It is increasingly clear that the modest progress achieved by the United States since the Earth Summit is not caused by the absence of specific and feasible policy recommendations. We already know more or less what we need to do; we are much less clear about how to get it done. In Acting as If Tomorrow Matters, the third in a trilogy of books on U.S. sustainability by Widener University law professor John C. Dernbach, more than four dozen experts in a variety of fields provide a how-to-guide for making the U.S. more environmentally sustainable.

They survey what has happened in the United States on sustainability over the past two decades and then provide an explanatory framework for the progress that has been made over the past two decades across a variety of sectors. They also describe the main types of obstacles that have impeded sustainability in the U.S. and provide a detailed explanation of how to accelerate progress and overcome those obstacles.

Acting as If Tomorrow Matters explains in detail how to make a greater variety of more sustainable decisions even more attractive, how law can provide an even better enabling environment for sustainability, and how public opinion and leadership can be more effectively engaged to support sustainability.

John C. Dernbach is Distinguished Professor of Law at Widener University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and codirector of Widener's Environmental Law Center. He leads the only project in the U.S. that comprehensively assesses American sustainability efforts and makes recommendations for future efforts. As part of that project, he previously edited Agenda for a Sustainable America (Environmental Law Institute 2009) and Stumbling Toward Sustainability (Environmental Law Institute 2002).

His scholarship focuses on environmental law, climate change, sustainable development, and legal writing. Professor Dernbach has written more than forty articles for law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and has authored, coauthored, or contributed chapters to fourteen books. He was a member of the committee that wrote the 2011 National Research Council report, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. Before taking his teaching position at Widener, Professor Dernbach worked in a variety of positions at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and served most recently as that agency's policy director.