Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

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PHOTO: bookcover

Steven Cohen.
Understanding Environmental Policy.
New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
paper, 388 p., ISBN 0–815–60875–6, $24.95.

Setting new directions for both the United States and world environmental policy is the goal of political scientist Steven Cohen. In this book he examines the fundamental problems with current activities, citing the various ineffective approaches to local, regional, national, and international issues. He theorizes that in order to succeed, analysts must first identify the desired type of ecosphere before building a comprehensive framework for understanding environmental policy. He notes that politics, technology, science, policy design, economics, and management must be taken into consideration. He applies such a framework to several case studies and presents information on the results. In the final chapter he concludes by saying, “Our goal should be to develop and maintain a mature, sophisticated, and flexible environmental regulatory regime.”

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.