The first edition of this pragmatic course text emphasized the policy value of a "big picture" approach to the ethical, political, technological and scientific, economic, and management aspects of environmental issues. The text then applied this approach to real-world case examples involving leaking underground storage tanks, toxic waste cleanup, and the effects of global climate change. This second edition demonstrates the ongoing effectiveness of this framework to generating meaningful action and policy solutions to today's urgent environmental issues. The text adds case examples concerning congestion taxes, e-waste, hydrofracking, and recent developments in global climate change and updates references and other materials throughout, incorporating the political and policy changes of the Obama Administration's first term and developments in national and global environmental issues.
Steven Cohen is the executive director of Columbia University's Earth Institute and a professor in the practice of public affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He is also director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and the director of the Masters of Science in Sustainability Management at Columbia University's School of Continuing Education. He is a consultant, former policy analyst, and former member of the Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
"The beauty of this book is that it offers a holistic, yet straightforward and logical approach, for analyzing the complexity of environmental issues and it is easy to digest and apply in a semester."
– Tanya Heikkila, School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver
"A scholarly, detailed analysis [...] invaluable."
– Midwest Book Review