New Book: Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment: A Systemic Approach by Chris Maser

Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment: A Systemic Approach

Series: Social Environmental Sustainability
Published: August 07, 2012 by CRC Press - 304 Pages
Author(s): Chris Maser, Consultant, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

Features
Suggests new ways of thinking and problem solving
Explains the inviolable biophysical principles of sustainability in simple, clear language
Addresses the rules of social-environmental decision making and their complexity
Examines why and how environmental agencies become dysfunctional and environmentally degrading instead of environmentally protective and sustaining
Includes an in-depth case study and examples of decisions at the local, regional, and global scale

Summary
Increasingly, environmental decision making is like playing a multidimensional game of chess. With interactions between the atmosphere, the litho-hydrosphere, and the biosphere, the game is at once a measure of complexity, uncertainty, interdisciplinary acuity, social-environmental sustainability, and social justice for all generations. As such, it demands a systemic point of view. Decision Making for a Sustainable Environment: A Systemic Approach gives readers the tools to replace the dysfunctional, symptomatic decision making that has plunged the world into environmental crises with a systemic approach that fosters social-environmental sustainability.

A New Paradigm for Environmental Decision Making
Based on the author’s more than 45 years of research and broad, international experience, this book guides policy makers and managers to work with—rather than within—theoretical and methodological frameworks to achieve multidimensional and multilayered policy decisions. It discusses systemic thinking as a rational, viable alternative to competitive, materialistic, and symptomatic decision making.

Insights, Approaches, and Examples for Leadership
Organized into three parts, the book begins by describing the inviolable biophysical principles that define the limitations of human choices. The second part examines in depth why the conventional command-and-control form of decision making tends to become dysfunctional and fails. It also explains how to break the cycle of such behavior. A case study by Jessica K. La Porte explores the challenges of creating a program of environmentally sustainable decision making. The third part of the book explores what it takes to be a psychologically mature decision maker.

A Peaceful Path toward Social-Environmental Sustainability for All Generations
Proposing new ways of thinking and problem solving, this book provides readers with the ideas, language, approaches, and examples to move toward genuine social-environmental sustainability. It offers counsel on how to be a psychologically mature trustee of planet Earth and leave a more viable legacy for future generations.

For more details: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466552166