ABSTRACT
This chapter covers US environmental regulation, including legislative milestones and the current range of pollution prevention approaches, both voluntary and mandatory, being used to promote better environmental quality. It highlights the recognition among the regulatory community that, in order to improve environmental quality. The chapter views the environment, and the cultures within it, as complex systems. The environmental management system (EMS) is presented as one option to address that complexity, beginning with a description of its system-based strengths. The chapter surveys the history of regulation, including significant legal and intellectual milestones and their impact on regulation, and follows with a review of current approaches to pollution prevention. It presents the use of EMSs as a possible vehicle for transformation of the US regulatory approach. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research on sustaining participation in EMSs.
