Planning for Sustainability in Small Municipalities: The Influence of Interest Groups, Growth Patterns, and Institutional Characteristics

How and why small municipalities promote sustainability through planning efforts is poorly understood. We analyzed ordinances in 451 Maine municipalities and tested theories of policy adoption using regression analysis.We found that smaller communities do adopt programs that contribute to sustainability relevant to their scale and context. In line with the political market theory, we found that municipalities with strong environmental interests, higher growth, and more formal governments were more likely to adopt these policies. Consideration of context and capacity in planning for sustainability will help planners better identify and benefit from collaboration, training, and outreach opportunities

Using Science to Restore California's Bay-Delta

The State of California and the U.S. Department of Interior have committed to relying on science as a guide to both restoring the Bay–Delta ecosystem and deciding how much water can be exported from that system. In theory, upholding this commitment should be straightforward. In practice, however, figuring out how science can and should guide policymaking is challenging when the problem at hand is complex and multifaceted, and features a cast of savvy, powerful stakeholders with sharply different interests. One reason is that participants in such controversies have long used debates over science as proxies for debates over values. The conflict over the Bay– Delta is no different; recently, for example, representatives of large-scale water users dismissed the suggestion that too much water is being exported from the Bay–Delta system, although more than three-quarters of the scientists surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) believe that excessive water withdrawals pose a problem (Anonymous 2013). To make progress in this situation, state and federal policymakers should take a series of bold steps. ©2013 [Introductory paragraphs

Sense and credibility : the role of science in environmental policymaking

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 561-605).by Judith Amanda Layzer.Ph.D

Borderland Patterns of Scientific Identity: Canada, the United States, and Acid Rain

This study uses the Canada-United States borderlands (as defined by its sensitivity to cross-border acid rain pollution) to establish patterns of identity that transcend political borders. Along these lines, acid rain scientists from Canada and the United States were surveyed to determine the degree of their agreement with government claims of substantial reductions in the pollutants that cause acid rain. The survey results indicate that despite the successful reduction of certain pollutants, the vast majority of Canadian and United States scientists believe that acid rain pollution continues to adversely affect lakes and streams and that present emissions targets are not protecting sensitive ecosystems. Furthermore, the survey results show that scientists from both countries view the acid rain issue from similar perspectives, and that national sympathies do not play a decisive role in scientists’ perceptions of the acid rain issue. In essence, it appears that more and more scientists from Canada and the United States are viewing the acid rain issue from a shared (or bilateral) perspective