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SUSTAINABILITY AND DECISION‐MAKING:
Author(s) -
Farrell Alex
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
review of policy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1541-1338
pISSN - 1541-132X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-1338.1999.tb00878.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , government (linguistics) , agency (philosophy) , sustainability organizations , sustainable development , business , social sustainability , sustainability science , public administration , political science , management science , process management , environmental resource management , environmental planning , economics , sociology , ecology , social science , philosophy , linguistics , law , biology , environmental science
Sustainability has been advanced as an important societal goal which governments should adopt and implement. However, sustainability is a complex concept and one for which afirm consensus definition does not appear likely any time soon. This article briefly provides the conceptual background for a discussion of sustainability and then reviews one of the first attempts by the U.S. government to implement a policy specifically designed to promote sustainability, the Environmental Protection Agency's Sustainable Development Challenge Grant (SDCG) Program. The history for the program, the experience of it's first year are examined and a formal decision analysis of the problem facing the SDCG program managers is developed. Implications of this research for the SDCG and for other government policy‐making are discussed.