Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to environmental governance. his was apparent in regard to Denmark,
Germany, the United States, and to a lesser extent in Canada and Japan. In
fact, there are even indications that public activism is on the rise in China,
where pollution has become such a bane to communities that members of
the general public are beginning to rally behind calls for tougher pollution
control laws.
10
Second, aluence fuels a higher willingness to pay for enhanced envi-
ronmental governance. Fundamental support for this observation is found
in the Kyoto Protocol. he Kyoto Protocol contains a declaration made by
Annex I nations acknowledging a responsibility to make the irst inan-
cial commitments to greenhouse gas emission abatement.
11
Meanwhile,
leaders of non-Annex I nations, such as Hu Jin Tao, have been quoted as
vociferously resisting legally binding commitments under the pretext that
developing economies cannot aford the higher energy costs that such com-
mitments would engender.
12
A inal way in which aluence can inluence wind power development is
antithetical to the irst two observations—increased aluence can give rise
to diluted levels of civic activism in certain thematic areas. In impoverished
communities or nations, environmental problems are visible threats that
incite civic activism when they become severe enough. Conversely, in alu-
ent communities or nations the most invasive environmental problems have
been addressed so the problems are no longer in the public eye. Exigency to
abate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is more apparent to nations such as
China, where air pollution is a visible problem, than it is in a nation such as
Canada where GHG emissions are an invisible environmental threat.
he lesson imparted by these observations is that aluence tends to fos-
ter positive perceptions of wind power as a cleaner form of energy genera-
tion, but aluence will not necessarily engender proactive public advocacy
for wind power development. In order to mobilize public support for wind
power development, impassive public attitudes must be reversed by shed-
ding light on the “invisible” threat posed by excessive GHG emissions.
10.2.6 Social Factor 6: Uncertainty and Change
Evidence from the case studies appears to suggest that two phenomenon
that relate to decision making under conditions of uncertainty impede the
transition from conventional energy to renewable energy technologies.
First, the general public tends to discount the risks associated with incum-
bent technologies. he enormous costs associated with nuclear power in
Japan and coal-ired power in China and Canada have been put forward
