What is the Relationship between Social Norms and Democratic Participation as they relate to Australian Water Management Policy? 1. Introduction This paper discusses the role of social norms and democratic participation in the success of environmental policies in the Australian context. A robust definition of democratic participation has been adopted. Herein it means the public and organisations having input into decisions which affect society beyond merely participating in elections and other similar political processes (Fishkin 2011). Social norms influence how people behave, and are influenced by both experiences, social interaction and education. There are two types of social norms - injunctive and descriptive - which when addressed on …show more content…
Water management is a state-based issue. Constituents must be prepared to alter water use per the allocation to their State. A way for participants to contribute democratically to this process is to sit on State decision making committees, giving direct advocacy and advice to policy makers about how water can best be distributed and conserved. However, that would unfortunately only directly involve a small number of experts. What is required is a broader involvement of the population through advocacy in education (not just through formal teaching but dialogue between “students” and “teachers” as well), increasing awareness and water conservation culture at work, and other social arenas which will influence social norms. In Australia, such campaigns are active and they have been effective to an extent at changing social norms about water use. Thus, although it is illegal to use water in some ways (due to governmental decision making), and these laws are poorly policed, people still refrain being seen to use water irresponsibly because of the social norm to use water …show more content…
Often, experts and politicians blame the public’s lack of education about an issue or technology for their lack of acceptance for an environmental project, and its subsequent failure (Stenekes 2006, p. 107). However, this attitude draws a distinction between experts and lay people and is counterproductive. It also neglects the fact that institutions may have little or poor public consultation to explain and discuss complex issues and solutions before trying to implement solutions. Better public consultation and engagement would be more effective at gaining public acceptance for new environmental initiatives. For example, despite the public being highly conscious of water shortages as stated above, and citizens being open to daily use of recycled water in theory, a strong mental and social consciousness about the link between water and perceived health risk is blamed for a much lower level of support for actual use of recycled water (Stenekes 2006) Thus, the public has repeatedly rejected water-recycling technology as undesirable because media attention focuses on the less publicly desirable recycling of effluent (Stenekes 2006). However, treated storm water, dry water and industrial discharges would also
The article “Water Works”, published by Orion Magazine and written by environmental specialist Cynthia Barnett intends to inform the reader anyone can make water an important factor. Overlooking it has become common many people in the United States have adapted to through the changes that have occurred in society over time. At the beginning of her article, she describes an area that does not make water care a priority, whereas in another location they make it very evident water is important. The location she describes is gloomy, grey, and is a populated area that has old water systems that are damaging environmental factors. Barnett continuously emphasizes that people are the ones who can help restore nature. This is at a less cost than
The goal of this paper is intended to provide the legal, political, social, economic, ecological dimensions of water resource policy
We all love water, but don’t know much about it. What I mean is that a lot of us don’t even know where our water comes from. That answer varies; for example, the city of Camarillo California gets its’ water in Camrosa Water District. It’s official website, “Camrosa Water District building Water Self- Reliance” provides information like what their purpose is, and as well as water conservation, building self-reliance, and other public information. This website states that Camrosa is currently in a state two water supply shortage. This means that there are restrictions on water use and a call for a voluntary fifteen percent reduction on the amount of water consumption. Also, according to Camrosa “Agricultural Water Management Plan”, water is being
I agree with the lecture because we humans as curious creatures, always need some kind of explanation to the origin of the universe. Early humans didn’t have the correct answers of the universe, they used what they had at the time and what made sense to them as explanations. When the universe was only 10,000 years old, early humans used myths and stories to explain cosmos and creation, because that was all they had. They praised the gods and goddesses for the natural resources they had to live on. As time went on, (40,000 years ago) Australian Abnormal Culture cosmos evolved into art and music, expressing their connection with animals, landscape, and the sky; believing what little they knew about how the universe originated. As civilization
What we gained from this research was not a thorough understanding of the legislative measures that governments are taking to provide water to the citizens within their borders. Rather, we learned the general lesson that governments, regardless of their resources or political structure, are not the most reliable or capable entities to provide for human beings
“Fazio’s Motivation and Opportunities as Determinants (MODE) model attempts to capture this difference between deliberative and more spontaneous behavior.” (DILLARD & SHEN, pg.55, 2013) Motivation and opportunity are the biggest factors that contribute to the necessary behavioral changes; that are needed for humans in order to cause change regarding water views and consumption. The article talks about how if motivation and opportunity levels are low then people are more likely to engage in automated behavior which they are accustomed to engaging with. An opportunity for change is available for the people in California, the media and the government has a new chance to change cultural norms, in order to strive for higher motivational and opportunity tactics to persuade a person. In order to persuade a person to change behaviors and norms regarding the consumption of water more incentives should be set in place, and a realistic view of how their behavior directly affects water in the local area. Save the Drop over-simplification of the problem restricts the true severity of water depletion in the world. Fear is a fascinating emotion; it can cause people to change rather quickly, it can cause someone to understand basic components of a situation in order to cause a change. For example, if there was a campaign initiative which strives to use fear to
California is in a drought and has been for the last three years. Southern California especially is affected by the drought that is now become a regular occurrence with no end in sight. With decreased rainfall and a steadily growing population, Southern California residents now have to make an effort to conserve the renewable resource that is water. Everyone uses water and humans, like all mammals, requires water for survival. With increased demand and decreased supply, water companies now charge more for water than ever before. Water companies can also use this as a way to educate the customers who habitually overuse water with the goal of persuading them to conserve the limited resources available. Recycled water is a more sustainable alternative, however even after treating and purifying that water, it would be still unsafe to drink, and even if it were, no one in their right mind would want to pay to drink what is a essentially sewer water.
Water is a human right can be interpreted in many ways, but the most common interpretation is that people should have access to clean water. Despite that access to clean water may sound logical and ideally, it is still an issue. Because access to clean water is problematic, activist groups such as the US Human Rights Network (USHRN), “a national coalition, comprised of over 160 groups and individuals working on the human rights to water and sanitation throughout the United States,” exist to establish clean and accessible water in the world (USHRN: #WaterIsAHumanRight). The US Human Rights Network works on a local and national level that represents “urban, rural, and indigenous communities” throughout the states (USHRN: #WaterIsAHumanRight).
Majority of people posse the learning tools to educate themselves on simple effective conservation that maintains our environment. One tool useful while at home is the internet, which contains a huge database to assist in finding innovated ways go ‘green’ with water. Another way people utilize water conservation methods within their home improvements fixing poor plumping or damaged sprinkling systems. In addition, observing your bill to pin point the major use of water and seeking ways to lower any excess usage. Involving friends and family helps with promotion along with assistance to maintain a lifestyle that will persist. To understand this shift in lifestyle author Janet A. Lorenzen states “a green lifestyle is a pattern of living that involves deliberation over the uncertain environmental impacts of everyday practices and a guiding narrative that makes that process personally meaningful” (Lorenzen 95). This shift in living requires individuals to think what their action accomplishes. The challenge for anyone to break a constant habit is by find another healthier method to
But the basic problems of California's water supply have been remedied, in large part, by construction of one of the most complex and sophisticated water storage and transport systems in the world. An integrated system of federal, state, and locally owned dams, reservoirs, pumping plants, and aqueducts transport large portions of the state's surface water hundreds of miles. (McClurg, 2016) Also most of these solutions I stated are already being put in place as we speak so California is definitely working on better water resource management. But when it comes to the conservation of our water it is everyone’s responsibility; even from an individual perspective we can make a serious impact if done collectively. I personally have done several things towards conserving water; such as picking up my pet’s waste when walking them, avoiding using my toilet as a wastebasket, taking shorter showers, installing a water saving shower-head and my city installed a low flush toilet at no cost to me. These are of course small scale steps but I believe if more people took the future of our water into consideration we could provoke big changes for future
It is necessary for Australians to understand and respect the differences between Asian countries to fully enjoy the benefits of the Asian century. To think of Asian simply as a whole would be dangerous and fall under orientalism. Deep understanding and engagement with different Asian cultures would be necessary for Australians to comprehend these differences, and the Australian government had been attempting to achieve this goal in different ways. The Australia in the Asian century white paper (The Australian Government 2011: 15-6) had suggested that language education would be the key for Australians to better engage with the Asian society. According to the white paper, all students will have access to at least one priority Asian language:
If we do not want to have polluted water coming out of our faucets, we need to be cautious how companies get rid of their trash, and how we dispose of our
Economic relations and resource management, 2. Ideology and culture including the way people think about the environment and water rights, 3.political agents like the state, transnational actors and organizations involved in water disputes and trade 4.the transnational social movements which endorse and resist water privatization, and 5.the power relations which engender unequal access to safe water (Bywater, 2008).
Few decades ago, clean water was “commons” (Hardin, 1968) to us. It was a natural resource shared by everyone and not owned by anyone. This “commons” was taken for granted to the extent that people exploit clean water without considering its finiteness. Resorts and factories dumped wastewater and ruined nearby rivers and oceans. People carelessly littered garbage and substituted the dirty water with diminishing clean water. They definitely benefited in terms of financial cost and comfort from their negligence. However, those individual interests ended up bringing severe water pollution, attacking our collective interest of public health and well-being. In this vein, water pollution is undeniably the “Tragedy of the Commons” (Hardin, 1968). Following these dire circumstances, water purification techniques and systems have been further developed and become widespread. Yet, the technical measurements have not quite fundamentally solved the problem. What is needed at this point is people’s will and practical action to improve the environment. However, merely hoping and encouraging people to do so are not enough. In order to have a steady support from people, we need a practical device for a “mutual coercion” (Hardin, 1968) to earn consent to coercion necessary to amend the situation. In this paper, I am going to address the technical and individual effort for water pollution and its limitation, and suggest a way to complement this limitation through a device on an institutional
Johnston & Donahue (1998) maintain that community has conceptualized and valued water in different ways depend on the ideology and context factors within a community. The ancient water customs valued water as a high resources, although it is a free resource available from nature, people had demonstrated a high management of the water supply system (Dissanayake & Smakhtin 2007). As the indigenous “Dayak Meratus” believe that the forest is the breath of life and a source of water that fosters their awareness to preserve and maintain the forests properly. By having a sensible view of nature then it is manifest in their norms, attitudes and behavior. Nature is a medium of learning for people in determining lifestyle even in rulemaking. Society then adapt to their environment by developing a knowledge or wisdom in the form of ideas, equipment, combined with customary norms, cultural values, the activity of managing with the environment to meet their needs. Thus, local water knowledge can be such binders that dominates human being and acting, both in the context of everyday life and determine further human civilization. The re-actualization of local wisdom in water management has become a growing approach in Indonesia. As Indonesia has a diversity of natural resources that make people 's lives are closely related to the natural conditions. Local water knowledge as a collective product of society functions to prevent over exploitation and protection of water resources.