Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Climate Change In Metropolitan Boston, Paul Kirshen, Matthias Ruth, William Anderson

New England Journal of Public Policy

Even though urban infrastructure systems are important and are designed according to socioeconomic and environmental conditions that are very sensitive to climate, there have been few major integrated assessments of the impacts of climate change on metropolitan infrastructure systems and services and possible adaptations. An analysis of the Boston metro area found that adaptation actions taken before full climate-change impacts occur will result in fewer expected negative impacts to the region than waiting for major impacts to occur. Adaptation of infrastructure to climate change must also consider land use management, environmental and socioeconomic impacts, equity, and adaptation actors and institutions. …

Managing Sprawl In The Land Of Unintended Consequences, Robert S. Bucci

New England Journal of Public Policy

Americans witnessing the bulldozing of their country’s pastures, farmlands, and sensitive habitats to erect suburban housing tracts and commercial centers have come to realize that the remaining open land may be too precious to waste. Residential and commercial development is no longer quickly embraced to stimulate economic progress and prosperity. Municipalities are learning that development often extracts a price — sometimes the loss of community character and local charm, sometimes tax revenues that fall short of increased expenditures, and sometimes just plain ugliness. Responding to the new reality, many community officials have initiated unilateral ordinances regulating the development of open …

The Massachusetts Environmental Industry: Facing The Challenges Of Maturity, Betty J. Diener, David Terkla, Erick Cooke

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

For most of the past 20 years, the environmental industry has been a very significant one, both in Massachusetts and across the country. Some have placed it alongside the electronics, computer hardware, software, biotechnology, fiber optics, and composite materials industries as part of the high-technology sector that has diversified and strengthened the state’s economy. Nationally, environmental industry employment exceeded that of several major manufacturing industries, including chemicals, paper, and aerospace.

In the late 1990s, however, the momentum of the environmental movement began to wane. A decline in both employment and sales suggests that many of the most pressing environmental concerns …