As the world's largest polluter and its wealthiest country, the United States has a potentially enormous impact on international efforts to protect the environment. This book examines how US foreign policy affects and is affected by global environmental change.

From the first warning of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 to the international 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, from the Reagan era attempt to dismantle environmental policy through the Clinton administration, the United States -- the world's wealthiest country and also the world's largest polluter, has found ways to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the global environment. The U.S. has the financial resources necessary to solve international environmental problems by developing and using new technologies, and it can play a central role in international efforts to protect the environment.

An international group of scholars looks at environmental debates as they have formed through the decades leading up to the challenges the George W. Bush administration must confront if the United States is to be a leader in international environmental policy rather than a reluctant follower at best -- or at worst, a nation that shirks its moral responsibility to the planet all human beings must share.

Covering three broad areas -- national security and geopolitics, domestic and international politics, and national interests and international obligations -- the contributors examine a host of key issues, including ozone depletion and climate change, biodiversity and whale hunting, environmental and energy security, and international trade. Because the environment has become an ever-more pressing issue at the diplomatic level, this book is essential, timely reading for policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in environmental change and international relations.