Last time I ranted on the need to view environmental policy in terms of a public policy. As I mentioned, public policy implies advancing societal welfare. The public policy paradigm for the environment removes policy decisions from the exclusive hands of politicians and scientists and recruits the efforts of any and all people who recognize that the Earth is our universal public welfare.
Now, this is certainly not a new concept. In fact, the majority of recent successes in environmental policy have come from decentralized sectors of the country. From individuals to municipalities, focused efforts around the nation are recognizing that public policy is formed by action. While Washington sits on its ass and debates, environmental progress is happening in the grassroots.
Daniel Farber, who has written extensively about environmental law and policy, calls this phenomenon a "republican moment." In his 1992 article "Politics and Procedure in Environmental Law," Farber discusses how particular environmental events can override concerns for self-interest, triggering large-scale public prioritization of social welfare. We just might be in a republican moment right now. Global Warming and related concerns for green energy are prompting nation-wide action to ensure a clean environment for present and future generations.
One inspiring trend has come from the universities. Across the nation, colleges have set lofty goals towards greening their campuses. In Northfield, Minnesota, Carleton and St. Olaf colleges have played upon their 125 year football rivalry to challenge each other in a sustainability contest. In 2004, Carleton built a 1.65 megawatt wind turbine which generates around 40% of the school's electicity. St. Olaf has employed more of a multi-faceted plan of energy-efficient lighting, cafeteria waste composting, and curriculum-based campus conservation efforts. Elsewhere, Ohio's Oberlin college has reduced electricity use in dorms by one-half and NYU has recently vowed to purchase the majority of its power from renewable sources [courtesy of Danaher, Biggs, and Mark's Building the Green Economy (2007)].
Individuals often impact public policy within the grassroots of environmental policy, and their stories give personal face to the issues. Winner of the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize, Maria Gunnoe of Bob White, West Virginia has been entrenched in environmental warfare for years. Four years after a 2000 mountaintop removal mine began operating on the ridge above her home, Maria's property directly bordered two toxic ponds filled with mine waste. Recent flooding destroyed her home, in the process covering her yard in the toxic sludge. Because the poisoning occurred from flooding, the offending coal company was held unaccountable. In 2007, despite a recent ruling which repealed mountaintop removal valley fill permits, the Army Corps of Engineers granted permits for two new valley fills in Boone County where Gunnoe lived. During the Ohio Valley Environmental Council's challenge of the permits, Maria was the only resident willing to testify after coal workers had launched a heated intimidation campaign within the affected community. In October 2007, the court ruled in favor of Gunnoe and the OVEC. Maria Gunnoe's ability to stand up and to a coal company in coal country, W. VA and thwart their environmental misdeeds shows that individuals can and do have significant impacts on environmental policy.
Grassroots activism doesn't have to occur outside the traditional venues of government policy. By 2007, as Bush and cronies were adamantly denying all concerns over Global Warming, cities across the country were vowing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Over 60 million citizens and 400 mayors signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement which comitted each municipality to reducinc their carbon emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012--the very standards outlined by the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush had profusely oppossed. Such success shows that federal dimwittedness can be combatted by concerted local coalition [Danaher, Biggs, and Mark's Building the Green Economy (2007)].
In the efforts to achieve a public policy for the environment, the grassroots has seen myriad successes. Its decentralized locatoin allows wide-scale public engagement and empowers the impacts of individuals.
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