Topic > Systems thinking in environmental policy analysis

There are numerous environmental issues that affect people's lives every day. One environmental policy that concerns me is House Bill 1103, which concerns the transfer of federal land to the state. The proposed bill would be known as the Public Lands Transfer Act. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay If the bill passed, it would affect everyone in Washington state because it would change how public lands are accessed and managed. Additionally, the move would directly impact the amount of revenue Washington generates from tourism because people travel from around the world to visit and take part in a variety of outdoor recreational activities. Overall, this policy is trying to restructure the current system in place because supporters of the bill believe that the system could be improved. However, altering the system could potentially change the function of the system currently in place in a negative (undesirable) way. The bill was authored by its primary sponsor, Republican Washington State Representative David Taylor. Co-sponsors of the bill include a group of Washington State representatives: Matt Shea, Bob McCaslin, Mike Volz, Cary Condotta, Shelly Short and Vincent Buys. The bill was originally introduced and first read on January 11, 2017 and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Then, on January 8, 2018 by resolution, the bill was reintroduced and maintained in its current state in the House Judiciary Committee. The proposed bill is of great concern to the citizens of Washington state because it would affect the accessibility of land. “Washington State is made up of more than 40 million acres, and the fraction of land owned by the federal government is 28.6% (about 11.4 million acres). "[Note Ref: 3] This percentage can be compared to other properties in Figure 1 (Appendix). Public lands owned by the federal government are used for hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, and other recreational activities Therefore, the possible change in the transfer of federal lands to the state is attracting public attention from several groups. Most of the attention this bill is receiving comes from hunters, fishermen and conservationists Washington State have been a tradition for years, Jes Burns stated that "sportsmen consider hunting and fishing in these wild places their right, a right that previous generations, led by President Theodore Roosevelt, fought for. to ensure more than a century ago." transferred to the State, hunting, fishing and other recreational activities could potentially be limited or closed. This would impact the enormous amount of revenue that recreation brings to the State through purchasing of equipment, permits, food, hotels and numerous other expenses. “Overall, outdoor recreational travel expenses associated with recreation on public lands in Washington are estimated to be approximately $10. 7 billion per year (excluding equipment)”. Therefore, changing access to land would impact the amount of revenue generated because people visit Washington specifically for its physical features and if the land is inaccessible, people will not bother to visit it. Illustration of a use a diagram is fundamental to understanding the entire system. In this analysis, the stock“passage of House Bill 1103” is represented within a box in Figure 2 (Appendix). This is the foundation of the system why the passage of the bill is what is analyzed and why people from both oppositions are worried. The inflows and outflows of the system in Figure 2 are illustrated using arrows and taps. The inflow into this system is “proposing House Bill 1103” and the outflow is turning the bill into a state law. However, there is a disconnect between the stock (passage of House Bill 1103) and the citizens of Washington state who share the desire to maintain public land. This discrepancy represents the bill's supporters, who in return, reintroduce the bill into the Washington State Legislature. There is a balancing feedback loop because the discrepancy shows who the bill's supporters are, who ultimately reintroduce the bill into the legislature. The loop is classified as a “balancing feedback loop because it opposes the direction of change imposed on the system. "[Ref.note: 6] Therefore, the balancing feedback loop is stabilizing the stock. One delay that affects the inflow of the system is the delay in the response of the legislator because it takes time for the legislator to read and respond to all the proposed bills.In Figure 2 there is another balancing feedback loop between passing House Bill 1103, funding available for the bill, voting on the bill, and making it a state law the financing that votes (to get public opinion) will cause delays in the system. If the bill is passed and becomes law, the state will take control of the territory. This will cause a long delay because it takes time to create, implement and enforce new state laws/regulations. All the elements illustrated in the systems diagram in Figure 2 play a key role in understanding the behavior, structure and key functions of the system. By examining the systems diagram, you can conduct an analysis of the proposed environmental policy, House Bill 1103. “Systems thinking is a critical tool for addressing the environmental, political, social, and economic challenges we face around the world. A systems approach can help us understand where existing policy is effective by breaking down the elements of the system to identify all the parties involved. The elements of a system are usually easily available; however, in a complex environmental issue, the number of elements can be enormous. By drawing a diagram of the system you can visualize the elements, which helps to avoid leaving out any important players. A systems approach can also help us understand where existing policy is not effective because it shows where there are discrepancies. Discrepancies between elements represent variance and inconsistency, which can slow down a system. The function of the system, House Bill 1103, is to approve policy; therefore, the system is trying to reduce the discrepancy between the passage of the bill and the people who oppose the passage of the bill to zero. If this happens, then the bill has a better chance of passing. “Delays can also help show where existing policy is ineffective because delays in feedback loops are critical determinants of system behavior. The length of each delay varies, which can make it difficult to understand. This can be a problem because “we cannot begin to understand the dynamic behavior of systems if we do not know where and how long i are).