Rating
9 Applicability
8 Innovation
8 Style
Take-Aways
Environmental degradation threatens life on the planet.
Governments create and change the civic rules and laws that concern the environment.
Social rules, which determine how people and organizations act, also affect the Earth.
Some rules and laws lead to ecological damage, but all rules are subject to change.
Focus
People should unite to change rules and laws that harm the planet. First, take aim at the
Governments wield this power. Direct your main efforts at senior and elected officials.
Strategy
Sales & Marketing
Finance
Human Resources
IT, Production & Logistics
Career & Self-Development
Small Business
Economics & Politics
Industries
Global Business
Dont rely on one base of power. Build multiple layers of support, so your initiatives
dont evaporate at the first sign of trouble or when the government changes hands.
Enlist the participation and advice of people who know the system and the players, who
can navigate the bureaucracy, and who understand how things get done.
Industry often opposes environmental regulation. The toughest rules can generate the
greatest benefits by forcing corporations to innovate.
Seek win-win solutions in changing the rules. The more stakeholders who benefit, the
easier the path to change will be. People must act big, act together and move fast.
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Relevance
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What You Will Learn
In this summary, you will learn:r1) How social rules and civic regulations work, 2) Why rules are necessary, 3) Which
rules are dangerous and susceptible to improvement, and 4) How to change the rules or create new ones to benefit
the environment.
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Review
Sustainability professor Paul F. Steinberg studies social rules and civic governance in terms of how they affect
the environment. He alerts readers to something vitally important hiding in plain sight: Nations, regions, local
administrations and society itself create and change the formal and informal rules that protect or exploit the Earth.
These rules and regulations affect natural resources, deforestation, polluting emissions, pesticides, recycling, water
rights, and much more. Such rules dont appear spontaneously. Organizations, people and coalitions debate and fight
for them fiercely. Many rules seem perverse and most citizens believe they cant do anything to change them. But
they can. Rules are mutable and, Steinberg says, people must work to change them in order to save the planet.
getAbstract recommends Steinbergs overview to executives, futurists, concerned citizens, and current or potential
activists frustrated with the pace of change.
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Summary
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We learn that glaciers
are melting and sea
levels are expected
to rise due to global
warming and in
response we are
advised to ride a
bicycle to work.
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The transition to
sustainability requires
transforming the rules
we live by.
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Rules and routines
allow us to move
through a complex
world without
subdividing our
attention to the point of
mental paralysis.
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If rules are to
last, rather than be
jettisoned at the first
sign of waning support,
the new rules must
enjoy the support of
diverse constituencies.
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The race to save the
Earth will be won or
lost one country at
a time, as a result of
political decisions
made in almost 200
sovereign nations and
their willingness and
ability to implement
reforms.
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What we see might
be a farmer in Brazil
setting fire to a patch of
forest to make way for
cattle. But underlying
this seemingly local and
personal decision is
an elaborate system of
national rules shaping
the farmers decisions.
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The old adage to think
globally and act locally
is just plain wrong.
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Placing a solar panel
on your home is a
positive step; placing
a requirement for
renewable energy in
government legislation
is an outright sprint.
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drastically harms the environment and peoples health. The government imposed gradually
increasing limits on leaded gasoline along with tradeable permits that allowed the
producers who reduced their usage most quickly to sell their permits to laggards. This winwin strategy gave producers an incentive to go quickly beyond mere compliance. By using
clever incentives and enlisting industry to police itself, the government saved hundreds
of millions of dollars.
Governments use citizen activism to help enforce environmental rules. For example, in
the US and South Africa, any citizen can sue anyone, including government agencies,
for violating or failing to enforce the law. Now, US citizens bring three-quarters of all
environmental court cases.
Rules Do Work
Good laws enable commerce to operate smoothly, while corrupt governments impede
business. In Peru and Kenya, democracy and capitalism struggled for decades. In contrast,
professional, capable civil services vaulted Singapore and South Korea into prosperity.
Even in advanced economies, however, rules often create perverse incentives. For example,
the price of gas in the US doesnt factor in the cost of stationing troops in the Middle East
to protect oil transports. Likewise, the cost of electricity doesnt pay for the environmental
damage that coal mining causes, including the emissions from burning coal. If consumers
paid these costs directly, they would have an immediate, pressing incentive to switch to
alternative energy sources.
Oil, gas and other industries fight regulations, arguing that the compliance costs harm them
unfairly. But regulations can spur innovation that benefits industry in the long run. New laws
may spur fresh production methods that save money and make businesses more competitive.
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Whether we choose
to notice them or not,
social rules pervade
every aspect of our
lives.
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Every business and
every community, every
religion and nonprofit
organization, every
terrorist network, taco
vendor and art museum
relies on social rules to
achieve its ends.
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present, no international body has the teeth to enforce ecological or climate rulings. The
UN, Interpol, the International Criminal Court, and other bodies cant do very much when
nations simply ignore their edicts.
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Rules and creativity
are not at odds they
are, in fact, close
allies.
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Lasting change
requires modifying the
very rules that societies
live by.
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Thosewho
assume that power
is unassailable
are controlled and
manipulated with great
efficiency because we
impose constraints on
ourselves, relieving
those in power of the
burden of responding
to a coordinated
challenge.
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Cooperation Is Critical
Ecologist Garrett Hardin wrote about the tragedy of the commons in 1968. He argued
that any shared resource pasturelands or ocean fisheries, for example invariably suffers
depletion. Everyone benefits individually from exploiting a resource while the overall
population suffers just as much from its destruction. People grab what they can, as fast as
they can, while they can. Hardin ignored thousands of years of successful management of
the commons mostly at the local level conducted by cooperating citizens who voluntarily
adhered to rules and quotas.
In general, local decision making seems to work. For example, in the US, state governments
take responsibility for implementing federal pollution standards and may improve them if
they wish. Two-thirds of US states voluntarily exceed federal standards, largely because of
citizen activism. Where citizens dont participate, state politicians place much less priority
on the environment. Politicians avoid risk, but they crave visible wins to maximize their
chances of re-election. As decision making devolves to local governments, local successes
will show politicians whats possible and will inspire more action.
Controlling the Rule-Making Process
Super rules determine what political bodies are empowered to discuss and change, and who
gets to speak. Before a group makes rules, its participants must agree to super rules that
determine the nature of their interaction, what they can discuss and who is allowed to speak.
Super rules outline the methods on hand for bringing about change in the world. In some
authoritarian nations, rule makers imprison, torture or even kill environmentalists. Such
governments create rigid parameters to constrain activism. Even in democracies, powerful
parties forestall challenges by withholding information or by creating preemptive rules so
issues dont surface. To attain their goals and gain a share of power, citizens must change
the super rules.
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Paul F. Steinberg is professor of sustainability and environmental policy at Californias Harvey Mudd College,
where he directs the Social Rules Project. He also wrote Comparative Environmental Politics and Environmental
Leadership in Developing Countries.
Who Rules the Earth? getAbstract 2015
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