precautionary principle: in defense of common sense richard berman city of santa monica (310)...
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Precautionary Principle:In Defense of Common Sense
Richard Berman
City of Santa Monica
(310) 458-8711
rich-berman@santa-monica.org
It is Not Common Sense To: The Construction Manager
“When I started in this business …
Now you need a piece of paper in your hand before you can put one foot in front of the other.”
It is Not Common Sense To: The U.C. Berkeley Professor
(Political Science and Public Health)
“Precautionary Principle … is a marvelous piece of rhetoric.”
Common Sense andCritical Thinking
• Make explicit the sense in common sense
• Internal logical consistency does not always confer validity.
• Examine our assumed ways of thinking, and the premises we unconsciously accept.
Premise 1Acknowledges Traditional
Economic Buffering
• Market Capitalism– The primary mediator of economic activity and
use of technology since 1750 to present– Historically externalizes and buffers negatives.
Challenges traditional economic buffers.
Premise 2Changes In Science and Knowledge
• Ecology and Systems Theory • Toxicology and Epidemiology• Accident Literature• What a scientist knows v. believes
Language and method for complexity and uncertainty that challenges historic ignorance.
Premise 3Incorporates Expansion of
Democratic Ideal
• Race• Ethnicity• Gender• Religion• Sexual Preference
• Rights of Nature• Environmental Quality• Community Right To
Know• Environmental Justice
Gives voice to traditionally externalized interests.
Premises and Tenets of Precautionary Principle
AlternativesAnalysis
CostsAnalysis
Public Process
Science & Knowledge
No EconomicBuffering
ChallengesIgnorance
Expansion ofDemocratic
Ideal
Premises
Tenets
Alternatives Analysis 1
What does this mean to the traditional economic agent or activity?
Why might it not appear as common sense?
Alternatives Analysis 2
BEFORE PP• Economic activity is
mediated by classic economic competition only.
WITH PP• Economic activity is
not buffered from consideration of a breadth of alternatives.
Premise 1: Challenges traditional economic buffers.
Alternatives Analysis 3EXAMPLE: Fuel Oxygenates / Pesticides
ECONOMIC
COMPETITION• MTBE (petrol)
• Chemical Pesticides
ALTERNATIVES
COMPETITION• Ethanol (corn)• No oxygenate
• Integrated Pest Mgmt.
Public Process 1
Who is else is represented by a more Public Decision Making Process?
• Communities (geographical, economic, ethnic…)• Vulnerable populations (elderly, children …)• Environment (Locally, regionally, globally)• Resources held in common
Public Process 2
What does this mean to the traditional economic agent?
Public Process 3
BEFORE PP• Economic agent and
partners can prioritizing self-interest.
WITH PP• Economic agent and
partners are subject to a more public, societal decision making process.
Premise 1: Challenges traditional economic buffers.
Premise 3: Gives voice to traditionally externalized interests
Public Process 4EXAMPLE: Incinerator
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
• Municipal Waste Incinerator without community input.
CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS
• Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles
Public Process 5What has it historically meant to the the
general public not to have a public decision making process?
• First warnings of harm have been ignored.• see “Trade Secrets” with Bill Moyers• Environmental Injustice• PCB body burden of infants v. Hazwopper
Science / Knowledge 1
What does this mean to the traditional economic agent?
Science / Knowledge 2
BEFORE PP• Economic activity is
buffered by ignorance or uncertainty.
WITH PP• Economic activity is
subject to full breadth of information.
• Science and its uncertainties are only one of tools.
Premise 2: Challenges historic ignorance
Premise 1: Challenges traditional economic buffers.
Science / Knowledge 3EXAMPLE: Polar Bears and Seals
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
• Economic activity buffered from knowledge of ecological relationships.
CONSIDERATION OF OTHER
• Domoic acid poisoning of seals
• Dioxins in polar bears
Costs Analysis 1
What does this mean to the traditional economic agent?
Why might it not appear as common sense?
Costs Analysis 2BEFORE PP
• Economic activity is subject to cost analysis w/ classic boundaries of economic activity.
WITH PP• Economic activity is
also subject to a broader cost analysis.
Premise 2: Challenges historic ignorance
Premise 1: Challenges traditional economic buffers.
Premise 3: Gives voice to traditionally externalized interests
Costs Analysis 3EXAMPLE: Household Hazardous Waste
ECONOMIC
CONSIDERATION• Purchase of
household chemical products.
EXTERNAL
CONSIDERATIONS• Safety and Costs of
use and disposal of these products
(consumers, trash haulers, landfills etc.)
Common Sense in Precautionary Principle
1. The world is ‘smaller’
2. All our actions are less buffered
3. Sciences / knowledge for complexity
4. More inclusive democracies
Precautionary Principle is a foundation to meet this challenge.
Road TO the Present May Not Be Acceptable
IN The Present
Rich BermanCity of Santa Monica
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