Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Precautionary Principle

by Chuck Hall
A new approach to sustainable living and the environment is being tried in many cities and states across the country. This new idea is known as the Precautionary Principle. The Precautionary Principle is new in that it doesn’t ask, "How much harm is acceptable?" but instead asks, "How much harm is avoidable?" The advantage of this approach is that it encourages us to set goals, and to consider environmentally sound ways of achieving those goals.
This is an especially effective method for state and local governments to use because it takes a proactive approach to environmental issues. Think of it as using a little ‘preventive medicine’ to prevent problems before they occur rather than trying to play catch-up once the damage has been done. The Precautionary Principle gives us something to be ‘for’ instead of something to be ‘against.’
There are a few basic concepts in the Precautionary Principle. These are:
Preventative anticipation: Meaning that if a policy or action could potentially be harmful to the environment, the burden of proof lies with the industry or institution to prove that it is safe. This means that the government and the public would not have to prove that such a policy is harmful in order to prevent its implementation.
Safeguarding: This of this as ‘erring on the side of caution.’ This principle says that safety margins should not even be approached, much less breached.
Proportionality: Basically this means that the risks of an action should not outweigh the benefits. In other words, if there are a lot of unknowns about the potential harm of an action, these unknowns are assumed to be risks of harm until proven otherwise, instead of vice-versa, as is common policy today.
Duty of Care: The agency proposing the change has the duty to demonstrate that it will not harm the environment. This is more proactive than most current systems, where those who protest an action must prove that it is harmful in order to stop the action.
The basic theory behind the Precautionary Principle is that in complex systems, such as ecospheres and/or biospheres, there may not be enough data to correctly judge the environmental impact of a change. In such a case, the Precautionary Principle states that the best way to ‘do no harm’ is to avoid any chance of risk. While every new technology carries with it some inherent risk, the Precautionary Principle automatically assumes a worst-case scenario before implementing a new technology.
It is a way of looking at things, rather than an absolute hard and fast rule. In general, it means assuming that any new technology could be potentially harmful until proven otherwise, as opposed to assuming that a new technology is safe until proven otherwise. As a general guideline, it is now being considered in environmental legislation throughout the country. If you are active in environmental issues in your local government, ask them about the Precautionary Principle. If they’ve never heard of it, now’s the time to introduce them!

No comments:

Post a Comment