Page 196 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

experts began to feel that the legislative and regulatory means Environmental policy advances today
used to achieve these goals too often imposed economic bur- on the international stage
dens on businesses or individuals. Increasingly, attempts were
made at the federal level to roll back or weaken environmental Amid the heightened partisanship of today’s American poli-
laws. These began with the administration of Ronald Reagan tics, environmental policy has gotten caught in the political
and culminated in an array of efforts by the George W. Bush crosshairs. Despite the fact that some of the greatest early con-
administration and by the Congresses in power from 1994 servationists were Republicans, and despite the fact that the
through 2006. words conservative and conservation share the same root and
As advocates of environmental protection watched their original meaning, environmental issues have today become
hard-won gains eroding, many began to feel that new perspec- identified as a predominantly Democratic concern. The result
tives and strategies were needed. In a provocative 2004 essay is that significant bipartisan advances now rarely occur. Con-
titled “The Death of Environmentalism,” political consultants sequently, the United States now wields far less clout interna-
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus argued that envi- tionally on environmental policy.
ronmental advocates needed to appeal to people’s core values Although U.S. leadership has waned internationally,
and not simply offer technical policy fixes. They needed to many other nations are forging ahead with innovative environ-
stop labeling problems as “environmental” and start show- mental policy. Germany has used policy to make impressive
ing people why these problems are actually human issues strides with solar energy (pp. 599–600). Sweden maintains a
that lie at the heart of our quality of life. They needed to be thriving society while promoting progressive environmental
more responsive to people’s needs and to articulate a positive, policies. China, despite becoming the world’s biggest polluter,
inspiring vision for the future. Many environmental advocates is also taking significant steps toward renewable energy, refor-
reacted defensively to Shellenberger and Nordhaus’s sugges- estation, and pollution control.
tions, but their views opened a productive discussion, and in Worldwide, we have embarked on a fourth wave of envi-
2008 Barack Obama embraced a similar approach in his presi- ronmental policy, one focused on sustainability and sustain-
dential campaign. able development (pp. 32, 174–175). This approach aims to
Today in the United States, legal protections for public safeguard natural systems while raising living standards for
health and environmental quality remain strong in some areas the world’s people. In 2012, the world’s nations met in Río
but have eroded in others. As energy issues move to the fore, de Janeiro, Brazil, at the U.N.-sponsored Rio-Plus-20 confer-
people continue to experience impacts from fossil fuel use and ence, to explore the latest strategies for promoting economic
extraction while striving to find a path toward cleaner energy. vitality and social equity while safeguarding environmental
As policymakers sought to encourage natural gas extraction, quality. This conference built on the 1992 Earth Summit at
hydraulic fracturing won exemptions from the Safe Drinking Río de Janeiro and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Water Act and at least six more of the nation’s most funda- Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, each of which
mental environmental laws (p. 181). Fracking is exempted unified leaders from 200 nations.
from key aspects of the National Environmental Policy Moreover, the pressing issue of global climate change
Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource (Chapter 18) has come to dominate global discussion of envi-
Conservation and Recovery Act, the Superfund Act, and the ronmental policy (Figure 7.11). A series of international con-
Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act. ferences (pp. 528–529) in recent years has brought together
representatives of all the world’s nations to grapple with the

FaQ If something is harmful, wouldn’t the CHAPTER 7 • Envi R onm E n TA l Poli C y : mA king D EC i si ons A n D s olving P R obl E m s
government have made it illegal?
This assumption vastly overestimates the power of govern-
ment. In fact, we live surrounded by risky or hazardous things
that remain perfectly legal. Some (such as junk food, alcohol,
or cigarettes) persist because they are popular. Others (such
as fossil fuel pollution) persist because mitigating the prob-
lem is costly, complicated, or grand in scale. Still others (such
as many toxic chemicals) go unregulated because they are
released to consumers more quickly than scientists can deter-
mine their health effects. In many cases, financially valuable
products or practices that harm health or the environment
have politically powerful constituencies. Corporations and
industries lobby policymakers to shield their products or prac-
tices from regulation, fearing that regulation could adversely
affect sales and profits. Often these powerful societal, eco- Figure 7.11 Concerns over climate change are driving envi-
nomic, and political pressures cause health and environmental ronmental policy in all nations today. Here, college students
and activists in Washington, D.C., urge U.S. leaders to enact poli-
hazards to go unaddressed by government.
cies to help bring the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration
back down to 350 parts per million. 195

M07_WITH7428_05_SE_C07.indd 195 12/12/14 2:57 PM