The United States is entering a new era of environmental policy, one that emphasizes improved results in the form of cleaner air, purer water, and better protected lands, and innovative approaches as a means of accelerating progress. This evolution responds to a growing consensus that our nation's current environmental protection system alone is not adequate for handling an increasingly complex set of challenges. Indeed, problems, such as polluted runoff from streets and farms, global climate change, and loss of habitat and biodiversity, require a broader set of tools than we have relied upon in the past. Strengthening environmental partnerships, targeting priorities, expanding the current collection of tools, and creating a more innovative culture to effectively address challenging problems is what this innovation strategy is all about. It positions EPA to improve its problem-solving capabilities, and provides a framework for innovative approaches to become a routine part of our work. It also acknowledges other drivers that make environmental innovation an imperative. These drivers include continued pressure to create more value for each tax payer dollar invested, the constraint of working under a set of environmental laws that in many cases have not been updated for years, the extra attention that is needed to tailor environmental strategies and assure environmental justice for all people, and the need to move beyond the single medium approaches that have traditionally dominated our work, and toward more integrated, holistic approaches.

"April 2002." Microfiche.