But valuable learning began to occur, and networks of practitioners refined their techniques and sought fresh perspectives. In addition, adversaries began to build relationships of greater trust once it became clear that environmental regulation was here to stay and that collaboration might prove to be in the self interest of each side. New citizen rights, while often a blunt instrument for solving environmental problems, gave citizens and public interest groups the power to impose significant costs on polluters, and thus created added incentives for the latter to cooperate and negotiate. By the 1980s, in short, the limits of top-down approaches, especially in dealing with nonpoint sources of pollution, ecosystem management, and pollution prevention, had become increasingly apparent. We will also hotlink our discussion to case studies and other materials on the Civic Practices Network and other online networks.
Civic environmentalism is an emerging approach, with a variety of different emphases and methods.
This list could undoubtedly be expanded and refined. We hope that the discussion and cases that follow enrich the sense of possibilities for civic approaches. We do not offer these as a full blown alternative to national regulatory tools and top-down controls.