Speaking Green with a Southern Accent: Environmental Management and Innovation in the South

The nation's environmental policy approaches and methods are becoming more flexible and diverse, with state governments composing the fulcrum of policy changes. Southern environmental politics and policy are especially valuable when considering a changing environmental policy landscape because they present a contradiction of caution and innovation. This caution derives from the South's well-documented traditional culture while this innovation crosses geographical, pollution media, and intergovernmental levels. Environmental protection in the South must take this paradox into account if progress is to be successful. This book studies Southern environmental policy and politics in order to understand the concrete realities of the Southeast and extend those realities' understanding to other regions of the country. It analyzes a series of cases that describe the state of environmental policy implementation and management in the South. These case studies cover a range of environmental areas, including air quality, drinking water and wastewater, brownfields, collaborative environmental management, and environmental justice, among others. These cases explore the diversity and flexibility which compose the dominant characters of environmental management today.

Table of Contents:
1 List of Tables and Figures 2 Acknowledgements 3 Introduction Chapter 4 1.Tradition and Adaptation: The Post-Modern Environmental Management System Chapter 5 2.State Commitment to Environmental Quality in the South: A Regional Analysis Chapter 6 3.Ozone Air Quality Management and Southeastern Distinctiveness Chapter 7 4.Dirty Water, Clean Water: Infrastructure Funding and State Discretion in Southern States Chapter 8 5.Water Wars in the South: Considering the ACT and ACF Interstate Compacts Chapter 9 6.Collaboration in Environmental Policy Implementation: Brownfields Programs in North Carolina and Florida Chapter 10 7.Agricultural Workers and Environmental Justice: An Assessment of the Federal Worker Protection Standards Chapter 11 8.A State Government Faces Environmental Management Change: Mississippi's Department of Environmental Quality Chapter 12 9.Collaborative Management within a Traditionalistic Political Culture: An Unconventional Approach to Resolving "Wicked" Problems Chapter 13 10.The Biofuel Policy in the American Southeast: How Will Southern States Manage the Potential? Chapter 14 11.Distinctively South: Lessons for the Future of Environmental Management and Policy Implementation 15 About the Contributors

About the Author :
Gerald Andrews Emison is associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Mississippi State University. John C. Morris is professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Public Administration at Old Dominion University.

Review :
Emison and Morris's book is a thoughtful, timely piece critically needed in the classroom. In the wake of the challenge of disasters both natural and man-made, it helps to explain the uniquely 'Southern' policy approach. It is relevant to student focus, stylish in delivery and superb in its treatment of a crucial subject. This book covers the waterfront of Southern environmental problems and policies, exposing the variations in administrative capacity by state and environmental policy arena. No other book provides such a rich description and detailed explanation of the state of environmental policy regulation in the South as the region transitions from a command and control regulatory regime to one of cooperation and market based solutions. There are a wealth of books about the vibrant past and folklore of the southern US. However, little is written about the South's innovative environmental protection strategies. This work provides a highly readable account of how southern environmental policy evolved into a modern green movement driven by sustainable principles. The book begins with an explanation of the roles of the southern states in early American environmental policy. This leads to a chapter explaining the way state policies influence emerging approaches for resolving environmental quality issues. Authors then discuss air and water quality concerns unique to the southern states, and also mention agricultural development, alternative energy, and brownfields. Case studies in each chapter convey the particular environmental concerns and unique strategies being used to resolve the issue. Each chapter is written by an author with expertise on the topic presented and includes ample contemporary references. The book gives an exceptional perspective of how southern environmental management strategies fit into national and global environmental concerns. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries, especially regional collections.