Environmentalism and Public Virtue

Much of the literature addressing environmental virtue tends to focus on what might be called “personal virtue”—individual actions, characteristics, or dispositions that benefit the individual actor. There has, in contrast, been relatively little interest in either “virtue politics”—collective actions, characteristics, or dispositions—or in what might be called “public virtues,” actions, characteristics, or dispositions that benefit the community rather than the individual. This focus, however, is problematic, especially in a society that valorizes individuality. This paper examines public virtue and its role in environmental virtue ethics. First, I outline different types of virtue in order to frame the discussion of public virtues and, in particular, a subclass of virtues I will refer to as political virtue. Second, I focus on practical problems and address the inadequacy of personal virtue for effecting social change and, therefore, for addressing most environmental crises. Finally, I argue that public and political virtues are necessary, if under emphasized, conditions for the flourishing of the individual, and that they are important complements to more traditional environmental virtues.     

“Liberating” social knowledges for water management,and more broadly environmental management,through “place-change planning”

In response to the big policy problem of increasing failures of traditional, largely technical, policy approaches to constructively address transformational or radical socio-environmental problems from major facility siting, landscape modification, and/or new environmental management at the local level, this paper introduces “place-change planning”. This concept is applied to recent calls by Australian water scientists and policy-makers “to liberate the knowledge, skills and individual leadership and collaboration of all stakeholders to reflect a more decentralised, disaggregated and localised water world”. Local community stakeholders appear the most neglected stakeholder currently in such water management, despite increasing international recognition of their importance for constructive change in transitional sustainability contexts. As such, place-change policy design focuses on the importance of collaborative participatory approaches for better understanding of the underlying rationalities, and, by association, of better liberating the social knowledges, of place-based local communities for better policy input to realise new visions of sustainable water management, and beyond.     

STATE WATER QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM IN ARIZONA1

ABSTRACT: Arizona's water pollution control program is based on authorties of Arizona Revised Statutes and Public Law 92–500, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The primary areas of this program are monitoring, facility inspections, plan review, planning, discharge permits and grants for the construction of publicly-owned waste water treatment facilities. The discharge permit program deals with control of point-source discharges and is administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The planning and construction grants programs are administered by the State Water Quality Control Council and are implemented by the Bureau of Water Quality Control, which serves as staff to the Council. There are several challenges that face the State in this program. First is the adaptation of the “eastern law” to deal with Arizona's water quality problems. Second is to address problems caused by a long history of “laissez-faire” environmental quality management. Third is a mutual cooperation and coordination among the many entities involved in water resources management. Areas of particular interest in the State's program is the process setting water quality standards and the involvement of people of diversified backgrounds in the field of areawide planning under Section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which is primarily concerned with non-point sources of water pollution.     

Putting transdisciplinarity into practice: a mixed mode procedure for stakeholder participation in natural resource management

The definition of management actions in natural resource management requires the integration of all types of knowledge involved. An appropriate approach for such a challenge is the ideal of transdisciplinarity. A transdisciplinary process can be considered “consultative” when knowledge is simply gathered and collated, or “participatory” when knowledge integration is undertaken collectively. In this paper, we present a mixed mode procedure (i.e., using interviews, questionnaires, and group discussions) that empirically demonstrates the difference between consultative and participatory transdisciplinary processes. The mixed mode procedure is used for identifying the most relevant problems occurring in the coastal system of Praia da Vitória bay, Azores, Portugal. This mixed mode procedure is likely to be useful for other studies, because the results highlight the need to promote face-to-face interaction at the earliest opportunity, and because it allows an understanding to be gained of social learning processes, the influence of power, and participant behaviour during interaction with others.     

Developing a collaborative model for environmental planning and management

Methods for involving the public in natural resource management are changing as agencies adjust to an increasingly turbulent social and political environment. There is growing interest among managers and scholars in collaborative approaches to public involvement. Collaboration is conceptually defined and elaborated using examples from the natural resource management field. This paper then examines how collaboration theory from the organizational behavior field can help environmental managers to better understand those factors that facilitate and inhibit collaborative solutions to resource problems. A process-oriented model is presented that proposes that collaboration emerges out of an environmental context and then proceeds sequentially through a problem-setting, direction-setting, and structuring phase. Factors constraining collaboration are also specified, including organizational culture and power differentials. Designs for managing collaboration are identified, which include appreciative planning, joint agreements, dialogues, and negotiated settlements. Environmental managers need new skills to manage collaboration within a dynamic social and political environment. Further research is needed to test the propositions outlined here.     

Participatory Model Calibration for Improving Resource Management Systems: Case Study of Rainwater Harvesting in an Indian Village

While planning resource management systems in rural areas, it is important to consider criteria that are specific to the local social conditions. Such criteria might change from one region to another and are hence best identified using a participatory approach. In this work, we propose a participatory framework to identify such criteria and derive their weights. These identified criteria and their weights are used as parameters to develop a quantitative model for evaluating efficiency of each system. Such a model can serve as a support tool for stakeholders to simulate and analyze “what‐if” scenarios, evaluate alternatives, and select one which best satisfies their requirements. We use existing systems to test the model by comparing efficiencies evaluated by the model to efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders. The model is calibrated by repeating the process until statistically significant correlation is achieved between evaluated and perceived efficiencies. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in treating efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders as the ground truth since they know these systems well and are their ultimate users. The framework is successfully demonstrated using case study of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in an Indian village. The resulting calibrated model can be used to plan new RWH systems in this region and similar regions elsewhere. The framework can be used to plan other resource management systems in various regions.     

Who are our informal recyclers? An inquiry to uncover crisis and potential in Victoria,Canada

What is considered garbage embodies a recoverable economic value, and environmental cost if not recycled. Throughout the world, the often marginalised and impoverished population earns a living through informal recycling. This is also true for Victoria, British Columbia, one of the most affluent cities in Canada. This paper discusses results of a participatory socio-economic survey involving informal recyclers in Victoria, BC to determine their livelihood determinants. The findings reveal that “binning” is an important survival strategy to generate income. A new waste-management model that considers the social and environmental context is needed. Inclusive public policies can respond to the livelihood concerns outlined in this paper by facilitating access to recyclable materials, devising occupational safety improvements and educating about alternative strategies for resource recovery. This model can contribute to the overall sustainability of the community by reducing the waste of resources and people, empowering marginalised populations and reducing the environmental impacts of natural resource use and waste disposal.     

WATER RESOURCES AND SOCIAL CHOICES1

ABSTRACT The problem of water resources management can be viewed as one requiring the existence and application of some type of “collective decision” mechanism. Currently, the general water resource decision problem is solved using an “individual decision” format without explicit consideration of the dominant social decision system. This paper demonstrates the need for blending technical planning activities with organized societal processes and then proposes a specific public decision framework to satisfy this requirement. The key element in this planning framework is a generalized “bargaining arena” which serves to link technical activities with the social system. Using this bargaining device we can (1) specify policy at a local level, (2) incorporate “social decision” rules into the planning process, and (3) provide local access to the decision process. A simple case of regional water quality management is used to describe the application of this planning procedure and to offer encouragement for successful use in more complex real-world cases.     

From wasteland to waste site: the role of discourse in nuclear power's environmental injustices

The purpose of this essay is twofold. First, I examine interdisciplinary literature to reveal the environmental injustices associated with the front and back ends of nuclear power production in the USA – Uranium mining and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) storage. Second, I argue that the injustices associated with nuclear power are upheld, in part, through discourse. This essay examines how the term “wasteland” is invoked in relation to HLW waste storage in the USA and contributes to the discursive formation of nuclear colonialism. Examination of this discourse not only contributes to current literature on nuclear colonialism but also to environmental justice research by arguing for the importance of examining the discursive aspects of environmental injustices. Further, the essay adds to current scholarship in energy justice by highlighting the environmental injustices associated with nuclear power.     

新时代环境社会治理体系的构建和创新——中国环境科学学会环境社会治理专委会2020年年会综述

环境社会治理是现代环境治理体系和治理能力中的重要组成部分,但同时也是突出短板。2020年11月13日,环境社会治理专委会2020年年会成功召开,多位专家学者从多种角度围绕“新时代环境社会治理体系的构建和创新”进行了分享与讨论,对推动环境社会治理工作带来启示:一是环境社会治理是调整环境治理主体和客体之间关系的一系列制度手段,需要在新时代背景下完成从“物理”到“人文”的转变,体现平等参与的价值观。二是在转型期社会力量博弈变迁的背景下,环境问题须通过社会力量解决,并配套相应的环境社会治理新策略和手段,提高治理效率、降低治理成本。三是坚持系统性思维,以目的为导向、理清治理主体和客体作用,协调布局环境社会治理的制度安排,以环境社会治理核心要素、重点关注内容为抓手,构建环境社会治理体系。面对当前深刻变化的内外部环境,有必要进一步重点加强环境与社会相互关系与影响研究、环境社会风险防范体系研究、全民行动体系研究、关键理论和技术创新研究等内容。     

Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda

This paper investigates the extent and the nature of how the urban planning literature has addressed climate change adaptation. It presents a longitudinal study of 157 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2013 in the leading urban planning and design journals whose selection considered earlier empirical studies that ranked them these journals. The findings reveal that the years 2006–07 represent a turning point, after which climate change studies appear more prominently and consistently in the urban planning and design literature; however, the majority of these studies address climate change mitigation rather than adaptation. Most adaptation studies deal with governance, social learning, and vulnerability assessments, while paying little attention to physical planning and urban design interventions. This paper identifies four gaps that pertain to the lack of interdisciplinary linkages, the absence of knowledge transfer, the presence of scale conflict, and the dearth of participatory research methods. It then advocates for the advancement of participatory and collaborative action research to meet the multifaceted challenges of climate change.     

Focusing biodiversity research on the needs of decision makers

The project on Biodiversity Uncertainties and Research Needs (BURN) ensures the advancement of usable knowledge on biodiversity by obtaining input from decision makers on their priority information needs about biodiversity and then using this input to engage leading scientists in designing policy-relevant research. Decision makers articulated concerns related to four issues: significance of biodiversity; status and trends of biodiversity; management for biodiversity; and the linkage of social, cultural, economic, legal, and biological objectives. Leading natural and social scientists then identified the research required to address the decision makers' needs and determined the probability of success. The diverse group of experts reached consensus on several fundamental issues, helping to clarify the role of biodiversity in land and resource management. The BURN participants identified several features that should be incorporated into policy-relevant research plans and management strategies for biodiversity. Research and assessment efforts should be: multidisciplinary and integrative, participatory with stakeholder involvement, hierarchical (multiple scales), and problem- and region-specific. The activities should be focused regionally within a global perspective. Meta-analysis of existing data is needed on all fronts to assess the state of the science. More specifically, the scientists recommended six priority research areas that should be pursued to address the information needs articulated by decision makers: (1) characterization of biodiversity, (2) environmental valuation, (3) management for sustainability—for humans and the environment (adaptive management), (4) information management strategies, (5) governance and stewardship issues, and (6) communication and outreach. Broad recommendations were developed for each research area to provide direction for research planning and resource management strategies. The results will directly benefit those groups that require biodiversity research to address their needs—whether to develop policy, manage natural resources, or make other decisions affecting biodiversity.     

Economic Failures in French Recreational Fishing Management

In France, freshwater recreational fishing management does not sufficiently satisfy anglers. Fishing effort is too high creating congestion costs and environmental quality is low while there is a positive willingness-to-pay for improvements. These inefficiencies are explained by three phenomena. First, private property rights are attenuated under institutional pressure. Second, recreational fishing is managed as an open access resource over the whole territory. Finally, halieutic policies focus on the protection of environmental resources and are inefficient at maximizing the social rent provided by recreational fisheries. Fishing effort regulation and environmental services provision following the beneficiary-pays principle could improve collective welfare. Social pricing could ensure equity in access to the resource.     

CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT ALTERNATWE FOR THE MANAYLJNK CANAL1

ABSTRACT: The solution of a water resource allocation problem by an alternative social arrangement is presented. Classical Austrian economic theory and the “new resources economics” provide both theoretical and practical evidence to support the development of well-defined, private property rights to the water resource in question. A conflict analysis demonstrates that management of the Manayunk Canal by a firm would reconcile existing confrontations through compromise use of the water resource. Benefit and cost calculations show that a compromise among industrial and recreational interests, currently competing in the political arena, would increase social benefits.     

Global warming and environmental production efficiency ranking of the Kyoto Protocol nations

This paper analyzes the United Nations Organization's Kyoto Protocol nations to address two questions. First, what are the environmental production efficiency rankings of these nations? Second, is there a relationship between a nation's ratification status and its environmental production efficiency ranking? Our findings suggest that the nations that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol are more likely to be environmentally production efficient as compared to the nations that have not ratified the Protocol.     

The design and use of strategic planning arenas

This paper takes a close look at communication, process, power and institutional arrangements in the context of strategic planning. It introduces an eight step process for structuring strategic thinking and acting and develops the concept of “arenas” as a very influential — yet often very subtle — exercise of power over the course of a strategic planning process.     

Sustainable Water Resources Management in a Conflict Resolution Framework1

Abstract: A decision support system for sustainable water resources management in a water conflict resolution framework is developed to identify and evaluate a range of acceptable alternatives for the Geum River Basin in Korea and to facilitate strategies that will result in sustainable water resource management. Working with stakeholders in a “shared vision modeling” framework, sustainable management strategies are created to illustrate system tradeoffs as well as long‐term system planning. A multi‐criterion decision‐making (MCDM) approach using subjective scales is utilized to evaluate the complex water resource allocation and management tradeoffs between stakeholders and system objectives. The procedures used in this study include the development of a “shared vision model,” a simulated decision‐making support system (as a tool for sustainable water management strategies associated with water conflicts, management options, and planning criteria), and the application of MCDM techniques for evaluating alternatives provided by the model. The research results demonstrate the utility of the sustainable water resource management model in aid of MCDM techniques in facilitating flexibility during initial stages of alternative identification and evaluation in a basin suffering from severe water conflicts.     

INVESTMENT SEQUENCING RECOGNIZING EXTERNALITIES IN WATER DESALTING1

ABSTRACT. The failure to recognize the learning process in new technologies such as desalting may lead to incorrect water resource investment decisions for two reasons. First, to neglect cost reductions stemming from “learning by doing” implies an overestimation of desalting costs. Second, since learning in a particular plant may result in external (learning) benefits to other plants, these may serve as the basis for a subsidy intended to internalize such benefits. Accordingly, the research reported below includes an estimation of learning functions for desalting and the results of a formulation designed to measure external benefits on the basis of these learning functions. These results are then incorporated into a decision framework for water resource investments which recognizes uncertainty in determining optimal timing of desalting construction.     

Navigating Institutional Challenges: Design to Enable Community Participation in Social Learning for Freshwater Planning

Social learning is a process suited to developing understanding and concerted action to tackle complex resource dilemmas, such as freshwater management. Research has begun to recognise that in practice social learning encounters a variety of institutional challenges from the shared habits and routines of stakeholders (organised by rules, norms and strategies) that are embedded in organisational structures and norms of professional behaviour. These institutional habits and routines influence the degree of willingness to engage with stakeholders, and expectations of behaviours in social learning processes. Considering this, there has been a call to understand how institutions influence social learning and emergent outcomes. We addresses this by presenting a heuristic for implementing social learning cognisant of institutional context to answer three questions: (i) How institutional influences impact implementation of social learning design; (ii) how implementation of social learning design modifies institutions influencing social learning; and (iii) how these changes in design and institutions together shape social learning outcomes? To answer these questions a freshwater planning exercise was designed, implemented and evaluated as a social learning process with community groups in two New Zealand catchments. Incorporating participatory reflection enabled the project team to modify social learning design to manage institutional influences hindering progress toward outcomes. Findings emphasise that social learning is underpinned by participants’ changing assumptions about what constitutes the institution of learning itself—from instruction to a dynamic, collective and emergent process. Reflecting on these assumptions also challenged participants’ expectations about their own and others’ behaviours and roles in freshwater planning.     

Information, power and environmental justice in Botany: the role of community information systems

In the environmental conflict that surrounds the sighting of hazardous waste facilities there is usually a volatile mix of disparities in power, expertise and information access as well as differing views on risk, which are all played out amidst commercial arrangements and environmental justice concerns. In recent times, the volatility of this mix has been further compounded by the growing climate of public concern and distrust surrounding scientific developments and technology. While there is no 'quick fix' to the complex conflict that this entails, community information systems (CISs) based on participatory models can help address the outstanding issues of capacity, information access, power inequities and environmental justice. CISs are an effective response to the five crucial elements of a toxic dispute, that is, the dialogue, capacity building, information access, evaluation of hazards and risk, and expertise. This paper will review the role of community accessible information systems in the dispute in Botany over the management and destruction of Orica Australia's stockpile of the persistent organic pollutant, hexachlorobenzene (HCB). It will focus on the role of CIS in responding to the challenges for expert information delivery, and in addressing the disparity of informational power within the toxic dispute.