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© Cengage Learning 2015

LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 18e G. TYLER MILLER • SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN


24 Politics, Environment, and Sustainability


• Environmental awareness movement on college campuses

• Provide students with a basic education in environmental sustainability

• What are some examples of campus greening?

Core Case Study: The Greening of American Campuses


Fig. 24-1, p. 658

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-1: The Environmental Living and Learning Center is an ecofriendly residence hall and meeting space at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. Northland students had a major role in the design of the building.


• Through its policies, a government can help to: – Protect environmental and public interests – Encourage more environmentally sustainable

economic development

24-1 How Can Government Help With The Transition To More Sustainable Societies?


• There needs to be a balance between government intervention and free enterprise

• Government is the best mechanism to deal with: – Full-cost pricing – Market failures – The tragedy of the commons

Government Can Serve Environmental and Other Public Interests


• Policies – Set of laws and regulations

• Environmental policy • Policy life cycle – four stages

– Recognition – Formulation – Implementation – Control

Government Can Serve Environmental and Other Public Interests (cont’d.)


Fig. 24-2, p. 660

Problem recognition

Evaluation

Policy adjustment

Monitoring

Policy implementation

Budgeting

Policy formulation

Research

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-2: The policy life cycle has been defined in several ways but generally includes these four phases (listed in the orange boxes).


• Democracy – United States is a constitutional democracy

• Three branches of government – Legislative – Executive – Judicial

Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick Solutions


• Special-interest groups pressure the government – Profit-making organizations – Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

• Politicians focus on problems with short-term effects

Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick Solutions (cont’d.)


• The humility principle – How our actions affect nature

• The reversibility principle – Avoid decisions that cannot be reversed

• The net energy principle – Avoid low net energy yields

• The precautionary principle – Take precautionary measures

Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making Environmental Policy


• The prevention principle – Help prevent problems from occurring

• The polluter-pays principle – Taxes, etc.

• The environmental justice principle – No people should bear unfair burden

Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making Environmental Policy (cont’d.)


• Policy making involves enacting laws, funding programs, writing rules, and enforcing those rules with government oversight—a complex process that is affected at each stage by political processes – Individuals can work together to become part

of political processes that influence how environmental policies are made and whether or not they succeed

24-2 How Is Environmental Policy Made?


• Three branches – Legislative branch – Executive branch – Judicial branch

• Develop and implement policy – Laws, regulation, and funding – Lobbying

How Democratic Government Works: The U.S. Model

Fig. 24-4, p. 662

Laws Legislative branch

Executive branch Courts

Lobbyists Lobbyists Regulators

Public hearing

Civil suits

Environmental organizations

Corporations and small

businesses

Membership support

Patronize or boycott Individuals

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-4: Greatly simplified overview of how individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.


• Funding needed • Regulations and rules needed to

implement the law • Environmental regulatory agencies play an

important role – Regulated businesses try to have their

members appointed to regulatory agency

Developing Environmental Policy Is a Controversial Process


• Individuals matter • 2007 – Chinese citizens opposed

construction of a chemical plant – Mobile phone text messaging spread the word

• At a fundamental level, all politics is local

Individuals Can Influence Environmental Policy


Fig. 24-5, p. 663

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-5: Individuals matter. Some ways in which you can influence environmental policy (Concept 24-2B). Questions: Which three of these actions do you think are the most important? Which ones, if any, do you take?


• Lead by example • Work within existing economic and political

systems • Run for local office • Propose and work for better solutions to

environmental problems

Environmental Leaders Can Make a Big Difference


• We can use environmental laws and regulations to: – Help control pollution – Set safety standards – Encourage resource conservation – Protect species and ecosystems

24-3 How Can Environmental Law Help In Dealing with Environmental Problems?


• Environmental law – Body of laws and treaties that broadly define

what is acceptable environmental behavior • Most environmental lawsuits are civil suits

– Injunction – court hearing – Class action suit – civil suit filed by group – Negligence – damage caused by deliberately

acting unreasonably

Environmental Law Forms the Basis for Environmental Policy


• Legal standing – Has the plaintiff suffered health or financial

problems? • Very expensive • Public interest law firms

– Cannot recover attorney’s fees • Plaintiffs must establish that harm has

been done

Environmental Lawsuits Are Difficult to Win


• Statutes of limitation – Limit length of time a plaintiff can sue

• Appeals – years to settle • Strategic lawsuits against public

participation (SLAPPs) • What are potential major reforms?

Environmental Lawsuits Are Difficult to Win (cont’d.)


• Types of legislation – Set standards for pollution levels – Screen new substances for safety – Encourage resource conservation – Protect spaces and ecosystems – Require evaluation of activity proposed by

federal agency • Environmental impact statement

Case Study: U.S. Environmental Laws


Fig. 24-8, p. 668

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-8: Some of the major environmental laws and their amended versions enacted in the United States since 1969. No major new environmental laws have been passed since the 1970s, although some existing laws have been amended.


• Have been highly effective – Especially in pollution control

• Since 1980, well-organized forces against existing environmental laws

• Environmentalists primarily bring bad news to the public

Case Study: U.S. Environmental Laws (cont’d.)


• Grassroots groups are growing and combining their efforts with those of large environmental organizations in a global sustainability movement

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


• Nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working at all levels – International, national, state, and local

• Small grassroots groups to world-wide organizations

• Global public policy networks – Focus on particular environmental problems

• Shifting resources to publicizing innovation

Citizen Environmental Groups Play Important Roles


• 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

Case Study: The Natural Resources Defense Council


• BioGems Network – Informs subscribers of environmental threats

• 2005 – blocked the EPA from finalizing “blending” proposal for untreated sewage

• 2001 – protect vast area of Great Bear Rainforest from logging

Case Study: The Natural Resources Defense Council (cont’d.)

Fig. 24-10, p. 672

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-10: The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has worked to protect the habitat of the rare spirit bear in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The bear’s coastal rain forest habitat is threatened by logging. This bear is waiting to catch a salmon.


• Global sustainability movement – Citizen-based

• Conservation land trusts – Property owners agree to protect land from

development and harmful activities • Nonviolent, nondestructive tactics

Grassroots Environmental Groups Bring about Change from the Bottom Up


• In the 1960s – one of the dirtiest cities in the U.S.

• 1984 – Vision 2000 process – Build consensus of what the city should be

• The city: – Encouraged zero-emission industries – Renovated low-income housing – Launched an innovative recycling program

Case Study: The Environmental Transformation of Chattanooga, TN


• Student pressure on campuses to carry out environmental audits – Gather data on practices that affect the

environment – Propose changes – What are some examples of student groups

and what they can accomplish?

Students and Educational Institutions Can Play Important Environmental Roles


• Environmental security is necessary for economic security and is at least as important as national security

24-5 How Can We Improve Global Environmental Security?


• Countries are legitimately concerned with national security and economic security

• All economies supported by natural capital • Failing states – rooted in ecological crisis

– Darfur, Sudan, Africa

Why Is Global Environmental Security Important?


• United Nations – most influential – Family of global policy-making organizations

• Other influential groups – The World Bank, etc.

• U.N. Conference of Environment and Development – Agenda 21 – Rio+20 Earth Summit Conference in 2012

We Can Develop Stronger International Environmental Policies

Fig. 24-15, p. 676

Trade-Offs

Global Efforts to Solve Environmental Problems

Over 500 international environmental treaties and agreements

Most international environmental treaties lack criteria for evaluating their effectiveness

Successes Failures

1992 Rio Earth Summit led to nonbinding agreements, inadequate funding, and limited improvements

1992 Rio Earth Summit adopted principles for handling global environmental problems

2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit failed to deal with climate change, energy policy, and biodiversity loss

2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit included small-scale policy improvements

Climate change conferences have all failed to deal with projected climate change

1992 Copenhagen Ozone Protocol has helped reduce ozone-depleting chemicals

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Figure 24-15: There have been successes and failures in international efforts to deal with global environmental problems. Questions: In weighing these successes and failures, do you believe that international conferences are valuable and should be continued? If not, what are some alternatives?


• Corporations have the profits to provide funding

• Eco-efficiency – Finding ways to create economic value with

less harmful impacts • Nature Conservancy program

– Help companies include monetary value of natural capital in goals and strategies

Corporations Can Play a Key Role in Environmental Sustainability


• Making the transition to more sustainable societies will require that nations and groups within nations cooperate and make the political commitment to achieve this transition

24-6 How Can We Implement More Just Environmental Policies?


• 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 • Making this shift involves:

– Economic, political, and ethical decisions

We Can Shift to More Environmentally Sustainable Societies


• An important outcome of the political process is environmental policy – The body of laws, regulations, and programs

that are designed, implemented, funded, and enforced by one or more government agencies

• All politics is local – Individuals can work with each other to

become part of political processes that influence environmental policies

Three Big Ideas


• Environmental security is necessary for economic security and is at least as important as national security – Making the transition to more environmentally

sustainable societies will require that nations cooperate just as they do for national security purposes

Three Big Ideas (cont’d.)


• It is possible to create sustainable environmental policies

• National and international policymakers should: – Try for win-win solutions – Make each decision with future generations in

mind

Tying It All Together: Greening College Campuses and Sustainability

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