Governance and Sustainability

In this issue of State and Local Government Review, we introduce a new section: Governance Matters. And let me assure you, governance does matter! The new section will be devoted to essays that illustrate the concept of governance: the exercise of authority both through and within institutions in order to effectively allocate resources to address the problems of society. Essays by scholars (those who study state and local government structures, processes, and rules) as well as practitioners (those who manage and carry them out) will be featured. Each section will focus on one policy or issue area and various approaches to tackling related governance concerns. The focus of this issue, environmental sustainability, involves answering a very important question: How do we use the elements of our natural environment—air, water, plants, and animals—in such a way as not to deplete them yet still conduct the important enterprises of market production and public service delivery in states and localities? Integral to this topic are concerns about how best to process and use waste, produce electricity, build and heat homes, offer recreational opportunities, and conduct myriad activities that state and local governments pay for, regulate, and provide. Three writers give us their views and experience regarding environmental sustainability. The first author, Devashree Saha, a research associate at Redefining Progress in Oakland, California, explores the topic at the local level. Her review of what influences local government decision making with regard to sustainability programs provides a framework for understanding the constraints and opportunities that local governments face in considering and delivering these programs. A classic example of social science survey research, Saha’s piece examines the influence of numerous structural factors on sustainability at the local level. Her work helps us understand how sustainability concerns can be addressed at the basic level of government—the level at which policy decisions are made that most affect the behavior of citizens. It is not citizens’ behavior that she examines; rather, it is the behavior of the local governments themselves. In the second essay, Sarah Cottrell, who serves as the energy and environmental policy advisor in the governor’s office in New Mexico, describes state government in action. As a policy advisor, it is her role to make recommendations to the governor and design policies for state government that can lead to practical results for the state. Accordingly, she Governance and Sustainability