Search results for ""Author Michael R. Greenberg""

Pressing environmental challenges are frequently surrounded with stakeholders on all sides of the issues. Opinions expressed by government agencies, the private sector, special interests, nonprofit communities, and the media, among others can quickly cloud the dialogue, leaving one to wonder how policy decisions actually come about.In Environmental Policy Analysis and Practice, Michael R. Greenberg cuts through the complicated layers of bureaucracy, science, and the public interest to show how all policy considerations can be broken down according to six specific factors: 1) the reaction of elected government officials, 2) the reactions of the public and special interests, 3) knowledge developed by scientists and engineers, 4) economics, 5) ethical imperatives, and 6) time pressure to make a decision.The book is organized into two parts, with the first part defining and illustrating each one of these criteria. Greenberg draws on examples such as nuclear power, pesticides, brownfield redevelopment, gasoline additives, and environmental cancer, but focuses on how these subjects can be analyzed rather than exclusively on the issues themselves. Part two goes on to describe a set of over twenty tools that are used widely in policy analysis, including risk assessment, environmental impact analysis, public opinion surveys, cost-benefit analysis, and others. These tools are described and then illustrated with examples from part one.Weaving together an impressive combination of practical advice and engaging first person accounts from government officials, administrators, and leaders in the fields of public health and medicine, this clearly written volume is poised to become a leading text in environmental policy.

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While New Jersey now frequently appears near the top in listings of America’s healthiest states, this has not always been the case. The fluctuations in the state’s overall levels of health have less to do with the lifestyle choices of individual residents and more to do with broader structural issues, ranging from pollution to urban design to the consolidation of the health care industry. This book uses the past fifty years of New Jersey history as a case study to illustrate just how much public policy decisions and other upstream factors can affect the health of a state’s citizens. It reveals how economic and racial disparities in health care were exacerbated by bad policies regarding everything from zoning to education to environmental regulation. The study further chronicles how New Jersey struggled to deal with public health crises like the AIDS epidemic and the crack epidemic. Yet it also explores how the state has developed some of the nation’s most innovative responses to public health challenges, and then provides policy suggestions for how we might build an even healthier New Jersey.

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On the banks of the old Raritan, environmental expert Judy Shaw gives readers a tour of the remarkable river, a major waterway 90 miles long, with 2,000 miles of tributary streams and brooks that twists and turns from its source in Morris County, down to the Raritan Bay. It is the longest river that is completely within New Jersey, includes the state’s largest contiguous stretch of wildlife habitat, and runs through one of the most populated areas of the United States.The Raritan River shows New Jersey for what it is—home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of an amazing region where protected environments coexist with land left in ruins by rampant industrialization and where the reckless pursuit of commerce scarred the lands along its banks. Shaw argues that as we work to protect this historically wooded and agricultural land from further development, we need to replace our outmoded infrastructure and rethink outdated design and management practices that currently limit our progress toward a clean and beautiful environment. With over 350 photographs and 20 paintings, Shaw captures scenes of the river, the wildlife on the shores, and the human activities along its banks. The illustrations show what is possible when we rescue the land, restore the habitat, and create harmony with nature. The Raritan River reminds us that people are the solution—we need to engage locally, to educate ourselves, and to work with those who manage our parks and open spaces to adopt new practices that enrich our natural resources instead of neglecting them for another generation.Watch a video with Judy A. Shaw:Watch video now. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXPP8tqP-xU).

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