The Short Guide to Environmental Policy

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.

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.