Building Science for Environmental Protection in the 21st Century - Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead - page 139

and more comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between
chemicals, humans, and the environment. A challenge before the agency is the
characterization of cumulative effects using complex, incomplete, or missing
data. Even as EPA seeks to improve its understanding of risks, some prevention-
based decisions may need to be made in the face of uncertainty.
In EPA's science programs, environmental decisions will only be effective
if they consider the social and behavioral contexts in which they will play out.
Such decisions can substantially affect societal interests beyond those that are
specifically environmental. Tradeoffs among environmental and other societal
outcomes need to be anticipated and made explicit if decision-making is to be
fully informed and transparent. Predicting economic and societal responses at
various points in the decision-making process is necessary to achieve desirable
environmental and societal outcomes. For these reasons, developing mecha-
nisms to integrate social, economic, behavioral, and decision sciences would
lead to more comprehensive environmental-management decisions. EPA can
engage the social, economic, behavioral, and decision sciences as part of a sys-
tems-thinking perspective rather than as consumers and evaluators of others'
science. Human behavior is a major determinant of the state of the environment
and, as such, should be an integral part of systems thinking regarding environ-
mental risk and risk mitigation alternatives. In addition, EPA would benefit from
a long-term commitment to advancing research in a number of related fields,
including valuation of health and ecosystem benefits.
Research centers that focus on synthesis research have demonstrated the
power and cost effectiveness of bringing together multidisciplinary collaborative
groups to integrate and analyze data to generate new scientific knowledge. De-
liberately introducing synthesis research into EPA's activities would contribute
to accelerating its progress in sustainability science. A specific area where
knowledge from systems thinking could be applied is in the design of safe
chemicals, products, and materials.
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Ackerman, F., and L. Heinzerling. 2004. Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything
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Anastas, P. 2012. Fundamental changes to EPA's research enterprise: The path forward.
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Ashford, N.A. 2000. An Innovation-Based Strategy for a Sustainable Environment. Pp.
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