The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is one of the most cherished and reviled laws ever passed. It mandates protection and preservation of all the nation’s species and biodiversity, whatever the cost. It has been a lightning rod for controversy and conflicts between industry/business and environmentalists. In this volume, leading Endangered Species Act experts interpret and propose legislative and administrative changes to prepare the ESA for future challenges. They explore regulations on avoiding harm to and producing benefits for species, cooperation between state and federal agencies, scientific analyses, and the necessary politics to enact their ideas. This is a call to action to chart an enlightened future for the Endangered Species Act that embraces the nation’s moral commitment of 50 years ago to address species extinction constructively, mindful of biodiversity, and as a fixture among the nation’s values and needs. The interconnected web of life includes all living species that depend on each other for survival, us among them. The stakes—our very future—are too high to ignore.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is one of the most cherished and reviled laws ever passed. It mandates protection and preservation of all the nation’s species and biodiversity, whatever the cost. It has been a lightning rod for controversy and conflicts between industry/business and environmentalists. The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of this law, and provides an opportunity for a measured and thorough evaluation thereof. We cannot know today’s challenges and opportunities without understanding their histories. This book is the most comprehensive history of the ESA ever published, and the first to consider the entire history of the law from all angles in a single volume. The history of the ESA has been one of increasing impact, complexity, and controversy. In 1978, the Supreme Court declared that Congress intended for the U.S. government to save all species at any cost, and thereafter application of the ESA became steadily more controversial, as seen in the example of the northern spotted owl and the timber wars in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 90s, and then everywhere as the ESA became a political football in the highly partisan environment of the late 1990s and amendments to the law ceased. This book is not only a history, but a call to action. It will take more conservation, more funding, and more innovative solutions if we are to save our wildlife and biodiversity. It will take the engagement to every American to muster the collective will to meet this challenge. The hope of this book is that we will be able to look back and say that we accomplished more in the second 50 years of the ESA than we did in the first.

In Earth’s Emergency Room, author, attorney, and environmental historian Lowell E. Baier celebrates 50 years of the landmark Endangered Species Act of 1973, a bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon. Baier provides an insightful and entertaining history of the ESA’s dramatic highs and lows. His own work with the ESA from its inception to the present, and with the key figures who shaped its history, from field biologists to Presidents of the United States, give the book a unique, human element. He looks back at a lifetime of environmental advocacy and tackles one of today’s leading challenges: the unprecedented decline in species due to climate change. Drawing from his extensive experience as a negotiator and activist, Baier argues that the ESA is flexible enough to ameliorate the biodiversity crisis while still respecting landowners, states, and industries. He ultimately calls on all Americans to embrace a spirit of bipartisanship and conservation to strengthen the law that has been Earth’s emergency room for half a century.

This publication, Our Fragile World: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development presents perspectives of several important subjects that are covered in greater detail and depth in the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). The contributions to the two volumes provide an integrated presentation of knowledge and worldviews related to the state of: Earth's natural resources, social resources, institutional resources, and economic and financial resources. They present the vision and thinking of over 200 authors in support of efforts to solve the complex problems connected with sustainable development, and to secure perennial life support on "The Blue Planet'. These contributions are holistic, informative, forward looking, and will be of interest to a broad readership. This volume presents contributions with focus on the Economic and Institutional Dimensions of Sustainable Development in two sections: KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGY, AND MANAGEMENT (Knowledge; Technology and Management ; Economics; Finance and trade). – POLICY AND INSITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Policy Issues; Institutional implications; Regional Analysis).