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Book Review: Knowledge and Environmental Policy: Re-imagining the boundards of science and politics

Book Review: Knowledge and Environmental Policy: Re-imagining the boundards of science and politics

Holistic environmental policies, which emerged from a mere combination of technical activities in waste management some 40 years ago, constitute the most advanced level of environmental policies. These approaches to environmental policy, among them the policies in integrated waste management, attempt to guide economic agents to an environment-friendly behaviour. Nevertheless, current holistic policies in waste management, including policies on one-way drinks containers and waste electrical and electronic equipment, and implementations of extended producer responsibility with further applications to waste electrical and electronic equipment, reveal more or less severe deficiencies – despite some positive examples. This article relates these policy failures, which are not necessarily the result of an insufficient compliance with the regulations, to missing constitutive elements of what is going to be called an 'integrated environmental policy'. This article therefore investigates – mostly from a practical point of view – constitutive elements, which are necessary for a holistic policy to serve as a well-functioning allocation mechanism. As these constitutive elements result from a careful 'integration' of the environmental commodities into the economic allocation problems, we refer to these policies as 'integrated environmental policies'. The article also discusses and illustrates the main steps of designing such a policy – for waste electrical and electronic equipment and a (possible) ban of Glyphosat in agriculture. As these policies are dependent on economic and political stability with environmental awareness sufficiently developed, the article addresses mostly waste management policies in highly industrialised countries. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

Environmentalism is an elusive concept with many meanings. In this paper its changing character is examined together with an analysis of how it is likely to influence public policy across a broad front. The major environmental issues which OECD countries are likely to face nationally, regionally, and globally over the next twenty years are reviewed and the type of politics that may emerge within the new environmentalism is discussed. The overriding global issues will be the tragic interconnection between poverty and environmental damage in the underdeveloped countries. In the developed but deindustrialising economies of the 'North', greatest attention will be placed on devising means for creating jobs and providing satisfying occupations for people forced out of a job or never in employment. Environmental rehabilitation can create jobs, but it will involve the denial of resources otherwise available to create jobs elsewhere. It will therefore be necessary to consider the 'next job effectiveness' of environmental policies. Another policy area that requires new thinking is the management of environmental hazards, notably how to dispose of toxic wastes in a manner acceptable to a majority of people. Finally, serious efforts will have to be made, not only to infuse environmental principles within all policy arenas, but also to ensure that departmental responsibilities and budgets are properly linked. The principle that those who exploit environmental resources should, by means of transfer taxes and payments, subsidise those who use environmental resources frugally and benignly should also become established.

The growing concerns about global environmental changes and the associated predictions of catastrophe have led to a massive growth in the available literature. Works that critically examine and assess various perspectives and claims are indeed welcome, but agreed theory and policy remains nevertheless well behind the frontline of thinking. Within this context, this review essay deals with five books that have met the inherent challenges with varying degrees of success. Each is reviewed separately, and then the reviewer indulges in discussion of the state of the art in environmental sociology. New policies and technologies are playing an increasing role in the dissemination of innovative thinking, but many publishers are responding very slowly.