'''Environmental managers''' are involved in processes that ''seek to'' control some environmental entities in orientation to a plan or idea. Whether such control is possible, however, is contested. Examples for environmental managers range from corporate agents (corporate environmental managers) via managers of a nature reserve, to environmental and resource planning agents but, analytically seen, also involve indigenous environmental managers, farmers<ref>M. Kaljonen. Co-construction of agency and environmental management. the case of agri-environmental policy implementation at finnish farms. Journal of Rural Studies, 22(2):205 – 216, 2006.</ref> or environmental activists. In many accounts, hope is held that environmental managers implement grand plans or political programmes. At the heart of the notion of environmental managers is, thus, a pragmatic<ref>P. Prasad and M. Elmes. In the name of the practical: Unearthing the hegemony of pragmatics in the discourse of environmental management. Journal of Management Studies, 42(4):845–867, 2005.</ref> and rational actor who optimises environments in orientation to some aim. Critical academics point out that the very idea that such managers exist and are imagined as capable of managing may well be flawed.<ref>D. Levy. Environmental Management as Political Sustainability. Organization & Environment, 10(2):126–147, 1997. </ref>
== Corporate environmental managers ==
Steve Fineman studied UK managers and their "'green' selves and roles" in the last decade, suggesting that while environmental problems may be recognised by them, production is seen as legitimising pollution.<ref>S. Fineman. Constructing the green manager. British Journal of Management, 8:31–38, 1997.</ref> Optimistic accounts see managers as stewards of environmental ethics.<ref>W. Brown and N. Karagozoglu. Current practices in environmental management. Business Horizons, 41(4):12–18, Jul.-Aug. 1998.</ref> Literature differentiates different styles by managers to engage with the environment.<ref> N. Gunningham, R. Kagan, and D. Thornton. Shades of green: business, regulation, and environment. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2003.</ref>
== State environmental managers ==
State institutions can manage directly environments through their staff.<ref>K. Asdal. Enacting things through numbers: Taking nature into account/ing. Geoforum, 39(1):123–132, 2008.</ref> And state institutions can use civil agents on their behalf. Examples for the latter are farmers<ref>M. Kaljonen. Co-construction of agency and environmental management. the case of agri-environmental policy implementation at finnish farms. Journal of Rural Studies, 22(2):205 – 216, 2006.</ref> who are to implement environmental regulation, citizens subject to e.g. recycling legislation or independent auditors who use laws as standards. Military agents can also act as environmental managers insofar as their action constitutes planned intervention in some environment (e.g. the burning of a forest, the destruction of streets or managing an open landscape for military training), trying to achieve military aims.
== Scientists as environmental managers ==
A variety of scientists are involved directly in environmental management. Cases of ecologists acting as managers of ecosystems<ref>L. Asplen. Going with the flow: Living the mangle through environmental management practice. In A. Pickering and K. Guzik, editors, The mangle in practice: science, society, and becoming, Science and Cultural Theory, pages 163–184. Duke University Press Books, Durham and London, 2008.</ref> are known.
== Study of environmental managers ==
The very notion that humans may be able to manage environments is criticised for being top-down, anthropocentric and short-sighted.<ref>D. Bavington. Managerial ecology and its discontents: Exploring the complexities of control, careful use and coping in resource and environmental management. Environments - A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 30(3):3–22, 2002. and R. Bryant and G. Wilson. Rethinking environmental management. Progress in Human Geography, 22(3):321–343, Sep 1998. </ref>
== See also == * Environmental activist * Chief sustainability officer * Rational planning model
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214101342/http://www.ems-research.org/environmental-management-practised How do you manage? Unravelling the situated practice of environmental management] * [https://www.environmentalmanager.org The Environmental Manager Symposium]
Category:Environmental sociology Category:Environmental policy Category:Sustainability and environmental management