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Excerpt
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1.1 Introduction
Every year tens of thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide die from
pollution (Fuller, Sandilya, and Hanrahan 2019). Pollution is the single largest source of
human-caused death, killing 15 times more people than all violent crime and warfare
combined (Landrigan et al. 2017). While there are many professions that contribute to
the monitoring of these deaths and to the development of technical solutions that address
pollution of the water, air, built environment and our land, it is the understanding of
risks and the application of these solutions that will save lives and protect our environ-
ment. The genesis of the environmental movement and the subsequent demand for
environmental management derives, in part, from Rachel Carson’s (1962) book Silent
Spring in which she illustrated what follows when humans disassociate themselves from
the ecosystem and are denied “the right to know” regarding their health and the health
of the environment.
An ecosystem is “A unit of nature in which living and non-living substances interact, with
an exchange of materials between living and non-living parts” (Odum 1971). This unit could
be our body, where living microorganisms interact with the non-living molecule, oxygen
(O2). If these substances are not in balance our bodies fail. Thus, in many ways, what our
doctors are always admonishing us to do is to manage our environment. Other professionals
look at ecosystems within local, state, or national jurisdictions and, of course, at the
planetary level.
Environmental management in the broadest sense addresses how to keep these units of
nature in balance in terms of what humans put into the ecosystem and take out. From a
curricular perspective, environmental management is most often taught in terms of pollution,
how humans unbalance the ecosystem by what they put into it, whereas natural resource
management is taught in terms of how humans unbalance the ecosystem by what they take
out of it. In general, the issues, trends, and human management in each are the same and
there is much overlap. Probably the reason for these two “tracks” is that pollution laws
regulating air, waste and water are most often enacted by standalone state and federal
agencies, i.e., they are more centralized, and natural resource laws are regulated by a
multitude of agencies associated with a natural resource: the Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Conservation Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, etc.
Different cultures throughout history, from Indigenous peoples’ reverence for an inte-
grated human–ecological kinship, to pagan naturalism, to Talmudic protections of trees, to
the American Evangelical embrace of efforts to curb global climate change, have been and
are concerned with environmental protection. Famed conservation biologist Aldo Leopold,
considered the progenitor of the modern sustainability movement, argued that it is only
“when we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and
respect” (Leopold 1949). This idea of nature and human well-being as being intertwined is
represented in the cosmologies and worldviews of myriad human cultures throughout
human history and still today (Francis 2015; Fuentes 2017; Grim 1997).
The major theme of Silent Spring is that rather than maintaining that “mankind”
dominates the natural world, humans must understand that they are an integral part of
the ecosystem. Pre-Carson in the US there were three dominant “environmental ethics” that
categorized how humans view their “place” in environmental protection: John Muir’s
preservation ethic – that we should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered
state; Gifford Pinchot’s conservation ethic – humans should put natural resources to use but
also we have a responsibility to manage them wisely; and Aldo Leopold’s land ethic –
humans should view themselves and “the land” as members of the same community and
people are obliged to treat the land in an ethical manner (Westover 2016).
These ethics were originally applied to natural resource management. But, as the “ecology
movement” grew from Silent Spring, it can be argued that Leopold’s land ethic was the one
that most aligned with the realization that human health is inextricably connected to a
balanced ecosystem, complemented by Carson’s recognition that human-produced pollution
posed a new and grave assault on human health. The preservation and conservation ethics of
Muir and Pinchot gave rise to organizations such as the US Forest Service and the National
Park Service; and Leopold’s land ethic motivated the development of natural resource
management organizations such as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
It was Carson’s Silent Spring combined with subsequent environmental disasters (e.g., the
burning of Cuyahoga River and the Santa Barbara oil spill, both in 1969) that led to
the development of the first national environmental management policy and agency in the
world: the National Environmental Policy Act (US EPA 1969) and the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA; Barnes, Graham, and Konisky 2021), respectively.
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The 90/10 figure, a general rule of thumb for various organizations, regulatory schemes, etc., does have evidence to
support it, even though the exact ratio is variable in every context. For example, the number of polluters included in
the Toxic Release Inventory, managed by the EPA, that exceed their permitted amount usually hovers roughly
around 10 percent (US EPA 2020a, 2020b). Obviously, despite being a small percentage of the whole, they have a big
impact on ecosystems.
Why do we manage the environment? Because the policy and implementation decisions of
environmental managers are life-and-death decisions.
Of course, it is the legislative bodies (e.g., Congress) that produce the laws under
which the executive branch operates. As well, it is this branch of government that
generally determines the fiscal resources required for executive enactment, i.e., they make
the budget. Finally, it is the judicial branch (the courts) that interprets if the laws, rules,
and regulations being enacted by the executive branch are constitutional. Further, one
can argue that this branch can also conduct enforcement when an executive agency is not
fulfilling its mandate per the law. For example, in 2007 Massachusetts and 11 other US
states sued the EPA for not regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases,
claiming that the Clean Air Act required the EPA to regulate any air pollutant from a
motor vehicle that could endanger public health and welfare. Often it is the courts when
forced by environmental activist organizations and sometimes by government (states
suing the feds or other states) that ultimately manage the environment. Interestingly,
while the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Massachusetts et al. and declared that the
EPA must regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA has yet to develop and implement
such regulations.
1.8 What Are Some Special Skills Required for the Professional
Environmental Manager? Or What Skills Can Get You Hired
and Promoted?
While the professional environmental manager must practice the three objectives O’Leary
et al. (1999) outline for success (understanding, co-producing, and delivering), they them-
selves must develop certain skills or strategies for this “adaptive” or “high-level” manage-
ment. This section provides a short introduction to each skill and the foundational
knowledge required of the successful environmental manager. Importantly, none stands
alone, and each can be considered a discipline of its own. Skills unlike concepts take
practice. Whether it be in heart surgery, karate, tennis, cooking, or management, one only
obtains expertise through repetition.
The following skills (in bold text below) and knowledge, and corresponding short sum-
mary, are skills that are critical to the practice of environmental management. These skills
are laid out and evaluated in detail in different chapters throughout the book but collectively
they are the essential tools in the environmental manager’s toolkit for operating in the tri-
sectoral environmental management arena.
Situational Analysis – The professional environmental manager must be able to “paint a
picture” for any environmental situation, for two basic reasons: to properly address the
situation, and to make it understandable to superiors, peers, and subordinates. Executive
memos or briefing papers are sometimes used as terms for this situational analysis; however,
brevity is the key. Situations in terms of issues, legal trends, authorities (laws), jurisdiction,
communication barriers, and policy impact with the recommended specific management
actions should be included in this analysis. Another skill closely associated with situational
analysis is being able to prioritize such that the environmental manager operates with their
“ducks in a row” and can identify threats and opportunities for efficient and effective
environmental management.
Navigating Government or Co-producing Solutions with Your Stakeholders – The profes-
sional environmental manager must learn how to navigate who has responsibility for
achieving goals related to environmental management, who determines the goals and
resources in terms of laws, rules, and regulations and who interprets and ultimately enforces
environmental laws and their mandates. Critical to co-production of ethical environmental
solutions is the implementation of communication skills particularly those associated with
public participation and crisis management.
Skills critical to being able to deliver or implement co-produced solutions would be leader-
ship skills to provide reality, expectations and give inspiration. Strategic Planning – The
professional environmental manager must be able to develop a logical plan to solve problems,
otherwise they will fail to achieve their goal or, at best, squander valuable resources. Strategic
planning is a skill which when obtained allows the manager to “see the route and produce a
roadmap.” Other skills critical to mission-oriented management are those associated with
compliance assurance, quality control and assurance, and continuous improvement.
Diffusion of Innovations – The professional environmental manager must be able to affect
the behavior of communities needing to adopt innovations for protecting human health and
the environment. Having established that it is human behavior and subsequent activities that
unbalance the ecosystem, how can those behaviors be changed? There are management
techniques related to communication science that can do so.
Policy Formulation – The professional environmental manager must be able to understand
the process and participants that are critical to policy formulation, for two basic reasons:
first, so they may wrap their head around what is being asked of them (their mission) and,
second, because they often know what needs to be done and how to do it, so must influence
the process such that the mission is achievable.
1.9 Conclusion
Environmental management is the practice of a range of skills, from strategic planning to
program implementation, in a tri-sectoral world that is bound and shaped by multiscalar
environmental laws, policies, and norms. In short, it is complex and ever-evolving. While the
science of environmental hazards is a critical component of any environmental management
issue, in this text we focus on the production, integration, communication, and full-spectrum
management of people, programs, resources, and politics for effective environmental man-
agement practice at the local to national scale and in the public, private, and non-
profit arenas.
federal EPA in charge. And if you’re at EPA, you’ve got Congress involved and the White
House involved. And even at the state, you’ve got the governor and EPA involved.
In industry I answered to somebody at the company who’s doing the actual environmental
management, running the wastewater treatment plant, overseeing the air pollution control
device, or making sure the permits are in order and the paperwork is filed. Or you may be the
one that’s trying to do the higher-level corporate compliance instead of just the facility
compliance – the internal regulator if you will. So everywhere there’s a hierarchy.
In the advocacy groups there is also a hierarchy, and you’re accountable often to your
funders who want to see results, whatever that may be. And while you are also
independent, just like the state of Indiana is independent from EPA, you’re often looking
to the national groups for guidance and support to help understand what to do and
understand the details of issues. So everybody’s got somebody overseeing them. And that
it’s important to realize.
And, what do you find the three sectors have in common regarding their
management?
First, I’ve always found that no matter where you’re at, there are dedicated people who
care deeply about the environment and health. Some of the most strident advocates, the
best advocates, work inside of companies because they felt that they could have the
biggest impact from within a company. They’re not necessarily seen as
environmental advocates.
As an NGO, the key is finding those people in the agency and in the companies that are
really focused on getting the job done right. There are a lot of people that are doing their
job, but they define the job very narrowly and aren’t necessarily focused on the outcomes.
The goal is to find the people that are focused on outcomes. They’re the ones that are
really trying to manage and protect the environment. Don’t ignore the others. In an NGO,
you have some of the same differences. I try to recognize that there are outstanding
people in any of those sectors and to work with them and leverage them. That’s a big one.
Second, while we all may feel like we’re the smartest person in the room, there’s usually
a lot of smart people there. So I tried to work from the assumption that there were always
smarter people in the room. As a result, my approach to environmental management was
it’s OK to have an opinion but share the idea before you go public with it. Share ideas with
people who are more knowledgeable. I still do that when I’m at EDF and I’m working on a
blog about packaging and chemicals in packaging. I will try to share it with the agency to
get their feedback and with the packaging companies. In essence, I share it with the
people who don’t like it and say give me your feedback and then listen carefully to it. They
all know it’s my work, but they often make it better because they have more knowledge