Environmental Problem Solving: Psychosocial Barriers to Adaptive Change

249 Pages·1999·6.9 MB·English

by  Alan Miller (auth.)

SPRINGER SERIES ON
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
DAVID E. ALEXANDER
Series Editor
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
SpringerSerieson Environmental Management
DavidE. Alexander, Series Editor
GradientModeling: ResourcesandFire TheProfessionalPracticeof
Management(1979)S.R Kessell EnvironmentalManagement(1989)
R.S. DorneyandL.Dorney(eds.)
DisasterPlanning:ThePreservationof
LifeandProperty(1980)H.D. Foster ChemicalsintheAquaticEnvironment:
AdvancedHazardAssessment(1989)
AirPollutionandForests:Interactions L.Landner(ed.)
betweenAirContaminantsandForest
Ecosystems(1981)W.H. Smith InorganicContaminantsofSurface
Water: ResearchandMonitoring
NaturalHazardRiskAssessmentand Priorities(1991)1.W.Moore
PublicPolicy: Anticipatingthe
Unexpected(1982)WJ. Petakand Chernobyl:APolicyResponseStudy
A.A. Atkisson (1991)B. Segerstahl(ed.)
EnvironmentalEffectsofOff-Road Long-TermConsequencesofDisasters:
Vehicles:ImpactsandManagementin TheReconstructionofFriuli,Italy,inits
AridRegions(1983)RH. Webband InternationalContext,1976-1988
H.G. Wilshire(eds.) (1991)R Geipel
GlobalFisheries: Perspectivesfor the FoodWebManagement:ACaseStudyof
'80s(1983)BJ.Rosthschild(ed.) LakeMendota(1992)J.F. Kitchell(00.)
HeavyMetalsinNaturalWaters: RestorationandRecoveryofan
AppliedMonitoringandImpact IndustrialRegion:ProgressinRestoring
Assessment(1984)J.W. Mooreand theSmelter-DamagedLandscapenear
S. Ramamoorthy Sudbury,Canada(1995)J.M. Gunn(ed.)
LandscapeEcology:Theoryand LinmologicalandEngineeringAnalysis
Applications(1984)Z. Navehand ofaPollutedUrbanLake: Preludeto
A.S. Lieberman EnvironmentalManagementof
OnondagaLake,NewYork(1996)
OrganicChemicalsinNaturalWaters: S.W. Effler(ed.)
AppliedMonitoringandImpact
Assessment(1984)1.W.Mooreand AssessmentandManagementofPlant
S. Ramamoorthy Invasions(1997)1.0.LukenandJ.W.
Thieret(eds.)
TheHudsonRiverEcosystem(1986)
K.E. Limburg,M.A. Moran,andW.H. MarineDebris:Sources,Impacts,and
McDowell Solutions(1997)J.M.CoeandD.B.
Rogers(eds.)
HumanSystemResponsestoDisaster:
AnInventoryofSociologicalFindings RuralPlanningfromanEnvironmental
(1986)T.E. Drabek SystemsPerspective(1999)F.B.Golley
and1.Bellot
TheChangingEnvironment(1986)1.W.
Moore EnvironmentalProblemSolving:
PsychosocialBarrierstoAdaptiveChange
BalancingtheNeedsofWaterUse (1999)A. Miller
(1988)J.W. Moore
AlanMiller
Department of Psychology
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Environmental
Problem Solving
Psychosocial Barriers to Adaptive Change
Springer
Alan Miller
Department of Psychology
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, NB E3B 6E4
Canada
amiller @ unb.ca
Series Editor:
David E. Alexander
Department of Geology and Geography
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
USA
Cover art: The arctic drama of two musk-ox bulls fighting for control of the herd captures the flavor of many
environmental problem situations in which protagonists confront one another in the batde to dedde whose
ideology will control events-while the great mass of people look on in bemusement. Art by Elsie Klengen
berg, Out of My Way, 1997, stendl print.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Alan, 1938-
Environmental problem solving : psychosocial baITiers to adaptive
change / Alan Miller.
p. cm. - (Springer series on environmental management)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-387-40297-0 ISBN 978-1-4612-1440-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-1440-3
1. Environmental management. 2. Environmental sciences-Social
aspects. 3. Environmental sciences-Psychological aspects.
I. Title. 11. Series
GE300.M55 1999 98·11430
363.7'05-DC21
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York, Ine. in 1999
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1999
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the
publisher Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, except for brief excerpts in
connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is
forbidden.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, ete., in this publication, even if the former are not especially
identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act.
may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
Production coordinated by Impressions Book and Journal Services, Ine., and managed by Bill Imbornoni; manufacturing
supervised by Nancy Wu.
Typeset by Impressions Book and Journal Services, Ine., Madison, WI.
9 8 7 6 543 2 1
ISBN 978-0-387-40297-0
Series Preface
This series is concerned with humanity's stewardship ofthe environment, our
use ofnaturalresources, andthe waysinwhichwecanmitigateenvironmental
hazardsandreducerisks.Thusitisconcernedwithappliedecologyinthewidest
sense of the term, in theory and in practice, and above all in the marriage of
sound principles with pragmatic innovation. It focuses on the definition and
monitoring ofenvironmental problems and the search for solutions to them at
scales that vary from the global to the local according to the scope of analysis.
Noparticularacademicdisciplinedominatestheseries,forenvironmentalprob
lems are interdisciplinary almost by definition. Hence a wide variety of spe
cialties are represented, from oceanography to economics, sociology to silvi
culture, toxicology to policy studies.
In the modern world, increasing rates of resource use, population growth,
and armed conflict have tended to magnify and complicate environmental
problems that were aready difficult to solve a centuryago. Moreover, attempts
to modify nature for the benefit of humankind have often had unintended
consequences, especiallyinthedisruptionofnaturalequilibria.Yet, atthesame
time, human ingenuityhas beenbroughtto bearindeveloping a new range of
sophisticatedand powerfultechniquesforsolvingenvironmentalproblems,for
example, pollution monitoring, restoration ecology, landscape planning, risk
management, and impactassessment. Booksin thisserieswillshedlightonthe
problems of the modern environment and contribute to the further develop
ment of the solutions. They will contribute to the immense effort byecologists
ofallpersuasionstonurtureanenvironmentthatisbothstableandproductive.
DavidE. Alexander
Amherst, Massachusetts
v
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada for three grants in support of the research that provided the basis for
this book, as well as the University of New Brunswickfor a sabbaticalyearfree
from the travails of academic life, during which time it was possible to finish
writing it.
David Alexander, the series editor, and Janet Slobodien of Springer-Verlag
have made the production of this book relatively painless. I thank them for
their encouragement and understanding at crucial moments.
Vickie MacLeod was kind enough to reproduce the figures used here, while
Bill Liebhardt's comments on Chapter 2 were much appreciated. I benefited
greatly from conversations with, and the work of, Paul Rusnock and Hugh
Williams, bothofwhom made myexplorationofforestpolicyanenjoyableand
productive experience.
Finally, I would like to thank Janet Stoppard for her emotional support and
intellectualhonesty, withoutwhichacademiclifeand bookwritingwouldhave
become impossible.
vii
Credits
Extracts from Miller, A. (1984) Professional dissent and environmental management, The
Environmentalist, volume 4, pp. 143-152, Reprinted with permission Chapman & Hall, Hants,
England.
Extracts from Miller, A. & Rusnock, P. (1993) The rise and fall ofthe silviculturalhypothesis in
spruce budworm management. Forest Ecology and Management, volume 671, pp. 171-189, re
printed with kind permission from Elsevier Science-NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Extracts from Miller, A. (1993) The role ofcitizenscientistin nature resource decision-making,
The Environmentalist, volume 13(1), pp. 47-59 reprinted with permission of Chapman & Hall,
Hants, England.
Extracts from Miller, A. &Rusnock, P. (1993) The ironical role of science in policymaking: The
case of the spruce budworm. InternationalJournalofEnvironmentalStudies, volume 43, pp. 239
251, reprinted with permission of Gordon and Breach Publishers, Switzerland.
ix
Contents
Series Preface v
Acknowledgments vii
Credits ix
List ofIllustrationsand Tables xiii
1. Introduction................................................................................. 1
2. Psychological Processes 11
3. Sociopolitical Dynamics 45
4. Conventional Problem Solving 82
5. Pluralistic Competition 124
6. Single Visions 156
7. Toward Adaptive Problem Solving 188
8. Prognosis 217
Index 231
xi
Lists of Illustrations and Tables
Figure 1.1 Problem domains.
Figure 2.1 Cognitiveprocesses.
Figure 2.2 Personalityprototypes.
Figure 3.1 Social choice mechanisms
Figure 3.2 The technocorporate state.
Figure 4.1 Rational problem-solving stages
Figure 5.1 Pest management strategies.
Table 2.1 Acomparison ofImperial and Arcadian ideologies.
Table 3.1 Intragroup difficulties in group problem solving
Table 3.2 Contrasting Forest Service resource management paradigms.
Table 3.3 Intimidation rituals.
Table 6.1 Single visions.
Table 6.2 Differences between traditionaland adaptive management.
Table 7.1 Designprinciples for adaptive institutions.
Table 7.2 Professional moral development.
xiii