Statehouse and greenhouse : the emerging politics of American climate change policy / Barry G. Rabe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rabe, Barry George, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes--Government policy--United States.

Climatic changes.

Climatic changes--Government policy.

United States.

Climatic changes--Government policy--Economic aspects--United States.

Physical Description:

xviii, 212 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, [2004]

Summary:

No environmental issue triggers such feelings of hopelessness as global climate change. Many areas of the world, including regions of the United States, have experienced a wide range of unusually dramatic weather events recently. Much climate change analysis forecasts horrors of biblical proportions, such as massive floods, habitat loss, species loss, and epidemics related to warmer weather. Such accounts of impending disaster have helped trigger extreme reactions, wherein some observers simply dismiss global climate change as, at the very worst, a minor inconvenience requiring modest adaptation. It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that an American federal government known for institutional gridlock has accomplished virtually nothing in this area in the last decade. Policy inertia is not the story of this book, however. Statehouse and Greenhouse examines the surprising evolution of state-level government policies on global climate change. Environmental policy analyst Barry Rabe details a diverse set of innovative cases, offering detailed analysis of state-level policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The book explains why state innovation in global climate change has been relatively vigorous and why it has drawn so little attention thus far. Rabe draws larger potential lessons from this recent flurry of American experience. Statehouse and Greenhouse helps to move debate over global climate change from bombast to the realm of what is politically and technically feasible.

Contents:

The politics of climate change, state style

The economics of climate change policy

The mechanics of climate change policy

An unlikely front-runner in climate change policy

Looking ahead to the next generation of climate change policy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-199) and index.

ISBN:

0815773102

0815773099

OCLC:

53831537