Student: Henry Chapman
Graduation date: May 2019
Type: Concentration (single major)
Date approved: November 2017
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Summary
Environmental laws and policies provide the framework for water resource management strategies and as such it is imperative to understand the relationship between these two topics in order to more effectively and permanently find a balance between human and non-human water demands. Additionally, anthropogenic climate change exacerbates the deficiencies in current water resource management policies for multiple reasons. First, despite the immense quantity of water contained on our planet, “only 2.5% of this water is freshwater” and “only 0.26% of liquid freshwater on Earth is in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers” (Carpenter et al., 2011) and readily available. Given the fact that “surface freshwaters supply approximately three-quarters of the water withdrawn for human use” (Carpenter et al., 2011) is it especially concerning that as “human populations and economies grow, the amount of freshwater in the world remains roughly the same as it has been throughout history” (Wolf, 2007). Second, “fresh waters are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they are relatively isolated and physically fragmented within a largely terrestrial landscape, and they are also already heavily exploited by humans for the provision of ‘goods and services’” (Woodward 2009). As such, “climate change is arguably the greatest emerging threat to global biodiversity and the functioning of local ecosystems” (IPCC 2007). However, addressing these issues through policy is not a sure-fire way of solving environmental problems, “public policy may provide a necessary regulatory “floor” but not sufficient incentive to move beyond compliance.” (Press 2007). My interests revolve around the engagement of these issues through a policy framework that is informed, effective and complete and navigates the dichotomy of regulations and incentives.
Research into freshwater and environmental law and the intersectional relationship between them highlighted frequent key topics that helped develop concentration guiding questions. Water resource management concerns relate to populations, climate patterns, governance, ecosystems and use. These topics and especially the references in which they are contained help guide the formation of relevant and appropriate questions that serve as the targets of interest in the concentration. The topic of scale is one example. Solving water resource issues involves establishing governance at an appropriate scale. According to a recent paper on watershed governance, “Subsidiarity theory states that decision-making with concern for water resources should be made at the lowest possible level or level closest to where the resource is being used” however it is important that “complementary high-level institutions are established to address tasks that span multiple levels” (Horning et al., 2016). It is clear that the scale of governance is an important issue to consider in addressing water resource concerns despite how contextualized that issue may be.
The role of science is another example of an important and common issue to consider. “Scientific advisory work is often seen as a crucial aspect for the success (or failure) of environmental governance policies. This is particularly the case in arenas of high environmental and political complexity” (Saunders et al., 2017). Science provides much of the support for effective environmental policies and climate change will only amplify the levels of environmental and political complexity involved. In a modern society where science can be written off as fake news, questions about the role of science are more relevant than they ever have been. It is critical to evaluate the appropriate and realistically effective role of science in environmental policy creation in order to more quickly and efficiently address environmental issues. Research and reference gathering on these topics and many others helped me focus my questions around common themes and concerns within water/environmental law discourse and as such helped me narrow the focus of my concentration.
My concentration is considerably motivated by and fixated on the questions I have posed below. Values and determinations of quantity, quality, authority and process must be established in order to satisfy global water demands in the face of climate change. These questions provoke that establishment process. The initial topic summaries I developed on freshwater and environmental law allowed me to develop a clear understanding of each individual topic as well as find connections that served as the basis for the intersectional relationship between the two topics that quickly became apparent. Water is debatably one of the most valuable resources on the planet and with population growth, climate change and urbanization driving large scale changes in essential natural resource and ecosystem processes, water management policies need to adapt. Water availability, water pollution, human health and aquatic biodiversity are influenced by changes in water law and as such it is imperative to adopt appropriate and meaningful long term changes to maintain water resources with climate change and other influencing factors in mind. The legislative framework provides a process for establishing adaptive policies that serve as effective regulatory or incentive based instruments for freshwater resource management. My interests revolve around this process and the complexities involved with addressing issues of both quantity and quality in regards to both human and non-human water demand. Additionally, I have a general interest in mountainous regions and the relationship between higher and lower elevation watersheds, the hydrologic/climate processes that affect them, and the scale of the governing institution or policy. The questions below represent a focus of my interests within the intersectional relationship between freshwater and environmental law and policy.
Carpenter, Stephen R., Emily H. Stanley, and M. Jake Vander Zanden. 2011. “State of the World’s Freshwater Ecosystems: Physical, Chemical, and Biological Changes.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 36 (1):75–99. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-021810-094524.
Horning, Darwin, Bernard O. Bauer, and Stewart J. Cohen. 2016. “Watershed Governance for Rural Communities: Aligning Network Structure with Stakeholder Vision.” Journal of Rural & Community Development 11 (2):45–71.
IPCC. 2007 The physical sciences basis. In Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds M. Parry, O. Canziani, J. Palutkof, P. Van der Linden, & C. Hanson). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Wolf, Aaron T. 2007. “Shared Waters: Conflict and Cooperation.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 32 (1):241–69. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.energy.32.041006.101434.
Woodward, Guy, Daniel M. Perkins, and Lee E. Brown. 2010. “Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems: Impacts across Multiple Levels of Organization.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 365 (1549):2093–2106. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0055.
Questions
- Descriptive: How are non-human water demands determined and how are they valued? What legislation is relevant to water resource management? What is the distribution of water in the US?
- Explanatory: What is the effect of rising global temperatures on the hydrologic cycle? To what extent does preventable pollution contribute to water scarcity? How will climate change affect regions with extraneous amounts of usable freshwater?
- Evaluative: What percentage of usable fresh water is wasted? How do climate change effects in high elevation watersheds affect water resources in lower elevation watersheds? To what degree should science and environmental policy be autonomous and apolitical in order to ‘speak truth to power’ in implementing adaptive water resource management measures?
- Instrumental: How can the Clean Water Act among other current environmental legislation be adapted to more effectively mitigate the escalating effects of anthropogenic climate change? How can human water demands be lowered? How can water resource authority and policy control be effectively shifted to a more local scale?
Concentration courses
- ENVS 460 (Topics in Environmental Law and Policy, 4 credits), Fall 2017. Introduction to environmental law and policy, including water law regarding both quality and quantity.
- Introduction to Hydrology for Watershed management (4 credits), Spring 2018. An introduction to hydrologic data analysis, concepts and applied projects.
- ECON 360 (Advanced Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, 4 credits), TBD (Econ Dept. is discussing the logistics of teaching this class without Prof. Bostian who will be gone next year). Among other topics, this course delves into the efficacy of environmental policy, natural resource management strategies and the application of economic theory to understand and address environmental issues.
- GEOL 170 (Fall 2018) Introduction to the earth's climate from a physical, earth-systems perspective.
Arts and humanities courses
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- HIST 239 (Spring 2019) Political, social, economic, and aesthetic force sthat have helped shape ordinary built environments: farms, fast-food restaurants, theme parks, sports stadiums, highways, prisons, public housing. Patterns of economic growth and decline, technological innovation, segregation, gentrification, capital migration and globalization, historic preservation, and changing ideologies about nature and the city.