"Sustainability" is quickly becoming a household word in the United States. Public alarm over climate change has helped to make sustainable development a major public policy issue and a topic of growing importance in the daily lives of Americans. This book is a comprehensive assessment of U.S. progress toward sustainable development and a roadmap of necessary next steps toward achieving a sustainable America. Packed with facts, figures, and the well-informed opinions of thirty-two experts, it provides an illuminating snapshot of sustainability in the United States today. And each of the contributors suggests where we need to go next, recommending three to five specific actions that we should take during the next five to ten years. It thus offers a comprehensive agenda that citizens, corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and government leaders and policymakers can use to make decisions today and to plan for the future. Sustainable development holds enormous promise for improving the quality of life for Americans over the coming decades. Agenda for a Sustainable America describes what we need to do to make the promise a reality. It assesses trends in twenty-eight separate areas of American life including forestry; transportation; oceans and estuaries; religion; and state, local, and national governance. In every area, contributors reveal what sustainable development could mean, with suggestions that are specific, desirable, and achievable. Their expert recommendations point the way toward greater economic and social well-being, increased security, and environmental protection and restoration for current and future generations of Americans. Together they build a convincing case for how sustainable development can improve our opportunities and our lives.
John C. Dernbach is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Widener University Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has divided his career between teaching and government service.
In his teaching role, Dernbach has focused on sustainable development in the United States and on climate change. He has edited the only three comprehensive nongovernmental assessments of U.S. sustainable development efforts. He has written and lectured widely on sustainable development, climate change, and environmental law.
In two stints totaling near 15 years, he worked at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Environmental Protection). During this time, he helped drafted or help implement comprehensive and nationally recognized reforms to Pennsylvania's mining and waste programs. More recently, he directed the Department's policy office.
In 2006 Dernbach was on of four lawyers to co-author an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 18 prominent climate scientists in Massachusetts v. EPA, a landmark case in U.S. climate change law.
http://ssrn.com/author=411559 (SSRN)
http://works.bepress.com/john_dernbach/subject_areas.html#Environmental%20Law (Bepress)
http://johndernbach.com/ (web site)
