Document Type
Thesis
Date of Degree Completion
Summer 2014
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Resource Management
Committee Chair
Kathleen Barlow
Second Committee Member
Jennifer Lipton
Third Committee Member
Rex Wirth
Abstract
In response to a dual problem of critical water scarcity and rapid population growth, leaders of metropolitan Las Vegas implemented a region-wide, internationally marketed sustainability campaign. Preliminary studies found that, while sustainability policy attains its rhetorical goals, solutions initiated not only perpetuate but also purposefully expand the original dual problem to justify continuous water resource acquisitions. To examine this sustainability conundrum constructed by leadership—problem-perpetuation rather than problem-resolution—a critical examination in resource management asked two basic questions: what is being sustained and by what means? Via this inquiry, specific processes by which leaders perpetuate problems can be identified; and, so-informed, new choices capable of resolving human-constructed dilemmas can be applied. Drawing on Las Vegas’ sustainability campaign as example, this paper argues that sustainability policy inherently sustains polity rather than natural or cultural resources and does so by means of policy structure, policy content (and omissions), and policy goals.
Recommended Citation
Zimmerman, Kathryn A., "Sustainability Policy’s Inherent Dilemmas – Exemplified Via Critical Examination of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Sustainability Campaign" (2014). All Master's Theses. 281.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/281
Language
English
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Physical and Environmental Geography Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons, Political Economy Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Population Biology Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Economics Commons, Public Policy Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Policy Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons, Water Law Commons