GEOG 101: Day 22

1. GEOG 101: Day 22 Policy and Strategy for Sustainability

2. Housekeeping Items • Any feedback on Kate’s presentation? • According to Wikipedia, Light rail or light rail transit (LRT) is a form of urban railpublic transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems. The term is typically used to refer to rail systems with rapid transit-style features that usually use electric rail cars[1] operating mostly in private rights-of-way separated from other traffic but sometimes, if necessary, mixed with other traffic in city streets.” • I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but Janice recommends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEZkQv25uEs&feature=share. • For an inspirational item about an 11-year-old girl who won an international award for her conservation activism, see www.ConserveItForward.org. • Today, we will focus on environmental policy, and strategy. We won’t have time for Chapter 21, but read it on your own. You can also look at PowerPoint on environmental ethics (at http://web.viu.ca/alexander2/courses.htm).

3. Lecture or Brainstorm? • A lot of what follows in the notes boils down to strategies for influencing institutions and individuals/ households. • Each strategy requires different strengths. Whatever activity you choose to engage in, remember the quote: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” • Crises seem to be needed to jolt people and institutions out of their complacency, but they can lead to real change or to a backlash and an attempt to preserve an outworn status quo (with a corresponding search for scapegoats).

4. Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to • Describe environmental policy and assess its societal context • Identify the institutions important to Canadian environmental policy • Recognize major Canadian environmental laws • List the institutions involved with international environmental policy • Categorize the different approaches to environmental policy • Describe how nations handle transboundary issues

5. Central Case: The Death And Rebirth Of Lake Erie “When you get ready to vote, make sure you know what you’re doing.” – Bob Hunter, Journalist and Co-founder of Greenpeace • 1970s: Lake Erie “died” of pollution • International effort brought Lake Erie back using touch legal restrictions on both sides of the border • Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement • 42 Areas of Concern with tailored Remedial Action Plans • One example of how people and organizations work together

6. Environmental Policy 22-6

7. 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

9. Environmental policy addresses issues of equity and resource use • The tragedy of the commons = the idea that a resource held in common that is accessible to all and is unregulated will eventually become overused and degraded • Free Riders = some people pay for others’ irresponsibility/ lack of action • 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

10. weighingtheissues Private versus public good Imagine you have purchased land and plan to clear its forests and build condominiums on it. A local environmental group finds an endangered plant species on the property and petitions the government to prevent development of the land. • Should you be allowed to build? If not, should you be financially compensated? Now imagine that you are a member of the environmental group and a neighbour of the landowner in question. The land holds the last stand of forest in this region. You feel your quality of life and that of your neighbours will be compromised if the development goes ahead. • Should you be allowed to claim damages in civil court? • Which argument do you feel has the greater merit? What is the best way to balance private property rights with protection of the public good in cases like this?

11. Many factors hinder implementation of environmental policy • 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 develop gradually • Human behavior is geared toward short-term needs • News media have short attention spans • Politicians often act out of their own short-term interest

12. Environmental goals and best practices can be promoted by voluntary initiatives • Voluntary guidelines • Sector-based and self-enforced • Canadian mining industry has undertaken some voluntary initiatives • ISO 14001 standards for environmental management • Promote consistency and best practices in environmental management 22-12

13. Environmental goals and best practices can be promoted by voluntary initiatives • Voluntary guidelines = sector-based and self-enforced policing • ISO 14000 series was designed to promote consistency and best practices in environmental management • Are they as effective as legislation?

14. Canadian environmental policy arises from all levels of government • Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999) • Federal government shares responsibility for environmental protection • Provinces/territories (principal responsibility) • Aboriginal • Municipal/local governments • Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) 22-14

15. Canadian Environmental Law And Policy 22-15

16. Canada’s environmental policies are influenced by our neighbour • Influenced by the U.S. in its environmental management approach because of: • The trading relationship (e.g. NAFTA) • The environmental resources we share • Canada-U.S. binational management of transboundary pollution has been characterized by cooperation and dialogue

17. Legal instruments are used to ensure that environmental goals are achieved • Acts = laws, or statutes, proposed and voted upon by the Parliament • Regulations = specific legal instruments, a detailed set of requirements established by governments to allow them to enforce acts • Agreements = enforceable or voluntary; with the goal of streamlining, clarifying, or harmonizing the administration of environmental legislation • Permits = document that grant legal permission to carry out an activity

18. Legal instruments are used to ensure that environmental goals are achieved (cont’d) • Federal (e.g. Canadian Environmental Protection Act, Fisheries Act, Canadian Wildlife Act) • Provincial (e.g. limits on discharging harmful substances, require permits or approvals ) • Aboriginal governments (e.g. resource extraction on aboriginal lands) • Municipal/local governments (e.g. water and sewage, noise, waste, zoning, pesticide use) • International agreements (e.g. U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) • Interesting example of a law that gives legal protection to the rights of nature, species, and ecosystems: Bolivia’s Framework Law for Mother Earth (see http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/bolivia-enacts-new-law-for-mother-earth-141899).

19. Government and ENGOs work together on environmental issues • Stakeholder = any person or group that has an interest in, or might be affected by, the outcome of a particular undertaking • ENGOs = environmental nongovernmental organizations • Round table = a multi-stakeholder working group established to consult on a particular issue

20. Different environmental media require different regulatory approaches • Water law in Canada developed from two historical legal concepts: • Riparian law = anyone who has legal access to the water’s edge has the legal right to withdraw water from the resource • Prior appropriation = first come, first right principle, by which one’s right to withdraw water is established by historical precedent

21. Environmental policy has changed with the society and the economy • 1780s to 1800s: frontier ethic to tame and conquer the wilderness • 1800s: regulate resource use, conservation and preservation ethics • 1900s: immigrants encouraged to convert Prairie grasslands into farms; soil conservation • Late 1900s: policy responded to pollution and environmental crises (Silent Spring, 1962) • 2000s: public enthusiasm for environmental protection

22. The social context for environmental policy changes over time • Factors that allowed advances in environmental policy • 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 • Economic confidence (willingness-to-pay transition)

26. The concept of sustainable development now guides environmental policy • Sustainable development = “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” 1987, United Nations Commission on Environment and Development • Has not been without controversy • Too vague • prone to misuse and misinterpretation • Contradiction in terms

27. Scientific monitoring and reporting helps with environmental policy decisions • State-of-the-environment reporting (SOER) = the collection,organization, and reporting of information that can be used to measure and monitor changes in the environment • Indicators = values that can be measured and in comparison to which changes can be assessed

28. Scientific monitoring and reporting helps with environmental policy decisions (cont’d) • Purpose of SOER • What is happening in the environment? • Why is it happening? • Why is it significant? • What is being done about it? • Is this response sustainable?

29. Scientific monitoring and reporting helps with environmental policy decisions (cont’d) • Environment Canada takes the lead role on SOER • Other federal-levels • Fisheries and Oceans Canada • Parks Canada • Many municipalities also produce SOE reports • Many corporations have adopted reporting as well

30. SOER presents organizational challenges • So much environmental information that can be measured and reported • How to sub-divide the information • Pressure–state–response (PSR) model = based on establishing linkages and causalities • Cause-and-effect feedback loops

32. International Environmental Law and Policy 22-32

33. International Environmental Law and Policy • International issues can be addressed through creative agreements • Customary law = practices or customs held by most cultures • Conventional law = fromconventions or treaties • Montreal Protocol: nations agreed to reduce ozone-depleting chemicals • Kyoto Protocol: reduces fossil fuel emissions causing climate change (Canada withdrew in 2011)

34. Several organizations help shape international environmental policy • The United Nations helps nations understand and solve environmental problems • The European Union seeks to promote Europe’s unity and economic and social progress • The World Trade Organization hasauthority to impose financial penalties and can shape environmental policy (has interpreted some environmental laws as unfair barriers to trade) • The World Bank funds economic development including some unsustainable projects

35. Several organizations help shape international environmental policy (cont’d) • Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is concerned some countries may impose policies that are harmful to those who rely on fossil fuels for a substantial part of their income • International ENGOs provide funding, expertise, and research to environmental problems in diverse ways

36. Approaches to Environmental Policy 22-36

37. Science plays a role in policy, but it can be politicized • Effective policy decisions are informed by scientific research • Sometimes policymakers ignore science • Cod fisher in Atlantic Canada for example • 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

38. Command-and-control policy has improved our lives, but it is not perfect • 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

39. Command-and-control policy has improved our lives, but it is not perfect (cont’d) • 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

40. Economic tools also can be used to achieve environmental goals • Subsidy • Green taxes and “polluter pays” • Permit trading

41. Economic tools also can be used to achieve environmental goals (cont’d) • Subsidy = a government giveaway of cash or resources to encourage a particular activity • Have been used to support unsustainable activities • Could subsidize environmentally sustainable activities instead

42. Economic tools also can be used to achieve environmental goals (cont’d) • 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 • Costs are passed on to consumers

43. Economic tools also can be used to achieve environmental goals (cont’d) • 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

44. Market incentives are being tried widely on the local level • Charges for waste disposal according to the amount of waste they generate • Rebates to residents who buy water-efficient toilets • Discounts from power companies for using high-efficiency light bulbs and appliances • Rebate programs aimed at providing rewards for behavioural changes

45. Eco-labellinggives some choice back to the consumer • Eco-labelling= tells consumers which brands use environmentally benign processes • Consumers provide businesses with a powerful incentive to switch to more sustainable processes • Socially responsible investing = entails investing only in companies that have met certain criteria

46. Conclusion • Environmental policy is a problem-solving tool that uses science, ethics and economics • Conventional command-and-control approach of legislation and regulation are most common • Environmental issues often overlap political boundaries • New approaches to environmental management are currently emerging in Canada

47. Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to • List and describe approachesbeingtakenoncollege and universitycampuses to promote sustainability • Explain the concept of sustainabledevelopment • Discusshowprotecting the environment can be compatible witheconomicwelfare • Describe and assesskeyapproaches to designingsustainablesolutions • Discuss the needforactionon the behalf of the environment and the tremendous human potential to solveproblems • Nameseveralexamples of programsthataim to reduce environmentalimpactsbychanging the behaviour of individuals, corporations, or institutions

48. Central Case: A Different Way Of Doing Business • Summerhill Group – social enterprise which has a vision of transforming markets to sustainability • Works with large corporations and other organizations, helping them to design and implement initiatives for sustainability • One of the successful programs is Car Heaven • Encourages people to trade in their old cars so that they can be safely and properly recycled • Programs like these show how small actions by individuals can add up to big changes for the environment

49. Sustainability on Campus 23-49

50. Sustainability on campus • Governments, corporations, and organizations must encourage and pursue sustainable practices • Colleges and universities are centres of lavish resource consumption, so these institutions must also be involved • Reducing the size of this footprint is challenging • Talloires Declaration – college and universities from around the world • Alma Mater Society Lighter Footprint Strategy • UBC Vancouver – nine sets of goals for sustainability