Various environmental standards have been established for the sake of public health and ecosystem diversity since environmental awareness was awakened in the late 1960s. However, the results were often unsatisfactory. Either environmental goals achieved were far from desired, or regional development was hampered due to some unpractical high environmental standards. The failure of these environmental standards resulted in innovations of environmental policy instruments to find practical environmental goals and methods approaching them scientifically. Another class of environmental policy instruments, so called economic incentive policies, is established based on environmental economics theory. A neo-classical economics framework is founded for setting appropriate environmental goals and assessing efficiency of environmental policies in reaching these goals. This thesis summarizes rationales and factors affecting the performance for environmental policy instruments under the neo-classical economic framework. Since the acid rain program, the first large-scale implementation of the emissions trading policy, has achieved great success in reducing SO₂ emissions from the electricity generators in the United States, the emission trading policy attracted many interests in this kind of environmental policy instrument. Many countries, such as China, plan to adopt the emissions trading policy to address various environmental problems. Hence, factors leading to the success of this program should be identified. Potential risks and problems must be addressed as well lest the emissions trading policy causes some problem during implementation. Feasibility of implementing an emissions trading policy will be discussed based on these results. Three kinds of geographic analyses, change detection, network analysis, and hot spots identification, are conducted in this thesis to study the effectiveness and efficiency of the acid rain program. It is found that the acid rain program is successful in improving the sustainability of the economic development in the United States. But the effectiveness is not as great as the high emissions cutting rate achieved in this program. In addition, the acid rain program lowers the compliance costs of achieving the environmental goal since the radius of the high quality coal service area doubles. Lastly, hot spots are found around the Ohio River valley and Los Angeles. Suggestions on integrating geographic factors into the economic framework are presented in order to eliminate the risk of causing severe environmental problems. Finally, the feasibility of migrating the emissions trading policy to China is discussed. Further work can be conducted in this direction to realize sustainable development quicker with lower costs.

Scientific information is required to make environmental policy that will enhance and protect the health of ecosystems. The issues placed on the policy agenda come from the interactions amongst stakeholders, decision makers and other influential actors. These actors include government, civil society, private sector, and planning regimes. Ideally, scientific research then provides members of the policy community with assessed options upon which final decisions are eventually made. <br /><br /> This process is more complex than most in the realm of environmental policy because the goal of sustainability, commonly advocated by government, should serve to guide choices regarding policy alternatives. Sustainability, in practice, requires simultaneous attention to factors such as the needs of present and future generations; consideration for vastly differing social, environmental, and economic perspectives; and development of effective strategies to deal with the interconnectedness and complexity of the world. Management of these factors demands an ability to collect and process massive amounts of information at different temporal and spatial scales. The complexity of such situations means that there are instances when scientific information is not available and decisions need to be made quickly. <br /><br /> Using a case study approach, this thesis investigates the Canadian Wildlife Service?s attempts to achieve its mandate of conserving migratory birds while approving bismuth as an alternative to lead that was shown to cause poisoning of birds. This case study serves as an example of the tension between limited or ambiguous scientific information and urgent decisions. The chosen policy alternative to the use of lead shot was the approval of bismuth shot as a non-toxic substitute in 1997 and banning the use of lead shot nationwide in 1999. This decision to approve bismuth shot was based upon a few studies that were interpreted in a way that made it appear benign when compared to lead. This thesis examines the implications of this decision by conducting a comprehensive literature review of bismuth?s interactions with soil, vegetation, and animals, with some medical information on humans to put findings into an anthropocentric context. Also, analysis has been carried out on the results of a four-year study on bismuth in a wetland site near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Finally, a ?post-normal perspective? exploration of the Canadian Wildlife Service revealed that decisions could be harmful to both human and environmental health if the values and knowledge of stakeholders are not taken into account and if uncertainties are overlooked. <br /><br /> Key findings generated by the literature review were potential chronic impacts to the neurological and reproductive health of animals exposed to bismuth shot. In turn, bismuth-contaminated meat may be a source of bismuth for humans and therefore guidelines for consumption should be investigated. Also, soil and vegetation have also been shown to accumulate bismuth, but it is unknown if it amounts to toxic levels. The wetland study helped to address the literature gap of bismuth?s fate in the environment. The mean concentration of bismuth in the soil after four years was 6. 40 µg/g, which was significantly higher than the control soil mean of 0. 42 µg/g. Ultimately, in terms of environmental policy, a ?post-normal perspective? offers three main tools for decision makers faced with urgent issues and uncertain facts. Namely, extended peer communities, acknowledgement and demonstration of uncertainty, and making values explicit.

Generation of solid waste is a problem of great environmental significance in the Mexican Federal District. With an estimated daily generation of 12,500 tons waste management is a priority for the district government. Through the launch of a new initiative known as ‘Green Plan’, the government is proposing to implement an integrated waste management system that will not only reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, increasing reuse and recycling of waste, but also will allow the district government to realize economic gains by charging a fee for collection services and selling energy generated from incinerating waste. Integrated waste management programs have been implemented in the Mexican Federal District in the past. They have failed. This research has examined the most recent initiative in an effort to discover the causes of failure, using a case study approach. In addition to identifying barriers to and opportunities for implementation of an effective integrated waste management system in the Federal District, this research recommends options for the newly proposed waste management system that will achieve the objectives desired by the government, while aiding in the pursuit of sustainable development. The research has revealed that the performance of the Federal District’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Program, or any other program of the sort, is affected mainly by a combination of factors that are under the local government’s control: legal instruments, administrative organization and political conflicts, allocation of resources, education and training, and citizen participation. Strengthening these areas will improve the performance of the program. In comparison to much of the existing waste management literature that aims at identifying opportunities for supporting proposed systems through technological innovation (Chambal, et.al., 2003; Eriksson, et.al., 2005; Hung, et.al., 2007), this research has found that key barriers and opportunities lie in the strengthening of the institutional capacities of the local government. While recommendations of this study have been developed within the specific context of Mexico City, they may offer some more general guidance about how to respond to concerns which are likely to apply to many other large urban municipalities in developing countries. Application of the Gibson principles for sustainability in the context of Sandra Cointreau’s guidelines for sustainable waste management has provided a useful evaluation guide. This research has focused not just on evaluation of a particular waste management system, but also on the geographic and administrative context of the system in order to gain a broader insight into the factors over and above technical standards and mechanisms that affect the performance of the system.

Jalisco es un estado altamente vulnerable a los efectos del cambio climático. El estado es vulnerable a sequías en el norte e inundaciones en las costas. Jalisco también es un estado con un sector agrícola de alta producción. Los efectos del cambio climático ponen en riesgo esta producción agrícola, que en turno tendría efectos negativos en las familias agrícolas y la economía del estado. A través de varias estrategias de adaptación al nivel del agricultor y del gobierno, se puede crear un sector agrícola con posibilidades para afrontar los efectos del cambio climático con éxito. Para crear estas estrategias de una manera justa y eficaz, se podría usar el marco de las policy sciences durante la formulación para políticas públicas. El marco de las policy sciences promueve la colaboración entre las partes interesadas durante el proceso del desarrollo de políticas públicas. Por medio de la colaboración de las agencias gubernamentales, los agricultores, las organizaciones no gubernamentales, los centros de investigación y la ciudadanía se pueden crear e efectuar estrategias eficaces para adaptar al sector agrícola jalisciense a los efectos del cambio climático.

Various environmental standards have been established for the sake of public health and ecosystem diversity since environmental awareness was awakened in the late 1960s. However, the results were often unsatisfactory. Either environmental goals achieved were far from desired, or regional development was hampered due to some unpractical high environmental standards. The failure of these environmental standards resulted in innovations of environmental policy instruments to find practical environmental goals and methods approaching them scientifically. Another class of environmental policy instruments, so called economic incentive policies, is established based on environmental economics theory. A neo-classical economics framework is founded for setting appropriate environmental goals and assessing efficiency of environmental policies in reaching these goals. This thesis summarizes rationales and factors affecting the performance for environmental policy instruments under the neo-classical economic framework. Since the acid rain program, the first large-scale implementation of the emissions trading policy, has achieved great success in reducing SO&#8322; emissions from the electricity generators in the United States, the emission trading policy attracted many interests in this kind of environmental policy instrument. Many countries, such as China, plan to adopt the emissions trading policy to address various environmental problems. Hence, factors leading to the success of this program should be identified. Potential risks and problems must be addressed as well lest the emissions trading policy causes some problem during implementation. Feasibility of implementing an emissions trading policy will be discussed based on these results. Three kinds of geographic analyses, change detection, network analysis, and hot spots identification, are conducted in this thesis to study the effectiveness and efficiency of the acid rain program. It is found that the acid rain program is successful in improving the sustainability of the economic development in the United States. But the effectiveness is not as great as the high emissions cutting rate achieved in this program. In addition, the acid rain program lowers the compliance costs of achieving the environmental goal since the radius of the high quality coal service area doubles. Lastly, hot spots are found around the Ohio River valley and Los Angeles. Suggestions on integrating geographic factors into the economic framework are presented in order to eliminate the risk of causing severe environmental problems. Finally, the feasibility of migrating the emissions trading policy to China is discussed. Further work can be conducted in this direction to realize sustainable development quicker with lower costs.

Scientific information is required to make environmental policy that will enhance and protect the health of ecosystems. The issues placed on the policy agenda come from the interactions amongst stakeholders, decision makers and other influential actors. These actors include government, civil society, private sector, and planning regimes. Ideally, scientific research then provides members of the policy community with assessed options upon which final decisions are eventually made. <br /><br /> This process is more complex than most in the realm of environmental policy because the goal of sustainability, commonly advocated by government, should serve to guide choices regarding policy alternatives. Sustainability, in practice, requires simultaneous attention to factors such as the needs of present and future generations; consideration for vastly differing social, environmental, and economic perspectives; and development of effective strategies to deal with the interconnectedness and complexity of the world. Management of these factors demands an ability to collect and process massive amounts of information at different temporal and spatial scales. The complexity of such situations means that there are instances when scientific information is not available and decisions need to be made quickly. <br /><br /> Using a case study approach, this thesis investigates the Canadian Wildlife Service?s attempts to achieve its mandate of conserving migratory birds while approving bismuth as an alternative to lead that was shown to cause poisoning of birds. This case study serves as an example of the tension between limited or ambiguous scientific information and urgent decisions. The chosen policy alternative to the use of lead shot was the approval of bismuth shot as a non-toxic substitute in 1997 and banning the use of lead shot nationwide in 1999. This decision to approve bismuth shot was based upon a few studies that were interpreted in a way that made it appear benign when compared to lead. This thesis examines the implications of this decision by conducting a comprehensive literature review of bismuth?s interactions with soil, vegetation, and animals, with some medical information on humans to put findings into an anthropocentric context. Also, analysis has been carried out on the results of a four-year study on bismuth in a wetland site near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Finally, a ?post-normal perspective? exploration of the Canadian Wildlife Service revealed that decisions could be harmful to both human and environmental health if the values and knowledge of stakeholders are not taken into account and if uncertainties are overlooked. <br /><br /> Key findings generated by the literature review were potential chronic impacts to the neurological and reproductive health of animals exposed to bismuth shot. In turn, bismuth-contaminated meat may be a source of bismuth for humans and therefore guidelines for consumption should be investigated. Also, soil and vegetation have also been shown to accumulate bismuth, but it is unknown if it amounts to toxic levels. The wetland study helped to address the literature gap of bismuth?s fate in the environment. The mean concentration of bismuth in the soil after four years was 6. 40 µg/g, which was significantly higher than the control soil mean of 0. 42 µg/g. Ultimately, in terms of environmental policy, a ?post-normal perspective? offers three main tools for decision makers faced with urgent issues and uncertain facts. Namely, extended peer communities, acknowledgement and demonstration of uncertainty, and making values explicit.

Generation of solid waste is a problem of great environmental significance in the Mexican Federal District. With an estimated daily generation of 12,500 tons waste management is a priority for the district government. Through the launch of a new initiative known as ‘Green Plan’, the government is proposing to implement an integrated waste management system that will not only reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, increasing reuse and recycling of waste, but also will allow the district government to realize economic gains by charging a fee for collection services and selling energy generated from incinerating waste. Integrated waste management programs have been implemented in the Mexican Federal District in the past. They have failed. This research has examined the most recent initiative in an effort to discover the causes of failure, using a case study approach. In addition to identifying barriers to and opportunities for implementation of an effective integrated waste management system in the Federal District, this research recommends options for the newly proposed waste management system that will achieve the objectives desired by the government, while aiding in the pursuit of sustainable development. The research has revealed that the performance of the Federal District’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Program, or any other program of the sort, is affected mainly by a combination of factors that are under the local government’s control: legal instruments, administrative organization and political conflicts, allocation of resources, education and training, and citizen participation. Strengthening these areas will improve the performance of the program. In comparison to much of the existing waste management literature that aims at identifying opportunities for supporting proposed systems through technological innovation (Chambal, et.al., 2003; Eriksson, et.al., 2005; Hung, et.al., 2007), this research has found that key barriers and opportunities lie in the strengthening of the institutional capacities of the local government. While recommendations of this study have been developed within the specific context of Mexico City, they may offer some more general guidance about how to respond to concerns which are likely to apply to many other large urban municipalities in developing countries. Application of the Gibson principles for sustainability in the context of Sandra Cointreau’s guidelines for sustainable waste management has provided a useful evaluation guide. This research has focused not just on evaluation of a particular waste management system, but also on the geographic and administrative context of the system in order to gain a broader insight into the factors over and above technical standards and mechanisms that affect the performance of the system.

The 2002 ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the government of Canada represents an interesting case study in Canadian federalism. This thesis seeks to explore the perspective of the government of Saskatchewan during the debate surrounding the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. In examining Saskatchewans perspective, this thesis uses the theoretical framework developed by Richard Simeon in Federal-Provincial Diplomacy: The Making of Recent Policy in Canada. In particular, the four major sources of intergovernmental conflict identified by Simeon, economic conflict, ideological conflict, political competition, and differences in perspective, will be used to examine Saskatchewans reaction to the ratification to the Kyoto Protocol. Climate change policy provides interesting insights into Canadian federalism. Constitutional authority in environmental policy is concurrently shared between both levels of government. At the same time, the federal government has authority to make international treaties, but requires provincial consent to implement those treaties in areas of provincial jurisdiction. Unlike other previous intergovernmental negotiations, the Kyoto Protocols ratification also introduces international elements and considerations to domestic federal-provincial relations, which have rarely been explored in academic literature surrounding Canadian federalism. As such, this thesis hopes to use the case study of Saskatchewans perspective on Kyotos ratification as a means of expanding on the relevance of Simeons framework through the consideration of unexplored international factors on Canadian federalism.

Sustaining development is becoming one of the challenges to enterprises because concerns to the natural and human environments are always being overlooked by the enterprises which intend to get sustaining advantages, especially at the globalization competing situations among enterprises. In general, only part pictures of the sustaining development can be observed by the first department (personal department) from a private viewpoint. The second department (government) is always a stumbling block to the enterprises which intend to move to foreign countries. The third department (nonprofit organization) dedicates to the development of human well-beings and citizen aesthetics which can eventually become a part of business culture. Enterprises with the concept of sustaining development for environments should agree to the viewpoints of the second and the third departments and would like to melt those into their business cultures. By the melting, a coexistence concept for the enterprises, the society and the consumers can be developed, and the social responsibilities and duties may be brought into the enterprises further. Finally, it will become an active motivation force which accelerates business development and their social responsibility mission, and eventually becomes a global sustaining development for human beings. Taiwan¡¦s leading position of synthetic leather manufacture in the world has been replaced due to its higher domestic labor, land costs and enterprise out-moving. However, some companies of the industry is still developing and promising by taking the policies of producing centralization, variety, and high value-additive products. For facing world-wide competition in the future, the industry should have an overall strategy on the viewpoints of business administration and environmental policy. In this study, two approaches, namely business competition strategy and business environmental policy, were adopted to develop subjects for obtaining a sustainable development to the synthetic leather industry. Investigation results indicate that a world-wide plumb-integration on cost competition, and producing centralized, high-variety, and high value-additive products might be a practical strategy for competing with the world plant mainland China. By a case study in this report, the strategy has been shown to be effective for abating negative impacts from current situations of world trade liberalization, inside cost promotion, and enterprise out-moving Pollution prevention has been regarded as a burden to enterprises. However, investigation results also indicate that by planning and implementation of environmental policies such as process waste reduction, energy saving, clean production, and development of environment-friendly products, the synthetic leather industry can find a more promising way.

This dissertation investigates the dynamic economic structure transformation and its corresponding environmental consequences at the Austin-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area (Austin MSA) from 1990 to 2008. Input-output (IO) analysis is the major methodology and environmental problems are defined as emissions of industrial point air pollutants. Both three-and seven-segment IO models of Austin MSA for the years of 1990, 1994, and 1999 are constructed. Direct and total pollution coefficients of six major pollutants are calculated, hypothe tical extraction measurement and structural decomposition analysis are implemented, and the quantity and pattern of pollutant emissions are simulated based on four major assumed development scenarios from 2000 to 2008. This study finds: 1) the digital economy has emerged in the Austin MSA during the 1990s, 2) the manufacturing process of Austin MSA tended to be more environmentally friendly, which supports the hypothesis of dematerialization and decarbonization, 3) consumption-driven and non-production segments related environmental problems becomes more significant in the emerging digital economy. This study predicts that industrial point air pollutant emissions will grow moderately from 2000 to 2008, assuming that the direct pollutant coefficients will change at the average rates of the 1990s and the final demand will grow at the half rates of the 1990s?? average. Pollution contribution from production segment will generally decrease and contribution from other segments such as ICT and Information will increase, however, emission contributions of the segments will vary in terms of pollutants as well as development scenarios. This study argues that the shift of the source and nature of environmental threats of in the digital economy mandates parallel reform of the current environmental policy. A new generation of policy should be cooperative rather than confrontational, integrated rather than fragmented, flexible rather than rigid. It should also facilitate innovative management initiatives to achieve sustainability. More fundamentally, it is expected to deal with environmental impacts of intangible information flows (bits) which are possibly more essential than flows of tangible goods and services (atoms) in the context of the digital economy and the information age.