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Environmental
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Decision Making and Problem
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Part 1: Foundations of
Environmental Science

PowerPoint® Slides prepared by

Jay Withgott and Heidi Marcum

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Copyright © 2008
Copyright Pearson
© 2008 Education,
Pearson Inc.,Inc.,
Education, publishing as Benjamin
publishing as PearsonCummings
Benjamin Cummings
 This lecture will help you understand:

• Environmental policies
• Major U.S.
environmental laws
• International
environmental policy
• The environmental
policy process
• Different approaches to
environmental policy

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

 San Diego and Tijuana

• The Tijuana River empties into the Pacific Ocean, carrying

millions of gallons of untreated wastewater

• San Diego’s waters receive storm water runoff

• Beaches are off-limits to swimming
• Rains wash pollutants onto U.S. and Mexican beaches, but
things are worse on the Mexican side

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Environmental policy

• Policy = a formal set of general plans and principles to

address problems and guide decisions
• Public Policy = policy made by governments that
consists of laws, regulations, orders, incentives, and
practices
• Environmental Policy = pertains to human interactions
with the environment
• Regulates resource use or reduce pollution

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 Environmental policy and resource use
• Policies include science, ethics, and economics
• Market failure = businesses or individuals don’t
minimize environmental impact
• Justification for government intervention
• The tragedy of the commons = we must develop
guidelines for commonly held resources
• Restrict use and actively manage resources
• Some traditional societies safeguard against
exploitation
• The threat of overexploitation is a driving force
behind much environmental policy

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Environmental policy and equity

• Free Riders = reducing pollution

tempts any one person to cheat
• Private voluntary efforts are
less effective than mandated
efforts
• External Cost = harmful impacts
result from market transaction but
are borne by people not involved
in the transaction
Environmental policy goals = protect resources against the
tragedy of the commons and to promote equity by eliminating
free riders and addressing external costs

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Why are environmental laws unpopular?

• Environmental laws are challenged, derided, and ignored

• Environmental policy involves government regulations
• Businesses and individuals view laws as overly
restrictive and unresponsive to human needs
• Most environmental problems are long-term processes
• Human behavior is geared toward short-term needs
• News media have short attention spans
• Politicians act out of their own short-term interest

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 Framework of U.S. policy
• Results from actions of the three branches of government
• Legislative branch = creates statutory law

• Executive branch = enacts or vetoes legislation

- Issues executive orders
• Judicial branch = interprets laws
• Administrative agencies = the “fourth branch”
- Established by the president or Congress
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 State and local policies affect
environmental issues
• Important environmental policy is also created at
the state and local levels
• State laws cannot violate principles of the U.S.
Constitution,
• If laws conflict, federal laws take precedence
• California, New York, and Massachusetts have
strong environmental laws
• The interior western states put less priority on
environmental protection and favor unregulated
development

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Constitutional amendments and
environmental law
• Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
• Prohibits denying “equal protection of its laws”
• It’s the Constitutional basis for the
environmental justice movement
• Fifth Amendment = takings clause
• Bans the literal taking of private property
• Also bans regulatory take, which deprives a
property owner of economic uses of the
property
• There is a sensitive balance between private rights
and the public good
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 Early U.S. environmental policy
• Involved management of
public lands, 1780s to the late
1800s
• Promoted settlement
• Extraction of natural
resources
• Increased prosperity
• Relieved crowding in Eastern
cities
• Displaced millions of Native
Americans
• People believed that land was
infinite and inexhaustible

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 The second wave of U.S. policy

• Addressed impacts caused by the first wave

• Public perception and government policy shifted
• Mitigated environmental problems associated
with westward expansion
• Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first
national park, opened in 1872
• Other protected areas were created
• National wildlife refuges, parks, and forests
• Reflected a new understanding that the West’s
resources were exhaustible and required legal
protection
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The third wave of U.S. environmental policy

• Mid-to late-20th century

• Better off economically
• But dirtier air, dirtier water, and
more waste and toxic chemicals
• Increased awareness of environmental
problems shifted public priorities and
policy
• 1962: Silent Spring (by Rachel
Carson) described the negative
ecological and health effects of
pesticides and industrial chemicals

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 Modern U.S. environmental policy
• The Cuyahoga River was
polluted with oil and
industrial waste
• It caught fire in the 1950s
and 1960s
• Today, public enthusiasm for
environmental protection
remains strong
• The majority of Americans
favor environmental
protection
• In April, millions of people
celebrate Earth Day
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The National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA)
• 1970 began the modern era of environmental policy

• Created the Council on Environmental Quality

- Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
any federal action that might impact the environment
NEPA forces the government and businesses to evaluate the environmental
impacts of a project
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The EPA shifts environmental policy

• Nixon created the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA)
• Conducts and evaluates research
• Monitors environmental quality
• Sets and enforces standards for pollution levels
• Assists states in meeting standards and goals
• Educates the public

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 Significant environmental laws

• The public demanded a cleaner environment and supported

tougher environmental legislation

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The social context for policy can change

• Three factors converged to allow major advances in

environmental policy in the 1960s and 1970s
• Wide evidence of environmental problems
• People could visualize policies to deal with problems
• The political climate was ripe, with a supportive public
and leaders who were willing to act
• In recent years, the political climate has changed
• People felt burdened by environmental regulations
• Attempts have been made to roll back or weaken
environmental laws

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Future environmental policies

• Will depend on having the American environmental

movement reinvent its approach
• It needs to appeal to people’s core values
• Start showing why these problems are actually human
issues and affect our quality life
• Future policies need to articulate a positive, inspiring
vision for the future
• Currently, the United States has retreated from its
leadership
• Other nations have increased their attention to
environmental issues

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 International Environmental Policy
• International issues can be
addressed through creative
agreements
• Customary law = practices or
customs held by most cultures
• Conventional law = from
conventions or treaties
• Montreal Protocol: nations
agreed to reduce ozone- An international
depleting chemicals wastewater treatment
plant
• Kyoto Protocol: reduces fossil
fuel emissions causing
climate change

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 The Earth Summit

Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in 2002

• The largest international diplomatic conference ever held

• It centered on the idea of sustainable development
• This fourth wave of environmental policy focuses on
sustainable development
• Finding ways to safeguard natural systems while
raising living standards for the world’s poorest people

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NGOs and the World Bank

• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) =

entities that influence international policy
• Some do not get politically involved
• Others try to shape policy through
research, lobbying or protest
• The World Bank = one of the world’s largest
funding sources for development
• Dams, irrigation, infrastructure
• Funds unsustainable, environmentally
damaging projects

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Organizations help shape international
policy
• International organizations influence the behavior
of nations
• Providing funding, applying peer pressure,
directing media attention
• United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) = helps nations understand and solve
environmental problems
• The European Union seeks to promote Europe’s
unity and economic and social progress
• Can enact binding regulations
• Can also issue advisory directives
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The World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Represents multinational corporations to promote free
trade
• Has authority to impose penalties on nations the don’t
comply with its directives
• Interprets some environmental laws as unfair barriers
to free trade
• Brazil and Venezuela filed a complaint against the
U.S. EPA’s regulations requiring cleaner-burning
fuel
• The WTO agreed with Brazil and Venezuela,
despite threats to human health
• Critics charge the WTO aggravates environmental
problems
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Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
QUESTION: Review

_______ is defined as “laws and regulations made by

government.”

a) Tort law
b) Public policy
c) Market failure
d) Tragedy of the commons

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QUESTION: Review
Which of the following is NOT a goal of environmental
policy?
a) Increased resource extraction
b) Elimination of free riders
c) Addressing external costs
d) Promoting equity

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Review

What happened to the Cuyahoga River to increase

awareness of environmental problems?
a) It smelled bad
b) People drowned in it
c) It was drained
d) It caught on fire

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Review

NEPA requires an Environmental Impact Statement when:

a) An economically expensive project is proposed
b) Any state action may affect the environment
c) Any federal action may affect the environment
d) Politicians decide one is needed

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QUESTION: Review

External costs are:

a) Defined when a person cheats on cleaning up
pollution
b) Costs borne by people involved in a transaction
c) Voluntary efforts to decrease environmental
impacts
d) Cost borne by people not involved in a transaction

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Review
Which of the following entities tries to shape policy through
research, lobbying, or protest?

a) NGOs
b) The EU
c) The World Bank
d) The WTO

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 Six steps to making environmental policy

• Requires curiosity, observation, awareness

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 Step 2

• Involves scientific research and

• Risk assessment = judging risks a problem poses
to health or the environment

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 Step 3

• Risk management = developing strategies to

minimize risk
• Involves social or political action

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 Step 4

• Organizations are more effective than individuals

• But a motivated, informed individual can also
succeed
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
 Step 5

• Lobbying = spending time and money to influence a politician

• Environmental advocates are not the most influential
lobbyists
• Political Action Committees (PACs) = raise money for political
campaigns
• The revolving door = the movement of people between the
private sector and government
• Intimate knowledge of an issue or conflict of interest?
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 Step 6

• Prepare a bill, or draft law, containing solutions

• Following a law’s enactment
• Administrative agencies implement regulations
• Policymakers evaluate the policy’s successes or failures
• The judicial branch interprets the law
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Science plays a role, but can be politicized

• Effective policy decisions are informed by

scientific research
• Sometimes policymakers ignore science
• They let political ideology determine policy
• Scientists at government agencies have had
their work suppressed or discredited
- Their jobs were threatened

When taxpayer-funded research is suppressed or distorted

for political ends, everyone loses
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Approaches to environmental policy

• Command-and-control approach: environmental

policy sets rules or limits and threatens
punishment for violators
• Heavy-handed
• Alternative approaches involve using economic
incentives to encourage desired outcomes and
use market dynamics to meet goals
• Most current environmental laws
- Have resulted in safe, healthy, comfortable
lives

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Drawbacks of command-and-control

• Government actions may be well-intentioned but not

informed
• Interest groups–people seeking private gain–unduly
influence politicians
• Citizens may view policies as restrictions on freedom
• Costly and less efficient in achieving goals

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 Widespread economic policy tools

• Tax breaks = encourage desirable

industries or activities
• Subsidy = a government giveaway
of cash or resources to encourage a
particular activity
• Have been used to support
unsustainable activities

In 2003, $58 billion of taxpayer’s money was spent on 68

environmentally harmful subsidies such as building logging roads
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Another economic policy tool

• Green taxes = taxes on environmentally harmful

activities
• Polluter pays principle = the price of a good or service
includes all costs, including environmental degradation
• Gives companies financial incentives to reduce
pollution
• But, costs are passed on to consumers

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 Market permitting and incentives
• Permit trading = government-created market in
permits
• Businesses buy, sell, trade these permits
• Emissions trading system = government-issued
permits for an acceptable amount of pollution and
companies buy, sell, or trade these permits with
other polluters
• Cap-and-trade system = a party that reduces its
pollution levels can sell this credit to other parties
- Pollution is reduced overall, but does increase
around polluting plants
• Companies have an economic incentive to reduce
emissions
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Conclusion

• Environmental policy is a problem-solving tool

• Uses science, ethics and economics
• Conventional command-and-control approach
• Uses legislation and regulations
• Most common approach
• Market-based incentives
• Can be more complicated but can be less
expensive

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data
What major conclusion can be drawn from this graph on emissions
trading of sulfur dioxide.

a) Emissions have greatly

increased since 2000
b) Emissions have
decreased since 2000,
but are above permitted
levels
c) The U.S. no longer emits
sulfur dioxide
d) Permitted levels have
been lowered since 2000

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Viewpoints
Should the government be able to prevent development
in an environmentally sensitive area, even if that
area is privately owned?

a) Yes, if the public good is threatened

b) Yes, if the landowner agrees
c) Yes, but only if the courts allow it
d) No, private property development should never be
prevented by government

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

QUESTION: Viewpoints
If one nation has strict environmental laws, should
another nation be allowed to sue to overrule those
laws in the name of free trade?

a) Yes, free trade must not be interrupted between

two countries that have trade agreements
b) Yes, but only if the negatively affected country
is poor and trying to develop
c) No, countries have the right to pass
environmental protection laws that other nations
must follow

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings