Environmental Rationalism and Beyond: Toward a more just sharing of power and influence

Going Green: Motivations for Environmental Commitment in the Airline Industry. A Case Study of Scandinavian Airlines

“…The dominant paradigm has traditionally been one of regulation and government control. However, the failure of traditional top-down positivist approaches to environmental policymaking and management has been attributed to the belief that government had exclusive knowledge about just what the problem was and how it could be fixed (Aplin, 2000;Fischer, 1998). This belief is gradually being dismantled by post-modern and post-structuralist scholars who argue that environmental policy-making and implementation is a complex, multi-layered, iterative process (Gare, 1995;Renn, 2001;Smith, 1995).…”

“…In this context, there has been growing importance placed on the role of social science in environmental policy-making (Aplin, 2000;Renn, 2001). The natural sciences alone are no longer sufficient in guiding the development of environmental policy.…”

“…Policy developed outside this process of social and political legitimisation runs the risk of being irrelevant to the needs and operations of business and can lead to a crisis of acceptance and 'political disaffection' (Renn, 2001: 427). From this platform, Aplin (2000), Eckersley (1995a), Gare (1995) and Renn (2001) are among those who call for increased attention to the dialectics of environmental policy-making. In their view, examination of the discourses that surround policy-making reveal different ways that environmental problems are constructed and valued and can provide important insights into how policy-making can move forward through an 'irreducibly complex world' (Gare, 1995: 124).…”

OPINIONOpen‐minded Geographers: Their Potential Role in Integrated Adaptive Environmental Management

“…Third, all stakeholders must be involved, which is why community consultation has become so important (see, e.g., Carson & Gelber 2001). There are several reasons for taking such inclusive positions, one ethical or moral, the others more pragmatic (Aplin 2000). A democratic approach to governance requires that all sectors of society with an interest in an issue be given the opportunity to have their say, rather than have politicians or bureaucrats simply imposing their decisions (see Bu È hrs & Aplin 1999).…”

The Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement: Economic Rationalism and the Normalisation of Political Closure

“…Unsurprisingly, environmental policy‐making in Australia has also been subjected to the influence of the burgeoning economic credo. While the growing application of the economic paradigm is welcomed and defended by many commentators and seen as a step towards more efficient decision‐making for environmental protection (Hahn 2000), others warn about its ‘over‐dominance’ (Aplin 2000) and highlight its shortcomings when applied to complex, socio‐ecological realities (eg, Eckersley 2001; Dovers 2002). In particular, critics fear that the reductionist, economic rationality is ill‐equipped to deal with messy political problems, especially those concerned with social and environmental issues, because of its perceived ontological and epistemological narrowness (Dryzek 1996; Hamilton 2002; Fergus and Rowney 2005).…”