In recent years, as globalization has taken a toll on North Americans’ “sense of place,” there has been a swelling interest in the identification of bioregions: spaces delineated by their natural borders and shaped by the cultures that arise within them. Bioregionalism, the movement that arose from this scalar shift, emphasizes the “reinhabitation” of bioregions through a deep understanding and attachment between residents and their watershed and habitat. This thesis argues for a shift to bioregional-scale environmental governance in the Cascadian bioregion (the Pacific Northwest) via an interstate compact. Using the Great Lakes bioregion as a comparable case study, this thesis goes on to examine the effects of neoliberalization on two resulting cross-border institutions, the Great Lakes Commission and the Council of the Great Lakes Region. It ultimately concludes that a shared ecological identity is imperative for preserving the ethos of bioregionalism in future policymaking, rather than just the scale. In an effort to create a tangible path towards the shaping of this identity, a communications framework is presented. Based on lessons from the Great Lakes case studies, this framework utilizes “condensation symbols” and the “triple appeals principle” as possible tools for Cascadian activists to leverage moving forward.

Environmental regulatory policy in the U.S. is a mixture of federal, state, and local activity and impacts. This is true of air quality regulations, which are governed at the federal level by the Clean Air Act. This dissertation analyzes both the political economy of federal environmental regulations and the empirical effects of ozone regulations under the Clean Air Act.A political economy model is developed that offers a motivation for political support of national environmental policy that regulates strictly local pollution. Altering local environmental policies in other jurisdictions will cause capital migration, which may increase local welfare. Thus, individuals have an incentive to influence local policies in other jurisdictions. National environmental policy then becomes a potential tool for inter-jurisdictional competition.The empirical impacts of ground-level ozone regulations under the Clean Air Act are also analyzed. The Clean Air Act established minimum air quality standards; localities failing to meet the established standards are classified as nonattainment areas and are subject to additional environmental regulations. These new regulations have a direct impact on polluting industries, and therefore also an indirect impact on the revenues and expenditures of local governments.First, nonattainment status is seen to alter regional industrial geography. Overall economic activity declines in both nonattainment areas and the surrounding jurisdictions. Gaining attainment status partially mitigates these impacts, although to some extent theeconomic impacts in both nonattainment areas and the surrounding jurisdictions do permanently persist. I also find evidence that manufacturing activity relocates from nonattainment areas to surrounding areas that face more lenient air quality regulations.Ozone nonattainment status is also seen to produce fiscal effects for local governments as changes in industrial geography alter local tax bases. Revenues and expenditures decline in regulated population centers, while they increase in surrounding areas. These increases diminish with distance from the urban center. Also, the fiscal impacts persist even after attainment status has been gained.

Whether philosophy can contribute decisively towards alleviating humanity’s pressing environmental predicament I here argue in the affirmative. There are many considerations that challenge my case. Specifically, I show that environmental ethics, the subdiscipline of moral philosophy which was founded on the presumption of this possibility, has faltered. The field threatens to divide between “impractical theoretical” discourses within the academy, and “pragmatic” and largely atheoretical “practical” engagements with environmental science, policy and management. To help environmental ethics advance beyond this dysfunctional division, I explore methodological comparisons with bioethics, the “most successful field of applied ethics”. My deliberations apply in novel ways Bartha’s model for evaluating the plausibility of scientific hypotheses that incorporate analogies. In an initial test application of Bartha’s model, I evaluate the relevance to environmental ethics of the failure of the “top-down” applied ethics approach in bioethics. I present good reasons to conclude that environmental ethics can indeed learn from this failure. I also conclude that my trial application of Bartha’s model is promising. I then evaluate two proposals for reforms towards the greater practical effectiveness of environmental ethics. First I evaluate the plausibility of the proposal of Minteer and Collins for a new field of “ecological ethics”. They argue for the adoption of the broadly pragmatic methodological commitments now prevailing in bioethics. Because they focus primarily on supporting individual rather than collaborative processes of ethical judgment, I argue they risk facilitating an ethically pernicious “ecological paternalism” on analogy with the widely condemned practice of medical paternalism. Second I evaluate Norton’s proposal to incorporate environmental ethics within the adaptive ecosystem management paradigm. By arguing that the tasks of seeking cultural and biophysical sustainability within spatiotemporally defined communities must be integrated, Norton offers a potentially vital interface for intelligent and just interaction between culture and wider nature. I also argue this interface may be of more general relevance to bioethics and moral and political philosophy. However, a significant theoretical challenge for Norton’s sustainability model is identified. I argue that his model provides a thought experiment which illustrates the conceptual and practical incoherence of the primary liberal mechanisms for managing ethical conflict once these are applied to the sustainability challenge. Those mechanisms are the separation of public and private spheres and the simultaneous pursuit within private spaces of mutually exclusive conceptions of the good (and biophysically sustainable) life. I argue that rectifying this failure defines a vital, albeit daunting, theoretical and practical challenge for environmental ethics. That is to reconceptualise ethical conflict and to help design and facilitate practical processes to achieve sufficient common ethical agreement. Addressing this challenge is beyond the scope of this dissertation. However, some promising work and possibilities for further research are outlined. I conclude that I have successfully defended the value of analogical comparison with bioethics for enhancing the unity and effectiveness of theory and practice in environmental ethics. I therefore further conclude that I am correct to affirm that philosophy can, and I believe indeed should, contribute more effectively toward alleviating humanity’s pressing environmental predicament.

The reliance upon and depletion of fossil fuels as an energy source puts pressure on individuals, communities, energy companies, and policy-makers. Hydraulic fracturing – known colloquially as fracking – as a method of drilling for oil and natural gas temporarily alleviates this pressure since it allows for the extraction previously inaccessible fossil fuels in shale rock deposits deep beneath the Earth’s surface. This has resulted in a nationwide “fracking boom,” which has come with its share of economic benefits. However, the process of fracking can be detrimental to human and environmental health. In reaction to the increasing development of this practice, many communities across the country are mobilizing against fracking. This thesis will focus on the grassroots activism against fracking in New York, where fracking was banned in December 2014, and in California, which is largely slated as the next frontier for the expansion of fracking and thus battleground for the fight against fracking. Using grassroots academic literature, media coverage of fracking and activism in each state, and interviews from organizers working in each state, this thesis will examine the motivations, frameworks, strategies, and tactics used in each grassroots campaign in order to offer lessons in successes and opportunities for improvement within these anti-fracking efforts and others across the country.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze climate change initiatives in China, the United States, and California, determine where they fall on a spectrum from climate change leader to climate change laggard, and evaluate the need for more effective collaboration among these entities in order to collectively tackle the global threat of climate change. This thesis supplements existing literature in the field by synthesizing the climate change activities of three important players in the global arena: China, the United States, and California. This thesis is different from other research, however, by underscoring the collaboration between these three entities and specifically recommending cap and trade as a mechanism through which to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this thesis, I claim that on a spectrum from climate change laggard to climate change leader, the United States settles as a laggard, California emerges as a leader, and contrary to popular belief, I argue that China is transitioning between the two. Moreover, I emphasize the importance of more collaboration – especially more substantive collaboration – between these key players in order to achieve significant global emissions reductions because they will stimulate other partnerships around the world and trigger more collective action on climate change. Finally, I offer cap and trade as a viable option through which these three entities can work together to reduce their contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions.

The focus of this study was to investigate the perception of employees on environmental performance within a corporate company. In this instance Absa Bank Limited was the organisation under investigation referring directly to the banks impact on the environment. A literature study was conducted to establish an awareness of all related terms and subjects to environmental performance. Further a specific focus on Absa Bank Limited?s environmental impact and the policies and procedures set out by this organisation was researched and discussed. An empirical study was conducted by means of a self completion questionnaire administered by a random sample of employees working for Absa Bank Limited. Quantitative research that was conducted by means of questionnaires were distributed through the Absa Bank Limited Group to 200 employees in the Gauteng and North West Province and distributed through different departments and management levels. 52 usable questionnaires were gathered out of the abovementioned areas. Cronbach Alpha coefficient values were used to determine the internal consistency amongst items in the research instrument. The research instrument used in this study to assess perception of employees on the environmental performance within Absa Bank Limited had acceptable reliability, since not one of the constructs had a lower Cronbach Alpha coefficient than 0.7. The correlation between the demographical variables and the seven constructs were examined by independent t–tests and effect sizes. The demographical factors used were the gender classification of respondents, number of years employed by Absa Bank Limited and the management level of the respondents. In all instances the effect sizes were too small to be of any practical significance since none of the effect sizes had a large effect (d–value = 0.8). Recommendations and practical ways in which environmental performance could be enhanced and maintained in Absa Bank Limited were discussed. It was also reccomended that systems and procedures should be revisited and adapted to ensure adherence to the requirements of environmental performance. The report concluded by addressing the achievement of all the objectives, and by recommending possible future research that could be undertaken based on this study. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The focus of this study was to investigate the perception of employees on environmental performance within a corporate company. In this instance Absa Bank Limited was the organisation under investigation referring directly to the banks impact on the environment. A literature study was conducted to establish an awareness of all related terms and subjects to environmental performance. Further a specific focus on Absa Bank Limited?s environmental impact and the policies and procedures set out by this organisation was researched and discussed. An empirical study was conducted by means of a self completion questionnaire administered by a random sample of employees working for Absa Bank Limited. Quantitative research that was conducted by means of questionnaires were distributed through the Absa Bank Limited Group to 200 employees in the Gauteng and North West Province and distributed through different departments and management levels. 52 usable questionnaires were gathered out of the abovementioned areas. Cronbach Alpha coefficient values were used to determine the internal consistency amongst items in the research instrument. The research instrument used in this study to assess perception of employees on the environmental performance within Absa Bank Limited had acceptable reliability, since not one of the constructs had a lower Cronbach Alpha coefficient than 0.7. The correlation between the demographical variables and the seven constructs were examined by independent t–tests and effect sizes. The demographical factors used were the gender classification of respondents, number of years employed by Absa Bank Limited and the management level of the respondents. In all instances the effect sizes were too small to be of any practical significance since none of the effect sizes had a large effect (d–value = 0.8). Recommendations and practical ways in which environmental performance could be enhanced and maintained in Absa Bank Limited were discussed. It was also reccomended that systems and procedures should be revisited and adapted to ensure adherence to the requirements of environmental performance. The report concluded by addressing the achievement of all the objectives, and by recommending possible future research that could be undertaken based on this study. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Graduate

The main purpose of this dissertation is to develop a process to improve actual policy-making procedures in terms of aviation environmental effects. This research work expands current practices with physics based publicly available models. The process herein proposed provides information regarding the interdependencies between the environmental effects of aircraft. These interdependencies are also tied to the actual physical parameters of the aircraft and the engine, making it more intuitive for decision-makers to understand the impacts to the vehicle due to different policy scenarios. These scenarios involve the use of fleet analysis tools in which the existing aircraft are used to predict the environmental effects of imposing new stringency levels. The aircraft used are reduced to a series of coefficients that represent their performance, in terms of flight characteristics, fuel burn, noise, and emissions. These coefficients are then utilized to model flight operations and calculate what the environmental impacts of those aircraft are. If a particular aircraft does not meet the stringency to be analyzed, a technology response is applied to it, in order to meet that stringency. Depending on the level of reduction needed, this technology response can have an effect on the fuel burn characteristic of the aircraft. The proposed alternative is to create a fleet of replacement aircraft to the current fleet that does not meet stringency. These replacement aircraft represent the achievable physical limits for state of the art systems. In addition, the replacement aircraft show the linkage between environmental effects and fundamental aircraft and engine characteristics, something that has been neglected in previous policy making procedures. Another aspect that has been ignored is the creation of the coefficients used for the fleet analyses. In current literature, a defined process for the creation of those coefficients does not exist, but this research work develops a process to do so and demonstrates that the characteristics of the aircraft can be propagated to the coefficients and to the fleet analysis tools.

This study unveiled the trade-environment debate which has been revolving in the World Trade Organization for quite a long time now. While economic integration and trade liberalization offer the promise of growth and prosperity, environmentalists fear that free trade will lead to increased pollution and resource depletion. On the other hand, free traders worry that over-reaching environmental policies will obstruct efforts to open markets and integrate economies around the world. Trade liberalization has the potential to affect the environment both positively and negatively. Trade and environment tensions have therefore emerged as a major issue in the debate over globalisation. This paper examined the contours of these tensions and argued that trade policy and environmental programs can be better integrated and made more mutually supportive.