Bookshelf
- For late night reading, best with some green tea
Throwing away good money
Norman Myers' point is simple: government subsidies are bad. Not only are they bad, but they increase the cost of government, reduce pressure on businesses to become efficient, cause tax increases, often reward polluters and benefit the few (usually the rich) at the expense of the many (usually the poor). This is the thesis of his Perverse Subsidies: Tax $s Undercutting Our Economics and Environments Alike, which has earned praise from the likes of Stanford University's Paul Erlich and other well-known academics and professionals. Reducing what he calls "perverse subsidies" would, according to Myers, eliminate obstacles to sustainable development and increase a massive pool of funds available to push ahead with sustainable development programs. As Myers points out, subsidies in the US total more than USD 300 million per year — even more than the USD 240 billion budget of the Defense Department. (For more info: Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, UK)
The Environment, Employment and Sustainable Development
Published by Routledge
ISBN: 0 415 18030 9 (pbk)
199 pages
The changing environmental job market
In The Environment, Employment and Sustainable Development, editors Monica Hale and Mike Lachowitz, along with 20 contributors from environment, business and academia, take an overview of the impact of environmental policies on business and the job market in Europe. The collection of essays covers such topics as "Skills for Environmental Professionals," "The Evolution of Environmental Careers" and "Sustainable Development and the European Job Market." Though it may seem a guide for employment in the environmental sector, it is in fact a wider survey of the changing marketplace. It is intended for students, researchers and practitioners interested in the relationship between environmental studies, economics and business. (For more info: www.routledge.com.)
How to green up profits
Though some would argue that environmentally-sound practices are incompatible with economic competitiveness, Jonathan Golub and the contributors to Global Competition and EU Environmental Policy take this topic apart for a much-needed closer examination. The contributors, all academics or practitioners, examine how fear of the economic disadvantages of high environmental standards has shaped development of EU environmental policy. The contributors look at several international case studies in areas such as ozone protection, pesticide exports and climate change for policy options used in the past to reconcile the desire for economic competitiveness with protection of the environment. The book ultimately seeks to determine under what conditions environmental standards actually contribute to competitiveness. (For more info: www.routledge.com.)
"Relative Progress" in CEE/NIS environment
Earlier this year, USAID took a look at how far the CEE and NIS regions have come in improving the environment and what remains to be done. Their conclusions, compiled in a new publication entitled Measuring the Environmental Transition in Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States, indicate that environmental NGOs are effective at the local level but less effective at the central government level. There is a dearth of data on environmental performance for the CEE and NIS countries, but what is available suggests "relative progress" in environmental performance. And there has been substantial progress in creating laws and regulations covering the environment although enforcement remains weak. In addition to a general survey of the two regions, the publication reviews and scores the environmental conditions in 26 states of the region. (For more info: www.eni-environment.net.)
REC * PUBLICATIONS * THE BULLETIN * SUMMER 1998
