The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s independent National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology this week released a new report urging the agency to make stewardship its unifying theme and ethic and become the world's premier model and catalyst for this approach to environmental protection.

It recommends that EPA focus all of its tools – strong regulatory programs, grants, voluntary partnerships and information programs – in this direction.

The report says that the success of EPA's stewardship efforts will be determined by the extent to which other institutions and individuals become stewards, and adds that working towards sustainability through environmental stewardship and collaboration is everyone's business. Environmental stewardship is the responsibility for environmental quality shared by all those whose actions affect the environment.

NACEPT advises, consults with and makes recommendations to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental policy, technology and management issues. The Council is a balanced panel of representatives from academia, business and industry, non-governmental organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments.

For the full report, Everyone's Business: Working Towards Sustainability Through Environmental Stewardship and Collaboration, is available online.

4/4/2008