Issued by the University of Toronto Press, May 24, 2007

“Only when agricultural pollution is addressed by affected individuals and communities will farming become truly sustainable.”

Greener Pastures: Decentralizing the Regulation of Agricultural Pollution

Author: Elizabeth Brubaker

152 pp / 6×9 / may 2007

Cloth ISBN 0-7727-8621-6 / 978-07727-8621-0 £28.00 $45.00

Paper ISBN 0-7727-8620-8 / 978-07727-8620-3 £13.00 $19.95

As farms become bigger and more industrialized, the problem of agricultural pollution is gaining urgency across Canada. The response from most environmentalists and provincial governments has been more centralized regulation.

But what if it’s that very type of regulation that is causing the problem?

Taking aim at the provincial right-to-farm laws that have freed farmers from common-law liability for the nuisances they create, Greener Pastures shows how these laws have made possible an unsustainable intensification of agriculture.

Staunchly opposed to the centralization of agricultural regulation, Elizabeth Brubaker argues for a return to a more decentralized, rights-based decision-making regime.

This thoroughly researched and impressively thought-out study challenges many common assumptions about environmental regulation, and proposes fresh answers to grave environmental and political questions.

Elizabeth Brubaker is the executive director of Environment Probe. She is available for comment on these and other issues surrounding agricultural pollution.

For more information, please contact Andrea-Jo Wilson, publicist, at (416) 978-2239 x 248, awilson@utpress.utoronto.ca