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Article
| Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
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September – October 2009
U.S. Energy Policy: Overcoming Barriers to Acting
by
Max Bazerman
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Abstract
Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration (drill, baby, drill), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy challenges. Policymakers tend to do just enough to satisfy political demands but not enough to solve the real problems, and they wait too long to act. The resulting policies are overly reactive, enacted once damage is already done, and they are too often incomplete, incoherent, and ineffectual. Given the gravity of current economic, geopolitical, and environmental concerns, this is more unacceptable than ever. This important volume details this problem, making clear the unfortunate results of such short-sighted thinking, and it proposes measures to overcome this counterproductive tendency. All of the contributors to Acting in Time on Energy Policy are affiliated with Harvard University and rank among America's pre-eminent energy policy analysts. They tackle important questions as they pertain to specific areas of energy policy: Why are these components of energy policy so important? How would acting in time, i.e., not waiting until politics demands action, make a difference? What should our policy actually be? We need to get energy policy right this time-Gallagher and her colleagues help lead the way.
Keywords: Policy;
Climate Change;
Energy Sources;
Government and Politics;
Cognition and Thinking;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques;
Problems and Challenges;
Non-Renewable Energy;
Economics;
Natural Environment;
Energy Industry;
United States;
