Activity 4.2 Environmental Policy Frameworks.

 

Davis, C. B., & Lewicki, R. J. (2003)	Bryan, T. (2003).	Environmental Framing Consortium. (2005).
Identity Frames The concept of identity focuses on how individuals answer the question, “Who am I?	Demographic Environment The demographic environment contains “characteristics of the population such as age, gender, race, religion and ethnic categories” (Rainey, 1997).	Identity Frames Address the question, "Who am I?"
Characterization Frames Characterization frames mirror identity frames in that they are statements made by individuals about how they understand someone else to be; that is, who are they?		Characterization Frames Address the question, "Who are they?
Conflict Management Frames. Conflict management frames focus on disputants’ preferences for how the conflict management process should be managed.	Political Environment The political environment consists of “characteristics of the political processes and institutions in a society, such as the general form of government, degree of centralization or fragmentation, and degree of political stability; electoral outcomes, political party alignments and success; and policy initiatives within regimes” (Rainey, 1997)	Conflict Management (or Process) Frames  Address how individuals relate to various policy or conflict resolution alternatives.
Fact-Finding Frames. The use and value of technical information is a major and often disputed component of environmental conflicts.	Technological Environment The technological environment is characterized by “the general level of knowledge and capability of science, engineering, medicine, and other substantive areas [as well as] general capacities for communication, transportation, information processing, medical services, military weaponry, environmental analysis, production and manufacturing processes, and agricultural production” (Rainey, 1997)	Gain/Loss Frames Address how individuals assess the potential loss and gain characterizing key decisions in policy situations.
Social Control Frames  Social control frames represent individual views about how decisions regarding social issues should be made.	Cultural Environment The cultural environment consists of the “predominant values, attitudes, beliefs, social customs, and socialization processes concerning such things as sex roles, family structure, work orientation, and religious and political practices	Views of Nature Frames Address how individuals perceive the effect of human interaction on the environment.
Power Frames Power frames explore the ways that individuals can gain power or leverage over the other parties in the dispute	Political Environment The political environment consists of “characteristics of the political processes and institutions in a society, such as the general form of government, degree of centralization or fragmentation, and degree of political stability; electoral outcomes, political party alignments and success; and policy initiatives within regimes” (Rainey, 1997)	Fact Frames Address how individuals relate to and process relevant facts in the policy dispute and address the extent to which people trust information.
Risk Frames. Stakeholders in environmental disputes frequently differ in the way they perceive and frame the risks associated with environmental hazards or actions.	Ecological Environment The ecological environment is composed of “characteristics of the physical environment, including climate, geographical characteristics, pollution, natural resources, and the nature and density of organizational populations”	Risk Frames Address perceived risk associated with environmental policies and options.
	Legal Environment The legal environment consists of “laws, regulations, legal procedures, and court decisions; characteristics of legal institutions and values, such as provisions for individual rights and jury trials as well as the general institutionalization of and stability of legal processes” (Rainey, 1997)
	Economic Environment The economic environment consists of “levels of prosperity, inflation, interest rates, and tax rates [as well as] characteristics of labor, capital, and economic markets. . ..” (Rainey, 1997)

 

My Five point Environmental framework

1 Identity

2 Characterization

3 Fact Finding

4 Risk Management

5 Conflict Management

I believe the most important frame would be Identity. Before a person can try to enact changes with policies they must first identify where they stand in the current policy. You must view your own values and prioritize what you believe aligns with them.  People grew up differently and may not believe in the same as you, that is why you must know where you stand. This leads into the second framework which is characterization. This point and identity go hand in hand, but the difference is characterization is who is everyone else and identity is who I am. It is important to have a great understanding of who you are but also know who is on the other side. You should know where you connect and what differences are on both sides. Knowing why people are for or against the change you want to implement allows you to make convincing arguments towards the policies. The next framework would be Fact finding. “The use and value of technical information is a major and often disputed component of environmental conflicts.” (Davis) To change or sustain policies, facts are a must. You must show how people connect with the policy and what affects the factually. Opinions and false information will make you and your policy lose credit. Risk Frames would be the next framework. Risk Frames allow people to address perceived risk associated with environmental policies and options. (Davis) You must identify risks that will affect not only the environment but also how the policy will affect the community. Once the risks are identified you must try to mitigate their occurrences or let people know how these will affect them. The last point would be Conflict Management (or Process) Frames.

 “Address how individuals relate to various policy or conflict resolution alternatives.” (Environmental Framing Consortium) It does not matter if you have most of the people on board with the change there will always be an opposition that you have to change their minds. If you follow the other points, you will have all the information needed to help persuade people. These points I chose were the ones I viewed as the most important from the sources.

Sources

Davis, C. B., & Lewicki, R. J. (2003). Environmental conflict resolution: Framing and intractability--an introduction. Environmental Practice, 5(3), 200-206. DAVISandLEWICKI_2003_Environmental_conflict_resolution__Framing.pdf

Bryan, T. (2003). Context in environmental conflicts: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Environmental Practice, 5(3), 256-264. BRYAN_2003_Context_in_environmental_conflict Framing.pdf

Environmental Framing Consortium. (2005). Framing choices. Understanding Environmental Problems. Retrieved from http://www.intractableconflict.org/environmentalframing/framing_choices.shtml