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This research investigated managers' views of two global environmental risks: climate change and loss of biodiversity. The intent was to understand why different managers place varying levels of attention and priority on these issues. The data came from in-depth interviews with 28 senior corporate managers across Canada and a range of sectors, although most were employed in the energy sector. Approximately half had direct environmental responsibilities and half had other management duties. Grounded theory was used to collect and analyze the data. From the results, a theoretical framework was constructed to explain important factors that can influence managers' mental models of environmental risk. Four factors relevant to managers' appraisal of the threat of environmental risk include: (1) salience, (2) intrinsic value of nature, (3) knowledge, and (4) perceived resilience of nature. In addition, four factors relevant to managers' view of the appeal of a particular response strategy were: (1) avoidability, (2) perceived costs and benefits, (3) fairness and equity, and (4) effectiveness. The time horizon for decision making was seen as being important in both portions of the mental model.

A public-private multi-sector team collaborated to test a variety of management strategies to remove end-of-life (EOL) electronic products, primarily residential, from municipal waste in Minnesota. Objectives for the project included: 0 0 0 Identify infrastructure development needs.Two primary goals were identified: 1) evaluate collection and processing costs for a targeted stream of used electronic products; and 2) evaluate scrap markets for secondary materials generated by this product stream. The project highlighted the strengths of each organization to create the first large-scale multi-stakeholder effort to remove used electronic products from municipal waste in North America. Various collection strategies were employed during a three month period to remove used electronic products from multiple sites. Used electronic products collected during the project were processed, evaluated and sold to existing secondary material markets as well as to "high end" recovery markets. This paper presents the results of this effort as of January 2000.Evaluate a series of collection techniques sponsored by local governments and retailers.Test the cost effectiveness of private sector market-based infrastructure to recover value from the material collected.Use the findings as a basis for influencing hture direction and policy-making decisions in the State of Minnesota.

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