The Politics of Sustainability

• Why are local governments leaders in sustainability?
• What is the state of national politics, and what are its implications for sustainability?
• How is policy important to the development of green infrastructure?

There is an old argument put forth by many politicians and industry leaders that protecting the natural environment and economic growth are incompatible goals. However, the contrary is true – economic growth depends on a sustained, functioning natural environment.  There is a political argument that must be made to invest in a sustainable future through a portfolio of federal, state, and local policies and programs.  The politics behind passing needed policies and implementing important programs are complicated, require long-term thinking, and tough choices.

Take infrastructure as one example.  Infrastructure is the backbone of economic growth in capitalist societies making the transfer of goods and services possible. Building railroads, ports, bridges, and interstate highways facilitated economic transformation and prosperity. This construction was made possible through far-sighted policy and investment by the government- and by the fact that distributing public resources made elected leaders more influential. The present situation is no different; we need public investment to spur the development of green infrastructure. We need to develop green transportation for people and goods as well as for the production, transmission and storage of clean energy. The development of smart grid infrastructure is essential for the development of distributed, decentralized generation of energy.

The following blogs report on and analyze environmental policy on the national, state, and local stages. Topics that appear often include the EPA and the Clean Air Act, the BP oil spill, and state-specific subsidy programs that encourage sustainability. Over the past several years, I have kept a close eye on the environmental policy decisions made by the Obama Administration and by Congress, and these decisions are analyzed from a political perspective and from a sustainability one in the posts that follow.

Posts

The Science and Politics of Preserving our Beach Communities  (May 20, 2013)

Understanding the Shifting Politics of Climate Policy and Sustainability Management  (February 4, 2013)

Obama's Second Term and the Sustainability Agenda  (January 22, 2013)

Sustainability by the Numbers: The Growing Reality of the Green Economy (November 19, 2012)

The Attack on Green Energy (October 22, 2012)

The Inevitability of Sustainability Politics, Technology and Management (September 24, 2012)

The Presidential Politics of Climate and Energy (September 17, 2012)

Effective Regulation and Sustainable Economic Growth (August 20, 2012)

All Sustainability Politics is Local (August 6, 2012)

Climate Change and the American Political Agenda (July 23, 2012)

Sustainability and the Politics of Environmental Protection (July 9, 2012)

The Benefits of Tolerance (May 14, 2012)

Hydrofracking Politics and Sustainability Management (May 7, 2012)

The Limits to Political Spin (April 23, 2012)

The Business of Presidential Media Politics (April 2, 2012)

Why Are We Letting Local Governments Go Broke? (February 20, 2012)
 
The Republicans Misread of Environmental Politics (January 30, 2012)

Symbolic Politics and the Keystone Pipeline (January 23, 2012)

2012's Not-Quite Hopeless U.S. Climate Policy (January 9, 2012)

Sustainability, Politics, and Consumerism (December 28, 2011)

Stop the Solar Trade War (December 19, 2011)

Understanding the Failure of the UN's Climate Talks (December 12, 2011)

We Need a Practical and Comprehensive Jobs Program (October 31, 2011)

Rick Perry's Fossilized Jobs Program (October 24, 2011)

The Political Impact of Occupy Wall Street (October 17, 2011)

The Green Economy Will Easily Overcome Solydnra's Bankruptcy (September 19, 2011)
Hopeless Obama (September 6, 2011)

The Right Wing Threat to Technological Innovation and America's Wealth (August 22, 2011)

Congress Can't Even Change a Light Bulb (July 18, 2011)

The Political Power of Environmental Protection (May 9, 2011)

The Tea Party Attack on Environmental Protection Will Fail (April 18, 2011)

The Political Demise of Nuclear Power in the U.S. (March 21, 2011)

An Environmental Tale of Two Governments: New York City and the United States of America (February 14, 2011)

The Transition From Environmental Politics to Sustainability Politics (January 31, 2011)

We Need a Smart, Agile and Innovative Environmental Police Force (January 19, 2011)

Congress and the Coming Fact-Free Climate Policy Debate (January 4, 2011)

Defending EPA Against the Coming Right Wing Attack (December 28, 2010)

A Modest Green Agenda for the Coming Congress (December 23, 2010)

Cancun and the Fundamentals of the Global Climate Crisis (December 8, 2010)

The New Congress and the Environmental Sustainability Agenda (November 29, 2010)

Understanding the Electorate's Support for the Sustainability Agenda (November 4, 2010)

Let's Keep the Tops on Our Mountains (October 18, 2010)

There is Still No Way to Fund Sustainable Infrastructure in America (September 13, 2010)

Here Comes Some Old Fashioned Command and Control Climate Regulation (July 26, 2010)

If The Cap Holds: The Long Term Political Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill (July 19, 2010)

A Mistrusted, Incompetent Federal Government Cannot Build a Green Economy (June 24, 2010)

The Gulf as President Barack Obama's Bay of Pigs Moment (June 17, 2010)

The Gulf Oil Spill's Impact on the Politics of Sustainability (June 14, 2010)

Changing Obama's Management Style Alone Will Not Prevent the Next Environmental Catastrophe (June 7, 2010)

The Gulf Spill as a Breach of Our Environmental Security (June 1, 2010)

The Gulf Spill and Effective Management of Regulation (May 14, 2010)

Move Resource Regulation Out of the Department of the Interior (May 27, 2010)

The Gulf Oil Spill Will Change the Politics of Energy and Environment (April 30, 2010)

Climate and Energy Politics and the Mid-Term Election (April 5, 2010)

EPA's Pragmatic Approach to Regulating Climate (February 24, 2010)

Under-taxed Americans are Too Broke to Finance Sustainability Infrastructure (February 20, 2010)

The State of the Union: Jobs, Energy and Climate (January 28, 2010)

The Real Politics of Climate Policy 2010 (January 24, 2010)

A Successful Year For Our First Sustainability President (January 8, 2010)

The Real Climate Choice Before Congress: Cap and Trade or Command and Control? (January 5, 2010)

Climate Politics and Copenhagen (December 10, 2009)