Environmental Impact Communication: Cape Wind EIS, 2001–2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Ross
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
Online Delivery ◽  
The Public ◽  
Multiple Audiences ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Lobbying Group

“Cape Wind” is a proposed wind-energy project off the Massachusetts coast. Its environmental effects are detailed in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Writers of an EIS must address rhetorical challenges posed by the complexity of how the “environment” is characterized by many statutes and regulations. These requirements include guidance on the document’s style, and because the text is hundreds of pages long, they also include rules on its arrangement (its genre), and its online delivery. Partly as a result, the writer’s stance is that of an impersonal, corporate author. The EIS is required to address multiple audiences that include decision makers and elected officials; public participation in the process is encouraged. Evidence about the actual audience shows that the public finds out about the project through media reports, web sites, and press releases, rather than studying the EIS. Finally, sustained opposition by a fossil-fuel lobbying group has led to the project’s apparent demise.

scholarly journals Informing citizens, building trust and promoting discussion

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Catalin Vrabie
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Online Delivery ◽  
The Public ◽  
Success Model ◽  
The Government ◽  
Public Environment ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Web Platform ◽  
Delivery Channel

Where information is cheap, attention becomes expensive. In today’s society, information is increasingly at hand. Today, via Internet, anyone has access to it. In the online environment, news channels are flooded with updates – most of them being takeovers of official Web sites of the institutions involved. Their huge numbers and increased dynamics demolish any attempt to build confidence in the government source. A few decades ago, the citizen had television as the main source of information. Soon after the number of TV channels has increased, was observed a decrease regarding the television consumer’s confidence in the information provided this way. Before that, the newspaper and the radio went through similar stages. Today Internet is facing it. This paper proposes the realization of a conceptual framework for online delivery of information from the public environment to the citizens, businesses and other government institutions – as part of a success model regarding the public administration’s communication with the environment it addresses to.  Keywords: web platform, new media, information delivery channel

scholarly journals Prioritizing Facilitators for Successful Implementation of PBSS in Indian Urban Areas Using BWM Method

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1108-1117
Author(s):  
Samir Jayprakash Patel ◽  
Chetankumar Ramanlal Patel
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Road ◽  
Shared Mobility ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Bicycle Lane ◽  
Bicycle Sharing System

The demand for mobility is increasing day by day along with the rise in population. In the absence of clear guidelines and policy regarding the use of shared transport or Mass transportation, the use of personalized vehicles has grown rapidly. The personal vehicle owned individually, in which one cannot use others even belonging to the same family this leads to more traffic on the road. This leads to more consumption of fossil fuel and responsible for climate change. The Public Bicycle Sharing System (PBSS) is the concept, based on shared mobility in which users enable to use it for short-distance trips and drop it at any location through check-in/check-out operations without any accountability and likewise anyone can again use it with the same procedure. These multiple uses of the system conserve natural resources and increase the national economy by reducing the consumption of fossil fuel for mobility. The PBSS in urban areas, normally used for short-haul trips. However, by integrating it into public transport, the coverage of PT may also be increased, which attracts more users. In India implementation of this system is introduced in mid-2017 at Bhopal and within the short span, nearly 14 cities adopted PBSS in their urban areas. However, the majority of the system presently facing ridership issues due to the absence of bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Hence, it is essential to overcome such barriers using an appropriate facilitator. The BWM approach used in this study identifies the top facilitators based on the expert opinion survey to implement PBSS successfully. The result of this study shows that city infrastructure facilitators, technological facilitators, as well as a dedicated bicycle lane, government policy are the most effective facilitators which can improve the ridership and promote a circular economy through shared mobility. This study will help the decision-makers in developing the facilitator and enhance the ridership of PBSS.

The Road to Iraq

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Road ◽  
Cohesive Group ◽  
Political Agents

The Road to Iraq is an empirical investigation that explains the causes of the Iraq War, identifies its main agents, and demonstrates how the war was sold to decision makers and by decision makers to the public. It shows how a small but ideologically coherent and socially cohesive group of determined political agents used the contingency of 9/11 to outflank a sceptical foreign policy establishment, military brass and intelligence apparatus and provoked a war that has had disastrous consequences.

Finding Fault with the Nexus Pipeline? Agency Capture and the Public Good

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Kear
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Environmental Impact Statement ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Natural Gas Industry ◽  
Regulatory Commission

Natural gas is an increasingly vital U.S. energy source that is presently being tapped and transported across state and international boundaries. Controversy engulfs natural gas, from the hydraulic fracturing process used to liberate it from massive, gas-laden Appalachian shale deposits, to the permitting and construction of new interstate pipelines bringing it to markets. This case explores the controversy flowing from the proposed 256-mile-long interstate Nexus pipeline transecting northern Ohio, southeastern Michigan and terminating at the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. As the lead agency regulating and permitting interstate pipelines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also tasked with mitigating environmental risks through the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act's Environmental Impact Statement process. Pipeline opponents assert that a captured federal agency ignores public and scientific input, inadequately addresses public health and safety risks, preempts local control, and wields eminent domain powers at the expense of landowners, cities, and everyone in the pipeline path. Proponents counter that pipelines are the safest means of transporting domestically abundant, cleaner burning, affordable gas to markets that will boost local and regional economies and serve the public good. Debates over what constitutes the public good are only one set in a long list of contentious issues including pipeline safety, proposed routes, property rights, public voice, and questions over the scientific and democratic validity of the Environmental Impact Statement process. The Nexus pipeline provides a sobering example that simple energy policy solutions and compromise are elusive—effectively fueling greater conflict as the natural gas industry booms.

scholarly journals Teaching Science in Today’s Society: The Case of Particle Physics for Primary Schools

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Cristina Lazzeroni ◽  
Sandra Malvezzi ◽  
Andrea Quadri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ongoing Project

The rapid changes in science and technology witnessed in recent decades have significantly contributed to the arousal of the awareness by decision-makers and the public as a whole of the need to strengthen the connection between outreach activities of universities and research institutes and the activities of educational institutions, with a central role played by schools. While the relevance of the problem is nowadays unquestioned, no unique and fully satisfactory solution has been identified. In the present paper we would like to contribute to the discussion on the subject by reporting on an ongoing project aimed to teach Particle Physics in primary schools. We will start from the past and currently planned activities in this project in order to establish a broader framework to describe the conditions for the fruitful interplay between researchers and teachers. We will also emphasize some aspects related to the dissemination of outreach materials by research institutions, in order to promote the access and distribution of scientific information in a way suited to the different age of the target students.

scholarly journals Confidence in Local, National, and International Scientists on Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Sparks ◽  
Heather Hodges ◽  
Sarah Oliver ◽  
Eric R. A. N. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
News Media ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Scientific Report ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Change Beliefs

In many public policy areas, such as climate change, news media reports about scientific research play an important role. In presenting their research, scientists are providing guidance to the public regarding public policy choices. How do people decide which scientists and scientific claims to believe? This is a question we address by drawing on the psychology of persuasion. We propose the hypothesis that people are more likely to believe local scientists than national or international scientists. We test this hypothesis with an experiment embedded in a national Internet survey. Our experiment yielded null findings, showing that people do not discount or ignore research findings on climate change if they come from Europe instead of Washington-based scientists or a leading university in a respondent’s home state. This reinforces evidence that climate change beliefs are relatively stable, based on party affiliation, and not malleable based on the source of the scientific report.

scholarly journals Working towards evidence-informed policy: Public health report Stockholm

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
V Bartelink ◽  
D Yacaman Mendez ◽  
A Lager
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Public Health Report ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Report ◽  
High Quality Evidence ◽  
Quality Evidence

Abstract Issue Public health problems and interventions are often addressed in sub-optimal ways by not prioritizing them based on the best available evidence. Description of the Problem The public health report 2019 for the Stockholm region aims to inform decision makers, politicians, and public health workers about the risk factors and diseases that account for the biggest part of the burden of disease with a clear focus on high quality evidence and communication of main messages. How did the public health report 2019 affect public health policy in the Stockholm region? Results The public health report 2019 influenced agenda setting, resource allocation and priority setting in the Stockholm region. Lessons We identified the following facilitating factors in the process, of which most also are supported in scientific literature, in chronological order: 1) understanding the policymaking context to be aware of windows of opportunity, 2) establishing relationships with relevant policymakers, engage with them routinely in the decision-making process, and being accessible for questions, 3) doing high-quality research by considering the latest scientific literature, multiple data sources and involving academic experts in the field, 4) communicating clear and relevant messages for generalists by translating research into easy-understandable texts and attractive figures, and 5) active dissemination of the report through multiple channels. In addition, the following barriers were identified: 1) the timeframe of the policymaking process was not in line with the research process, and 2) involving politicians in an early stage can potentially harm the objectivity of research in media messages. Key messages By focussing on major problems, high quality evidence and clear messages a public health report can contribute to more evidence-informed policy making. Engaging decision makers in the process of public health reporting is critical for the impact on agenda setting, resource allocation, and priority setting.

Educated Guesses: Health Risk Assessment in Environmental Impact Statements

1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-427
Author(s):  
Pamela D. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
Scientific Tool ◽  
Predicted Risk

Environmental pollution threatens public health. The search for solutions has advanced the frontiers of science and law. Efforts to protect the environment and public health begin with describing potential adverse consequences of human activities and characterizing the predicted risk. The National Environmental Policy Act requires the preparation of environmental impact statements to describe the effects of proposed federal projects and provide information for agency decisionmakers and the public.Risks to public health are particularly difficult to quantify because of uncertainty about the relation between exposure to environmental contamination and disease. Risk assessment is the current scientific tool to present estimates of risk. The methodology has created controversy, however, when underlying assumptions and uncertainties are not clearly presented. Critics caution that the methodology is vulnerable to bias. This Note evaluates the use of risk assessment in the environmental impact statement process and offers recommendations to ensure informed decisions.

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