Abstract
This essay is concerned with the question of conflict among experts in regard to perceptions of risk in environmental decision making. In order to illuminate this theme, it will explore three cases of environmental decision-making over time. Two of these cases involve water pollution questions and are primarily historical while the third focuses on the more contemporary problem of the disposal of wastes in the land. The cases also differ in that the water pollution studies deal with broad changes over time while the land pollution study involves one site. All however, include issues of agenda setting, disciplinary conflicts, and the uses and limitations of scientific knowledge in problem solving in a political setting. Thus, in spite of their differences, they all serve to illustrate similar issues of applied science in a policy-making context.
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Tarr, J.A., Jacobson, C. (1987). Environmental Risk in Historical Perspective. In: Johnson, B.B., Covello, V.T. (eds) The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk. Technology, Risk, and Society, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3395-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3395-8_13
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