Synopses & Reviews
Evidence of climate change, resource shortages and biodiversity loss is growing in significance year by year. This second edition of Environmental Policy explains how policy can respond and bring about greater sustainability in individual lifestyles, corporate strategies, national policies and international relations. The book discusses the interaction between environmental and human systems, proposing environmental policy as a way to steer human systems to function within environmental constraints.
The second edition has been completely updated to reflect advances in scholarship (for example developments in governance theory) and the increasing primacy of climate policy within environmental policy as a whole. Key political, social and economic concepts are used to explain how effective environmental policies can be designed, implemented and evaluated. Environmental problems, the role of human beings in creating them and sustainable development are all introduced. Environmental policy formulation, implementation and evaluation are discussed within three specific contexts: the firm, the nation state and at an international level. The book reviews the relationship of economics, science and technology to environmental policy. It ends by reflecting upon the predicament of humankind in the twenty-first century and the potential of achieve sustainability through the use of the environmental policy toolbox .
Environmental Policy is an accessible text with a multi-disciplinary perspective. Lively case studies drawn from a range of international examples and completely updated for this second edition illustrate issues such as climate change, international trade, tourism and human rights. It includes chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading and links to relevant web resources.
Review
“Few books constitute both an introductory text and something that makes a genuine contribution to debate and research. Thankfully, TheShort Guide to Environmental Policy is one of the rare exceptions.”
Synopsis
The rate and scale of environmental change caused by humans is so significant that it has warranted the ushering of a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. More than ever we need effective policies that address our current environmental challenges: climate change; preservation of biodiversity; shortages in food, water, and energy; and environmental equity.
The Short Guide to Environmental Policy provides a concise introduction to environmental policies over the last sixty years, bringing together perspectives from a range of fields, including economics, sociology, politics, and social policy. Covering a broad range of issues, it looks at the causes and effects of contemporary environmental issues, the ways different policies have addressed them, the challenges of implementing such policies, and what the future holds.
About the Author
Carolyn Snell is a lecturer in social policy at the University of York.
Gary Haq is a human ecologist and senior research associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York and coauthor of
Environmentalism Since 1945.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Environmental problems, causes and effects
Thinking about the environment
Making environmental policies
Environmental policy challenges
Future challenges
Conclusions