Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Evaluation Of The Us High Production Volume (Hpv) Chemical-Testing Programme: A Study In (Ir)Relevance, Redundancy And Retro Thinking, Andrew Nicholson, Jessica Sandler, Troy Seidle

Troy Seidle, PhD

Under the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Programme, chemical companies have volunteered to conduct screening-level toxicity tests on approximately 2800 widely-used industrial chemicals. Participating companies are committed to providing available toxicity information to the EPA and presenting testing proposals for review by the EPA and posting on the EPA Web site as public information. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and a coalition of animal protection organisations have reviewed all the test plans submitted by the participating chemical companies for compliance with the original HPV framework, as well as with animal welfare guidelines …

Law, Environment, And The “Nondismal” Social Sciences, William Boyd, Douglas Kysar, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Over the past 30 years, the influence of economics over the study of environmental law and policy has expanded considerably, becoming in the process the predominant framework for analyzing regulations that address pollution, natural resource use, and other environmental issues. This review seeks to complement the expansion of economic reasoning and methodology within the field of environmental law and policy by identifying insights to be gleaned from various “nondismal” social sciences. In particular, three areas of inquiry are highlighted as illustrative of interdisciplinary work that might help to complement law and economics and, in some cases, compensate for it: the …

The Effectiveness Of The Endangered Species Act: A Quantitative Analysis, Martin F.J. Taylor, Kieran F. Suckling, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Population trends for 1095 species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act were correlated with the length of time the species were listed and the presence or absence of critical habitat and recovery plans. Species with critical habitat for two or more years were more than twice as likely to have an improving population trend in the late 1990s, and less than half as likely to be declining in the early 1990s, as species without. Species with dedicated recovery plans for two or more years were significantly more likely to be improving and less likely to be …

The Psychology Of Global Climate Change, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

In its attempt to address the threat of global climate change, society has struggled to reach a consensus regarding the need for preventive measures. Professor Rachlinski describes the threat of global climate change as a unique commons dilemma and explains that various psychological phenomena of judgment render it unlikely that society will be able to respond effectively to the threat. After considering the effects of biased assimilation, loss aversion, and other psychological processes, the author explains that an innovative approach is necessary to properly address the dilemma of global climate change. Specifically, the author examines the prospect of governmental intervention …

Climate-Induced Sea Level Rise And Sustainable Coastal Management: The Influence Of Existing Policy Frameworks On Risk Perception, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

Toward A Typology Of Wildlife Crime Offenders, Greg Warchol

Greg Warchol

No abstract provided.

A Critical Examination Of The Climate Engineering Moral Hazard And Risk Compensation Concern, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

Losing The Message: Some Policy Implications Of Anthropocentric Indirect Arguments For Environmental Protection, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

The International Regulation Of Climate Engineering: Lessons From Nuclear Power, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

Intermediaries Revisited: Is Efficient Certification Consistent With Profit Maximization?, Jonathan M. Barnett

Jonathan M Barnett

Private certification mechanisms are a key component of the regulatory infrastructure in the financial sector and other commercial settings. It is generally assumed that certification intermediaries have profit-based incentives to deliver accurate information to the certified market. But this view does not account for repeated failures in certification markets. Those failures can be explained by an inherent defect in the incentive structure of certification intermediaries: entry barriers both support and undermine the consistent supply of accurate information to the certified market. Certification markets tend to converge on a handful of providers protected by switching costs, product opacity and reputational noise. …

Is ‘Human Rights’ The Right Approach For Protecting The Interests Of Forest-Dependent People?, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

Nature conservation is often promoted in the name of the greater good of humanity. However, in a large number of cases, nature conservation is associated with increased militarization of resource control (see the select bibliography below). International conservation organizations have responded to such concerns by developing proposals for what they refer to as ‘rights-based approaches to conservation’. Some of the biggest conservation organizations have also come together to form the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), which is a consortium of international conservation NGOs that seek to improve the practice of conservation by promoting integration of human rights in conservation …

Interfaces Between Csr, Corporate Law And The Problem Of Social Costs, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: CSR is an increasingly seen as the preferred approach to addressing the social impacts of industrial production. These social impacts, however, come in the first instance from production and not the corporation. The legal corporation facilitates social costs secondarily. Much of the thinking about CSR fails to adequately take account of the systemic nature of social costs, the legal nature of the corporation and social costs and the so the systemic failure of law to deal with them. This article addresses the interface between the three concepts and related issues of CSR, social costs and corporate law.

Paradoxes Of Democratisation: Environmental Politics In East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This chapter examines environmental politics in four polities that run the full spectrum of political regimes: mainland China (authoritarian), South Korea and Taiwan (newly democratic), and Japan (mature democracy). The chapter argues that variation in environmental politics in each place resulted primarily from the timing of their environmental movements, with subsequent movements learning from predecessors and gaining increasing access to global NGO networks. Paradoxically, when environmental movements became linked to democratization movements (in South Korea and Taiwan), they also became linked to political parties, which hindered access to government policymaking when non-allied parties were in power.

Governance Approaches That Can Be Used To Implement Sustainability Criteria, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Implementation of sustainability criteria, both in legal frameworks and voluntary sustainability standards, is an urgent and important issue. In the article, three less state-centric governance approaches and their capacity to be used to implement sustainability criteria have been investigated. The chosen approaches are good governance, multi-level governance and selfgovernance. Their potential strengths and weaknesses have been pointed out. The research indicates that sustainability criteria can be implemented in different ways, which have the potential to highlight, strengthen or weaken different aspects of their function. The use of different governance approaches, or their combinations, can lead to different implementation results for …

Behavioral Approaches To Environmental Policy Analysis: A Case Study Of Offshore Wind Energy In The North American Great Lakes, Erik Edward Nordman

Erik Edward Nordman

Behavioral economics, including prospect theory, offers new approaches to environmental policy analysis. The utility of behavioral approaches to environmental policy analysis is illustrated using a case study of offshore wind energy policy in Michigan, USA. Michigan has attempted to clarify the permitting process for offshore wind energy but those efforts have failed. Prospect theory suggests that Michigan legislators are, for the most part, risk averse to policy reforms as the state emerges from its “one-state recession” and into a gains domain. Legislators from some coastal districts perceive offshore wind development as a threat to coastal quality of life, are risk-seeking …

Risk Tradeoff Analysis, Public Opinion And Nuclear Safety: A Spanish Case Study, Xiao Recio-Blanco

Xiao Recio-Blanco

The 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant opened a heated worldwide debate over nuclear energy. Unfortunately, neither the previous nor current Spanish governments have publicized the evidence used to evaluate the merits of extending the lifespan of Spain’s own Garoña plant. This article uses the Garoña case for a twofold purpose. First, the article analyzes the accountability of Spain’s executive power decisions on potentially catastrophic industrial activities. The paper finds that the lack of appropriate information disclosure duties in Spain may allow the government to abuse its discretion on actions potentially damaging to human health and the environment. …

Disaster Law And Policy, Daniel Farber, Jim Chen, Robert Verchick, Lisa Grow Sun

Daniel A Farber

The Difficult Problem Of Nonpoint Nutrient Pollution: Could The Endangered Species Act Offer Some Relief?, Zdravka Tzankova

Zdravka Tzankova

Nutrient pollution of rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries is one of the preeminent water quality issues in the United States today, and poses a significant threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems. Agricultural nonpoint discharges, the runoff of nitrogen and phosphorous from animal manure and chemical fertilizers, are the primary sources of such nutrient pollution.

A pervasive and long-standing problem, nonpoint pollution, nutri- ent and otherwise, has proven to be one of the toughest challenges in contemporary environmental regulation. This situation is significantly attributable to the political and administrative dynamics of fragmented regulatory authority. The power to control such nonpoint …

Plans Are Not Enough, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some commentators see comprehensive municipal plans as a remedy for suburban sprawl. But in fact, a plan can be used to promote sprawl as well as to prevent sprawl.

The Green Job Engine In Portugal, Kyle Herman

Dr. Kyle S. Herman

Renewable energy technology has come under fierce criticism around the world through the duration of the Global Financial Crisis. Opponents of a state-oriented renewable energy policy infer that the high cost of such technology has negative macroeconomic effects on the economy. This paper investigates the broader economic effects of renewable energy policy in Portugal. Research indicates the government has built cohesive renewable energy policy to foster a strong network of jobs and technologies in the industry. The Wind Energy Industrial Cluster, an innovation centre to drive wind energy technology, is an example of government policy which has fostered strong industrial …

Energy And Environment Policy Case For A Global Project, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

A policy case is made for a global project on artificial photosynthesis including its scientific justification, potential governance structure and funding mechanisms.

The Unfinished Story Of The Rio Plus 20 Conference, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

Reporting on the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (or Rio+20 conference) has generally followed two lines: the conference was essentially a failure because of its tepid official response to the enormous and related problems of global environmental degradation and global poverty; and the conference successfully managed to mobilize hundreds of voluntary commitments and at least $513 billion for specific sustainability goals. A third story line has received little attention, however, and may redeem the account of official failure. This article addresses that story line, reviewing a series of processes set in motion by the parties to the conference that …

Regulatory Takings Claims And Coastal Management Of Sea Level Rise: Remembering Governments Are More Than Regulators, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

Implementing Environmental Justice In Appalachia: The Social And Cultural Context Of Mountaintop Removal Mining As Seen Through The Lenses Of Law And Documentaries, Evan Barret Smith

Evan Barret Smith

Mountaintop removal is a form of mining that has major effects on the ecology and people of central Appalachia. The practice has been gaining increasing attention from the EPA and popular cultural sources as an environmental justice issue. Recent decisions by the EPA incorporate an environmental justice analysis as contextualization, but the perspective provided is problematic. This Article compares the way that the social and cultural context of mountaintop removal has been framed in judicial opinions and EPA documents to understand how legal documents understand and perpetuate the conflicts related to mountaintop removal. To further widen the lens, seven documentary …

Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

This chapter opens by examining whether the research and development of molecular solar fuels will be characterized in future by its promotion of fundamental societal virtues such as equality and environmental sustainability. As a thought experiment, it presents a vision of some important elements of such a future world—one where energy is primarily not only a matter of global artificial photosynthesis (GAP), but of such virtues. Central to the future perspective presented here is nanotechnological construction with enhanced efficiency of each aspect of the natural photosynthetic process into units capable of inexpensive mass production for domestic use. This involves a …

Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …

A Bad Trip For Health-Related Human Rights: Implications Of Momcilovic V The Queen (2011) 85 Aljr 957, Tim Vines, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Momcilovic v The Queen (2011) 85 ALJR 957 [PDF] ; [2011] HCA 34 arose from a prosecution for drug trafficking brought under the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) . The Australian High Court held that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) (the Charter) validly conferred a power on the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to interpret legislation in a manner consistent with a defined list of human rights. By a slim majority it also held that the Charter validly created a judicial power to "declare" a law inconsistent with one or …

Challenges To Australia’S National Health Policy From Trade And Investment Agreements, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Recent federal trade policy commitments concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations (against changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and against inclusion of an investor state provision) could protect Australia’s tobacco control legislation and Australia's sovereign capacity to regulate public health and environmental policy

The Proposed Ban On Certain Nanomaterials For Electrical And Electronic Equipment In Europe: Global Security Implications, Thomas A. Faunce, Hitoshi Nasu

Thomas A Faunce

International collaboration on nanotechnology governance has so far paid little attention to security implications of regulating the use of nanotechnology. For example, the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (initiated by the International Centre for Technological Assessment) developed 'Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials' to provide a set of ethical standards for nanotechnology research and development (Kimbrell, 2009). Similar initiatives are observed at the national level, as has been seen in the Swiss Retailers Association Code of Conduct and the UK's Responsible NanoCode (Bowman and Hodge, 2009, pp.149-152). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also been active …

Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels): Energy, Nanochemistry And Governance, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Introduction to special open access edition of Australian Journal of Chemistry with papers from 'Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis: Energy, Nanochemistry and Governance' conference Lord Howe Island 2011