There is very little argument that the world is facing severe environmental challenges. Ongoing air and water pollution, increasing energy consumption, and the depletion of natural resources have all placed considerable stress on the capacity of our environment to support the present quality of human life in a sustainable manner.
Ensuring a Sustainable Futuredoes what few previous works have: it examines these trends' disproportionate impact on the poor and the economically viable solutions that can serve to remedy them -- solutions that simultaneously address environmental and economic problems. This gap in previous research, evidence, and writing has left low-income countries often unwilling to take on major environmental problems and many poor communities believing they faced impossible choices between improving the environment in which they live and increasing the jobs and income available.
Bringing together evidence-based recommendations and in-depth case studies of successful policies and programs around the world,Ensuring a Sustainable Futureexamines innovative solutions to this crucial challenge. In doing so, it addresses a comprehensive range of environmental sustainability challenges affecting low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
Introduction The Environment and the Economy: Finding Equitable and Effective Solutions Jody Heymann and Magda Barrera
Section 1: Moving Forward on the Environment and the Economy: Creating Jobs, Building Healthy Communities Chapter 1 The Essential Connection: Environmental Sustainability, Community Stability and Equitable Development in Struggling Cities in High-Income Countries Ted Howard
Chapter 2 Community Action in Informal Settlements: Strategies for Improved Environmental Health and Equity in Low and Middle Income Countries David Satterthwaite
Chapter 3 Achieving Environmental Equity: Race, Place, and the Movement to Build Healthy Coml“Ö