Worst Things First

Worst Things First

Author: Adam M. Finkel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-04

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1135890331

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For any government agency, the distribution of available resources among problems or programs is crucially important. Agencies, however, typically lack a self-conscious process for examining priorities, much less an explicit method for defining what priorities should be. Worst Things First? illustrates the controversy that ensues when previously implicit administrative processes are made explicit and subjected to critical examination. It reveals surprising limitations to quantitative risk assessment as an instrument for precise tuning of policy judgments. The book also demonstrates the strength of political and social forces opposing the exclusive use of risk assessment in setting environmental priorities.


The Economics of Waste and Pollution Management in Japan

The Economics of Waste and Pollution Management in Japan

Author: Fumikazu Yoshida

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-09

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 4431670327

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On the threshold of the twenty-first century, the ordinary Japanese citizen has become acutely aware that various environmental hazards pose a serious threat to daily life; such hazards include the problems of waste disposal, dioxin and other substances that disturb humans' endocrine balance. Who, a mere decade ago when these problems were first brought to our attention, would have anticipated that these environmental problems would so quickly become so common and so serious? At the same time, environmental problems on a global scale, such as ozone depreciation by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), global warming and climate change, have become topics of everyday conversation. The main objective of this book is to take in these environmental problems, focus ing on the two locally important and interrelated issues of waste and pollution. This will enable us to investigate the whole range of problems, from regionally based pol lution caused by waste disposal and dioxin to the transboundary warming brought about by CO and CFCs. We shall thus be able to analyze comprehensively the whole 2 extent of "waste and pollution" problems, ranging from those caused by real garbage and domestic waste to the many kinds of technologically generated waste that result from the production, circulation, and consumption of industrial goods and services.