Despite a vast amount of effort and expertise devoted to them, many environmental conflicts have remained mired in controversy, stubbornly defying resolution. Why can some environmental problems be resolved in one locale but remain contentious in another, often carrying on for decades? What is it about certain issues or the people involved that make a conflict seemingly insoluble.Making Sense of Intractable Environmental Conflicts addresses those and related questions, examining what researchers and experts in the field characterize as ""intractable"" disputes—intense disputes that persist over long periods of time and cannot be resolved through consensus-building efforts or by administrative, legal, or political means. The approach focuses on the ""frames"" parties use to define and enact the dispute—the lenses through which they interpret and understand the conflict and critical conflict dynamics. Through analysis of interviews, news media coverage, meeting transcripts, and archival data, the contributors to the book:examine the concepts of frames, framing, and reframing, and the role that framing plays in conflictsoutline the essential characteristics of intractability and its major causesoffer case studies of eight intractable environmental conflictspresent a rich body of original interview material from affected partiesset forth recommendations for intervention that can help resolve disputesWithin each case chapter, the authors describe the historical development and fundamental nature of the conflict and then analyze the case from the perspective of the key frames that are integral to understanding the dynamics of the dispute. They also offer cross-case analyses of related conflicts.Conflicts examined include those over natural resource use, toxic pollutants, water quality, and growth. Specific conflicts examined are the Quincy Library Group in California; Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota; Edwards Aquifer in Texas; Doan Brook in Cleveland, Ohio; the Antidegradation Environmental Advisory Group in Ohio; Drake Chemical in Pennsylvania; Alton Park/Piney Woods in Tennessee; and three examples of growth-related conflicts along the Front Range of Colorado's Rocky Mountains.
Introduction \ Roy J. Lewicki and Barbara Gray
Chapter 1. Framing of Environmental Disputes \ Barbara Gray Chapter 2. Intractability: Definitions, Dimensions, and Distinctions \ Linda L. Putnam and Julia M. Wondolleck
PART I. Natural Resources Cases Chapter 3. When Irresolvable Becomes Resolvable: The Quincy Library Group Conflict \ Todd A. Bryan and Julia Wondelleck Chapter 4. Freeze Framing: The Timeless Dialogue of Intractability Surrounding Voyageurs National Park \ Barbara Gray Chapter 5. The Edwards Aquifer Dispute: Shifting Frames in a Protracted Conflict \ Linda L. Putnam and Tarla Peterson Chapter 6. Comparing Natural Resource Cases \ Barbara Gray, Tarla Peterson, Linda L. Putnam, and Todd A. Bryan
PART II. Water Cases Chapter 7. Doan Brook: Latent Intractability \ Sandra Kaufman and Mehnaaz Momen Chapter 8. Portraits of Self and Others: State-Level Conflict over Water Regulation in Ohio \ Carolyn Wiethoff, Roy J. Lewicki, and Craig B. Davis Chapter 9. Comparing Water Cases \ Roy J. Lewicki, Sandra Kaufman, Carolyn Wiethoff, and Craig B. Davis
PART III. Toxics Cases Chapter 10. The Story of Drake Chemical: A Burning Issue \ Ralph Hanke, Adam Rosenberg, and Barbara Gray Chapter 11. When the Parents Be Cancer-Free: Community Voice, Toxics, and Environmental Justice in Chattanooga, Tennessee \ Michael Elliott Chapter 12. Framing Effects in Toxic Disputes: Cross-Case Analysis \ Michael Elliott and Ralph Hanke
PART IV. Growth Management Cases Chapter 13. Colorado Growth-Related Environmental Conflicts \ Robert Gardner, Carol Conzelman, Karen Mockler, Kim Sanchez,and Guy Burgess Chapter 14. Analysis of Colorado Growth Conflict Frames \ Robert Gardner and Guy Burgess
PART V. Conclusion Chapter 15. Lessons Learned about the Framing and Reframing of Intractable Environmental Conflicts \ Michael Elliott, Barbara Gray, and Roy J. Lewicki
