New Jersey's Environments: Past, Present, and Future

by Neil M. Maher

Overview

Americans often think of New Jersey as an environmental nightmare. As seen from its infamous turnpike, which is how many travelers experience the Garden State, it is difficult not to be troubled by the wealth of industrial plants, belching smokestacks, and hills upon hills of landfills. Yet those living and working in New Jersey often experience a very different environment. Despite its dense population and urban growth, two-thirds of the state remains covered in farmland and forest, and New Jersey has a larger percentage of land dedicated to state parks and forestland than the average for all states. It is this ecological paradox that makes New Jersey important for understanding the relationship between Americans and their natural world.

In New Jersey’s Environments,historians, policy-makers, and earth scientists use a case study approach to uncover the causes and consequences of decisions regarding land use, resources, and conservation. Nine essays consider topics ranging from solid waste and wildlife management to the effects of sprawl on natural disaster preparedness. The state is astonishingly diverse and faces more than the usual competing interests from environmentalists, citizens, and businesses.

This book documents the innovations and compromises created on behalf of and in response to growing environmental concerns in New Jersey, all of which set examples on the local level for nationwide and worldwide efforts that share the goal of protecting the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813537191
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	01/19/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

NEIL M. MAHER is an assistant professor in the federated department of history at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, Newark.

Table of Contents

Introduction : Nature's next exit? or Why New Jersey is as important as Yellowstone National Park / Neil M. Maher
A natural history of the life and death of a great American city : Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1850-2000 / Bryant Simon
Solid waste management in "The garbage state" : New Jersey's transformation from landfilling to incineration / Eileen McGurty
Oysters, public trust, and the law in New Jersey / Bonnie J. McCay
Citizen expertise and citizen action in the creation of the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act / Heather Fenyk and David H. Guston
The free fishing controversy of Sussex County, New Jersey / Robert W. Reynolds
Tracking New Jersey's changing landscape / Richard Lathrop and John Hasse
Evaluating the effects of historical land cover change on summertime weather and climate in New Jersey / Paul S. Wichansky [and others]
A century of natural disasters in a state of changing vulnerability : New Jersey, 1900-1999 / James K. Mitchell

Editorial Reviews

The Garden State is second to none when it comes to clashes of humanity and nature, and this is a valuable collection of treatises on several of the most notable ones.

Environment Writer for the New Jersey Star-Ledger - Alexander Lane

The Garden State is second to none when it comes to clashes of humanity and nature, and this is a valuable collection of treatises on several of the most notable ones.

From the Publisher

New Jersey suffers from an odious environmental reputation that has been only partially redeemed by winning books like The Meadowlands and The Pine Barrens. Though more attuned to academic readers than the aforementioned books, the nine essays in New Jersey's Environments provide essential information about topics ranging from wildlife management and ecological measures to solid-waste disposal and natural-disaster preparedness.