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 16-18.
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.
Chapter 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: Alternatives assessment can be implemented in place of any risk assessment as long as there are certain steps put in place to ensure their effectiveness.
1. “Identify a specific situation in which alternatives ought to be considered.” (225). This is the first step in establishing an alternatives assessment. Alternatives assessments can start to replace risk assessments when we start to find places where they will be able to fit. The action should be seen as unnecessary and harmful to human health and therefore there should be an alternatives assessment.
2. “Participate in shaping the alternatives assessment process.” (228). There must be active participation from the public and companies in order to have a proper alternate assessment. In order for the assessment to have the best outcome possible there must be participation.
3. The final step is “Building Frameworks that include alternative assessments.” (229) There need to be regulations and policies that require alternatives assessments to take place. This means that there needs to be laws as well as education for the public which both require transparency.
Chapter 17
ReplyDeleteThesis: Like any other progressive process, alternatives assessment is experiencing backlash and resistance from the status quo.
1. The first major barrier to alternative assessment is that risk assessments are so ingrained in our society today that it will be difficult to get rid of or even see an alternative to it. “The process has become so commonplace as to seem almost natural.” (236). It's hard for society to think of a way to see hazards and risks other than through as risk assessment. They are ingrained in our public conscious and our policies.
2. The second important barrier to alternatives assessment is that there are stakeholders that benefit from risk assessments because then they do not have to change their risky behaviors. “When an alternatives assessment describes reasonable alternatives that would bring relief from degradation of environment and health, people are more likely to try halting the degrading activity.” (237). Corporations and our government have become so used to being able to do these hazardous activities without any consequences and therefore want to continue to do this indefinitely.
3. Another barrier to alternatives assessment is that risk assessment are easier to comprehend and seem scientific and alternatives assessment are more complex and therefore seem messier. “Risk assessment “The decisions may be based in part on risk assessment, but they are in large part made on the basis of major factors not related to risk assessment: political power, corporate power, ideologies, misinformation, values, business as usual.” (242). They are not solely based on science, they are based on power and who is paying for the risk assessment. They are far messier than alternatives assessment.
Chapter 18
Thesis: The public's wants align with the components of alternatives assessments more so than risk assessments.
1. The public prefers to have all of the information at hand and wants values and ethics in decision making processes. By denying the public transparency and morality public officials are going against the people's best interest. “Most members of the public value information, assessment of risks, reasonableness, innovation and personal morals, feeling and vision. Alternatives assessment is based on all of these.” (251)
2. Most people do believe is alternative assessment but do not fully understand what these are composed of. Alternatives assessment uses risk assessment as a base but also looks at many other things as well to understand the risks and choose the best option. People are so used to risk assessments because we do want to evaluate risks but we can do this within alternatives assessment.
3. “Most people place a high value on morals feelings, and positive vision.” (253). There is no morality is assessing how much damage and harm a certain hazardous activity will cause unknowing people and the planet without their consent. Especially when they do not fully understand the effects and still and also do not attempt to find better alternatives.
Question: If the public wants morality in their risk assessments, how can we make companies and government moral?
Chapter 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: Beginning to make the shift from alternatives assessments from risk assessments starts by implementing replacements.
“On any given day, thousands of risk assessments are being prepared for thousands of decisions. Alternatives assessments could be prepared instead” (225). Now that we know how to build our own alternatives assessment, it comes time for implantation to occur. Anyone is capable of proposing an alternative. It is about the action of doing it that matters.
“Any instance of unnecessary public-health and environmental degradation would benefit from an alternatives assessment. Any regulatory or other decision making processes that affect the environment should involve alternatives assessment” (226). Essentially, with any problem which may arise that affects humans or the environment, the solution should be proposed with a series of alternatives. These alternatives will have gone through an assessment which determines the amount of pros and cons they will provide.
“Ultimately, we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of the alternatives” (229). Once you have found the person who will authorize the assessment, convince them to undertake it, and participated in the shaping of the assessment, it is important to continue fighting the good fight. Making sure that alternatives assessment are used instead of risk assessment in as many facets as possible. Get people to support you, there is strength in numbers. Educate, advocate, and reiterate.
Chapter 17
Thesis: Because alternatives assessments go against the status quo, there will be resistance to the systems change. In order to change the system we must understand the challenges we might face.
“The Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in particular were effective promoters of risk assessment” (235). Because these large governmental organizations use and promote risk assessment, it will be hard to get these powerhouses to change their ways. This doesn;t mean it is impossible.
“If we provide opportunities for the people with imagination and experience to lay out attractive alternatives in front of the public, then there are a lot of people who will recognize good, reasonable, fair alternatives” (237). Often times, people have difficulty seeing past the system in which they exist. By promoting alternatives assessment and allowing them to be accessible to those who are good at thinking about alternatives, it can encourage the frequency of them being proposed and used.
“Risk assessment can seem more attractive than alternatives assessment, because risk assessment can look ''scientific” and ''rational” while alternatives assessment appears more socially painful” (242). This is because risk assessments are filled with scientific data that supports their case, while alternatives consider the scope of human emotions and values as well as scientific data and information. The fact that the public is allowed to have a say may seem difficult to deal with for the ones who authorize how the decision will be made. We know since reading that the public is pivotal in making decisions that will affect them.
Chapter 18
DeleteThesis: The main point to alternatives assessment is positive for the public and for the environment. It is important to highlight these when making the case for alternatives assessment.
If you provide people with all of the information in order to make the most beneficial decision they will not deny what they are presented. Omitting information from the public is wrong and eventually causes harm in the long run. “Your job is to place the issue clearly in these terms and thereby force decision makers to provide, and consider all relevant information” (251).
“Alternatives assessment is eminently reasonable to almost everyone, because it is simply thinking about alternatives before making important decisions” (252). It is not asking much to consider and implement alternatives assessment. Instead of seeing how much damage is allowed it simply asks if there is another option in which no damage has to occur.
“Those pushing a hazardous activity don’t have much to offer people in the way of morals when they talk about causing “acceptable” damage while they haven’t even considered better alternatives or the possibility that they could be restoring health and the environment instead of damaging it further” (253). Inevitably, risk assessment allows damage to be done which is morally corrupt. When looking at the decision as a moral issue, a solution would hopefully consider an option in which risk is not involved because in an alternative, no damage would be done.
Question: Now that we have learned about alternatives assessment, how can we utilize our privilege to implement it in our lives?
Chapter 16
ReplyDelete1. “Any instance of unnecessary public-health and environmental degradation would benefit from an alternatives assessment.” (O’Brien, 226). If people paid more attention to the alternatives, like this book discusses, then we would be in a better world with more efficient assessments. Alternatives assessment is there to take the risk factor out of communities, not risk their future.
2. “Keep in mind that, in addition to wanting an alternative assessment, you want to contribute to the wider social process of replacing risk assessment with alternatives assessment” (O’Brien, 229). This is basically explaining the purpose of the book. Whoever is using the assessment, must have a perspective towards all surroundings.
3. “Any regulatory or other decision-making processes that affect the environment should involve alternatives assessment” (O’Brien, 226). When thinking about the environment, I believe alternatives assessment should be required in all fields. We spend too much time testing what could be done instead of assessing what should be done.
Chapter 17
1. “Risk assessment has become a standard way of thinking in the United States, so the idea of structuring decision making around alternatives assessment often does not occur to people” (O’Brien, 235). This explains why people do not focus on alternatives assessment. It is either too expensive or “not convenient”, which is the most common excuse.
2. “When an alternatives assessment describes reasonable alternatives that would bring relief from degradation of environment and health, people are more likely to try halting the degrading activity” (O’Brien, 237). If the public is aware of what is going on around their own environment, then alternatives assessment may become more of a standard.
3. “We often see more clearly who suffers and who benefits from each of the alternatives being considered. Alternatives assessment involves the public and their values and emotions as well as their numbers and scientific information” (O’Brien, 242). When public opinion is put into consideration when the decision-making process is happening, the outcome may be more positive and beneficial than business owners may think. I believe that when the public is aware of what is happening in their own environment, overall positivity would increase.
Chapter 18
ReplyDelete1. “Most members of the public value information, assessment of risks, reasonableness, innovation and personal morals, feelings and vision. Alternatives assessment is based on all of these” (O’Brien, 251). Alternatives assessment is an assessment that will benefit all who are affected by it. This is why I believe alternatives are the correct pathway to a successful future.
2. “Those pushing a hazardous activity don’t have much to offer people in the way of morals when they talk about causing “acceptable” damage while they haven’t even considered better alternatives or the possibility that they could be restoring health and the environment instead of damaging it further” (O’Brien, 253). I believe that this way of doing business is not the right answer. It is cruel and sneaky. I wish businesses cared about people as much as they advertise that they do.
3. “Alternatives assessment also looks at the possibility for goddess, recovery, care, change for the better, abundance of wildlife, or the return of a stream from death to life” (O’Brien, 254). The last part of this sentence reminded me of Silent Spring. Alternatives assessment could change the world if used globally.
Q: Why does it seem like alternatives assessment is avoided at any cost?
THESIS: Alternatives Assessment is best implemented when a process is developed and adhered to.
ReplyDelete1. Identifying appropriate decision makers is an important part of alternatives assessment. “Once you have identified whom you want to undertake the alternatives assessment, you have to organize them to agree to do it” (O’Brien 227). Once the right person has been selected, that person must be mobilized. This is the part of the process in which it is most important to define alternatives assessment, and set the agenda straight from the start.
2. It is important to connect with those who accept and work to carry out alternatives assessment. “Keep in touch with people who realize that risk assessment is a diversion and who advocate alternative process” (O’Brien 231). Keeping a network of people working for the mission makes a larger group of people fighting for positive change.
3. “Bring as much media attention as possible to any refusal or failure by industry, agencies, or other decision makers to consider a decent range of options” (O’Brien 232). Not only could this inspire people to make better decisions and consider alternatives, but it serves to educate others on what is going on. If something gets media coverage, people will see it and hopefully be inspired to act.
THESIS: There are many barriers to alternatives assessment, but also many opportunities to move past these barriers.
1. “When an alternatives assessment describes reasonable alternatives that would bring relief from degradation of environment and health, people are more likely to try halting the degrading activity” (O’Brien 237). This speaks to people’s natural willingness to accept alternatives when they have a choice and are presented with the options. Presenting these options is a threat to risk assessment because it educates the public and threatens to break out of the system.
2. “Risk assessment looks “scientific” and “rational”; alternatives assessment may look “messy” (O’Brien 242). This can be disproven by facts and examples, but can be difficult to overcome. Risk Assessment can seem plain and simple, when actually, it is the opposite.
3. Education and empowerment is crucial in implanting alternatives assessment. “Cooperation by citizen groups with risk assessment legitimizes the process” (O’Brien 246). If people know the alternatives, they are more likely to lean toward fighting for those alternatives.
THESIS: Alternatives assessment just makes sense.
1. “Most societies believe that people have a right to all relevant information” (O’Brien 252). Information is highly valued within society. This is a great leverage point for promoting alternatives assessment.
2. “Alternatives assessment is eminently reasonable to almost everyone, because it is simply thinking about alternatives before making important decisions” (O’Brien 252). Alternatives assessment just makes sense. If people have access to alternatives, they will likely choose alternatives over risk assessment, because it makes more sense.
3. “Alternatives assessment offers the vision of humans behaving as decently as possible toward all of the earth and its future” (O’Brien 254). Alternatives assessment aims to benefit the greatest number of people, and not corporate powers.
Chapter 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: We need to replace risk assessment with alternatives assessment, which is possible if the proper steps are followed.
“Any regulatory or other decision making processes that affect the environment should involve alternatives assessment”(O’Brien, 226). This is the concept of the first step needed to achieve successful Alternatives assessment. In any instance that the enviroenment’s well being is an element of a decision making process there needs to be the active implementation of alternatives assessment in place of risk assessment in order to make the responsible choice for the majority.
“Sometimes getting an initial, simple alternatives assessment done will help highlight the need for a more extensive alternatives assessment”(O’Brien, 227). The idea of needing to showcase how and why alternatives assessment can be useful to the public in a way that isn’t bossy is a critical element in the normalization and exchange of alternatives assessment from risk assessment. It is important for those who know the value in alternatives assessment to hold back on their ideas until they feel it won’t be overlooked and the proper respect will be granted to their alternatives.
“Ultimately we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of alternatives” (O’Brien, 229). To summarize the importance of bringing alternatives assessment into the public eye is to make it common knowledge, something people recognize as being mutually beneficial to themselves and their community. It is with this tried and true process in which people will see the good that comes from alternatives assessments that they will push for laws and regulations to be altered in favor of alternatives assessment and away from risk assessment.
Chapter 17
Thesis: Although switching to alternatives assessment seems simple, there are many barriers standing in the way.
“During the 1970s, risk assessment became “the way” to justify permits for technological hazards” (O’Brien, 235). This mass allowance of risk assessment to be taken advantage of by corporations in order to push their products or agendas is one of the major barriers keeping risk assessment in act and making it difficult for alternatives assessment to infiltrate that space. Big business is profiting of the way they can cater risk assessments to support their hazardous actions, so why would they want to let that go? Not to mention, risk assessment is now so common place that many people don’t even think to consider alternatives for the risks they are recognizing.
“The alternatives-assessment process spells trouble for those who don’t want change” (O’Brien, 237). This quote rings in another barrier. That of those who don’t even want the questions that would lead to obvious change with the aid of alternatives assessment to be asked. Those who want to keep cars on the road and paper being made of trees, etc. Are turned off by the idea of alternatives assessment going public as it will hurt their business.
“Alternatives assessment involves the public and their values and emotions as well as their numbers and scientific information” (O’Brien, 242). Alternatives assessment considers the whole picture, aka the true picture. While risk assessment picks and chooses the numbers and variables that allow for the most self serving decision to be made. This open endedness that is seen with alternatives assessment makes many weary, as they see it to not be as ‘logical’ or ‘scientific’ when in fact, it considers much, much more than a simplistic risk assessment.
Chapter 18
ReplyDeleteThesis: Society values the fundamentals of alternatives assessment whether they know it or not.
“Most societies believe that people have a right to all relevant information” (O’Brien, 251). No one would ever say they make their personal choices based off of how to make they can justify the worst aspect of a situation. They would first see if there are alternatives to the situation. This idea of wanting all the relevant information is not a new one, it is just one that our society has been blinded to for a long time now.
“It makes sense to people to get to choose their own friends from among options” (O’Brien, 252). So why should they not have a choice in what goes on in the world around them? If people see that there is an option for them to have a voice and make choices about the air they breath and the water they drink, they are going to likely respond favorably to it. People like reasonable things, which alternatives assessment is.
“Through alternatives assessment, you help people have hope” (O’Brien, 254). Alternatives assessment offers a lens through which we as humans make the most respectful, kind and forwardthink choices we can. This is a mindset that we don’t often get the opportunity to stay in long, as the news often shows a very different humanity. But if we bring alternatives assessment into the public, maybe, just maybe we will have a more hopeful and positive world.
Question: Will the world be a happier, kinder place as risk assessment fades out and we focus energy on bringing communities together to look at alternatives assessment?
Chapter 16: powerpoint link to come
ReplyDeleteChapter 17: There are many barriers in the face of alternatives assessments, but these can be ameliorated.
1. Sometimes the only reasonable alternatives are more “difficult” to use or more expensive to establish. A lot of people put too much focus in short term financing, but with long-term thinking and information, people can realize just how effective alternatives can be.
2. Risk assessment looks “scientific” and “rational;” alternatives assessment may look “messy.” This has been stated in nearly every chapter before this, but alternatives assessment can seem more subjective and messy. This is a connotation that needs to be changed.
3. Alternatives assessment often results in a call for changes that will be resisted by powerful sectors. Big powerful entities have so much say in our current society, but implementing alternatives assessment would mitigate this in itself.
Chapter 18: People are inherently interested in better options when those options are made accessible to them.
1. “Most members of the public value information, assessment of risks, reasonableness, innovation and personal morals, feelings and vision. Alternatives assessment is based on all of these” (251). VERY IMPORTANT. Humans aren’t programed to destroy, so making better options easy for them to know about would be a huge first step.
2. Most people respond favorably to reasonable proposals. Duh. People like easy and logical.
3. Most people place a high value on morals, feelings, and positive vision. We aren’t all terrible people. We just have to come through in a certain way.
Question: So now that we have finished this book, what do we do?
https://1drv.ms/p/s!ArCT3bUgkjD7gzOTrUDrRy3ouN2I
DeleteCh. 16: Achieving wide social progress through a reshaping of social structures using alternatives assessment while putting pressures of governments and corporations to make these shifts is necessary for the future.
ReplyDelete5 Steps
1. “Step 1: Identify a specific situation in which alternatives ought to be considered
“Step 2: Determine who would be most appropriate to authorize an alternatives-assessment process for this specific situation
“Step 3: Convince the appropriate body to undertake the alternatives assessment
“Step 4: Participate in shaping the alternatives-assessment process
“Step 5: Keep in mind that, in addition to wanting an alternatives assessment, you want to contribute to the wider social process of replacing risk assessment with alternatives assessment” (O’Brien, 225-229).
2. “Ultimately, we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of alternatives” (O’Brien, 229). Questioning and implementing new approaches and assessments is how change will be made.
3. In today’s day and age with social media at our fingertips, spreading information on issues has never been easier and we need to harness this ability for good. We need to “Bring as much media attention as possible to any refusal or failure by industry, agencies, or other decision makers to consider a decent range of options” (O’Brien, 232).
Ch. 17: The barriers that are stopping us from turning to alternatives assessment
1. One barrier to alternatives assessment is “Risk assessment has become a standard way of thinking in the United States, so the idea of structuring decision making around alternatives assessment often does not occur to people” (O’Brien, 235). Most of the issues we face in any situation either social, environmental, etc are due to complacency within the systems in practice. It is hard to change an entire way of doing things, even if that way will be easier and less harmful. An example of this is bleaching paper-- totally unnecessary, but a process that continues because of the structures and companies that are in place.
2. “Entrenched interests and behavior patterns are threatened by alternatives assessment, because it makes their environmentally bad behavior seem a social problem” (O’Brien, 237). We often refuse to recognize that the environmental crisis is fueled by wrong social behaviors and practices that enforce these polluting and dangerous systems. In order to truly make changes to help the environment, we need to recognize where these issues stem from.
3. “Sometimes the only reasonable alternatives are more “difficult” to use or more expensive to establish” (O’Brien, 238). A perfect example of this is solar panels. Personally financing the addition of solar panels to a home can often be too costly for an individual, though the costly price will more than pay for itself in the long run. However, solar panels used in a corporation are clearly worth the investment--it is unclear to me why we continuously target the individual when we know that these large corporations and TNCs actually control a large portion of pollution and resource mismanagement.
ReplyDeleteChapter 18: Alternatives assessment takes into account reasonableness, innovation, personal morals, feels, vision, information, and an assessment of the risks.
1. “Most people believe in assessing risks” (O’Brien, 252). However, we can do this through science, logic, and common sense, along with diverse values and observations.
2. “Those pushing a hazardous activity don’t have much to offer people in the way of morals when they talk about causing “acceptable” damage while they haven’t even considered better alternatives or the possibility that they could be restoring health and the environment instead of damaging it further” (O’Brien, 253). By using alternatives assessment, you are asking for the best possible outcome by properly weighing the issues and taking the high ground.
3. “Alternatives assessment offers the vision of humans behaving as decently as possible toward all of the Earth and its future” (O’Brien, 254). Risk assessment only has the capacity to harm and give risks while alternatives looks for possibilities of good, change for the better and recovery.
Question: What will you do in your future career to further practice alternatives assessment instead of the inferior risk assessment?
Fantastic blogging here, CC posse!
ReplyDeleteAll posts below this line = C/LATE.
Dr. Rob
Ch 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: Citizens should start to embrace alternative assessment, rather than risk assessment, when faced with a major decision that has many potential impacts.
1.During specific situations in which the health of the community and environment is affected, it is our job as citizens to introduce the idea of alternative assessment. The first example used in this chapter on page 225, is that of a wetland being drained; it is the job of the people within the community in question to propose alternative assessment options instead of, or in addition to, a risk assessment of the drainage.
2. It is also necessary to, “determine who would be most appropriate to authorize an alternative assessment process for this specific situation” (O’Brien, 226). It is important that the alternative assessor has no personal stake or interest in seeing the bad behavior continue.
3. Lastly, solid citizen participation and a sound framework that includes alternative assessment is crucial when pushing for the alternative assessment of questionable agency behaviors. This is necessary to successfully answer all imperative alternative assessment questions in regards to the issue being assessed.
Ch 17
10X10:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vgoZD9uRYd91K1dZ2qmfjb8yc4KTkNE20mez7eY4Sao/edit?usp=sharing
Ch 18
Thesis: Based on the fact that most members of the public value information, and are in favor of reasonable proposals that benefit their own health, it is clear that instead of risk assessment we must use alternative assessment going forward.
1.Most communities believed that, “people have the right to all relevant information” (O’Brien, 251), so when relevant information pertaining to environmental and public health is presented to them they are more apt to voice an opinion on the matter.
2. Additionally, most people can see how unreasonable some of these behaviors are when presented the facts. The lack of transparency when conducting risk assessment results in overlooked options that the public would normally favor, options that are presented through alternative assessment.
3. In conclusion, risk assessment earses feelings through numbers and statistics; it does not describe the, “personal terror”, (O’Brien, 253), felt by innocent citizens living with the effects of these harmful actions which are driven by profit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletechapter 17 - “barriers to alternatives assessment”
ReplyDeleteTHESIS: The barriers to alternatives assessment are easily overcome when thinking about the broader picture of social and environmental justice and equity.
1. “Alternatives assessment faces the same types of barriers that exist on the way to every social process of caring more for others” (O’Brien, 235). As with any paradigm shift from traditional, more profit-focused to people/planet-focused ideals, there will be discomfort and hurdles to overcome.
2. “Many people have become so used to seeing risk assessments for bad options that they forget that any other approach is possible” (O’Brien, 237). This idea is most likely exactly what folks who rely on risk assessment to get their work done count on in order to continue operating the destructive way they always have.
3. “Risk assessment can seem more attractive than alternatives assessment, because risk assessment can look “scientific” and “rational” while alternatives assessment appears more socially painful” (O’Brien, 242). Comfort in discomfort is the only way to make positive progress through social and environmental issues.
QUESTION: How can we use compassion and courage to further better decisions?
chapter 16 - “getting started”
ReplyDeleteTHESIS: The necessary replacing of risk assessment with alternatives assessment can be done in a few easy steps which usually open up the situation for more thorough assessment, further ensuring the best option is chosen.
1. In shaping the alternatives-assessment process, make sure that “appropriate questions are being asked” and that “an appropriate range of alternatives is being considered” (O’Brien 228). By doing so, you create a more thorough and transparent process leading to better social and environmental decisions.
2. “Ultimately, we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of alternatives” (O’Brien 229). Without doing so, performing alternatives assessments are useless and ineffective. Until the public and private sectors pay attention to all alternatives available, we will be unable to grow together towards a society which makes the best possible decision after assessing all possibilities and outcomes.
3. If we do not “Communicate with energy” (O’Brien 232), how can we expect anyone to get onboard with our mission? Human beings respond well to positive energy of other human beings, and we crave the interaction. By becoming personable and genuine, you are more likely to get your point across in a way that is palatable for the audience you are addressing.
QUESTION: How can we convince leaders to implement and design laws, regulations, and policies to encourage and require public assessment of alternatives?
chapter 18 presentation: https://www.canva.com/design/DADohCvKCoU/CayZFXjzBzRWyqPf0CJC7A/view?utm_content=DADohCvKCoU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=homepage_design_menu
ReplyDelete16: Thesis. If we want to make sure we do a good job implementing Alternatives Assessment then we need to set up a process first.
ReplyDeleteWe need the public to be involved in the Alternatives Assessment process. This could be by acting as a way to make sure people are held responsible, or coming up with potential alternatives. This participation is critical if Alternatives Assessment is to work in any way whatsoever.
The identification process is very important to make sure that everything is working how it should. While Alternatives Assessment is great we need to know when and where to use it. It is not something to live by but rather a tool to be applied when needed.
In addition to the use of it on the corporate and public levels it needs to be implemented with our legal system. Government needs to step in and take action towards improving accountability and implementation. This is because the government is an already established way to get people to participate on a large scale. If we want serious change all sectors must change.
17: Thesis. People are always resistant to change meaning they will resist Alternatives Assessment when it is first implemented.
People are afraid of new things and things that they don’t understand. If a good job is not done explaining why Alternatives Assessment is so important of a thing to be implemented then people will push back on it.
This goal of understanding is something we should always strive for not just with Alternatives Assessment. If someone does not agree with something but understands it then they will probably have a good reason for their position and are worth listening to.
The road will more than likely be a difficult one due to this natural resistance and the resistance by corporations if they think this system is harming their bottom line. But in order to actually make changes we will have to fight this fight and do what we can to help people to survive.
18: Thesis. The goal is to make the world better and we need to make sure that is understood.
As I mentioned previously we are not trying to create a wider divide then is already there but fix the issues we are dealing already. Alternatives Assessment can bring people together if we are smart and let it.
People come from all walks of life so we need to use Alternatives Assessment on a case by case basis. This is actually a good thing because Alternatives Assessment is meant to work on smaller levels and take into account.
Knowledge is power and Alternatives Assessment is all about taking as much information as possible and using it to make informed decisions. We are putting forward the idea of Alternatives Assessment people should be given the choice to use it or pick something else as that is the entire point.
Question: what is the best way to inform people about Alternatives Assessment?
Chapter 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: Necessary steps need to be taken in order to replace risk assessment with alternatives assessments that will provide successful outcomes.
1)Risk assessment is inferior to alternatives assessment and only benefits a small handful of people.“Any instance of unnecessary public health and environmental degradation would benefit from alternatives assessment, any regulatory or other decision making process that affect the environment should involve alternative assessment (226).
2) Proving that there are available alternatives is an initial step in creating more potential alternative assessment. “Sometimes getting an initial simple alternative assessment done will help highlight the need for a more extensive alternative assessment, your group may even try to develop an alternative assessment, in order to show the utility of a more public comprehensive process, however you want to avoid if possible, providing the only alternative assessment, because it might be ignored” (227). Limiting options for alternatives assessment can limit the effectiveness of being heard. Ironically, risk assessment is used when the proposal is thusly limited to one option requiring an assessment of its future risks.
3)Entire changes to our current systems need to be made if we wish to see real change through alternatives assessment. ”Ultimately, we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of alternatives for years, the business community, the wise use movement and the political right have been working to pass federal and state laws that require extensive risk assessment, prior to any regulatory action (229) These new laws need to require alternatives assessment, not risk assessment.
Chapter 17
Thesis: Understanding the prospective resistance to the systems change of alternatives assessment is necessary for achieving the goals of alternatives assessment.
1)Often the best and most simple solutions are the solutions not out into consideration.“Risk assessment has become a standard way of thinking in the United States. The idea of structuring design decision making, around alternatives assessment, often does not occur to people (235).
2)We need to address the major stakeholders for human and environmental tradgedy. “As one political scientist notes, There is an old saw in political science that difficult conditions become problems, only when people come to see them as amenable to human action. In other words, once we know that there is a bridge across an icy River. We are less likely to obey someone was telling us to wait across. However, the ones who want us to wait across don't want us to know that there is a bridge farther upstream (237)
3) There will always be individuals who profit from damaging behaviors. ”Those who want to protect established behaviors, no matter how environmentally costly. In the long run, will bring out roadblocks to prevent discussing an alternative, such as that, it involves special training or skills, new kinds of expenses or costly initial investments” (238) We need to establish laws and policies that remove these individuals stake in these behaviors, as they are not beneficial to society, or the world as a whole.
Chapter 18
ReplyDeleteThesis: Despite corporate greed and political interests destroying the environment, the general population is rational and is capable of understanding the benefits of alternatives assessment.
1)People in their rational nature will be open to alternatives assessment once we present it to them.“Alternatives assessment is eminently reasonable to almost everyone because it is simply thinking about alternatives before making important decisions, it makes sense to people that they get to choose their own friends from among options and make sense to them that when making a decision about buying a car, they're allowed to consider not only the different kinds of cars available, but also whether they even need a car”(252). People have to make alternative assessments regularly in their everyday life, therefore operating through risk assessments should seem reasonable to the majority of the population.
2) Exposing risky behaviors that corporations are hoping to go unnoticed is a key component of successful alternatives assessment.“Those pushing a hazardous activity, don't have much to offer people in the way of morals when they talk about causing acceptable damage while they haven't even considered better alternatives, or the possibility that they could be restoring health and the environment, instead of damaging it further (253).
3) Alternatives assessment is the best hope future generations currently have. “Alternatives assessment offers division of human behavior as decently as possible towards all the earth and its future. Most of us deeply want and need such a vision, through alternatives assessment, you help people have hope” (254)
How do we remove the current stakeholders for environmental, human, and economic tragedy?
Chapter 16
ReplyDeleteThesis: The shift from alternatives assessments from risk assessments starts by implementing plans to replace current practices.
-Any instance of unnecessary public health and environmental degradation would benefit from alternatives assessment, any regulatory or other decision making processes that affect the environment should involve alternative assessment (226).
- “Ultimately we need to design and implement laws, regulations, and public and private policies that encourage and require public assessment of alternatives” (229)
-”Bring as much media attention as possible to any refusal or failure by industry, agencies, or other decision makers to consider a decent range of options” (232).
Chapter 17
Thesis: There are many barriers standing in the way between the shift from risk assessment to alternative assessment.
Risk assessment has become a standard way of thinking in the United States, so the idea of structuring decision making around alternatives assessment often does not occur to people” (235). Assessing the risk and waiting on activity approval is drilled into the heads of Americans.
-“The alternatives-assessment process spells trouble for those who don’t want change” (237). People who are comfortable with the benefits they receive from various degrading practices will back up the “strength in the scientific significance of the risk assessment.”
-“Risk assessment can seem more attractive than alternatives assessment, because risk assessment can look ''scientific” and ''rational” while alternatives assessment appears more socially painful” (242). We need to begin with a combination of the two approaches, because the push for risk assessment may be too strong to argue complete replacement of the decision making approach.
Chapter 18
Thesis: through alternatives assessment, you help people have hope
-“Most members of the public value information, assessment of risks, reasonableness, innovation and personal morals, feelings and vision. Alternatives assessment is based on all of these” (251).
-“Those pushing a hazardous activity don’t have much to offer people in the way of morals when they talk about causing “acceptable” damage while they haven’t even considered better alternatives or the possibility that they could be restoring health and the environment instead of damaging it further” (253).
“Alternatives assessment offers division of human behavior as decently as possible towards all the earth and its future” (254).
How do we pressure small scale governments (city/state) to increase stringency on accepting potentially damaging projects (since the national government will not yet)?