Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability

Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability PDF Author: Chelsea Schelly
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351584766
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
It is increasingly apparent that human activities are not suitable for sustaining a healthy global environment. From energy development to resource extraction to use of land and water, humans are having a devastating effect on the earth’s ability to sustain human societies and quality lives. Many approaches to changing the negative environmental consequences of human activities focus on one of two options, emphasizing either technological fixes or individual behavior change to reduce environmental harms through sustainable consumption habits. This book takes a different approach, focusing on the role of environmental policy in shaping the possibilities for and creating hindrances to pursuing more sustainable use of environmental resources. This unique compilation examines environmental policy through empirical case studies, demonstrating through each particular example how environmental policies are formed, how they operate, what they do in terms of shaping behaviors and future trajectories, and how they intersect with other social dynamics such as politics, power, social norms, and social organization. By providing case studies from both the United States and Mexico, this book provides a cross-national perspective on current environmental policies and their role in creating and limiting sustainable human futures. Organized around four key parts – Water; Land; Health and Wellbeing; and Resilience – and with a central theme of environmental justice and equity, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental policy and sustainability.

Sustainability Policy

Sustainability Policy PDF Author: Steven Cohen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118916379
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
A complete guide to sustainability policy at the federal, state, and local levels Sustainability Policy: Hastening the Transition to a Cleaner Economy is a fundamental guide for public sector professionals new to sustainability policy development, implementation, strategy, and practice. Featuring detailed cases highlighting innovative sustainability initiatives, this book explores the elements that constitute effective policy, and the factors that can help or hinder implementation and adoption. Readers gain insight into policies in effect at the federal, state, and local levels, in the areas of water, energy, material use, and waste management, and the reasons why local policies are often the most innovative and successful. Discussion surrounding monitoring and measurement addresses the lack of standardization, as well as the government's critical role in leading the field toward generally accepted sustainability metrics, while outlining the reasons why certain policies are more feasible than others. This book is an introductory resource, written in non-technical language, and organized in a coherent manner that establishes foundational knowledge before introducing more complex issues. Even readers with little background in sustainability will gain insight into the current state of the field and the issues at hand. Understand sustainability in public and private enterprises, including the role of government and public policy Learn the current standing federal, state, and local policies surrounding sustainability Discover what makes an effective sustainability policy, including measurement and evaluation metrics Explore the politics and future of sustainability, and the barriers to change Sustainability is a hot topic in both the public and private sector, with vocal advocates on both sides of every issue, so developing effective policy is crucial. For public sector professionals entering the sustainability field, Introduction to Sustainability Policy & Management is a valuable resource.

Performance Measurement in Local Sustainability Policy

Performance Measurement in Local Sustainability Policy PDF Author: Susan M. Opp
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351244256
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Local officials are responsible for a number of important tasks that have a significant impact on the quality of life of most Americans. Arguably, the policy choices made by local governments in the United States more directly impact individual well-being than do the choices made at any other level of government. From zoning decisions to the creation of parks and the maintenance of sidewalks and trails, local governments are largely responsible for direct services to the public and can provide the necessary tools and skills to create an attractive and vibrant community. And yet one area of significant importance for both individuals and for the country as a whole, local sustainability, is a relatively new policy area for many American municipalities. For example, how many local governments are adopting sustainability policies and plans? How are those initiatives performing? Without an honest and robust examination of both the effectiveness and the efficiency of local sustainability policies, the success of the entire sustainability movement in the United States is uncertain. This book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes local sustainability and why it matters. Focusing closely on environmental initiatives, economic development issues, and social equity concerns, each chapter offers both an account of the sustainability policies being adopted and a close exploration of the performance measurement activities of cities in that policy area. Readers are introduced to the metrics that American cities are using to measure the performance of their sustainability efforts, as well as benchmarks and comparison statistics that may be used to develop and evaluate the performance assessment efforts in their own sustainability programs. Students of public administration, urban planning, and political science – as well as public officials – will find this book useful to understand the complexity of sustainability and local government.

Environment and Society

Environment and Society PDF Author: Stewart Barr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317142381
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Environment and Society explores ways to promote the behavioural shifts necessary for creating a 'sustainable society'. Through a critical approach to the links between sustainability, policy and citizen engagement, the book argues that sustainability policy needs to move towards a positive perspective, utilizing the well-known techniques of segmentation and social marketing. Such 'mainstreaming' of sustainable lifestyles is likely to be the only effective means of engaging the majority of citizens in the environmental debate, given the major influence of the consumer society on individual aspirations and beliefs. Comprised of three substantive elements, Environment and Society explores the context for behaviour change policy, the approaches adopted by politicians and academic researchers, and the application of such approaches using empirical data from two major research projects. The book is richly illustrated using both theoretical and empirical data and provides an excellent companion to all researchers interested in sustainable lifestyles.

Sustainability Policy, Planning and Gentrification in Cities

Sustainability Policy, Planning and Gentrification in Cities PDF Author: Susannah Bunce
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317443713
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Sustainability Policy, Planning and Gentrification in Cities explores the growing convergences between urban sustainability policy, planning practices and gentrification in cities. Via a study of governmental policy and planning initiatives and informal, community-based forms of sustainability planning, the book examines the assemblages of actors and interests that are involved in the production of sustainability policy and planning and their connection with neighbourhood-level and wider processes of environmental gentrification. Drawing from international urban examples, policy and planning strategies that guide both the implementation of urban intensification and the planning of new sustainable communities are considered. Such strategies include the production of urban green spaces and other environmental amenities through public and private sector and civil society involvement. The resulting production of exclusionary spaces and displacement in cities is problematic and underlines the paradoxical associations between sustainability and gentrified urban development. Contemporary examples of sustainability policy and planning initiatives are identified as ways by which environmental practices increasingly factor into both official and informal rationales and enactments of social exclusion, eviction and displacement. The book further considers the capacity for progressive sustainability policy and planning practices, via community-based efforts, to dismantle exclusion and displacement and encourage social and environmental equity and justice in urban sustainability approaches. This is a timely book for researchers and students in urban studies, environmental studies and geography with a particular interest in the growing presence of environmental gentrification in cities.

Environmental Policy is Social Policy – Social Policy is Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy is Social Policy – Social Policy is Environmental Policy PDF Author: Isidor Wallimann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461467233
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
​ ​This book argues that social and environmental policy should be synthetically treated as one and the same field, that both are but two aspects of the same coin – if sustainability is the goal. Such a paradigm shift is indicated, important, and timely to effectively move towards sustainability. This book is the first to take this approach and to give examples for it. Not to synthetically merge the two fields has been and will continue to be highly insufficient, inefficient and contradictory for policy and public administration aiming for a transformation towards a sustainable world. In general, social problems are dealt with in one “policy corner” and environmental problems in another. Rarely is social policy (at large) concerned with its impact on the environment or its connection with and relevance to environmental policy. Equally, environmental problems are generally not seen in conjunction with social policy, even though much environmental policy directly relates to health, nutrition, migration and other issues addressed by social policy. This book intends to correct the pattern to separate these very significant and large policy fields. Using examples from diverse academic and applied fields, it is shown how environmental policy can (and should) be thought of as social policy – and how social policy can (and should) simultaneously be seen as environmental policy. Tremendous benefits are to be expected.

Environmental and Sustainability Education Policy

Environmental and Sustainability Education Policy PDF Author: Katrien Van Poeck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351401386
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
This timely collection surveys and critiques studies of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) policy since the mid-1990s. The volume draws on a wide range of policy studies and syntheses to provide readers with insights into the international genealogy and priorities of ESE policy. Editors and contributors call for renewed attention to the possibilities for future directions in light of previously published work and innovations in scholarship. They also offer critical commentary on the evolution of research trends, approaches and findings. Including a wide range of examples of ESE policy and policy research, the book draws on studies of educational initiatives and legislation, policy making processes and rhetoric, ideological orthodoxy and critique, curriculum making and educational theory, globalisation and neoliberalism, climate change and environmental worldviews, and much more. In addition, introductory commentary from the editors traces how ESE researchers have dealt with key trends, complexities and issues in the policy-practice-research nexus both conceptually and empirically. Throughout the collection, contributions illustrate how researchers might reimagine and reinvigorate policy research on ESE, including how working with other fields and diverse perspectives, ideas and expertise will aid the cross-fertilisation of a complex terrain of ideas, policy and practice. This book is based on a special issue of Environmental Education Research.

Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability

Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability PDF Author: Ramón López
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199297991
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 505

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Book Description
Publisher description

Innovation in Environmental Policy?

Innovation in Environmental Policy? PDF Author: Andrew Jordan
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1848445067
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
. . . offering an enjoyable read in comparative politics and policy, it offers a point of reference for understanding the conceptual and empirical possibilities for further research in EPI. Darren McCauley, West European Politics . . . a bank of internationally based case studies written by leading environmental experts. The Environmentalist The organisation of th[is] book is exemplary, particularly for an edited volume. . . [A]n impressive intellectual contribution to the understanding of EPI. . . I strongly recommend it to scholars and students. . . and, crucially, also to politicians and civil servants who have attempted (or half-attempted) the task of remedying the historical neglect of environmental issues. Ian Bailey, Environment and Planning C Good social science may not raise our spirits, but it should improve our policy understanding. Andrew Jordan and Andrea Lenschow have produced a volume that provides a subtle and empirically informed understanding of environmental policy integration, using a design that looks both at the full policy cycle and at cross-national comparisons. From the foreword by Albert Weale FBA, University of Essex, UK Policy coordination is normally studied in hierarchical and institutional terms. This volume demonstrates the power of an idea to function as a framework for coordination. It offers an innovative study of policy coordination, as well as a thorough study of environmental policy. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh, US This book deals with a critical challenge facing modern governments: how to integrate environmental thinking into all policy areas. It provides fascinating insights into the progress made in realizing this objective and is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how far we have come, and how far we still have to go, in greening government for sustainable development. James Meadowcroft, Carleton University, Canada This collection brings together leading scholars in the field to explore the origins and applications of different instruments of environmental policy integration from a comparative perspective. This book is a must read for environmental policy practitioners and scholars with an interest in how environmental outcomes can and are being improved. Miranda A. Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Environmental Policy Integration (EPI) is an innovative policy principle designed to deliver sustainable development. This book offers an unrivalled exploration of its conceptualization and implementation, drawing upon a set of interlinked case studies of the most common implementing instruments and the varied experience of applying them in six OECD states and the EU. Written by a team of international experts, it identifies and explains broad patterns and dynamics in what is an important area of contemporary environmental policy analysis. This insightful account of the state-of-the-art aims to offer a valuable resource for academics interested in environmental politics and policy analysis, as well as the broader, interdisciplinary theme of governance for sustainable development . It will interest advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in comparative politics, public administration and environmental politics and policy-making. Given the continuing political relevance of sustainability, it should also appeal to NGOs, think tanks and international bodies attempting to coordinate policies across and within different levels of governance.

Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice

Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice PDF Author: Peter A. Khaiter
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030195503
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
The book presents methodological and applied aspects of sustainability and sustainable management from different countries and regions around the globe. It discusses approaches to sustainability assessment, demonstrates how ideas of sustainability and sustainable management are incorporated into public policies and private actions at local and national levels. Authors focus on promoting greater sustainability in natural resource management, energy production and storage, housing design, industrial reorganization, coastal planning, land use, and business strategy, including sustainability indicators, environmental damages, and theoretical frameworks. Chapters reflect environmental, economic and social issues in sustainable development, challenges encountered, and lessons learned as well as solutions proposed.