Three Epochs of the Environmental Movement

Transcription

1 Three Epochs of the Environmental Movement

2 1. Controls are cumbersome and costly 2. National policy isolates states, and industry and is inflexible 3. Fails to recognize the need for long-term sustainable development 4. Context was ignored 5. It is not a search for solutions.

3 Key Characteristics of the 3 Epochs Hallmark Legislation Enforcement and compliance Mandates and punishments The nation benefitted Transitional Drive for efficiency and Rise in rhetoric and politics Focus on markets and technological fixes Provided opportunity Focus on human health Incentives Markets benefitted Sustainable development Smart Growth Livability Focus on human sciences and values Collaboration, motives, behavioral change Providing alternatives People and benefit

4 Problem identification and Policy Objectives Pollution due to ignorance or greed Pollution controls Market-based agreements Internalize costs Pollution prevention Short term focus Need for balance between natural and economic environments Long-term societal and natural system planning Resource conservation Halting loss of biodiversity Eco-centricism

5 Implementation Philosophy National regulatory and compliance infrastructure Shift to state and local compliance and enforcement Market mechanisms for Global institutions and mechanisms for control Focus on sustainable outcomes and performance

6 Points of Intervention End of the pipeline or waste stream, or point of activity The marketplace Multiple points in a Cradle to-grave understanding of material production and resource use Reliance on education over enforcement to get compliance Societal level needs assessment and a global level prioritization Industry-level focus on design and material selection Environmental strategic planning Individual behavior and lifestyle choices Local living economies

7 Policy Approaches and Tools Central (federal) command and control Federal R&D investment on health and on pollution prevention projects Policies managed by states and affected Federal role changes to facilitation and oversight Incentive-based approaches (taxes, fees, etc.) Emissions-trading markets created Comprehensive future visioning Regional planning using sustainability guidelines (contextbased) Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM) product lifecycle analysis

8 Information and Data Management Needs Firm-level emissions (point source) Tracking waste stream content Environmental compliance accounting Costing out harms and the benefits of reduced pollution Publically available data e.g., publicright-to-know and Toxics Release Inventory Protocols for accounting Ecosystem mapping Sustainability indicators and criteria Thresholds of the support systems Region/community /global interaction effects CO 2, ozone depletion, etc. Ecological footprint True costs (individual vs. society) Energy flow through analysis

9 Dominant Political and Institutional Context Rule of law Adversarial relationships National enforcement and regulation Alternative dispute resolution Cooperation Stakeholder and public participation especially at state and local levels Reliance on the market place Public-private partnerships and collaboration, especially localregional Community capacity building Consensus building Implementation of collective decisions

10 Key Events and Public Actions Silent Spring Santa Barbara oil spill Earth Day 1970 CAA and 1972 CWA NEPA NFMA ESA FLPMA EPA Focus on costs of regulation (Carter) Reagan administration market-centricism Love Canal, Bhopal Role of states RCRA Brundtland Report Our Common Future Earth Summit (UNCED) Montreal Protocol (CFCs) Kyoto Protocol Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Hurricane Katrina

11 MMMMMM high fructose corn sugar... Yummy β-dfructofuranosylglucopyranoside, alpha-amylase, glucoamylase and xylose-isomerase