Foreword

• Author: Frank B. Friedman
• Pages: 1-2

Foreword

Frank Friedman’s Practical Guide to Environmental Management

(PGEM) has earned its place among the classic texts on environmental

management. PGEM provides readers with the firm grounding in history

necessary to put environmental issues in context and a practical survey of the

management systems and tools to produce good environmental performance.

PGEM now enters its 10th edition with new material on social responsi-

bility, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, criminal sentencing guidelines, and several

other areas. This edition of PGEM retains its focus on the practical, while

also surveying the developing trends in environmental management. As

Friedman notes, environmental management systems (EMS) and corporate

behavior, particularly in developing countries, increasingly serve as the de

facto system of environmental governance and are key to ensuring environ-

mental protection goals are met. In this new edition, Mr. Friedman does a

superb job of orienting the environmental manager in this new era.

As a former environmental executive in federal and state government as

well as two corporations, I would stress that Frank Friedman’sbook has much

to offer to both public and private sector environmental lawyers and manag-

ers. Professionals in both sectors contend with the day-to-day demands of

promoting compliance with laws and encouraging foresight to head off new

problems. In the end, they can succeed only by building environmental

awareness, responsibility,and competence in the other disciplines and opera-

tions in their organizations. That is true whether they work in a corporation, a

municipal water treatment agency,or a big department of state or federal gov-

ernment. Friedman’s book contains good advice on what and how to commu-

nicate about environmental objectives inside organizations to achieve

broader support and stronger performance by business and government.

Mr. Friedman’slong history in the environmental management arena has

served only to inform, not date, PGEM as he has kept it current with this

quickly developing field. After graduating from Columbia Law School in

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