Acting as If Tomorrow Matters Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability

In his previous book, the well-received and often-quoted Agenda for a Sustainable America (2009), John Dernbach made more than a hundred recommendations for making the United States more environmentally sustainable. Yet it is increasingly clear that the modest progress made by the United States since the Earth Summit in 1992 is not caused by the absence of specific and feasible policy recommendations. What we need to do is well known. How we are going to do it is much less clear.

Acting as if Tomorrow Matters is a guide to making the United States environmentally sustainable. It is based on the views of more than four dozen nationally known experts in a variety of fields. Synthesizing answers to essential questions about sustainability, Dernbach provides an empirically based framework to explain the progress made in the United States to date on sustainability, including a description of the most significant obstacles to rapid and increased success.

Building on the framework that has guided real progress so far, Dernbach explains in detail how to make a greater variety of more sustainable decisions even more attractive, how law can provide an even better enabling environment for sustainability, and how public opinion and leadership can more effectively be engaged to support sustainability. The book thus provides a checklist of ideas and opportunities for moving toward sustainable development-starting now.

John C. Dernbach is a professor of law at Widener University Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has divided his career between teaching and government service.  Professor Dernbach teaches environmental law, property, international environmental law, international law, and a seminar on climate change. He is the editor of Agenda for a Sustainable America (2009) and author of Stumbling Toward Sustainability (2002), comprehensive assessments of U.S. sustainable development activities that include recommendations for future efforts. Before taking his teaching position at Widener, he worked in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for nearly 15 years, and served most recently as that agency's policy director.