Event's of the last weeks make a sham of the British Government's commitments to climate change mitigation.....unless

Has the British Government the courage to say no to the third runway at Heathrow? I suspect not. Explore the reasons why. Or go to George Monbiot's blog for further disturbing evidence in that he highlights (i) how much Brown is ignoring Stern's main recommendations; (ii) how conceptually flawed Stern's analysis was - in the Ackoffian sense his methodology is a further commitment to doing the wrong thing righter, rather than doing the right thing!

The case study in our course, 'Environmental Decision Making. A Systems Approach' demonstrates why airport expansion in the South East of England does not exemplify systemic environmental decision making! It also highlights how government decision making gives rise to the conditions for systemic failure.

The Australian Public Service Commission notes in a paper entitled:

Tackling Wicked Problems : A Public Policy Perspective

‘It is important, as a first step, that wicked problems be recognised as such. Successfully tackling wicked problems requires a broad recognition and understanding, including from governments and Ministers, that there are no quick fixes and simple solutions.'

Are ministers in the UK heeding this advice? It remains to be seen if the decision making can be claimed to be 'environmental decision making, yet alone systemic environmental decision making!!!