This up-to-date and readable text is a concise yet thorough examination of environmental, natural resource and energy policy and politics, primarily within the United States. Drawing from work within environmental science, policy analysis, and political science, it critically examines the key strengths and weaknesses of policy-making processes today, as well as the promise of new policy approaches. It offers extensive coverage of the nature of environmental problems and historical developments in environmental policy. The overriding theme of Environmental Policy and Politics, Second Edition, is that democratic approaches to policy-making and policy change are likely to be the most effective over time, based on strong public support. In that vein, the book stresses the opportunities available to citizens to shape environmental policies at all levels of government.