Agenda for a Sustainable America

• Author: Contributing Authors
• Pages: 27-39

CHAPTER 3

Agenda for a Sustainable America

The Contributing Authors

How do we get to a sustainable America? The report card contained

in Chapter 2 showed that we have made more progress in recent years

in some areas than in others. Yetin every single area of American life

and activity, we have a long way to go.

The contributing authors of this book together provide more than a

hundred recommendations for the next decade. These recommenda-

tions encompass 10 basic themes, and they provide a basic map of the

direction we need to go. They are:

1. The United States should systematically reduce its eco-

logical footprint.

2. The United States government must adopt, as soon as

possible, greenhouse gas emission reduction programs that

will reduce U.S. emissions to our fair share of safe global

emissions.

3. The United States should create more employment op-

portunities in environmental protection and restoration, and

make it easier for unskilled and low-income persons to enter

and remain in the workforce.

4. Sustainable development should be an organizing prin-

ciple for all levels of government.

5. Nongovernmental actors should play a major role in

achieving sustainability.

6. Individuals, families, and consumers should have more

sustainable options in the decisions they make.

7. Sustainable development should become a central part

of public and formal education.

8. The United States should strengthen its environmental

and natural resources laws.

9. The United States needs to play an international leader-

ship role on behalf of sustainable development.

10. The United States needs to improve the information

and data available to the public to make decisions for

sustainability.

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