The Expendable Future: Us Politics and the Protection of Biological Diversity

By Richard Tobin

Book Overview

Species are disappearing from the earth at a rate of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of times greater than every before witnessed. According to many scientists, this rapid destruction will lead to irreversible changes in the earth's ecosystem. The Expendable Future provides a comprehensive and critical evaluation of the politics of biological diversity in the United States and of state and federal policies on endangered species from the early 1960s to the present. Drawing on congressional hearing and debates, previously unpublished public opinion surveys, interviews with state officials and employees of the Department of the Interior, and internal documents from this and other government agencies, Tobin provides an in-depth analysis of the policies on endangered species and the policy relationships among the different units of government involved in implementation. He examines the resources that are available for the protection of endangered species and the way in which those resources are matched to the priorities. Tobin also discusses the processes by which species are classified as endangered, how these species' critical habitats are determined and protected, and the successes, and mostly failures, of current recovery programs.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822310716
• ISBN13: 9780822310716
• Release Date: August 1990
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Future that can be sacrificed

Richard Tobin in his book attempts to describe political responses to the problems of endangerment and extinction of species. The book argues that nothing in society is a continuing problem because of itself, per se; something becomes and remains a problem because of shortcomings in the institutional arrangements we rely on to deal with it. Most species are now endangered or become so because of actions that political or economic systems either encourage or allow people to take. The issue is described as not only how much government intervention is desirable or necessary, but also how the governmental system perceives biological diversity as political issue. Many variables ofcourse determine which issues catch policy-makers' attention and author deals with them quite successfully.