and use of the courts, but reach a similar general conclusion: the federal government, and the EPA in particular, has generally failed to deliver on the promises articulated in Executive Order 12898 and in subsequent policy commitments. Although the conclusion is a disappointing one, the authors also share optimism that progress can be made, and they each provide recommendations for improving policy moving forward.
Leo F. Saldanha and Bhargavi S. Rao
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199450459
- eISBN:
- 9780199083084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450459.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Chapter 2 critically explores some of the buried policy judgements and assumptions underlying the Indian government’s assessment of risks; particularly how the Indian government’s understanding of ...
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Chapter 2 critically explores some of the buried policy judgements and assumptions underlying the Indian government’s assessment of risks; particularly how the Indian government’s understanding of ‘progress’ and ‘development’ has shaped the appraisal of risks in environmental decision-making. This chapter begins with an overview of India’s wider political and economic context and points to the tensions between Article 39 in the Constitution of India, which states that development must serve the wider public good, and the government’s policies, which have failed to trickle down to the poor. In some depth it reviews the structure of environmental decision-making in India and draws some damning conclusions from two case studies involving projects of ‘economic, technological, and strategic significance’—Mangalore Airport and POSCO.Less
Chapter 2 critically explores some of the buried policy judgements and assumptions underlying the Indian government’s assessment of risks; particularly how the Indian government’s understanding of ‘progress’ and ‘development’ has shaped the appraisal of risks in environmental decision-making. This chapter begins with an overview of India’s wider political and economic context and points to the tensions between Article 39 in the Constitution of India, which states that development must serve the wider public good, and the government’s policies, which have failed to trickle down to the poor. In some depth it reviews the structure of environmental decision-making in India and draws some damning conclusions from two case studies involving projects of ‘economic, technological, and strategic significance’—Mangalore Airport and POSCO.
Chrisoula Andreou
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017404
- eISBN:
- 9780262301770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017404.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses the utility of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in decision making, specifically environmental decision making. For the purposes of the discussion here, it uses a type of CBA that ...
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This chapter discusses the utility of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in decision making, specifically environmental decision making. For the purposes of the discussion here, it uses a type of CBA that incorporates two controversial characteristics, namely, the assumption of comparability and the willingness-to-pay measure. The chapter aims to show that the recognition of a well motivated holistic decision-making strategy can shed light on debates regarding CBA. This strategy is concerned with patterns of choices rather than individual ones, and corresponds with two familiar phenomena—the “pricing” of alternatives and the “embedding effect” in willingness-to-pay studies. This chapter also differentiates CBA from cost-preparedness analysis, and concludes that there need not be any inconsistency in pricing alternatives deemed incomparable and that willingness-to-pay studies can be more accurately interpreted as tracking the “preparedness to pay.”.Less
This chapter discusses the utility of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in decision making, specifically environmental decision making. For the purposes of the discussion here, it uses a type of CBA that incorporates two controversial characteristics, namely, the assumption of comparability and the willingness-to-pay measure. The chapter aims to show that the recognition of a well motivated holistic decision-making strategy can shed light on debates regarding CBA. This strategy is concerned with patterns of choices rather than individual ones, and corresponds with two familiar phenomena—the “pricing” of alternatives and the “embedding effect” in willingness-to-pay studies. This chapter also differentiates CBA from cost-preparedness analysis, and concludes that there need not be any inconsistency in pricing alternatives deemed incomparable and that willingness-to-pay studies can be more accurately interpreted as tracking the “preparedness to pay.”.
William P. Kabasenche, Michael O'Rourke, and Matthew H. Slater (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017404
- eISBN:
- 9780262301770
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017404.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Philosophical reflections on the environment began with early philosophers’ invocation of a cosmology that mixed natural and supernatural phenomena. Today, the central philosophical problem posed by ...
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Philosophical reflections on the environment began with early philosophers’ invocation of a cosmology that mixed natural and supernatural phenomena. Today, the central philosophical problem posed by the environment involves not what it can teach us about ourselves and our place in the cosmic order but rather how we can understand its workings in order to make better decisions about our own conduct regarding it. The resulting inquiry spans different areas of contemporary philosophy, many of which are represented by the fifteen chapters in this book. The chapters first consider conceptual problems generated by rapid advances in biology and ecology, examining such topics as ecological communities, adaptation, and scientific consensus. The chapters then turn to epistemic and axiological issues, first considering philosophical aspects of environmental decision making and then assessing particular environmental policies (largely relating to climate change), including reparations, remediation, and nuclear power, from a normative perspective.Less
Philosophical reflections on the environment began with early philosophers’ invocation of a cosmology that mixed natural and supernatural phenomena. Today, the central philosophical problem posed by the environment involves not what it can teach us about ourselves and our place in the cosmic order but rather how we can understand its workings in order to make better decisions about our own conduct regarding it. The resulting inquiry spans different areas of contemporary philosophy, many of which are represented by the fifteen chapters in this book. The chapters first consider conceptual problems generated by rapid advances in biology and ecology, examining such topics as ecological communities, adaptation, and scientific consensus. The chapters then turn to epistemic and axiological issues, first considering philosophical aspects of environmental decision making and then assessing particular environmental policies (largely relating to climate change), including reparations, remediation, and nuclear power, from a normative perspective.
William R. Burch Jr., Gary E. Machlis, and Jo Ellen Force
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300137033
- eISBN:
- 9780300231632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300137033.003.0007
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Nature
This chapter presents a version of human ecology called practical ecology. It argues that the application of the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) as an organizing concept for resource management, ...
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This chapter presents a version of human ecology called practical ecology. It argues that the application of the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) as an organizing concept for resource management, environmental decision-making, and human ecological research is both real-world and worldly. Ecosystem theory is to be tempered by the complexity of practice. In formulating the HEM, the scientists’ inspiration comes from the work of Goethe, who was both a scientist and a poet. The challenge of combining art and science brings these scientists closer to Goethe’s ideal. They emphasize that the HEM is a menu of possibility organized by a logical structure that permits one to learn how the components and variables of the human ecosystem respond to particular forces of environmental change.Less
This chapter presents a version of human ecology called practical ecology. It argues that the application of the Human Ecosystem Model (HEM) as an organizing concept for resource management, environmental decision-making, and human ecological research is both real-world and worldly. Ecosystem theory is to be tempered by the complexity of practice. In formulating the HEM, the scientists’ inspiration comes from the work of Goethe, who was both a scientist and a poet. The challenge of combining art and science brings these scientists closer to Goethe’s ideal. They emphasize that the HEM is a menu of possibility organized by a logical structure that permits one to learn how the components and variables of the human ecosystem respond to particular forces of environmental change.
