-----Original Message-----
From: J. Foster <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, December 28, 1998 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: World Hydrology Initiative
(snip)
>It sounds as though there is a contradiction here. If policy makers are not
>making policy, then they are defending existing policy against new policy
or
>"adaptive management". Don't we mean here politicians maintaining the
status
>quo when the status quo is based on 1) "soft law" versus 2) "hard laws",
>that is to say, 1) the discretion of an elected person or mandated agency
of
>government, versus 2) the rule of law, or enforceable standards?
>
You missed my point. The public, in this case, is well aware of the issue of
water quality. The policy person, and in this case it was *not* an elected
official, is also aware of the problem, but chooses not to do anything. My
problem, in this case, was whether or not to press the issue to a decision
point knowing that if I did so the decision could have been worse than the
status quo. In other words, if, by "doing the ethical thing" I made things
worse, isn't that a problem? I should think all the consequentialist
utilitarians on the list should have a thought or two on this.
For general information, I held out and, for the moment, got a favorable
decision. However, this person will probably work to over turn it in the
near future and he is in a much more influential position than I. In fact,
my role is simple as a consultant and all he has to do is not ask me again
and he'll prevail. It's entirely his choice.
Steven J. Bissell
http://www.du.edu/~sbissell
http://www.responsivemanagement.com
Our human ecology is that of a rare species of mammal
in a social, omnivorous niche. Our demography is one of
a slow-breeding, large, intelligent primate.
To shatter our population structure, to become abundant
in the way of rodents, not only destroys our ecological
relations with the rest of nature, it sets the stage
for our mass insanity.
Paul Shepard
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