Pragmatism and environmental problem-solving: A systematic moral analysis of democratic decision-making in Butte, Montana

• Main Author: Okrusch, Chad Michael, 1973-
• Language: en_US
• Published: University of Oregon 2011
• Subjects: Pragmatism; Butte (Mont.); Montana; Public participation; Environmental communication; Environmental history; Democratic decision-making; American history; Environmental philosophy; Ethics; Philosophy
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11445

xii, 167 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. === Butte, Montana has served as the epicenter of hard rock mining and mineral processing in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin (UCFRB) for nearly 150 years. As a result, the UCFRB contains the largest contiguous complex of major environmental clean-up projects in the United States. Contemporary U.S. environmental problem- solving is characterized by an emphasis on meaningful public participation in environmental decision-making. The U.S. is committed to the realization of environmental justice, which requires that affected publics, especially the working classes who tend to bear a disproportionate share of the environmental burdens, influence environmental clean-up efforts. However, much of the critical literature on the subject suggests that in practice the public is rarely included as a significant force in decision-making. In hard-used places like Butte, Montana, the community's ecological problems are compounded by their democratic problems. This constitutes an integrated crisis in ecology and democracy, the problem at the heart of this inquiry. This dissertation presents a pragmatic interrogation of U.S. environmental problem-solving from an ethical and environmental communication research perspective. It is a work of pragmatic moral philosophy in the tradition of John Dewey. The overarching methodology is Systematic Moral Analysis (SMA), which unfolds in five phases: problem recognition, problem diagnosis, moral analysis, evaluation, and moral action. This research concludes by suggesting philosophically defensible principles to guide future U.S. environmental decision-making based on pragmatic criteria emphasizing the health and well-being of both democratic and environmental systems as the highest good in environmental problem-solving. === Committee in charge: Julianne Newton, Chairperson, Journalism and Communication; Stephen Ponder, Member, Journalism and Communication; Thomas Bivins, Member, Journalism and Communication; John Foster, Outside Member, Sociology