Shaming laggards into doing better

The NHRs Luther Turmelle did this piece on the man who may be America's next EPA Administrator, Dan Esty.

Much of the info in the article is stuff you may already know. But there's an interesting quote near the end:

Esty said he believes the government should make greater use of data to determine which environmental programs work and as a way of improving individual companies’ performance. “Using data can also be a way of shaming some of the laggards into doing better,” Esty said.

Sounds to me as though he believes that the bully pulpit can be a useful tool in achieving public policy goals.

I like his approach.

I hope he gets whatever job interests him in Washington or New Haven.

Tim White