Stumbling Toward Sustainability

In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the nations of the world agreed to implement an ambitious plan for ecologically sustainable human development. This book is a comprehensive review of U.S. efforts to achieve such development since Rio. The U.S. has unquestionably begun to take steps toward sustainable development. Yet the nation is now far from being a sustainable society, and in many respects is farther away than it was in 1992. Nevertheless, legal and policy tools are available to put the U.S. on a direct path to sustainability. This book brings together 42 distinguished experts from a variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines. It is among the most thorough assessments ever conducted of U.S. law and policy concerning the environment.

This book addresses two questions. First, what progress did the United States make toward sustainable development between the 1992 (the date of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit) and 2002? Second, what should the United States do next, particularly in the next 5 to 10 years? The primary focus of this book is law and policy because law and policy represent one of the most powerful ways to change a society's behavior. The book's 32 chapters were written by 42 contributors. The book is divided into sections on consumption and population; international trade, finance, and development assistance; conservation and management of natural resources; waste and toxic chemicals; nongovernmental actors; education; institutions and infrastructure; and governance. The book provides a critical appraisal of U.S. activities, identifying both progress and shortcomings. It also makes recommendations for short-term and long-term actions. More broadly, the book refines and applies sustainable development concepts to the United States. While the United States has unquestionably begun to take some steps toward sustainable development, the country is now far from being a sustainable society, and in many ways is farther away than it was in 1992. The book contains a Synthesis summarizing its findings and recommendations.

Environmental Law: A Conceptual and Pragmatic Approach, 3E organizes its presentation of environmental law around key concepts rather than around statutes, an approach that provides coherence to the study of Environmental Law. In addition, it also orients students in a way that will allow them to become effective practitioners, well acquainted with the central recurring problems in the field. Though the book focuses primarily on pollution control law, it does include a chapter on environmental restoration as well as some treatment of NEPA and the ESA. The book s numerous problems involving global climate disruption give students the opportunity to practice applying the book s concepts and particular statutory provisions to the most important contemporary issue, while allowing them to understand how a single scientific problem can implicate numerous statutes.

This volume is the most comprehensive textbook on sustainable development. It has been developed with students and professionals from around the world specifically for those who need a thorough grounding in the subject. Coverage includes: background to sustainable development and global environmental issues; measurement and sustainability indicators; environmental assessment, management and policy; approaches and linkages to poverty reduction; impacts and infrastructure development; economics, consumption, production and market failures; governance; participation; disaster management; international financial institutions; international environmental agreements; and the role of civil society.

With melting ice caps in the Arctic causing catastrophic environmental issues, it’s hard to believe that we’ve had to spend so much time convincing each other that climate change is real. Lead for the Planet shifts the focus to how we, the members of Team Humanity, are going to organize to solve the twin issues of climate change and energy evolution. The book channels a broad range of social science perspectives, from anthropology to psychology to economics, to help decision-makers explore how Team Humanity can get this thing done. Lead for the Planet outlines five practices that successful climate leaders will need to adopt, from getting the truth about the state of the planet, to assessing the risks and identifying the interests of key stakeholders, to implementing change within and between organizations and sectors on a global scale. Building on her experience as an organizational psychologist, Rae André shows how these practices comprise an effective model for climate leadership. Lead for the Planet is a guide for the kind of leadership that is necessary to help us all avoid the worst of global warming and to create a clean energy future for the generations to come.

Explores efforts aimed at creating sustainable communities throughout the Hudson River region. From Mount Marcy to Manhattan and beyond, the Hudson River region has become an incubator for rich and varied experiments in sustainable living. In this fascinating book,Rik Scarce showcases some of these efforts by telling the stories of dynamic individuals and organizations that are remaking the region’s landscape through ecosystem stewardship, nurturing agricultural practices, and urban renewal for the twenty-first century, along with those promoting creative land-use planning, richly functioning communities, and green businesses. Together, their achievements point to the potential for other areas of the country to forge sustainable futures, and also remind us of the sobering realities and daunting challenges that await us as we attempt to remake our relationships with the planet and with each other. “Powerful, massively inspiring stories from one of the loveliest spots on the planet: this is the new Hudson River School, and we all should be taking notes!” — Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future “Unlike the bulk of environmental writing from the post–World War II era, dominated as it is by dystopian works and pessimistic predictions, this book offers hope. We meet good people doing good things, and doing them effectively as models for others to imitate.” — Mark Hamilton Lytle, author of The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement

Coastal areas around the world are severely stressed due to a myriad of human activities and marine pollution. They are now detrimentally being affected by climate change and sea level rise as well. One major theater most acutely impacted by these phenomena is coastal South Asia, an overcrowded region with low adaptive capacities. Drawing on the experiences of coastal countries and regions beyond South Asia, Towards Sustainable Coastal Development: Institutionalizing Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Coastal Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia recommends operationalizing integrated coastal zone management and linking the same with coastal climate change adaptation under appropriately crafted coastal laws to facilitate a move towards sustainable coastal development.

"Hoinacki's underlying assumption is that a narrative relating one's personal experience may introduce the reader to a wider and more incisive understanding than that provided by the investigative and reporting methods of the social and natural sciences."--Jacket.