Linking Science and Technology to Society's Environmental Goals (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Society's Environmental Goals
Society's Environmental Goals
Pages 15-26
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From page 15... ...
Second, the committee was to commission a series of papers that would discuss national science and technology goals related to domestic environmental policy. These papers were to become part of the final publication (see Part II)
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Fourth, the committee, which was to include a group of persons with broad relevant experience, was to convene, consider commissioned papers, discuss potential long-term goals, receive the views of selected representatives of those who are interested and affected by the policy in question, and attain consensus on recommended national goals in a published report. The short report would present the committee's consensus as to what should be the nation's science and technology goals for the environment, summarize the call for comments, and include the commissioned papers.
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: "Many of our major environmental statutes contain little more than hortatory phrases that offer scant guidance to the implementing agencies." In addition, he noted that concerns have arisen on "whether our legislative goals are really the right ones or provide sufficient direction for the present and/or the future." In his presentation to the forum, Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Thomas A systems approach to achieving current environmental goals would in clude at least three steps: (1)
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concludes, in an opinion shared by -- Forum Participant Comment this committee, that "an overwhelming strength common to all three projects is the implicit recognition that our environmental management system is in need of significant reform." Morgenstern compares the goals using such measures as scope, time frame, success, and inclusion of an implicit assessment of tradeoffs in goal choices. He finds that the three sets differ substantially in those measures.
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However, in addition to the federal agencies, states and industry are examining goals, as described in several of the commissioned papers. In his paper, Richard Minard describes growing activity at the state level.
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industry traditionally has a short time and myopic framework for setting goals." In their view, industry moves through a series of stages, beginning with seeing environmental issues as problems to be solved through compliance, emissions reduction, source reduction, and finally managing for the environment, "the Green Company." They also criticize the approach to environmental improvement through laws: "where specific targets have been written into laws, they have often been grossly over ambitious." Nevertheless, they acknowledge that sometimes the government has led industry to accomplish what it claimed it could not. They cite "the technology-forcing requirement to reduce auto exhaust emissions .
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• Educational -- The potential of positive change has not been suffi ciently documented and communicated to leaders and the public at large. -- Forum Participant Comment try." The authors note that "many of the technological advantages of later Japanese automobiles that fueled their competitive onslaught in the American market were spawned by these earlier engineering approaches taken to meet environmental standards." The authors describe several approaches taken by industry, including life-cycle analysis, design for the environment, and the recommendations of the international group, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD)
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. Although substantial progress has been made in the last 25 years in improving environmental quality, the country still lacks a unified national strategy.
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2. The committee then voted on these topics, selecting the ones believed most important for the scientific and engineering community to focus on relative to the current intellectual and financial resources provided to each.
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Another is the largest federal environmental program, the management and cleanup of the wastes at DOE weapons facilities, currently estimated to cost at least $250 billion and to take more than 50 years. This program involves institutional and technical challenges as large as any other we discuss.
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As noted earlier, these discussions focused on the areas where the committee believes that the science and technology community should focus its efforts to be responsive to society's environmental goals. They led to chapters as follows: • Use Social Science and Risk Assessment to Make Better Societal Choices.
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• John Wise, Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 9, United States Environmental Protection Agency. • Peter Truitt, Senior Analyst, Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, and Manager, National Environmental Goals Project, United States Environmental Protection Agency.
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