Acting As If Tomorrow Matters

by Dernbach, John C.

• ISBN13: 9781585761586
• ISBN10: 1585761583
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-30
• Publisher: Environmental Law Inst

Summary

In his previous book, the well-received and often-quoted Agenda for a Sustainable America(2009), John Dernbach made more than a hundred recommendations for making the United States more environmentally sustainable. Yet it is increasingly clear that the modest progress made by the United States since the Earth Summit in 1992 is not caused by the absence of specific and feasible policy recommendations. What we need to do is well known. How we are going to do it is much less clear. Acting as if Tomorrow Matters is a guide to making the United States environmentally sustainable. It is based on the views of more than three dozen nationally known experts in a variety of fields. Synthesizing answers to essential questions about sustainability, Dernbach provides an empirically based framework to explain the progress made in the United States to date on sustainability, including a description of the most significant obstacles to rapid and increased success. Building on the framework that has guided real progress so far, Dernbach explains in detail how to make a greater variety of more sustainable decisions even more attractive, how law can provide an even better enabling environment for sustainability, and how public opinion and leadership can more effectively be engaged to support sustainability. The book thus provides a checklist of ideas and opportunities for moving toward sustainable development-starting now.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Biographies of Authors	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Modest Progress Toward an Increasingly Distant Goal
Environmental and Public Health Protection: Steps Forward and Steps Back	p. 15
Growing Consumption and Population	p. 39
Greater Poverty, Unemployment, and Attention to Environmental Justice	p. 57
The Built Environment: Shifting Toward Sustainability	p. 69
Governance: Communities as Sustainability Leaders, States as Energy Leaders (and the Federal Government Catching Up?)	p. 81
Improving Opportunities for Sustainability Education and Engagement	p. 101
International Activity: A More-Sustainable Direction but Reduced Influence	p. 113
Drivers for Sustainability
Growing Support in Spite of Mixed Public Opinion	p. 131
More-Sustainable Decisions Are Easier to Make and More Attractive	p. 155
Lawmaking Is Not Limited to Environmental Regulation	p. 173
Obstacles to Further Progress
Habits, Lack of Urgency, and Uncertainty About Alternatives	p. 189
Unsupportive Law and Governance	p. 201
Political Opposition and Growing Influence of Other Countries	p. 215
Accelerating Progress, Overcoming Obstacles
More and Better Sustainability Choices	p. 229
Law for Sustainability	p. 241
Visionary and Pragmatic Governance	p. 267
An American Sustainability Movement	p. 285
Endnotes	p. 301
Index	p. 355
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.