1. Politics, Environment, and Sustainability24
Politics, Environment, and Sustainability

2. Core Case Study: The Greening of American Campuses
Environmental awareness movement on college campuses
Provide students with a basic education in environmental sustainability
What are some examples of campus greening?

3. 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.
Fig. 24-1, p. 658

4. 24-1 How Can Government Help With The Transition To More Sustainable Societies?
Through its policies, a government can help to:
Protect environmental and public interests
Encourage more environmentally sustainable economic development

5. Government Can Serve Environmental and Other Public Interests
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

6. Government Can Serve Environmental and Other Public Interests (cont’d
Policies
Set of laws and regulations
Environmental policy
Policy life cycle – four stages
Recognition
Formulation
Implementation
Control

7. Policy implementation
Problem recognition
Evaluation
Research
Policy adjustment
Policy formulation
Figure 24-2: The policy life cycle has been defined in several ways but generally includes these four phases (listed in the orange boxes).
Monitoring
Budgeting
Policy implementation
Fig. 24-2, p. 660

8. Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick Solutions
United States is a constitutional democracy
Three branches of government
Legislative
Executive
Judicial

9. Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick Solutions (cont’d.)
Special-interest groups pressure the government
Profit-making organizations
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
Politicians focus on problems with short- term effects

10. Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making Environmental Policy
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

11. Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making Environmental Policy (cont’d
The prevention principle
Help prevent problems from occurring
The polluter-pays principle
Taxes, etc.
The environmental justice principle
No people should bear unfair burden

12. 24-2 How Is Environmental Policy Made?
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

13. 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

14. Corporations and small businesses Environmental organizations
Legislative branch
Executive branch
Laws
Courts
Lobbyists
Lobbyists
Regulators
Public hearing
Civil suits
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.
Corporations and small businesses
Environmental organizations
Membership support
Individuals
Patronize or boycott
Fig. 24-4, p. 662

15. Developing Environmental Policy Is a Controversial Process
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

16. Individuals Can Influence Environmental Policy
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

17. Figure 24-5: Individuals matter
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?
Fig. 24-5, p. 663

18. Environmental Leaders Can Make a Big Difference
Lead by example
Work within existing economic and political systems
Run for local office
Propose and work for better solutions to environmental problems

19. 24-3 How Can Environmental Law Help In Dealing with Environmental Problems?
We can use environmental laws and regulations to:
Help control pollution
Set safety standards
Encourage resource conservation
Protect species and ecosystems

20. Environmental Law Forms the Basis for Environmental Policy
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

21. Environmental Lawsuits Are Difficult to Win
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

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

23. Case Study: U.S. Environmental Laws
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

24. Figure 24-8: Some of the major environmental laws and their amended versions enacted in the United States since No major new environmental laws have been passed since the 1970s, although some existing laws have been amended.
Fig. 24-8, p. 668

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

26. 24-4 What Are the Major Roles of Environmental Groups?
Grassroots groups are growing and combining their efforts with those of large environmental organizations in a global sustainability movement

27. Citizen Environmental Groups Play Important Roles
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

28. Case Study: The Natural Resources Defense Council
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

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

30. 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.
Fig , p. 672

31. Grassroots Environmental Groups Bring about Change from the Bottom Up
Global sustainability movement
Citizen-based
Conservation land trusts
Property owners agree to protect land from development and harmful activities
Nonviolent, nondestructive tactics

32. Case Study: The Environmental Transformation of Chattanooga, TN
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

33. Students and Educational Institutions Can Play Important Environmental Roles
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?

34. 24-5 How Can We Improve Global Environmental Security?
Environmental security is necessary for economic security and is at least as important as national security

35. Why Is Global Environmental Security Important?
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

36. We Can Develop Stronger International Environmental Policies
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

37. Trade-Offs Global Efforts to Solve Environmental Problems Successes
Failures
Over 500 international environmental treaties and agreements
Most international environmental treaties lack criteria for evaluating their effectiveness
1992 Rio Earth Summit led to nonbinding agreements, inadequate funding, and limited improvements
1992 Copenhagen Ozone Protocol has helped reduce ozone-depleting chemicals
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
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?
Climate change conferences have all failed to deal with projected climate change
2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit included small-scale policy improvements
Fig , p. 676

38. Corporations Can Play a Key Role in Environmental Sustainability
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

39. 24-6 How Can We Implement More Just Environmental Policies?
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

40. 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
Making this shift involves:
Economic, political, and ethical decisions

41. Three Big Ideas
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

42. Three Big Ideas (cont’d.)
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

43. Tying It All Together: Greening College Campuses and Sustainability
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