Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014) / Chapter Skim
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6 Identifying and Addressing New Issues
6 Identifying and Addressing New Issues
Pages 80-93
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From page 80... ...
Smaller and less expensive environmental monitors have been developed and deployed, so people in EPA and state environmental agencies (such as California's Emerging Environmental Challenges Program) 1 can quickly scan collected data for notable emerging trends and cross-reference with colleagues anywhere in the world who have similar capabilities.
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From page 81... ...
And screening assessments, tools, and formal sustainability assessments may need to be further automated to meet the rapid throughput that new-issue management will require. Given the global nature of many existing environmental and sustainability issues and the likelihood that new issues will have international implications, new-issue identification may promote congruent approaches and regulatory convergence among countries that are attempting to address newly identified issues jointly.
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From page 82... ...
supplemented with research and development investment to refine sustainability analyses could allow sustainability analysts to run repeated "what if" exercises to reveal aggregate effects in all three pillars of sustainability. The process of implementing sustainability concepts needs substantial investment in the early discovery of potential unintended consequences because of the concern about optimizing present and future outcomes and intergenerational effects.
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From page 83... ...
Applying futures methods will inform and guide the use of other sustainability tools as the scenarios developed become more mature and data-stable. A tiered approach to identifying and addressing emerging challenges includes: Applying approaches to identify possible emerging challenges (EPA 2014r)
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From page 84... ...
. In the case of large cities, a combination of megatrends of urbanization, climate change, and a recent and rapidly emerging revolution in application of IT, including social media that promote democratization of knowledge and participation by the general public, has provided a fertile landscape for application of sustainability tools and approaches, including BCA, integrated assessment modeling, collaborative problem-solving, futures methods to evaluate alternative future scenarios, and environmental-justice (EJ)
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From page 85... ...
A rapid screening tool that could quickly be applied to a newly identified emerging challenge to allow an initial weighting of potential EJ concerns is especially important. Development of the capability for robust EJ analysis is also important, but the rapid emergence of new challenges requires quick screening capability to ensure that EJ issues are included in sustainability considerations.
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From page 86... ...
FIGURE 6-2 Optimistic projection of future emissio of five key materials in 2 c f ons y 2050. None of the materials is ex f pected to reach the 2050 target of a 50% reduction in emission.
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From page 87... ...
It will probably be a challenge for EPA to provide the inhouse subject-matter expertise needed to address emerging issues in materials development and use. EPA should consider using its convening ability to foster academic, business, and government partnerships to develop scientific and technical understanding to inform agency decision making.
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From page 88... ...
Give the rapid evolving applications (especially biologic) of nanoscale m en dly materials, deevices, and systems, EP should wo with othe organizati PA ork er ions to fund research in r risk characteeriza tion and develop the infrastr p ructure need to suppor data-mining and data ded rt -sharing.
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From page 89... ...
Recent international governance coordination mechanisms have been created through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Organization for Standardization, but the scope of their efforts is limited. Given the lack of harmonization and alignment in global regulatory policies and practices and the great promise inherent in nanotechnology development, the convening nature of sustainability approaches may constitute a logical bridge across the governance divide.
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From page 90... ...
Advanced Manufacturing Closely aligned with the nanotechnology and biospace discussions are a related set of productivity advances and sustainability practices that arise in the manufacturing space. Collectively, these activities and practices are often referred to as advanced manufacturing, which is defined as "a family of activities that: a)
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From page 91... ...
(Recom mendation 6f) More accurate and earlier prediction of emerging issues related to environmental settings would enhance the ability to incorporate resilience strategies into infrastructure design.
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From page 92... ...
The examples in Table 6-1 are not meant to be exhaustive but rather to stimulate thinking about how sustainability focus areas are affected by new issues and how sustainability tools will have the potential both to identify and to evaluate effects of new or emerging issues. The complexity of new issues and their rate of occurrence will probably place even greater demands on even the most automated and robust tools and approaches in the race to prevent new issues from surging to become old unresolved problems.
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From page 93... ...
Conclusion 6.3: The use of a broad array of social media can be used to communicate rapidly and effectively with the public. Private and public organizations are increasingly leveraging the use of structured and unstructured public input to improve prediction of public preferences and to extract valuable insights into public behavior.
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