Decision Making - Environmental Sciences - Lecture Slides, Slides of Environmental Science

Download Decision Making - Environmental Sciences - Lecture Slides and more Slides Environmental Science in PDF only on Docsity!

Environmental Policy: Decision Making and

Problem Solving

Chapter 7

Environmental Science

Environmental policy

• Policy =

• formal set of general plans and principles to address

problems and guide decisions

• Public Policy =

• policy made by governments that consists of laws,

regulations, orders, incentives, and practices

• Environmental Policy =

• pertains to human interactions with the environment
  • regulates resource use or reduce pollution

Framework

of U.S.

policy

• Legislative branch = creates statutory law
• Executive branch = enacts or vetoes legislation
  • issues executive orders
• Judicial branch = interprets laws
• Administrative agencies = the “fourth branch”
  • established by the president or Congress (Ex: USDA, HHS)

Constitutional amendments and environmental law

• Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
  • Prohibits a state from denying “equal protection of its laws”
  • Constitutional basis for the environmental justice movement
• Fifth Amendment = takings clause
  • bans the literal taking of private property
  • bans regulatory taking …which deprives a property owner of economic uses of the property
  • There is a sensitive balance between private rights and the public good

Early U.S. environmental policy

• Involved management of public lands, 1780s to the late 1800s - promoted settlement - extraction of natural

resources

• Increased prosperity
• Relieved crowding in Eastern cities
• Displaced millions of Native Americans
• People believed that land was infinite and inexhaustible

The second wave of U.S. policy

• Public perception and government policy shifted
  • mitigated environmental problems associated with westward expansion
  • Yellowstone National Park, world’s first national park, opened in 1872
  • National wildlife refuges, parks, and forests
• New understanding that the West’s resources were

exhaustible and required legal protection

Modern U.S. environmental policy

• The Cuyahoga River was

polluted with oil and

industrial waste

• Caught fire in the 1950s and 1960s
• Public enthusiasm for

environmental

protection remains

strong

• Majority of Americans favor environmental protection
• In April, millions of people celebrate Earth Day

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• 1970 began the modern era of environmental policy
• Created the Council on Environmental Quality
  • requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for any federal action that might impact the environment

The EPA shifts environmental policy

• Nixon created the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA)

• conducts and evaluates research
• monitors environmental quality
• sets and enforces standards for pollution levels
• assists states in meeting standards and goals
• educates the public

The social context for policy can change

• Three factors converged to allow major advances in

environmental policy in the 1960s and 1970s

• wide evidence of environmental problems
• people could visualize policies to deal with problems
• supportive public and leaders who were willing to act
• In recent years, the political climate has changed
• Industry felt burdened by environmental regulations
• attempts been made to roll back or weaken environmental laws

The World Trade Organization (WTO)

• Represents multinational corporations to promote

free trade

• Has authority to impose penalties on nations that

don’t comply with its directives

• Interprets some environmental laws as unfair

barriers to free trade

• Brazil and Venezuela filed a complaint against the U.S. EPA’s regulations = cleaner-burning fuel - WTO agreed with Brazil and Venezuela, despite threats to human health
• Critics: WTO aggravates environmental problems

NGOs and the World Bank

• Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)
  • entities that influence international policy - try to shape policy through research, lobbying or protest
• The World Bank
  • one of the world’s largest funding sources for development - dams, irrigation, infrastructure - funds unsustainable, environmentally damaging projects

Step 2

• Involves scientific research
• Risk assessment =
  • risks a problem poses to health or the

environment

Step 3

• Risk management =
  • developing strategies to minimize risk

20^ •^ involves social or political action docsity.com