If sustainability is our goal, social and environmental policy must be treated as one and the same field. Examples from Agriculture, Nutrition, Forestry, Urban Planning, Care Work, Tourism, and University Management show that such a paradigm shift is indicated, important, and timely. They also show that Environmental or Social Impact Assessments are no longer adequate. The new paradigm synthetically combines environmental and social policy. Not to do so leads to policy inefficiency and perverse effects. One policy domain may counteract or outright "sabotage" the other.

To synthetically combine environmental and social policy calls for a trans-disciplinary perspective to include both policy fields and academic disciplines. This is well illustrated by the contributors in this book who represent numerous academic disciplines. They help professionals and students appreciate the centrality of trans-disciplinary thought and practice in working toward sustainability.

Klappentext

If sustainability is our goal, social and environmental policy must be treated as one and the same field. Examples from Agriculture, Nutrition, Forestry, Urban Planning, Care Work, Tourism, and University Management show that such a paradigm shift is indicated, important, and timely. They also show that Environmental or Social Impact Assessments are no longer adequate. The new paradigm synthetically combines environmental and social policy. Not to do so leads to policy inefficiency and perverse effects. One policy domain may counteract or outright sabotage the other.

To synthetically combine environmental and social policy calls for a trans-disciplinary perspective to include both policy fields and academic disciplines. This is well illustrated by the contributors in this book who represent numerous academic disciplines. They help professionals and students appreciate the centrality of trans-disciplinary thought and practice in working toward sustainability.

Zusammenfassung
This book argues that social and environmental policy should be synthetically treated as one and the same field, that both are but two aspects of the same coin if sustainability is the goal. Such a paradigm shift is indicated, important, and timely to effectively move towards sustainability. This book is the first to take this approach and to give examples for it. Not to synthetically merge the two fields has been and will continue to be highly insufficient, inefficient and contradictory for policy and public administration aiming for a transformation towards a sustainable world. In general, social problems are dealt with in one policy corner and environmental problems in another. Rarely is social policy (at large) concerned with its impact on the environment or its connection with and relevance to environmental policy. Equally, environmental problems are generally not seen in conjunction with social policy, even though much environmental policy directly relates to health, nutrition, migration and other issues addressed by social policy. This book intends to correct the pattern to separate these very significant and large policy fields. Using examples from diverse academic and applied fields, it is shown how environmental policy can (and should) be thought of as social policy and how social policy can (and should) simultaneously be seen as environmental policy. Tremendous benefits are to be expected.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Part I: Agriculture, Food and Forestry.- Where Environmental Policy is Social Policy: Nature, Food, Society and Metabolic Processes.- Protecting Food Security, the Rural Poor and the Environment: The Case of Climate Change Mitigation in Animal Agriculture.- Living off the Fat of Another Land: Trans Fat Social Policy and Environmental Externalities.- Forest Sustainability and the Social Context: Applying the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators.- Forest Sustainability and Social Policy: The Role of Ecosystem Services.- Part II: Developing New Urban Spaces.- Sustainable Urbanism: Creating Resilient Communities in the Age of Peak Oil and Climate Destabilization.- Planning Sustainable Cities: Why Environmental Policy needs Social Policy.- Chinese Model Cities and Cancer Villages: Environmental Policy is Social Policy.- A Peek Over the Fence: Urban Agriculture as an Instrument of Social and Environmental Policy.- When Environmental and Social Policy Converge: The Case of Boston's Fairmount Line.- Part III: Work and Ecology, Tourism, University Management.- Social Policy is Environmental Policy: Paid Work, Unpaid Care Work, Gender, and Ecology.- Envisioning Environmental Policy as Social Policy: The Case of the International Cruise Line Industry.- Sustainable Universities: Rhetoric versus Facts.- Index.