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The article discusses the responsibilities of governments and international organizations (IO) in protecting nations against potential damage which may be brought by the collective goods problem related to environmental issues. Defined as the dilemma in providing something that could benefit all group members, there are three main principles that a nation can follow to deal with the said problem, namely dominance, reciprocity, and the identity principle. It also explores the decision of former U.S. President George W. Bush to not comply with the Kyoto Protocol environmental agreement in 2001 due to its alleged unrealistic goals.

In this article the author advocates for an environmental policy that should be adopted by the administration of U.S. president Barack Obama. He notes that serious environmental damage had been done by Obama's predecessor in office, former president George W. Bush. He states that the correction of those policies and the advancement of an environmentally-friendly agenda is hampered by economic conditions in the U.S. which were damaged by the global economic crisis of 2008-09. Among other issues the author urges immediate action to halt climate change.

The article focuses on the interference of political biases in science under former U.S. President George W. Bush's Administration. A survey among the scientists who work for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that political interference is experienced in their work. According to the author, the administration also practiced science denial and refused to acknowledge or to act on the scientific evidence of global climate change. The author concludes that giving scientists an independent voice might be an effective method of countering political interference, which can be accomplished by publishing science documents without edits by political officials.

The article examines the failures of both scientific and political integrity in crafting a sound environmental policy in the U.S. While scientific integrity emerges from the decision-making process, where information is fed in, political integrity arises at the back-end of the process, when an environmental agency must transform information into decisions. Under the tenure of U.S. President George W. Bush, scientific premises are challenged and evaluated, agency scientists, such as NASA climate researcher Doctor James Hansen, are censored, and scientific judgments are not fully and accurately reported.

This paper examines regulatory change from the William J. Clinton administration through the presidency of George W. Bush by focusing on their respective efforts to alter national forest planning procedures mandated by the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA). While rule making has become an important alternative pathway for making policy, the strategies used to develop a new rule may vary among presidents because of differing values and management styles. Both presidents were adept at framing the planning regulation to reflect dominant values such as preserving ecosystems (Clinton) or administrative efficiency (Bush). Between-administration differences in regulatory tactics also tended to alter the relative importance of institutional venues and, by extension, the influence exercised by differing political constituencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with climate scientist Ben Santer. He comments on the controversy regarding global warming. He discloses the reasons for the lack of consistency between the models and data collected from satellites. He expresses his opinion whether the Climate Change Science Program report of U.S. President George W. Bush will change environmental policy.

The election of George W. Bush as U.S. president in 2000, as measured by the Iowa Electronic Market (IEM), was associated with an increase of 3% in the share price of firms that were being sued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is equal to approximately $100 billion of shareholder value. This finding is robust to a number of different specifications, controlling for other litigation, case law, and industry, and is not found in an otherwise similar sample of companies without litigation outstanding. It is suggested that the enforcement of environmental law is dependent on political pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the degree to which the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has adopted and implemented environmental policy changes that are often favored and discussed by environmental conservatives. It also discusses the varied and conflicting strands of conservative environmental thought. There are five different schools of conservative environmental thought. Libertarians can be among the strongest conservative supporters of environmental protection of human health and property. There are also several reasons why Republican administrations often may not adopt innovative environmental policies. Conservatives are not all of one view on the environment or on what constitutes beneficial environmental innovation.

This study of policy change examines the parallel strategies the administration of President George W. Bush has used to substantially alter the direction of forest policy during his first term. Using the Healthy Forests Initiative as a case study, this analysis explains how, by framing the problem of wildfires and forest health in terms of process and pointing blame at environmental groups misusing appeal procedures, the administration was able to emphasize process, rather than the content of existing forest policy. It also provided a reasonable explanation for the president to take a lead in seeking both legislative as well as regulatory change. We contend that the use of two parallel policymaking paths—legislative and administrative—enabled the president to pursue policy change more rapidly, and, from a strategic standpoint, more effectively, than by relying upon the legislative process alone. We offer that the Bush administration's approach to changing forest policy represents a redirection that is likely to serve as a template for further environmental policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many theoretical models analyze the effects of decentralized environmental policymaking. The predictions range from a race to the top, a race to the bottom, or no effect. However, little empirical evidence exists to resolve this ambiguity. This paper fills the void by examining the impact of decentralized environmental policymaking in the U.S. under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. For abatement expenditures, Reagan's decentralization had no discernible impact before the mid-1980s, but by the mid-1980s the data are consistent with decentralization leading to a race to the top. No statistically significant effect is found on nitrogen oxide or sulfur dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines obstacles to engaging the national administration and key members of the U.S. Congress in constructive dialogue on the issue of climate change. Position of the administration of president George W. Bush; Public opinion; Decentralized nature of the congressional legislative process; Initiatives at the state and local levels; Support for action from the business community.

Examines the possible establishment by the U.S. of diplomatic regional environmental hubs around the world. Evolution of the regional hub program; Practical effects of the regional environmental hub program; Potential impact of U.S. President George W. Bush's global integration project on international treaties.

Assesses whether the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush on the Kyoto Protocol, an environmental protection agreement, have been conducted under a unilateral framework. Definition of unilateralism; Background on the Kyoto Protocol; Actions taken by the administration on the Protocol.

Examines the fate of Utah's redrock wilderness under the U.S. President George W.Bush administration. Issues facing Utah's public lands; Description of America's Redrock Wilderness Act; Findings and recommendations.

Argues that the U.S. President George W. Bush administration's attacks on the critical habitat protections in the Endangered Species Act warrant priority attention from the environmental movement. Early agency resistance to critical habitat; Overview of the environmentalists' enforcement campaign; Discussion on the administration attacks; Recommendations.

Introduces a series of articles on the nature conservation debate within the U.S. Republican Party during the first half of U.S. President George W. Bush's term.

This article summarises the results of an evaluation of the Climate Change Initiative launched by President Bush in February 2002. The policy target to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the US economy by 18% between 2002 and 2012 can be considered modest at best. The Initiative is likely to result in a 32% increase in US greenhouse gas emissions in 2012 compared to the 1990 levels. The effort also falls considerably short of efforts of the EU, Japan and Canada under the Kyoto Protocol. The Bush Initiative advocates using intensity targets in the international climate change regime, but overlooks fundamental problems associated with this approach. All the same, the Bush Initiative is of political significance as it recognises the importance of the climate change problem and may improve the longer-term prospects for US participation in a global climate regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' new Global Climate Change initiatives, proposed by the Bush Administration on 14 February 2002, reveal the attitude of the U.S. toward future efforts to address climate change. In this paper, the author clarifies this “attitude” by analyzing the content of these new initiatives, and discusses the inititiatives' theoretical consistency, feasibility, and so on. The examination of these initiatives reveals that—value judgements aside—they contain inherent theoretical inconsistencies. A future challenge for the U.S.'s new climate policy will be to make these initiatives effective by ensuring follow-up actions— something that cannot be realized sufficiently by the current scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the environmental policies of the United States government under President George W. Bush. Significance of the enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1970; Conflict created by amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990; Characteristics of the public policy of the Bush administration.

The paper assessed the rationality of the "official" reasons why the Bush Administration opposes the Kyoto Protocol and judges the Kyoto Protocol to be "fatally flawed". Most of the reasons why the Bush Administration made this judgment--lack of long-term goals, exclusion of developing countries and lack of linkages between the scientific base and policy--can be dealt with in the process of the development of the Kyoto Protocol much more easily than through the establishment of an alternative from scratch. We find some rationality in the Bush Administration's opposition to the ratification of the Protocol by the United States based on recognition of increases in US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions above the "payable" level, in addition to security concerns involved in purchasing permits from EIT countries. Other stances of the Bush administration, such as devaluing or neglecting the existing international framework which the international community has achieved through a decade of intense negotiations, e.g. the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, may cause delays in addressing climate change issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the role environmental issues played in the election campaign in the United States (U.S.). Implications for environmental policy and politics in the U.S.; Environmental policy of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Compares the environmental policies and concerns of United States George W. Bush with former President Bill Clinton. Environmental laws and administrative changes during Clinton's term; Environmental orders issued by Bush.