Conceptions of Value in Environmental Decision-making

Conceptions of Value in Environmental Decision-making PDF Author: John O'Neill
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This policy briefing series communicates the findings from nine workshops and three plenary meetings under the EVE programme. These showed the diversity of research currently being undertaken in the area of environmental values and their policy expression. The type of information relevant to the decision process extends from ecological functioning to moral values.

Conceptions of Value in Environmental Decision-making

Conceptions of Value in Environmental Decision-making PDF Author: John O'Neill
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This policy briefing series communicates the findings from nine workshops and three plenary meetings under the EVE programme. These showed the diversity of research currently being undertaken in the area of environmental values and their policy expression. The type of information relevant to the decision process extends from ecological functioning to moral values.

Environmental Values

Environmental Values PDF Author: John O'Neill
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113476037X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
We live in a world confronted by mounting environmental problems; increasing global deforestation and desertification, loss of species diversity, pollution and global warming. In everyday life people mourn the loss of valued landscapes and urban spaces. Underlying these problems are conflicting priorities and values. Yet dominant approaches to policy-making seem ill-equipped to capture the various ways in which the environment matters to us. Environmental Values introduces readers to these issues by presenting, and then challenging, two dominant approaches to environmental decision-making, one from environmental economics, the other from environmental philosophy. The authors present a sustained case for questioning the underlying ethical theories of both of these traditions. They defend a pluralistic alternative rooted in the rich everyday relations of humans to the environments they inhabit, providing a path for integrating human needs with environmental protection through an understanding of the narrative and history of particular places. The book examines the implications of this approach for policy issues such as biodiversity conservation and sustainability. Written in a clear and accessible style for an interdisciplinary audience, this volume will be ideal for student use in environmental courses in geography, economics, philosophy, politics and sociology.

The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making

The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making PDF Author: John Martin Gillroy
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822383462
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
In The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making a group of prominent environmental ethicists, policy analysts, political theorists, and legal experts challenges the dominating influence of market principles and assumptions on the formulation of environmental policy. Emphasizing the concept of sustainability and the centrality of moral deliberation to democracy, they examine the possibilities for a wider variety of moral principles to play an active role in defining “good” environmental decisions. If environmental policy is to be responsible to humanity and to nature in the twenty-first century, they argue, it is imperative that the discourse acknowledge and integrate additional normative assumptions and principles other than those endorsed by the market paradigm. The contributors search for these assumptions and principles in short arguments and debates over the role of science, social justice, instrumental value, and intrinsic value in contemporary environmental policy. In their discussion of moral alternatives to enrich environmental decision making and in their search for a less austere and more robust role for normative discourse in practical policy making, they analyze a series of original case studies that deal with environmental sustainability and natural resources policy including pollution, land use, environmental law, globalism, and public lands. The unique structure of the book—which features the core contributors responding in a discourse format to the central chapters’ essays and debates—helps to highlight the role personal and public values play in democratic decision making generally and in the field of environmental politics specifically. Contributors. Joe Bowersox, David Brower, Susan Buck, Celia Campbell-Mohn, John Martin Gillroy, Joel Kassiola, Jan Laitos, William Lowry, Bryan Norton, Robert Paehlke, Barry G. Rabe, Mark Sagoff, Anna K. Schwab, Bob Pepperman Taylor, Jonathan Wiener

Valuing Ecosystem Services

Valuing Ecosystem Services PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030909318X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Nutrient recycling, habitat for plants and animals, flood control, and water supply are among the many beneficial services provided by aquatic ecosystems. In making decisions about human activities, such as draining a wetland for a housing development, it is essential to consider both the value of the development and the value of the ecosystem services that could be lost. Despite a growing recognition of the importance of ecosystem services, their value is often overlooked in environmental decision-making. This report identifies methods for assigning economic value to ecosystem servicesâ€"even intangible onesâ€"and calls for greater collaboration between ecologists and economists in such efforts.

Sustainable Values, Sustainable Change

Sustainable Values, Sustainable Change PDF Author: Bryan G. Norton
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022619759X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
“Systematically investigates the philosophical foundations of sustainable development in the context of the history of environmental policy. . . . Compelling.” —Choice Sustainability is a nearly ubiquitous concept today, but can we ever imagine what it would be like for humans to live sustainably on earth? One of the most trafficked terms in the press, on university campuses, and in the corridors of government, sustainability has risen to prominence as a buzzword before the many parties laying claim to it have agreed on how to define it. But the term’s political currency urgently demands that we develop an understanding of this elusive concept. While economists, philosophers, and ecologists argue about what in nature is valuable, and why, in Sustainable Values, Sustainable Change, Bryan Norton offers an action-oriented, pragmatic response to the disconnect between public and academic discourse around sustainability. Looking to the arenas in which decisions are made—and the problems driving these decisions—Norton reveals that the path to sustainability cannot be guided by fixed objectives; sustainability will instead be achieved through experimentation, incremental learning, and adaptive management. Drawing inspiration from Aldo Leopold’s famed metaphor of “thinking like a mountain” for a spatially explicit, pluralistic approach to evaluating environmental change, Norton outlines a new decision-making process guided by deliberation and negotiation across science and philosophy. Looking across scales to today’s global problems, Norton urges us to learn to think like a planet. “An excellent distillation of Norton’s extensive and groundbreaking work.” —Ben Minteer, Arizona State University, author of Refounding Environmental Ethics “Engaging and important.” —Sahotra Sarkar, University of Texas at Austin, author of Environmental Philosophy: From Theory to Practice

Decision Making for the Environment

Decision Making for the Environment PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309095409
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
With the growing number, complexity, and importance of environmental problems come demands to include a full range of intellectual disciplines and scholarly traditions to help define and eventually manage such problems more effectively. Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities is the result of a 2-year effort by 12 social and behavioral scientists, scholars, and practitioners. The report sets research priorities for the social and behavioral sciences as they relate to several different kinds of environmental problems.

Handbook for Environmental Risk Decision Making

Handbook for Environmental Risk Decision Making PDF Author: C. Richard Cothern
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9781420048735
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
This handbook describes the broad aspects of risk management involving scientific policy judgment, uncertainty analysis, perception considerations, statistical insights, and strategic thinking. This book presents all the important concepts to enable the reader to "see the big picture." This ability is extremely important - it allows the decision maker or strategic environmental planner to understand and cope with a wide variety of complex and interlinked pieces of information and data. The text presents environmental problems and, whenever applicable, the methodology required to reach a successful solution. Decisions and policies are examined. The book covers numerous objective and subjective components of environmental risk decision making. It details quantitative and comparative risk, and investigates the cost and feasibility of different decisions. Social pressures, safety, and political, religious, ethical, and psychological issues are addressed. How to evaluate the potential impact on the quality of life also is discussed. Any company doing risk assessment, risk management, or risk communication, as well as those doing environmental decision making will find this reference to be invaluable. It is also suitable as a text for courses in environmental management, environmental science, and risk assessment in the areas of risk management and strategic environmental planning.

Sustainability Concepts in Decision-making

Sustainability Concepts in Decision-making PDF Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Scientific Tools and Approaches for Sustainability
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780309312325
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making: Tools and Approaches for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examines scientific tools and approaches for incorporating sustainability concepts into assessments used to support EPA decision making. Using specific case studies, this report considers the application of analytic and scientific tools, methods, and approaches presented in the 2011 NRC report Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. This report examines both currently available and emerging tools, methods, and approaches to find those most appropriate for assessing and/or evaluating potential economic, social and environmental outcomes within an EPA decision context. Sustainability Concepts in Decision Making also discusses data needs and post-decision evaluation of outcomes on dimensions of sustainability. A broad array of sustainability tools and approaches are suitable for assessing potential environmental, social, and economic outcomes in EPA's decision-making context."--Publisher's description.

Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World

Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World PDF Author: Ricardo Rozzi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400774702
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
To comprehensively address the complexities of current socio-ecological problems involved in global environmental change, it is indispiseble to achieve an integration of ecological understanding and ethical values. Contemporary science proposes an inclusive ecosystem concept that recognizes humans as components. Contemporary environmental ethics includes eco-social justice and the realization that as important as biodiversity is cultural diversity, inter-cultural, inter-institutional, and international collaboration requiring a novel approach known as biocultural conservation. Right action in confronting the challenges of the 21st century requires science and ethics to be seamlessly integrated. This book resulted from the 14th Cary Conference that brought together leading scholars and practitioners in ecology and environmental philosophy to discuss core terminologies, methods, questions, and practical frameworks for long-term socio-ecological research, education, and decision making.

Application of Threshold Concepts in Natural Resource Decision Making

Application of Threshold Concepts in Natural Resource Decision Making PDF Author: Glenn R. Guntenspergen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489980415
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Natural resource managers face a complex decision-making environment characterized by the potential occurrence of rapid and abrupt ecological change. These abrupt changes are poorly accommodated by traditional natural resource planning and decision-making processes. As recognition of threshold processes has increased, contemporary models of ecological systems have been modified to better represent a broader range of ecological system dynamics. Key conceptual advances associated with the ideas of non-linear responses, the existence of multiple ecological stable states and critical thresholds are more likely the rule than the exception in ecological systems. Once an ecological threshold is crossed, the ecosystem in question is not likely to return to its previous state. There are many examples and a general consensus that climatic disruptions will drive now stable systems across ecological thresholds. This book provides professional resource managers with a broad general decision framework that illustrates the utility of including ecological threshold concepts in natural resource management. It gives an entry into the literature in this rapidly evolving concept, with descriptions and discussion of the promising statistical approaches for threshold detection and demonstrations of the utility of the threshold framework via a series of case studies.