New tools for environmental protection education information and voluntary measures

The committee's gratitude goes to Brian Tobachnick, who managed the logistics of the project during its early stages; to Cecilia Rossiter, who provided additional organizational help at early stages; and to Deborah M. Johnson, who carried it the rest of the way. We also owe a debt to Laura Penny, who did the copy editing, and to Kirsten Sampson Snyder and Yvonne Wise, who managed the review and editorial processes.

I wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of the papers in this volume: Clint J. Andrews, Rutgers University; Richard N. Although the individuals listed provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the final draft of the report before its release. Appointed by the NRC, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered.

Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution. Valente and Darleen V. Mileti and Lori A. Paul C. Jensen Wilbanks and Paul C. Many people believe that environmental regulation has passed a point of diminishing returns: the quick fixes have been achieved and the main sources of pollution are shifting from large "point sources" to more diffuse sources that are more difficult and expensive to regulate.

The political climate has also changed in the United States since the s in ways that provide impetus to seek alternatives to regulation.

This book examines the potential of some of these "new tools" that emphasize education, information, and voluntary measures. Contributors summarize what we know about the effectiveness of these tools, both individually and in combination with regulatory and economic policy instruments. They also extract practical lessons from this knowledge and consider what is needed to make these tools more effective. The book will be of interest to environmental policy practitioners and to researchers and students concerned with applying social and behavioral sciences knowledge to improve environmental quality.

Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website. Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one.

Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book. To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter. Ready to take your reading offline?

Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available. Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free? Because the permits can be sold, firms that are especially efficient at reducing emissions can actually profit from their efforts at preventing pollution.

When this happens, society, which shares the costs of the environmental impacts, is providing a hidden subsidy for these products. The subsidy can be countered with an environmental impact or pollution tax that would compensate society as a whole and provide an incentive for producers to reduce environmental impacts.

Environmental education efforts aimed at both the public and at students have been used since the s. Information-based efforts for ener- gy conservation, such as home energy audits and appliance labeling programs, began in the aftermath of the energy crises of the s.

The environmental impact assessment provisions of the U. National Environmental Policy Act of provided a wealth of new information on proposed policies and projects for stakeholders to evaluate. In much the same spirit, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of required private firms to provide the federal government with information on releases of toxic substances. A major goal of the effort was to inform the public about tonics. Starting in the s, the U. Department of Energy initiated several plans for voluntary action by industry, while as early as the Chemical Manufacturers Association now the American Chemistry Council began the Responsible Care program a voluntary effort conducted by the chemical manufacturing industry without direct government involvement.

In this volume we refer to approaches that are neither command and control nor market based as "new tools. The first two approaches constitute the "old tools" that have been most prominent over the past quarter century; the last three are the "new tools" that are the subject of current experiments. STERN s controls are placed on behavior: Those who do not do as prescribed face specific tangible sanctions. The new tools rely more on implicit sources of behavioral control, so that the resulting behavior is likely to be perceived as voluntary.

Education includes the provision of information in a systematic and structured way, but usually goes further, encouraging deeper understanding and, perhaps, values and norms regarding behaviors. Simple provision of information offers "just the facts. Voluntary measures include agreements between regulatory agencies and private firms, agreements among firms in an industry, and voluntary actions across in- dustries, such as when firms set environmental requirements for their suppliers.

Some other taxonomies also include plans e. Clearly plans can play an important role in defining general expectations and setting goals.

But we have not included them in our taxonomy because plans require implementation methods that will usually involve the five policy types in our taxonomy. We also do not include the development of new technologies that lead to reduced environmental impact. Policy to encourage technological devel- opment is as complex as policy intended to change the environmental behavior of individuals, communities, or organizations, and thus deserves separate treat- ment. Encouraging technological development may be one of the most effective ways of reducing environmental impact, and that technological innovation may be driven by a range of policy approaches: new tools, direct regulation, and market forces, as well as technological policy per se.

Finally, we include codes and norms of "best professional practices" established by professional or indus- try groups within the broad category of voluntary measures. In engineering and management, such practices can do a great deal to reduce environmental impact. They deserve more attention than they have been given to date as a means of reducing environmental impact.

The new tools are an evolving set of supplements to command-and-control and market-based methods. They take many forms, as is obvious from the diverse policies considered in subsequent chapters. But they all have one or both of two features. They use education and the provision of information to try to change behavior, and the changes in behavior are voluntary in the sense that they are not driven by specific regulatory directives, externality taxes, or permit mar- kets. Of course, concerns about market threats, opportunities, and risks, such as consumer boycotts, may provide indirect financial incentives.

Categorizing an approach to environmental protection as "command and control," "market based," or based on "education, information, and voluntary measures," although useful analytically, overlooks the fact that every tool is actually a hybrid of all these forms. Individual and organizational response is normally a function of prices, the lure of economic opportunities, the threat of.

For example, market considerations often influ- ence compliance with regulations. Few major command-and-control regulations in the United States are implemented without lawsuits from both environmental groups and industry. The targets of regulation certainly weigh the economic costs of a lawsuit and its chances of success against the costs of complying with a new regulation. Noninstrumental goals also may drive responses to command- and-control regulations.

Some corporate managers operate on a strict profit maximization principle, but many others have serious environmental concerns and want to do as good a job as possible at minimizing their environmental impact within the fiscal limits they face. Given the apparent increase in green consumerism, such motivations are not unrelated to concerns about market share and profitability. Just as command-and-control approaches engage market incentives, so too do market incentives involve some of the characteristics of command and con- trol.

Government, often in cooperation with stakeholders, must design the insti- tutions that will implement tradable permits or pollution taxes. They must set the level of pollution allowed or the tax rate, as well as penalties for breaking the rules.

They may also require market participants to provide accurate informa- tion on their resource use or pollutant emissions. All these activities involve command and control.

New tools based on education, information, and voluntary measures are present in every command-and-control and market-based policy as well. New measures, whether command and control or market based, always involve a learning curve in which those affected must learn how to operate efficiently in the face of the changed environment.

The cost of information needed to comply with a new regulation or to strategize effectively in the face of a market-based policy may be high. Those affected educate themselves, sometimes by trial and error, sometimes by imitation of others, sometimes by discussion with those implementing the new regulatory regime.

Governments provide information as a part of every command-and-control strategy. One of the major arguments in favor of market-based schemes is the view that markets are fast, accurate, and efficient transmitters of information. So although the distinction among "command- and-control," "market-based," and "new tools" approaches to environmental protection is useful analytically, analysis also will benefit from attention to the degree to which each approach is embedded in, and embeds within itself, the others.

Calling education, information, and voluntary measures new tools is some- thing of a misnomer. Certainly, command-and-control and economic instru- ments are very old, dating to the earliest states.

We alluded earlier to a safety "regulation" in the Code of Hammurabi; taxes to provide public goods or dis- courage undesirable behavior are probably about as old. But the "new tools" based on education, the provision of incentives, reputation, and peer pressure are. STERN 7 even older. Before the state emerged, humans lived in groups with relatively little hierarchy, and the market was not a feature of daily social life. Societies of food foragers and early horticulturalists usually had no permanent political lead- ership and traded mostly for things not produced locally.

Governance involved discussion, ritual, tradition, and peer pressure. Although debate continues about how well preagricultural societies managed the parts of the environment that supported their lives, the management tools they used were surely closer to what we are calling "new tools" than to the "old tools" of command-and-control and market incentives. What changes in the past decade or so have led to the interest in new tools?

This is a question that has not attracted as much careful scholarship as it has speculation, so we don't have a clear answer. But a number of hypotheses are available.

New Targets One hypothesis is that the rise in interest in new approaches is a result of a shift in the sources of pollution that need attention. Proponents of this view reviewed in Rejeski and Salzman, this volume, Chapter 2 argue that command- and-control regulations were effective with the major manufacturing and re- source-extractive corporations to which they were applied from the s on.

This arrangement could work because any regulatory agency had a relatively modest number of firms with which to deal, making the tasks of contacting, negotiating, and monitoring manageable. As large firms were regulated, attention turned to other forms of pollution or in a few cases, the same pollutants that were emitted by thousands or even millions of sources.

These small and "nonpoint" sources were hard to identify and difficult to monitor. Moreover, those responsible for their emissions often lacked the ability to understand or comply with regulations because of cost and technical capacity.

Although applying command-and-control approaches to such sources is not possible, it makes sense to try alternative approaches. Proponents of the new-target view also note a growing frustration with the fragmented character of U. A single manufacturing plant might be regulated under a dozen different statutes and have to deal with that many or more offices at the EPA and other federal agencies. There is hope the new tools will provide for a more integrated and coordinated approach to environmental policy by encouraging responses that go beyond compliance with assorted regulations to address underlying problems.

In parallel with an interest in more integrated approaches to regulation has come exploration of new technologies that allow for multipollutant, multimedia emissions control. Emphasize the Role of the Individual The role of the individual in sparking behavior change never should be minimized or overlooked. There are many examples of disaster champions who singlehandedly prod and cajole their organizations, schools, neighborhoods, or governments into taking action.

These individuals are both tenacious in their efforts to stimulate change and passionate in their belief that change is neces- sary. Finding and motivating such an individual sometimes can be the key to a successful social marketing campaign. Include an Evaluation Component Some sort of evaluation component should be built into any social market- ing or public education campaign.

When you assess the efficacy of your materi- als and approaches, you can revise what doesn't work. Share that knowledge with other experts, advocates, and educators, so campaigns across the country can benefit from your experiences.

Last, but not least, use your data to justify continued or increased financial support. Provide Long-Term Support If your organization funds a social marketing program, continue that support over many years. If you run a marketing program, keep it highly visible and recognizable in the community.

Programs that deliver helpful information over the years see their credibility and effectiveness grow Kunreuther, ; Turner et al. Don't decrease the program's effectiveness by altering missions, or by changing logos or names. Be patient, and understand that good social market- ing is a long haul.

The research literature on the effectiveness of public hazards marketing campaigns reports the full gambit of impacts; they range from no behavior change to a relatively great deal of public and household behavior change to reduce losses from future disasters.

This variation likely exists due to variation in the types of campaigns conducted. For example, some campaigns have lasted only a short time, used singular media approaches, and delivered messages weak in content. Other marketing campaigns have lasted for protracted periods of time, several years, for example, employed multiple media to communicate with peo- ple, and delivered messages that informed on the full range of topics important to include in education.

The former have not been very effective, if they were effective at all, while the latter have produced diverse protective and mitigative behaviors by the targeted public.

Cutter, S. Newark, DE: University of Delaware. Drabek, T. New Parley, J. York: Springer-Verlag. Haas, J. Trainer Effectiveness of the tsunami warning system in selected coastal towns in Alaska. Pasadena: California Institute of Technology. Key, N. Professional Safety November Kunreuther, H. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Lindell, M.

Perry Household adjustment to earthquake hazard: A review of the research. Environment and Behavior Lopes, R. Working Paper No. Mileti, D. Darlington The role of searching in shaping reactions to earthquake risk information. Social Prob- lems February Darlington, C. Fitzpatrick, and P. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Fitzpatrick, and B. Environment April : O'Brien, P. Mileti Citizen participation in emergency response following the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Oliver-Smith, A. Annual Review of Anthropology Palm, R.

Quarantelli, E. Borgatta, ed. Ruch, C. Christensen Hurricane Message Enhancement. Russell, L. Goltz, and L. Bourque Slovic, P. Science London: Earthscan Publications. Sorensen, J. Turner, R. Nigg, and D. Berkeley: University of California Press. Nigg, D. Paz, and B. Environ- ment and Behavior 27 6 Tweedale, M. Australian Journal of Emergency Management 11 3 Wisner, B. Dietz, M. Levine, and E. Vine Evaluation of a community-based electricity load management program.

Laumann, E. Madison: Univer- sity of Wisconsin Press. Manly, B. McLaughlin, P. Sonnenfeld, eds. London: Frank Cass Publishers. Nakamura, M. Takhashi, and I. Vertinsky Why Japanese firms choose to certify: A study of managerial responses to environmen- tal issues. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management Nordstrom, H. Vaughan Trade and Environment.

Geneva, Switz. Olson, M. Poppitti, J. Dietz Social impact evaluation of the U. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Envi- ronmental Management Rees, W. Wackernagel Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: Measuring the natural capital requirements of the human capacity. Jannson, M. Hammer, C.

Folke, and R. Costanza, eds. Washington, DC: Island Press. Environment and Urbanization 4: - Richerson, P. Boyd in The evolution of subjective commitment to groups: A tribal social instincts hypothesis. Neese, eds. Boyd, and B. Paciotti An evolutionary theory of commons management. Ostrom, T. Roberts, J. Simon, H. New York: Macmillan.

Sober, E. Socolow, R. Thomas Industrial Ecology and Global Change. New York: Cambridge University Press. Stern, P. Aronson, J. Darley, D. Hill, E. Hirst, W. Kempton, and T. Wilbanks The effectiveness of incentives for residential energy conservation. Evaluation Review Underwood, A. Vine, E. Onisto, P. Bello, A. Linares, I.

Lopez Falfan, J. Garcia, A. Isabel, S. Guerrero, and M. Suarez Guerrero National natural capital accounting with the ecological footprint concept. Ecological Economics Wackernagel, M. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Can. Wernick, I. Journal of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society 46 4 Stern, T. Dietz, V. Ruttan, R. Socolow, and J. Sweeney eds. Herman, S. Govind, and J. Ausubel Materialization and dematerialization: Measures and trends.

Ausubel, and H. Langford, eds. Waggoner, and J. Ausubel The forester's lever: Industrial ecology and wood products. Journal of Forestry 98 10 York, R. Rosa, and T. Young, O. Diekemann, T. Dietz, C. Jaeger, and E. Rosa, eds. Many people believe that environmental regulation has passed a point of diminishing returns: the quick fixes have been achieved and the main sources of pollution are shifting from large "point sources" to more diffuse sources that are more difficult and expensive to regulate.

The political climate has also changed in the United States since the s in ways that provide impetus to seek alternatives to regulation.