Politics, Environment, and Sustainability

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Politics, Environment, and Sustainability

• Chapter 24

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24-1 The Role of Government in the Transition to
More Sustainable Societies

• Concept 24-1 A government can help to protect
  environmental and public interests and help to
  encourage more environmentally sustainable
  economic development through its policies.

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Government Can Serve Environmental and Other
Public Interests (1)

• Balance between government intervention and free
  enterprise
• Is the government the best mechanism to deal with
• Full-cost pricing
• Market failures
• The tragedy of the commons

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Government Can Serve Environmental and Other
Public Interests (2)

• Policies and politics
• Environmental policy
• Policy life cycle 4 stages
• Recognition
• Formulation
• Implementation
• Control

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Exclusion of environmentally harmful costs from
market prices
Stepped Art
Fig. 24-2, p. 636
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Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick
Solutions (1)

• Democracy
• United States
• Constitutional democracy
• Three branches of government
• Legislative
• Executive
• Judicial

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Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick
Solutions (2)

• Special-interest groups pressure the government
• Profit-making organizations
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Politicians focus on problems with short-term
  effects, not long-term

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Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making
Environmental Policy (1)

• The humility principle
• The reversibility principle
• The precautionary principle
• The net energy principle
• The preventive principle

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Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making
Environmental Policy (2)

• The polluter-pays principle
• The public access and participation principle
• The human rights principle
• The environmental justice principle
• How will these principles be implemented?

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24-2 How Is Environmental Policy Made? (1)

• Concept 24-2A Policy making involves law making,
  program funding, rule writing, and enforcement of
  rules by agenciesa complex process that is
  affected at each stage by political processes.

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24-2 How Is Environmental Policy Made? (2)

• Concept 24-2B Individuals can work with each
  other to become part of political processes that
  influence how environmental policies are made and
  whether or not they succeed. (Individuals
  matter.)

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How Democratic Government Works The U.S. Model

• Three branches
• Legislative branch
• Executive branch
• Judicial branch
• Develop and implement policy
• Laws, regulation, and funding
• Lobbying

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Laws
Courts
Legislative branch
Executive branch
Regulators
Lobbyists
Lobbyists
Public hearing
Civil suits
Environmental organizations
Corporations and small businesses
Patronize or boycott
Membership support
Individuals
Purchase recyclable, recycled, and
environmentally safe products
Use mass transit, walk, ride a bike, or carpool
Recycle cans, bottles, paper, and plastic
Plant a garden
Donate clothes and used goods to charities
Use water, energy, and other resources efficiently
Fig. 24-3, p. 639
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Major Environmental Laws and Amended Versions
Enacted in the U.S. Since 1969
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Developing Environmental Policy Is a
Controversial Process

• Funding needed
• Regulations and rules needed to implement the law
• Policy important role in environmental
  regulatory agencies

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Case Study Managing Public Lands in the United
StatesPolitics in Action (1)

• 35 of the U.S., ¾ in Alaska
• Federal public land
• National Forest System
• National Resource Land
• National Wildlife Refuges
• National Park System
• National Wilderness Preservation System

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Case Study Managing Public Lands in the United
StatesPolitics in Action (2)

• Public land use
• Views of conservation biologists and
  environmental economists
• Views of developers, resource extractors, and
  many economists
• Since 2002 greater extraction of mineral,
  timber, and fossil fuel resources on public lands

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National parks and preserves
National forests
(and Xs) National wildlife refuges
Fig. 24-5, p. 641
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What Can You Do? Influencing Environmental Policy
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Environmental Leaders Can Make a Big Difference

• Lead by example
• Campaign and vote for informed and eco-friendly
  candidates
• Run for local office
• Propose and work for better solutions to
  environmental problems

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24-3 What Is the Role of Environmental Law in
Dealing with Environmental Problems?

• Concept 24-3 Environmental laws and regulations
  can be used to control pollution, set safety
  standards, encourage resource conservation, and
  protect species and ecosystems.

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Environmental Law Forms the Basis for
Environmental Policy (1)

• Environmental law
• Body of law
• Statutory laws
• Administrative laws
• Common law
• Legal concept of nuisance or negligence

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Environmental Law Forms the Basis for
Environmental Policy (2)

• Most environmental lawsuits are civil suits
• Plaintiff
• Defendant
• Class action suit

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Open Ditch Containing Acid Runoff from a Closed
Coal Mine In W. Virginia, U.S.
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Environmental Lawsuits Are Difficult to Win (1)

• Has the plaintiff suffered health or financial
  problems?
• Very expensive
• Public interest law firms usually cant recover
  attorneys fees
• Have you been harmed and did the company cause
  the harm?

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Environmental Lawsuits Are Difficult to Win (2)

• Statutes of limitation
• Appeals years to settle
• Strategic lawsuits against public participation
  (SLAPPs)
• Major reforms are needed

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Arbitration and Mediation Are Alternatives to
Battling in Court

• Arbitration
• Can save time, money, and the uncertainly of a
  jury trial
• Mediation
• Can save money and time
• May not be legally binding

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Major Types of Environmental Laws in the United
States (1)

• Set standards for pollution levels
• Screens new substances
• Encourages resource conservation

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Major Types of Environmental Laws in the United
States (2)

• Sets aside or protects certain species,
  resources, and ecosystems
• Requires evaluation of the environmental impact
  of an activity proposed by a federal agency

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U.S. Environmental Laws and Regulations Have Been
under Attack (1)

• Who is opposing the U.S. environmental laws?
• Some corporate leaders and other powerful people
• Some citizens
• Some state and local officials
• Why are the opposition?

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U.S. Environmental Laws and Regulations Have Been
under Attack (2)

• Since 2000, environmental laws weakened by
  executive orders and congressional actions
• Prevent further weakening by
• Science-based education
• Education about the current state of the
  environmental laws
• Organized bottom-up political pressure from
  concerned citizens

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24-4 What Are the Major Roles of Environmental
Groups?

• Concept 24-4 Grassroots groups are growing and
  combining efforts with large environmental
  organizations in a global sustainability
  movement.

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Citizen Environmental Groups Play Important Roles

• Nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
  working at all levels
• International
• National
• State
• Local
• Grassroots groups to organizations
• Examples of NGOs and their global policy networks

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Case Study The Natural Resources Defense Council
(1)

• NRDC
• Goes to court to stop environmentally harmful
  practices
• Informs and organizes millions of environmental
  activists to take actions to protect the
  environment
• Website, magazines, and newspapers

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Individuals Matter Butterfly in a Redwood Tree

• Julia Hill Nonviolent civil disobedience
• 2 Years in a redwood tree, named Luna
• Protested cutting down these ancient trees
• Did not save the surrounding forest
• Her message protect biodiversity

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Science Focus Greening American Campuses

• Accomplishments of environmental audits by
  students at American colleges and universities
• Specific examples
• Morris A. Pierce energy management plan
• Oberlin College, OH nations greenest college
• Northland College, WI green residence hall
• Buying local and organic food
• Yale University, CT
• Santa Clara University, CA
• Dartmouth, NH bus fueled by waste cooking oil

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24-5 How Can We Improve Global Environmental
Security?

• Concept 24-5 Environmental security is necessary
  for economic security and is at least as
  important as military security.

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Environmental Security Is as Important as
Military and Economic Security

• Military security
• Economic security
• All economies supported by the earths natural
  capital
• Failing states rooted in ecological crisis
• Darfur, Sudan, Africa

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Science Focus Environmental Impacts of War (1)

• Effects of a large bomb explosion
• Contamination of military sites
• Loss of biodiversity
• Air and water pollution
• Contaminated
• Soil, Groundwater, Fish and wildlife

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Science Focus Environmental Impacts of War (2)

• Economic and job losses
• Displaced refugees
• Landmines
• Radioactive depleted uranium shells
• 1998 U.N. Environment Programme

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We Can Develop Stronger International
Environmental Policies (1)

• United Nations most influential
• Family of global policy-making organizations
• Other influential groups
• E.g., the World Bank
• NRDC and China
• U.N. Conference of Environment and Development
  Agenda 21

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We Can Develop Stronger International
Environmental Policies (2)

• Montreal and Copenhagen Protocols
• Yale and Columbia Universities, U.S.
• Developed the Environmental Performance Index
  (EPI)

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TRADE-OFFS
Global Efforts to Solve Environmental Problems
Good News
Bad News
Environmental protection agencies in 115 nations
Most international environmental treaties lack
criteria for evaluating their effectiveness
Over 500 international environmental treaties and
agreements
1992 Rio Earth Summit led to nonbinding
agreements with inadequate funding
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) created in 1972
to negotiate and monitor international
environmental treaties
By 2008 there was little improvement in the major
environmental problems discussed at the 1992 Rio
summit
1992 Rio Earth Summit adopted key principles for
dealing with global environmental problems
2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit failed to deal
with global environmental problems such as
climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty
2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit attempted to
implement 1992 Rio summit policies and goals and
reduce poverty
Fig. 24-9, p. 654
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SOLUTIONS
International Environmental Treaties
Problems
Solutions
Take a long time to develop and are weakened by
requiring full consensus
Do not require full consensus among regulating
parties
Establish procedures for monitoring and
enforcement
Poorly monitored and enforced
Lack of funding for monitoring and enforcement
Increase funding for monitoring and enforcement
Treaties are not integrated with one another
Harmonize or integrate existing agreements
Fig. 24-10, p. 655
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Corporations Can Play a Key Role in Moving Toward
Environmental Sustainability

• Eco-efficiency
• World Business Council for Sustainable Development

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24-6 Implementing More Sustainable and Just
Environmental Policies

• Concept 24-6 Making the transition to more
  sustainable societies will require that nations
  implement green plans and that people and nations
  cooperate, agree on principles, and make the
  political commitment to achieve this transition.

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Green Planning Can Be a National Priority

• The Netherlands focused on four themes
• Implement life-cycle management
• Improve energy efficiency
• Invent more environmentally sustainable
  technologies
• Public education
• Is the plan in the Netherlands working?
• EPI rank for the Netherlands is 55/149 countries

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We Can Shift to More Environmentally Sustainable
Societies

• Emphasize preventing or minimizing environmental
  problems
• Use market-place solutions
• Win-win solutions or trade-offs to environmental
  problems or injustices
• Be honest and objective