Rosenbaum Review

Rosenbaum’s Environmental Politics and Policy is one of the better resources for learning about the developments in the environmental movement in politics as well as providing information about the major problems that face environmentalism today. Chapter by chapter he goes through the problems that face the air, hazardous materials, energy, public lands, and climate change. Not only is he going the historical developments to show how America came up with the policies that we currently follow, but also shows the important development under the current president. Generally it is hard to find a book that is so up to date. There is even a section of the book devoted to global policy making in relation to climate change. He really does manage to provide the most comprehensive

In the first chapter in the second half of the book Rosenbaum discusses issues that relate to air and water, which he describes as being the primary issues for environmental policy today. These issues are the most politically salient and most important. Rosenbaum explains the current condition of the air and water in America and explains the task that Americans face in restoring these; the idea of restoring America’s air and water sources has been a goal since environmentalism emerged. It is important to realize, however, that the slow progress is not entirely the blame of policy and administrative failure, but rather science and technology is constantly changing and therefore new and unanticipated effects are placed on the environment. On the flip side science is also constantly redefining the standards that need to be meet in regards to pollution. The way that he is explaining how the government is working to combat the problems of pollution he i...

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...nerations” if things go unregulated. Fortunately science provides policy makers with the information needed to make informed regulations to benefit the future. It seems that environmentalism is becoming the stewardship of the Earth.

In conclusion, Rosenbaum has provided the reader with a great overview of American environmental history and policy. While the information seems a bit dry it is unlikely that you will find a better resource on this topic. The information he provides is up to date and very relevant which does make it slightly more informative. Prior to reading the book I discovered that Rosenbaum is a professor at University of Florida, and that he assigns his classes his own book. It seems a strange that a professor would assign his own book, but after reading it you realize that his book is one of the better environmental policy books written.