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"Proposing environmental policy which is consistent with the laws of nature, this book is for those who are not just interested in the ways humans have harmfully altered their environment, but instead wish to learn why the many governmental policies in place to curb such behaviour have been unsuccessful. Since humans began to exploit natural resources for their own economic ends, we have ignored a central principle - nature and humans are not separate but are a unified interconnected system, where neither is superior to the other. Policy must reflect this reality. We failed to follow this principle in exploiting natural capital without expecting to pay any price and in hurriedly adopting environmental laws and policies that reflected how we wanted nature to work, instead of how it does work. This study relies on more accurate models for how nature works and humans behave"--

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Preface -- Introduction: The Roots of Moral Austerity in Environmental Policy Discourse -- Part I. Moral Principles and Environmental Policy: Basic Issues and Dilemmas -- Issue 1: Science as a Substitute for Moral Principle? Science as a Substitute for Moral Principle -- Science Is No Substitute for Moral Principle -- Issue 2: Environmental Justice without Social Justice? Why Environmental Thought and Action Must Include Considerations of Social Justice -- Environmental Justice: Private Preference or Public Necessity? -- Issue 3: Nature Has Only an Instrumental Value Sustainability: Descriptive or Performative? -- Are Environmental Values All Instrumental? -- Issue 4: Intrinsic Value Implies No Use and a Threat to Democratic Governance A Practical Concept of Nature's Intrinsic Value -- On Intrinsic Value and Environmental Ethics -- Part II. Case Studies in Sustainable Environmental Policy and Law -- Introduction -- The Subnational Role in Sustainable Development: Lessons from American States and Canadian Provinces -- Sustainable Development and Natural Hazards Mitigation -- Sustainable Governance -- Sustainability in the United States: Legal Tools and Initiatives -- Sustainable Development and the Use of Public Lands -- The Impact of Political Institutions on Preservation of U.S. and Canadian National Parks -- Global Environmental Accountability: The Missing Link in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development? -- Part III. Moral Principles and Sustainable Environmental Policy: An Analysis of Ends and Means -- Introduction -- Issue 1: Science and Sustainability Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Values -- Saving All the Parts: Science and Sustainability -- Discussion -- Issue 2: Environmental Policy, Sustainability, and Social Justice Why Environmental Public Policy Analysis Must Include Explicit Normative Considerations: Reflections on Seven Illustrations -- Sustainability and Environmental Justice: A Necessary Connection -- Discussion -- Issue 3: A Sustainable Environment as an Instrumental Value? The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Environment -- Why Not Foxy Hedgehogs? -- Discussion -- Issue 4: A Sustainable Environment as an Intrinsic Value? Sustainability: Restricting the Policy Debate -- Comments on Sustainability -- Discussion -- Conclusion: Democratic Competence, Accountability, and Education in the Twenty-first Century -- Notes -- References -- Contributors -- Index