Your detailed and thorough post due by Wednesday@MIDNIGHT for full credit (A). Partial credit (C) can be earned by posting late, which is better than a ZERO.
Remember, weekly blogging is worth 1/3 of your entire semester grade.
Be sure to communicate with Dr. W as needed - rob.williams@madriver.com.
Read and blog MAKING ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS: INTRODUCTION, Chapters 13-15.
1) THESIS: IYOW, post a single sentence that captures the thesis for EACH CHAPTER of our reading.
2) EVIDENCE: Post and number THREE specific observations from EACH CHAPTER of our reading(s) that supports your thesis.
Use 2-3 sentences for each observation, and combine direct quotations from the text (AUTHOR's LAST NAME, 27), with IYOW analysis.
3) QUESTION: Include in your post a SINGLE SPECIFIC question you'd ask the class based on our readings.
ReplyDeleteChapter 13
Thesis: The public needs to be involved in alternatives assessments and need to keep decision makers accountable.
1. The public should be involved in all alternatives assessment if there is a chance that the policy or action may harm them or their environment. “If decisions based on alternatives assessment could result in harm to public health or wildlife, then the public must be involved in the assessment.” (191) All assessments contain options as well as the advantages and disadvantages of that option.
2. The varying of adverse effects and consequences must be represented in the options presented. NEPA regulations define the effects to consider a broad range of adverse effects that could take place because of risks. “Effects includes ecological (such as the effects on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of affected ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or cumulative.” (192)
3. “Citizens can sue federal agency if the agency has not discussed reasonable alternatives or adverse impacts that were brought to their attention during the scoping and commenting phase.” (198) NEPA regulations make it so the public has the right to make sure that these assessments are done keeping their health and wellbeing in mind. This keeps decision makers accountable for the decisions and policies.
Chapter 14
Thesis: Risk assessments are optional and alternatives are necessary at the beginning of a problem.
1. Our current society believes that risk assessment is an integral and necessary assessment that must take place when in fact it is optional for many businesses and activities. “It is an optional process, and it is being used almost exclusively to figure out to what extent business and agencies will be permitted to damage the health of ecosystems and humans.” (203).
2. The Eugene School case study discusses how they wanted spray pesticides the school to get rid of dandelions. The school district fought back and demanded an alternatives assessment to be done. They wanted to be shown that these dandelions were a problem and that there was absolutely no other alternatives.
3. Alternatives assessment needs to take place at the beginning of the assessment. Alternatives assessments as useless once the risky activity has already taken place. Once someone has been exposed to a hazard knowing the alternatives will not fix the problem.
Chapter 15
Thesis: Alternatives assessments are shorter intentionally in order to be accessible for the public.
1. Alternatives assessment utilizes more information than a typical risk assessment. Risk assessment only examines on behavior and the risk that come from that rather than looking at a wide range of behaviors that are all interconnected.
2. “Irreparable damage might occur if a risk assessment considers only one course of action and underestimates the adverse consequences of that action.” (220). Risk assessments are dangerous because they underestimate how much damage will occur and does not understand the effects on humans and the environment and their ability to cope with these effects.
3. Alternatives assessment uses personal knowledge of those in the community or those affected. Risk assessment only draws on scientific knowledge and does not understand the interworking of the system.
Question: How can we make alternatives assessments more accessible for community involvement in order to be proactive?
Chapter 13: This chapter discusses the essential features of an alternatives assessment and how these assessments are overall easier and more feasible than risk assessments.
ReplyDelete1. “An alternatives assessment involves consideration of the pros and cons of a decent range of options. The process should include the public whenever they might be harmed by activities considered in the assessment” (O’Brien, 191). This shows the explanation of how an alternative assessment is created. I believe that with the public involved, businesses would be more successful from a trust perspective in the long run.
2. “A range of reasonable choices for behaving must be presented. The options must include those that seem to promise the least adverse impact on the environment and public health and/or those that seem to promise the greatest environmental and public-health advantages” (O’Brien, 191). Again, having the public aware of their environment will create a better community.
3. “Under NEPA, when a federal agency is going to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), the agency must notify the public and solicit ideas for the necessary scope of the environmental analysis” (O’Brien, 195). In my environmental law class, we’re discussing the importance of EIS’s. I believe that these statements are part of alternative assessment because they predict what may happen, but those who are in charge of this sector are not focusing on environmental degradation when making the assessments/decisions.
Chapter 14: This chapter shows readers how the world may be if reality switched from risk assessment to alternative assessment.
1. “All public agencies, public facilities (e.g., public schools), and private facilities (e.g., factories, farms, developers, service businesses,) should produce and pay for environmental benefits/impacts assessments of a range of reasonable options for their activities” (O’Brien, 203). I couldn’t agree more. There needs to be regulations for these types of activities. I believe that environmental benefits/impacts should be a priority for these public agencies & facilities and private facilities.
2. “Technical options committees should include people with broadly different approaches to the issue being examined” (O’Brien, 208). We need perspective! This is a significant issue we have in our government, specifically Congress, that needs to be reformed. With too many similar opinions there is no opportunity for change.
3. “If society routinely used alternatives assessment to make decisions, it would encourage private businesses to grow out of the need for regulation” (O’Brien, 209). Small businesses would thrive, and big businesses would be stable, which is how things should be balanced. Using alternative assessment for decision making would benefit the global environment and economy.
ReplyDeleteChapter 15: This chapter discusses how alternative assessments are shorter than risk assessments when writing them out, which makes them more convenient overall.
1. “Because it examines the pros and cons of a range of options, alternatives assessment compiles a broader range of information. As a result, far fewer pages may be required” (O’Brien, 215). Overall, alternative assessment would be the change the world is lacking currently. Like I said before, perspective (pros AND cons) is how we will have environmental rejuvenation and economic growth.
2. “Risk assessors often use a lot of space when they estimate how safe some activity or substance is” (O’Brien, 217). This shows that there are good parts to risk assessment, but it is a flakey assessment when creating a reliable document. Alternative assessment may use the same amount of space (or more or less), but it would be a much more beneficial use of space/time to produce a reliable document.
3. “Making decisions regarding environment-impacting behaviors on the narrow basis of scientific information that is supplied by risk assessments of safety is not a defensible use of scientific information” (O’Brien, 222). The way assessors use scientific information is key to creating a reliable assessment. Risk assessment does not focus on the potential outcomes of a substance or activity, which makes it a weak estimation overall (I don’t know why we still do this type of assessment, it seems very unreliable and lazy to me).
Question: Is alternative assessment one of the most significant components to restoring the environment's health?
Chapter 13
ReplyDeleteThesis: An alternatives assessment is made up of three parts which when applied in conjunction can serve as an outline for effective decision making that causes minimal to no harm.
“Every alternatives assessment has three basic parts: options, disadvantages of each option, and advantages of each option” (191). In order for an alternatives assessment to be effective in showing all possible alternatives, first, it must assess each option and then weigh the positives and negatives of each. Options that are considered must have more advantages than disadvantages.
“Cumulative effects are effects “which [result] from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of [who] undertakes such other actions” (192). Cumulative effects need to be considered in regards to options facing alternatives. You can’t just focus on the immediate effects of an outcome. Long term effects must also be considered especially in regards to sustainability.
“Because environment-impacting activities inevitably affect public resources, the public has a right to be involved in the assessment of alternatives to those activities” (195). When decisions are made without the consent of the public on their behalf, they are unaware of those decisions as well as the consequences. These decisions ultimately affect the public as well as the environment. They should not only be involved in the decision-making process, but also have access and be able to understand all of the implications of their decisions.
Chapter 14
Thesis: A society that utilizes alternatives assessment is healthier overall.
“All public agencies, public facilities (e.g., public schools), and private facilities (e.g., factories, farms, developers, service businesses) should produce and pay for environmental benefits/impacts assessments of a range of reasonable options for their activities” (203). If you pay to improve your environment, in the long run it will pay you back. If the public invests in environmental health it will in turn create a healthy environment. This mitigates the needs for solutions to harm that has been done or will be done because the harm is eliminated.
“What is onerous is the movement by numerous state legislatures and Congress to impose requirements for endless quantitative risk assessments before an agency can regulate private business” (206). What this quote is saying is that it is oppressively burdensome for the government to support risk assessment through funding because in the long term it will be continuously costly.
“They promote risk assessment because it sets loose endless divisiveness over an inappropriate question, namely “How much of public-impacting behavior is safe or acceptable” (213). Essentially, risk assessment is a facade for corporations and the government to continue harming and exploiting the natural environment as well as the public. They are able to manipulate numbers, data, and information in their favor to continue behaving in a malicious way without the consent of the public. They also lack in providing rights to the natural world which is unable to provide consent for itself in the first place.
Chapter 15
DeleteThesis: Alternatives assessments are more effective than risk assessment not only because they ultimately cease to cause harm but they are more concise because they don’t require as much explanation and/or data.
“The 50-page alternatives assessment would be using a broader range of information than the 1000-page risk assessment” (216). Risk assessments are made to be confusing and unreadable. This is so the general public doesn;t have equal access to the information. The people who depend on the risk assessments to justify their hazardous activity benefit from this fact because they are able to continue their harmful behavior.
“Or should we read a 100-page document that summarizes the environmental, social, and economic impacts and benefits of a pulp mill that makes white paper using chlorine compounds (and therefore produces dioxin and dioxin-like compounds) relative to the impacts and benefits of a pulp mill that makes white paper without using any chlorine compounds and without using trees?” (221). It’s about perspective. How information is gathered and applied determines how effective it can be in an alternatives assessment versus a risk assessment. Risk assessments are designed to have too much information so that they are only accessible to a small audience who can manipulate the information to their favor. If everyone could understand a risk assessment, more people would not be okay with them.
“Making decisions publicly on the broad basis of scientific and other information found in an assessment of alternative behaviors is a much wiser and defensible use of information” (222). Instead of using scientific data to justify the amount of harm that is “allowable” for the environment to handle scientific data should be used to reinforce decisions based on how it will affect overall health of the public and the environment. This way discussions can be had about how the data informs the decisions as opposed to whether or not the data is valid.
Question: How can we get the public to care about alternatives assessments?
Chapter 13
ReplyDeleteThesis: For alternatives assessments to be successful they should be shared with the public and open for discussion.
1. “ Under the NEPA, when a federal agency is going to prepare an…(EIS), the agency must notify the public and solicit ideas for the necessary scope of the environmental analysis” (O’Brien,194). This is an amazing requirement. This ensures that all ideas have the potential to be heard and considered with sincerity and addressed publicly. With the public involved, better choices are bound to be made because the people who will be affected by the decision have a say and are informed.
2. “The public becomes aware that caring better for the environment is technically and economically feasible” (O’Brien,197). This creates a more aware and environmentally conscious and politically active population who will more than likely use their newfound understanding of the weight the public's voices hold and continue to offer their ideas towards alternative assessment in order to protect themselves from the potential of decisions being made without the public in mind.
3. “Some people might object that requiring public access to the alternatives assessment processes of private businesses unduly erases the ‘private’ from private business” (O’Brien, 200). This objection, is a ridiculous notion because private businesses still get to behave however they want. These private businesses working with the public are in fact just bettering their image and making themselves a stronger business that in the long run will be more respected and appreciated in the community.
Chapter 14
Thesis: As a society, we know how to make assessments with the benefit of all in mind.
1. “Agencies and businesses reach for risk assessment as if it were a natural part of decision making. It is not” (O’Brien, 203). Risk assessment is NOT a necessary part of decision making. It is a tool used by businesses and agencies to see how much damage they can do to the environment, animals and humans and still get away with it.
2. “We currently allow industries and many public agencies to engage in behaviors that adversely affect the environment without requiring them to consider their options for protecting it” (O’Brien, 206). We are allowing it, but should we? If we know an industry or public agency is causing harm and we know there is the potential for alternatives is it to go against the betterment of society to ignore the harm that is being caused, because it will disrupt the status quo?
3. “The awareness that bad behavior is totally unnecessary, that there are alternatives to behaving brutishly toward the world, is an awareness that is profoundly powerful” (O’Brien, 214). The power of knowledge is unfathomably empowering when it comes to understanding the reality of how easy it is for better, more environmentally friendly decisions to be made. Once people know that there is no excuse for the pollution and disregard for the land, they will demand better options and higher standards for allowance of environmental impact.
Chapter 15
DeleteThesis: Alternatives assessments are offer more useful information in a more easily understood manner.
1. “Because it examines the pros and cons of a range of options, alternatives assessment compiles a broader range of information” (O’Brien, 215). Alternatives assessment includes all of the alternative possibilities to make a better decision. This information may seem simple compared to a risk assessment based on its length and content while in fact, alternatives assessments often hold much more useful information for decision makers in a clearer way than risk assessment.
2. “Alternatives assessment reminds people of choices they can make so that they don’t have to run the risk of losing a plant species or of dying while picking crops” (O’Brien, 220). When the public knows that their voice matters they understand the amount of energy that has gone into ensuring the safety they feel as they garden plants that have outlived pesticides and toxins. This knowledge gives them confidence in the process that is alternative assessment.
3. “Making decisions publicly on the broad basis of scientific and other information found in an assessment of alternative behaviors is much wiser and defensible use of information” (O’Brien, 222). When a decision in made in public, with all of the grounds for the decision being made on laid out on the table, the public feels safer and more included. This allows for a mutual resept to grow between those making the changes and those affected by it. This provides a better ground for future alternatives assessments to be conducted on.
THESIS: Alternatives assessment requires public participation and a democratic backbone.
ReplyDelete1. “If decisions based on an alternatives assessment could result in harm to public health or wildlife, then the public must be involved in the assessment” (O’Brien 192). Public involvement is crucial in alternatives assessment. It is also the most ethical and sensible way to go about assessment.
2. “…Those who are or may be adversely affected by environment-impacting activities are allowed to bring up potentially better alternatives and options” (O’Brien 196). In addition to allowing the public to have a voice in the first place, it is also imperative to allow the public to make critiques and suggestions. Even with the best intentions, it is impossible to know exactly what a community needs without being a part of it.
3. “When we realize that our lives and the lives of others are unnecessarily at stake when some people, companies, and public agencies undertake unnecessarily destructive activities, we often wake up to the the potentials of democratic action” (O’Brien 201). Democratic action is an important part of assessment, because it is an organised way to give people a vote and take in the feelings of those who will be impacted.
THESIS: Implementing alternatives assessment is a major societal change.
1. “When a public agency is using public money to harm the environment or the public health, it is reasonable to require the agency to periodically consider ways to cease or diminish the harm” (O’Brien 205). Public agencies have an obligation to the people to keep their systems in line with public health and public opinions. This is especially true when public funding is being used.
2. “Alternatives assessment allows citizens, politicians, agency bureaucrats, and some business people to see the potential in the concept that no risk is acceptable if there are better alternatives” (O’Brien 213). Suffering has become commonplace. It has become part of our rhetoric as humans to expect someone to always suffer. This does not have to be the case, and alternatives assessment is a good place to start.
3. “The awareness that bad behavior is totally unnecessary, that there are alternatives to behaving brutishly toward the world, is an awareness that is profoundly powerful” (O’Brien 214). Again, changing the way that we think of suffering is a huge step in implementing alternatives assessment. People need to realize that suffering does not have to exist in society.
THESIS: Alternatives Assessments can be short, because they aren’t filled with meaningless fluff.
1. “The 50-page alternatives assessment would be using a broader range of information than the 1000-page risk assessment” (O’Brien 216). Alternatives assessments are more concise than risk assessments. They offer more information, and are much more solutions-based.
2. “Alternatives assessment does not calculate the safety of a dangerous activity” (O’Brien 217). Instead, and alternatives assessment looks at what is already known about an activity and offers information and alternatives. There is no justification, just facts and possible alternatives.
3. “Making decisions publicly on the broad basis of scientific and other information found in an assessment of alternative behaviors is a much wiser and defensible use of information” (O’Brien 222). This is a much better alternative to the methods of risk assessment, which are to analyse a very narrow pool of scientific information and make general justifications.
Chapter 13: An alternatives assessment is much better at laying out the comprehensive version of a risk assessment by including the pros and cons of many options rather than just one.
ReplyDelete1. “An alternatives assessment involves consideration of the pros and cons of a decent range of options” (190). In order to be a successful alternatives assessment, a large range of realistic options are evaluated. This is the biggest difference between risk assessments and alternative assessments.
2. There are 3 basic parts of an alternatives assessment: options, the disadvantages of each, and the advantages of each. Not only are the pros and cons weighed for each option, but the unknowns are as well which makes alternatives assessments very valuable.
3. “An alternatives assessment, if it examines a broad range of options, presents the public with starkly different effects of different options” (193). The key word in this quote is ‘public’ as all of the options and their respective evaluations should be available for the public to view and help decide on. That is key to alternatives assessment and picking the most ‘acceptable’ options out of the alternatives.
Chapter 14: Businesses have been hesitant to do alternatives assessment in the past because of the hassle and expense, but with a new status quo, this could easily change.
1. “If we consider it a responsibility of businesses and government to instead figure out their options for treating ecosystems and public health with the greatest care, then alternatives assessment will be the decision-making tool of choice” (203). There would be faster change with the status quo that the businesses are responsible for choosing the right alternative rather than putting limits on their current harmful one.
2. When a business is profiting from harming the environment or the public health, that business should be required to constantly consider ways to cease harming the public environment. This is Mary O’Brien’s idea, but I do not like the use of ‘consider.’ With true alternatives assessment, businesses should be required to constantly evaluate alternatives and implement any that are found to be better, no ‘consideration’ necessary.
3. The preparation of alternatives assessments does not have to be tedious or expensive. This is a big misconception surrounding alternatives assessment that prevents the practice from being mandated. With proper education, resources, and organizations, alternatives assessment can be quick and painless.
Chapter 15: Alternatives assessments incorporate a much broader range of information, allowing for the consideration of many more important factors that are almost always omitted from risk assessments.
1. “Because it examines the pros and cons of a range of options, alternatives assessment compiles a broader range of information” (215). While risk assessments evaluate the limits of a practice already being done, alternatives assessments aims at finding the least harmful option before the activity even begins.
2. Alternatives assessments consider the existence of uncertainty about any one option as a valuable piece of info. Uncertainty in risk assessment is usually just neglected because nothing can be proven at that time, but alternatives assessments take those uncertainties and factor them into the evaluation according to their probabilities of being a pro or a con. This is really important in finding solutions that aren’t going to have a lot of surprise results.
3. Alternatives assessments factor in potential cumulative effects by considering alternatives that would avoid or minimize these effects. Because doing many activities in an area can create cumulative strain that is not factored in for risk assessments, alternatives assessments see the conditions as the big picture rather than consider the activity a singular entity.
Question: Should businesses do the alternatives assessments and gather the data on their own or should a third-party take over that duty?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletechapter 13 - “The Essential Features of an Alternatives Assessment”
ReplyDeletethesis: In order for alternatives assessments to be effective, they must be accessible to the public.
1. “Because environment-impacting activities inevitably affect public resources, the public has a right to be involved in the assessment of alternatives to those activities” (O’Brien, 195). By ignoring the public in issues that will directly or indirectly affect them, decision makers effectively dismiss any growth or development that could come from working together with those who will be most impacted by the assessment.
2. “On the basis of alternatives assessment, decision makers must respond to public comments on drafts of a decision-making document” (O’Brien, 196). Without a collaborative relationship between decision makers and those who will be affected by said decisions, we will be unable to effectively develop well-rounded, inclusive assessments.
3. “When we realize that our lives and the lives of others are unnecessarily at stake when some people, companies, and public agencies undertake unnecessarily destructive activities, we often wake up to the potentials of democratic action” (O’Brien, 201). By allowing democratic, just practices to overtake corrupt, greed-fueled ones we can grow further together in a more resilient society.
QUESTION: If alternatives assessment is so helpful, why don’t we use it more regularly?
chapter 14 - “A Society That Assesses Its Alternatives”
thesis: Involving the public in commenting on practices that could harm them is not only effective, but crucial to a positive societal community.
1. “When a private business is profiting from harming the environment or the public health in any way, it is reasonable to require that business to constantly consider ways to cease harming the public environment” (O’Brien, 205). Those who have the privilege to pollute carelessly are not often concerned with how their actions affect others. This, however, is a corrupt privilege and will not aid in promoting a democratic society.
2. “All regulatory decision making to permit activities that could harm the environment or the public health should be preceded by publicly influenced examination of the benefits and disadvantages of a range of alternatives” (O’Brien 208).
3. “If a society routinely used alternatives assessment to make decisions, it would encourage private businesses to grow out of the need for regulation” (O’Brien, 209). This makes a lot of sense we should promote this idea more.
QUESTION: Why are businesses so shady + why do we let them get away with it?
chapter 15 - “Alternatives Assessment: More Information, Fewer Pages”
thesis: Alternatives can do what Risk Assessment does, but more effectively, accessibly, and more thoroughly.
1. “Alternatives assessment uses a broader range of information than risk assessment” (O’Brien, 217). Thus, making it a better tool for assessing, and one which should be employed in all cases.
2. “Alternatives assessment treats uncertainty about potential damages of an option as a disadvantage of that option” (O’Brien 220). Which makes a lot more sense than ignoring them or saying they will be advantageous, as is often done in risk assessment.
3. “Making decisions publicly on the broad basis of scientific and other information found in an assessment of alternative behaviors is a much wiser and defensible use of information” (O’Brien, 222). Collective knowledge is much more powerful than private knowledge, so sharing ideas and concerns can be much more impactful and effective than not.
QUESTION: Should all citizens be required to participate in the development of alternatives assessment, or just those affected? Why?
Chapter 13: During an alternatives or risk assessments the community surrounding should become involved in the ruling.
ReplyDelete“Because environment-impacting activities inevitably affect public resources, the public has a right to be involved in the assessment of alternatives to those activities.”(pg. 195, O’Brien) The public should have a say in risk and alternative assessments as these actions are directly affecting their community.
“When assessment processes are public, we learn of options and information we had not considered before. Most communities have people with amazing skills, extensive information, and the willingness to propose innovative alternatives.”(pg. 197, O’Brien) Companies may not being willing to admit when there are feasible alternatives that could have significantly less risk of harm.
“Alternatively, communities could enact provisions requiring businesses to demonstrate significant efforts to use the most worker- and community- protective technologies available within their industry.”(pg. 201, O’Brien) O’Brien encourages communities to use the full potential of democracy when dealing with companies risk assessments.
Chapter 14: Businesses need to be held accountable for their actions and cease though that harm surrounding communities.
“When a private business is profiting from harming the environment or the public health in any way, it is reasonable to require that business to constantly consider ways to cease harming the public environment.”(pg. 205) When a company is causing harm it should be forced to cease action and create an alternative from their business. As well they should have to mend any damages from their previous activity.
“Alternatives assessment allows citizens, politicians, agency bureaucrats, and some business people to see the potential in the concept that no risk is acceptable if there are better alternatives.”(pg.213 O’Brien) O’Brien says one of the underlying principles of this book is just realizing that we have alternatives. These alternatives can allow for citizens a change at a healthier environment.
“Alternatives assessment clearly is not enough to ensure that companies, government agencies, and consumers will change their ways of behaving. But it is hard to imagine a more powerful way of unleashing the will to change.”(pg. 214, O’Brien) These alternatives aren’t going to solve all our issues but can be a serious catalyst for change when dealing with risk assessment issues.
Question: How could you ensure that the one method is above all alternatives?
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wXRjDLorFr1jai8MhYU65R7Y3wTOL-xPSBhvJFaCz1Y
ReplyDeleteCh 13
ReplyDeleteThesis: One reason that alternative assessment is much better when making a decision rather than risk assessment, is that any alternative assessment decision that could be potentially harmful to, “public health or wildlife” (O’Brien, 191), requires the public's involvement.
1. Through always presenting a full scope of options, disadvantages for each option, and advantages for each option, alternative assessments are more comprehensive. If an alternative assessment, “examines a broad range of options [it], presents the public with starkly different effects of different options”, (O’Brien, 193).
2. Additionally it is understood that environment-impacting activities, “inevitably affect public resources, [and] the public has a right to be involved in the assessment of alternatives to those activities”, (O’Brien, 195).
3. The, “unnecessarily destructive activities” (O’Brien, 201), undertaken by some people, corporations, and public agencies must be addressed with alternative methods because the risk assessment method currently being used bypassses the affect these destructive behaviors have on the everyday people in our country.
Ch 14
Thesis: Risk assessment is not fundamental to any current system and is unquestioningly an optional procedure being taken everyday in this country.
1. As educated citizens we must push for all agencies to include environmental assessments as well as alternative assessments to no harm/ least harm to the environment and public health and restoration of the environment and public health.
2. Additionally, we must push to shift the current narrative of “bad behavior”; as a country we must hold agencies accountable for “behaving brutishly toward the world” (O’Brien, 214), and let them know that bad behavior is completely unnecessary.
3.Change is possible through requiring agencies to consider alternative options when the agencies, “engage in behaviors that adversely affect the environment” (O’Brien, 206). Currently if a n agency is partaking in a harmful behavior it is not required to consider any other options.
Ch 15
Thesis: Quantifying the probability of risk is not an accurate method scientifically and environmentally, and so the, “assessment of alternative behaviors is much wiser and defensible use of information” (O’Brien, 222).
1. The broader range of information that alternative assessment calls for is one reason that alternative assessments are better when understanding scope of each issue. Risk assessment only considers evidence for one type of harm, “of only one dangerous behavior” (O’Brien, 217).
2. Alternative assessment also does not take educated guesses on damage statistics, instead it takes as many perspectives as possible in order to see if there are any behaviors or solutions that cause the least amount of harm to the public or the environment.
3.Lastly alternative assessment aims to, “avoid or minimize” (O’Brien, 219) potential cumulative effects through working with the public and assessing an array of options, eventually picking a solution with the interest of the public and environment in mind.
Ch. 13: Alternatives assessments have options along with the plus sides and down sides of all of these options.
ReplyDelete1. “A range of reasonable choices for behaving must be presented” (O’Brien, 191). All of these viable options should have the least adverse effects on the environment or even have positive impacts. Risk assessment gives one option and doesn’t allow a business to think out of the box.
2. “The different types of adverse environmental consequences considered for the different choices must be as varied as the types of adverse environmental consequences humans are causing on Earth” (O’Brien, 191). NEPA which regulates EISs states that our environment is more than the simple ecological and biological functions but is much more interconnected and includes historical, cultural, and economic values.
3. “As with adverse effects, the direct and indirect benefits of an option can be ‘ecological, aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or cumulative’” (O’Brien, 194). For instance, to many environmentalists, the benefits of solar power are obvious, though sometimes it’s more difficult to look at the benefits of nuclear or even natural gas. Though we can agree that natural gas and the extraction of it is very harmful, it does have its benefits as a powerful energy source.
Ch. 14: Public involvement in alternatives assessment is highly valuable.
1. “The awareness that bad behavior is totally unnecessary, that there are alternatives to behaving buritishly toward the world, is an awareness that is profoundly powerful” (O’Brien, 214). Alternative assessment is empowering to the citizen. A great example is the citizen (and slowly, political) stance to phase out fossil fuels. The only reason citizens are demanding this change is because they know that alternative energy sources are out their and viable options to replace fossil fuels. No one wants to go without energy, but there is a way that won’t continue to decimate the planet--that’s important.
2. “Many citizens will demand clean production, sustainable agriculture, or strong legislation once they know that attractive alternatives to dirty production and unsustainable agriculture exist” (O’Brien, 214). When there are other corporations of similar magnitude that use conscious practices, citizens will realize that a viable alternative is out there that can be adopted on a large scale.
3. “Many of these same citizens will buy a different product if they know that it means they are being more decent toward the Earth, or they family, or even themselves” (O’Brien, 214). A great example of this is the U.S. dairy industry, who in 2018 dropped dairy milk sales by $1.1 billion. YOUR DOLLAR MATTERS AND THIS IS PROOF.
Ch. 15: Alternatives assessment provides a broader range of information, condensed into a shorter deliverable.
ReplyDelete1. Risk assessment attempts to quantify the risks of an activity or substance by using formulas, assumptions, and literature to back it up. They look at one specific type of harm like if the substance or action causes cancer. Because alternatives assessment is so much broader, it is understood that you really can’t quantify everything. “Alternatives assessment doesn’t have to estimate safety of any of the alternatives. It merely looks at what is known of the damages and benefits each alternative may cause” (O’Brien, 217).
2. “Alternatives assessment respects uncertainty as a form of information, a warning” (O’Brien, 219). This point is very important because often there is a lack of information for a reason-- maybe because there are too many possible damages to fully assess the risks or because it’s dangerous to test for example. We will never understand how certain drugs affect each other because it’s too risky to put a life in the position to be tested.
3. “Making decisions regarding environment-impacting behaviors on the narrow basis of scientific information that is supplied by risk assessments of safety is not a defensible use of scientific information” (O’Brien, 222). No matter how many millions of pages of writing and research you do on the impacts of even one specific chemical, we can never know the full impact it has on every single animal or plant species, waterways, humans, and its impacts on the whole.
Question: How do we boost public involvement and the idea that risk assessment is not the only option, that we don’t have to harm the environment in order to live.
13: Thesis. Alternatives Assessment needs people to be involved if we want it to work properly.
ReplyDeleteThe simpler form of Alternatives Assessment compared to Risk assessment makes it easier for people to get involved in the process and this is a good thing. A system is only as strong as the people taking part in it.
Accountability is critical for Alternatives Assessment and this is where the public comes in. It is not enough for a company to say they are looking at all the alternatives if no one is checking to see if they are. The public needs to understand the process so that they can prevent corporations from taking advantage of it like they do with risk assessment.
This public acting as a check for accountability is exactly why risk assessment is used these days. Because people don’t understand it and it is so complicated even if they try they would not be able to. This lets those in control of this system get away with a lot of things the public would rather they not.
14: Thesis. The world would change for the better if we switched to Alternatives Assessment.
Our current system of risk assessment is so ingrained into us that people tend to think that there is no other way to do things. We need to do a lot of restructuring if we are to move away from that broken system.
Alternatives Assessment needs to happen at the start of the process in order for it to be most effective. Doing it later will result in loss of resources if it is discovered that there is a more efficient way to accomplish our goal. We want to build a better world and using our tools properly is important for that.
Alternatives Assessment would replace the broken and corrupt system that is Risk Assessment. This would give everyone a more even playing field while protecting the environment from short sighted greed.
15: Thesis. Alternatives Assessment is more efficient and shorter then Risk Assessment.
By its very nature Alternatives Assessment is a much sortor format then Risk Assessment, being able to fit much more information in less paper. This is primarily due to not trying to be complicated like Risk Assessment.
When the goal is to be as efficient as possible while getting as many people involved as you can you end up with a much less confusing system. It is simply that the priority of the group is different between Alternatives Assessment and Risk Assessment.
This simpler format also saves a great deal of money for those conducting the assessment. There is not as much need for paper and less hours required to create it. In addition to this not as much education is needed to understand it resulting in less need for expensive degrees.
Question: Do you think the government incentivising Alternatives Assessment would be a good idea?
Chapter, 14.
ReplyDeleteThesis: Alternatives assessment is simply an option, not a requirement. Using this option though is the surest way successfully protecting the environment and people.
1)Viewing available alternatives is not necessary for avoiding risky behaviors. Only assessing the levels of risk acceptable is mandated upon public request. “Currently most regulatory decisions in the United States are supposedly preceded, but in reality followed and justified by risk assessment agencies and businesses reach for risk assessment as if it were a natural part of decision making. It is not, it is an optional process and it's being used almost exclusively to figure out what extent businesses and agencies will be permitted to damage the health of ecosystems and humans” (203).
2) Only after understanding the market failures of risk assessment, can we begin to approach the idea of asking public agency to consider alternative options to their actions. “When a public agency is using public money to harm the environment, or the public health, it is reasonable to require the agency to periodically, consider ways to seize or diminished the harm” (205). This is not even mandating that they change their course of action, but that they merely consider, changing their harmful action.
3) Alternatives assessment is not enough to ensure that agencies will change their behaviors. “What is onerous is the movement by numerous state legislatures and Congress to impose requirements for endless quantitative risk assessments. before any agency can regulate private business. What is onerous is having to argue that for years with industry scientists, about the precise amount of harm being caused by individual substances, or activity such as dioxin cattle grazing on public desert lands, or insert incineration of nerve gas weapons” (207) Laying out available alternative options though is the most powerful way for influencing these behavioral changes.
Chapter 15
Thesis: Alternatives assessment is a much more condensed alternative to risk assessment.
1)Alternative assessment uses information about a range of alternative behaviors. “Evidence of benefits, each alternative behavior could bring and evidence of how each alternative behavior could cause or contribute to damage risk assessment on the other hand, uses a more limited range of information, namely evidence of a few harms caused by a limited range of dangerous behaviors” (217).
2) Despite risk assessments lenient nature, it is still allowed a lot of wiggle room for diluting its potential risks. “Risk assessors often use a lot of space when they estimate how safe some activity or substances. They use formulas assumptions, literature citations and explanations. They do this, even though all of the hazards of that activity or substance are not well known, and even though no attempt is made to consider the effects of combining this activity or substance with other pollutants, or stressful activities in the same place, or inside a sensitive person or species” (217). Once again risk assessment fails to integrate the threats of an inherently integrated system.
3) Science is weaponized in the face of risk assessment, especially when it comes from special interest groups funding research and case studies. “Making decisions regarding environmental impacting behaviors on the narrow basis of scientific information that is supplied by risk assessments of safety is not a defensible use of scientific information, making decisions publicly on the broad basis of scientific and other information found in an assessment of alternative behavior is a much wiser and defensible use of information. 222.
How do we remove these lenient allowances from agencies?
Chapter 13
ReplyDeleteThesis: An alternatives assessment is made up of three parts which when applied in conjunction can serve as an outline for effective decision making
-“Every alternatives assessment has three basic parts: options, the disadvantages of each option, and the advantages of each option” (191). The sheer number of advantages over disadvantages does not mean much- it is the weight of the disadvantages that decides the strength of the alternative.
-”inevitably affect public resources, [and] the public has a right to be involved in the assessment of alternatives to those activities”, (195). We must stop allowing decision makers to hold power of the wellbeing of other communities- when a decision affects a community, it should be the decision makers community.
-“The public becomes aware that caring for the environment is technically and economically feasible” (197). The public is shielded from the
Chapter 14
Thesis: Businesses need to be held accountable for their actions and cease though that harm surrounding communities.
- “It is an optional process, and it is being used almost exclusively to figure out to what extent business and agencies will be permitted to damage the health of ecosystems and humans.” (203) The fact that businesses choose to make risk assessments, makes the only incentive to complete these assessments a public relations stunt.
-“We currently allow industries and many public agencies to engage in behaviors that adversely affect the environment without requiring them to consider their options for protecting it” (206).
:“Alternatives assessment allows citizens, politicians, agency bureaucrats, and some business people to see the potential in the concept that no risk is acceptable if there are better alternatives.”(213). Alternatives assessment instills hope in all people who worry about risky industrial activity.
Chapter 15
Thesis: There are benefits and drawbacks to methods for alternatives assessments.
-“The 50-page alternatives assessment would be using a broader range of information than the 1000-page risk assessment” (216). Alternatives assessments are simply more easily accessible to all, than risk assessments are.
“Alternatives assessment does not calculate the safety of a dangerous activity” (217). There are limitations to alternatives assessments, which is why the process should be researched and expanded into a more interdisciplinary process.
- Making decisions regarding environment-impacting behaviors on the narrow basis of scientific information that is supplied by risk assessments of safety is not a defensible use of scientific information” (222). Science is not something that you can divide and ignore other forms of- science is a body of knowledge which includes social and physical disciplines.
Perhaps businesses should be responsible for offsetting any damage their actions cause- social, environmental or both.