An engaging, well-organized overview of California’s efforts to preserve its environment.
An assessment of California’s progress in strengthening environmental regulations over several decades.
In this debut policy book, Peevey and Wittenberg draw on their time overseeing state agencies (Peevey is the former president of the California Public Utilities Commission; Wittenberg is the current chair of the California State Parks and Recreation Commission) to offer an inside perspective on the development of environmental regulations under both Democratic and Republican leadership. The book explores California’s unique experience with smog and resulting efforts to clean the air, the success of cap-and-trade policies, solar energy subsidies, and “subnational” climate agreements as well as the broader impact the state’s regulations have because of the size of its economy. Peevey and Wittenberg explain the details of energy deregulation and mismanagement that led to power shortages in the early 2000s and ultimately to the recall of Gov. Gray Davis, although they focus on the policy decisions rather than the political maneuvering. Appendices provide the full text of a report on the electric industry co-authored by Peevey in 2001, a conceptual design for the energy grid, and a 2003 action plan. The book is a useful tool for those interested in the inner workings of government, as Peevey and Wittenberg are conscientious about drawing attention to the lesser-known officials who played crucial roles in making and implementing policy decisions. Capsule biographies provide background information about many of the commission chairs, public advocates, and industry leaders who carried out the necessary work of cutting emissions, improving efficiency, and swaying public opinion. The work clearly and concisely distills a complex political topic and highlights the core of California’s success: “The answer has been to convince people that good environmental policies are in their own self-interest.” The occasional arch aside (“Given its constituency, it has also set standards for pool heaters and wine chillers”) brings a human touch to an occasionally dry topic, balancing the authors’ deep understanding of the subject with an engaging tone that makes for a highly readable account of negotiating and incremental change.
An engaging, well-organized overview of California’s efforts to preserve its environment.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5455-7730-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: LCP Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
