ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an overview of the third generation of environmental policy and politics and compares it to the previous two generations that have dominated US policy debate over nearly five decades. It then traces the new focus on sustainability that emerged in the late 1980s and has slowly gained support. Today, such concerns are most evident within the United States in the rise of the sustainable community movement and in efforts to deal with local and regional issues such as the consequences of urban sprawl and new actions to promote energy efficiency, public transportation, and environmental quality in urban areas. They are also apparent in nascent efforts by many leading corporations to green their operations and embrace sustainability goals. The chapter then turns to international environmental policy, which presents a different array of issues, institutions, and policy actions. They have remained prominent as the world's nations struggled to respond to climate change and related developments.
