Public Policy Discussion - Assignment Example

Public policy discussion Introduction Matters relating to the environment have usually in the politics of the United States of America taken a significant place since the early 1970s. This is due to the new calls arising from all over the world for all people and especially governments to take a significant role in promoting environmental conservation and awareness. Around the 1990s, policy formulators from around the world had vowed to tackle environmental challenges, which were aimed at reducing water and air pollutions (Norman 56). These kinds of commitments were eminent during the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where environmental activists and policy makers were pushing governments to promote sustainable development in their respective countries. These environmental discussions are still held every year in chosen countries around the world. Part 1 The states have become an alternative avenue in the formulation of the environmental policy in two main ways. One is that the states are faced with varied environmental challenges. The states become an avenue through which the federal government collects data from the citizens of those states. The states are represented in the congress and therefore the issues they raise are heard by the federal government. The federal government uses this information from all the states to formulate a national environmental policy. In the same the federal uses the states to collect information, it is the same channel that the federal government in conjunction with the states governments implement the environmental policy (HarperCollins 56). This is the other function of the states in environmental matters. In addition to this, when the policy is being implemented, its effectiveness should be evaluated in order to determine whether the desired results are being achieved. This determined through the officials deployed by the government in the states using various programmes. After the Clean Air Act of 1963, changes were made to the Water Pollu­tion Control Act of 1948 (Robert. This is when Washington started pressing the states to set pollution standards and to come up with implementation frameworks which were based on the federal government's guidelines. Another perfect example is when the Congress gave way to the policy innovation at the end of 1969 when it passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The act provided that it is the role of the Federal Government, in together with State and local governments, and other interested public and private institutions, to put in place achievable means and measures, not forgetting financial and technical support, in a way aimed to maintain and promote the general wellbeing, to develop and promote situations whereby human being and the environment could exist in beneficial harmony, and at the same time achieve the economic, and other needs of current and future off springs of Americans. Clinton is praised for his environmental appointments and for his strong government sup­port for programmes like the restoration of the Florida Everglades and other decision based on new innovations and approaches to ecosystem management. Clinton reversed major decisions of the Reagan- and Bush-era that were highly criti­cized by environmentalists (Hanna 53). He also increased government expenditure and spending on environ­mental initiatives, initiatives towards green energy and conservation research, and international populace policies (MarianR 67). Government definitely is a major player in the environmental affairs, and the federal government will go on having unique roles, as will the fifty states and the 80,000 local governments across the United States. The involvement of states in environmental regulations crafted by the federal government varies from one state to another based on the environmental challenges they might be facing. In the past two decades, the states are coming up with their own environmental policies which are of course in line with the federal government environmental policies (Poloski 67). For instance, the Florida Clean Air initiatives are one of the many successful policies and initiatives that states have put in place. This implies that several states are going beyond just merely implementing the federal environmental regulations and instead they have been developing and implementing crucial laws and new policy innovations to solve the environmental challenges they might be facing. Part 2 Introduction The environment needs to be conserved and taken care of. Obama's decision is heading in the right direction since other countries will follow and empower the UN in its environmental conservation efforts. America is one of the most industrious countries in the world and therefore due to this, it requires a lot of resources whose only source is the environment. These resources are declining each passing day and this is very devastating. By funding UN guarantees that the whole world will be involved in the conservation efforts because it has the infrastructure and frameworks to do so (Samuel P 53). I see no problem in funding the UN because the American government has funded so many organizations and activities which do not add any value to the economy of the country and his decision is unique and he should be supported and other governments should follow suit. President Obama before his election to the White House was a Senator for Illinois. He was very instrumental in pushing for reforms and formulation of environmental policies. He was supported by other members of the senate to force the then administration to fund environmental initiatives. In my own opinion, sometimes presidential power is a real concern when is it is used in the wrong way and manner. But when used in the best way, it yields better results especially in improving the social and economic welfare of the populace. When a president is elected into office, he tries to fulfil all those promises he made to the supporters and the entire country. For example, when Obama was elected in 2008 brought exclusive attention to innovative policy suggestions, although less than majority of Obama’s supporters had hoped for. Taken together, however, over the past two decades we have noticed a new wave of urgency arising about climate change and other third generation environmental, energy issues, and resource problems and, at least in some people’s opinions, an urgency to solve those problems despite prevailing weak economic conditions. Since 1992, administrations at all stages have struggled to reformulate envi­ronmental policies for the century. Under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tried to remodel environmental regulations through the use of cooperative decisions involving many stakeholders, public-private co operations, market-based supports, information gathering, and improve flex­ibility in law making and enforcement. Especially in the Clinton ruling, new pressures within the EPA and other federal institutions and departments on ecosystem management and sustainable development was meant to foster a detailed, integrated, and long-term solutions for environmental conservation and natural resource management. Works Cited Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft, eds., Environmental Policy in the 1980s: Reagan’s New Agenda (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1984) John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, 2nd ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1995); Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones, Agendas and Insta­bility in American Politics (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993) Judith A. Layzer, Natural Experiments: Ecosystem-Based Management and the Environ­ment (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008) Hanna J. Cortner and Margaret A. Moote, The Politics of Ecosystem Management (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1998) MarianR. Chertow and Daniel C. Esty, eds., Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policy (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997) President’s Council on Sustainable Development, Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Pros­perity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment (Washington, DC: President’s Council on Sustainable Development, 1996) Richard N.L. Andrews, Managing the environment, managing ourselves: a history of American environmental policy. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2006. Robert Gottlieb. Forcing the spring: the transformation of the American environmental movement. Washington, DC : Island Press, 2005 Christopher McGrory Klyza . American environmental policy, 1990-2006: beyond gridlock. David J. Sousa. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008 Samuel P. Hays, History of environmental politics since 1945. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. Read More