The Environmental Case : Translating Values into Policy

The Environmental Case gives readers a unique, first-hand feel for some of the most interesting and illuminating controversies in U.S. environmental policymaking―including the disaster at Love Canal, the dispute over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, and the global warming debate. Through 16 carefully constructed cases, Layzer covers the spectrum of environmental issues, from habitat conservation, air and water pollution, and overfishing to environmental justice and urban growth management. Each case elucidates various aspects of the U.S. political system but is also linked to the others by two main themes: environmental conflicts are, at heart, conflicts between advocates with fundamentally different values, and the way problems are framed in politics plays a central role in shaping how those values get translated into policies.

This second edition showcases all 12 of the original cases, thoroughly revised and updated. In addition, Layzer has added four new cases:

• Community activism propels the Dudley Street Neighborhood Association to fight for environmental justice and equitable redevelopment of a once-distressed area in the heart of Boston.
• The use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park divides environmentalists into bitterly opposing camps: those who regard parks as playgrounds and support unlimited motorized access, and those who advocate more conservative management that emphasizes protection of the park’s flora, fauna, and quiet serenity.
• In the tuna/dolphin and shrimp/turtle disputes, competing advocates debate whether U.S. environmental protection measures constitute non-tariff barriers to trade and, more broadly, whether trade liberalization is good for the environment.
• Opponents of growth management campaign to undermine the city of Portland’s strict policies curbing urban sprawl, the most stringent in the nation.

Layzer provides maps, tables, figures, questions to consider, recommended readings, and useful websites to help readers think critically and actively about the issues raised in each case and facilitate further research.

Judith A. Layzer was professor of environmental policy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) until her death in 2015. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at MIT. After four years at Middlebury College in Vermont she returned to MIT, where she taught courses in science and politics in environmental policymaking, ecosystem-based management, food systems and the environment, urban sustainability, energy and environmental politics, and public policy.

Layzer’s research focused on several aspects of U.S. environmental politics, including the roles of science, values, and storytelling in environmental politics, as well as on the effectiveness of different approaches to environmental planning and management. A recent project asked: Do urban sustainability initiatives significantly reduce cities’ ecological footprints? And which aspects of “green cities” are most effective at reducing cities’ environmental impacts? In addition to The Environmental Case, Layzer was the author of Natural Experiments: Ecosystem-Based Management and the Environment (2008) and Open for Business: Conservatives’ Opposition to Environmental Regulation (2012).

Layzer was an athlete as well as a scholar. In addition to having finished five Boston marathons, she shared nine national championship titles and one world championship trophy with her teammates on Lady Godiva, formerly Boston’s premier women’s Ultimate Frisbee team.

Judith A. Layzer

1961–2015