One of the most challenging tasks faced by professionals and their associations lies in developing methods and tools for their work that accommodate changes in technology, which in turn changes environmental impacts, the economy, politics, and policy. Just as military generals commonly know best how to fight the last war but not the current one, professionals have the best methods for assessing well-established industries, not those emerging.

Fred Kent, President of the Project for Public Spaces, once stated that to rebuild our urban communities, we have to first recreate our public places. To do this he believes we must first regain control of our public places, not by police action but by our presence. This empowering thought motivates me to ask: What do we want in a public place? What does achieving an urban quality of life mean? What makes our place a livable place and how do we preserve it?

Regardless of how one might feel about the science of climate change, the prevailing public perception is that climate change is real and that humanity's use of fossil fuels is the primary cause. At this juncture, the finer points of the debate (i.e., planetary cycles versus man-made carbon emissions) are being drowned out by the waves of media coverage about shrinking polar ice caps, breakaway ice fields, and the addition of polar bears to the endangered species list. So, for all practical purposes, climate change is now a political reality.

Last year, the Union of Concerned Scientists, joined by environmental organizations and members of the public (including the author), filed a petition with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The petition requested that the NRC take a single action: that it utilize its enforcement authority to demand information from its licensees concerning the nature and extent of tritium contamination of groundwater. The scope of this request was extremely narrow, considering the ubiquity of tritium contamination at every link in the nuclear fuel chain. Tritium contamination has become a marker for the varieties of radioactive contamination left in the wake of producing what the nuclear industry likes to call “safe and clean” energy. Yet mining, milling, processing, enrichment, fuel fabrication, fuel utilization and storage at nuclear reactors, disposal of radioactive waste, and attempted reprocessing of nuclear fuel have resulted in massive amounts of tritium- (and other radionuclide) contaminated groundwater.

Re: Your Request for Input—Editorial on Environmental Professionals and Climate Change

To: John H. Perkins, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA 98505

Native American tribes and organizations and other public interest groups, including environmental and religious ones, sometimes partner in litigation about public lands management. This study examines three such litigation alliances involving disputes over National Park Service and US Forest Service policies and management concerning public land containing sites considered sacred by Native Americans. Specifically, it explores factors such as trust, complementary resources, and compatibility that are considered in deciding whether to create a litigation alliance between indigenous and non-indigenous partners. Questions asked in this research relate to the Yin method of case study research: How did these alliances come about and why were these allies chosen? More importantly, what are the key elements in a successful alliance? Based on the proposition that “organizations collaborate (ally) because they derive mutual benefits,” this article explores, through archival research and interview format, what really happened in three landmark cases litigated on a national level.

Environmental practitioners may find cooperative modeling an effective tool to address complex environmental management needs. The method involves convening a multidisciplinary team to collaboratively construct a system dynamics model. Advances in computational tools have made this technique increasingly effective because the process and the product allow individuals to better understand the complexity inherent in the system being studied. The authors describe four cooperative modeling projects and document some of the “lessons learned” from these experiences. Two of these projects were largely academic and team members were all professionals who agreed to work together to build a model. The other two teams were convened to contribute to water management processes. One of these emanated from a regional planning exercise and the team included professionals and volunteers from the public. The final project team presented includes professionals, members of the public, and government agency personnel. Like any multidisciplinary effort, the teams encountered communication challenges. The overarching lessons derived from these efforts are that teams can never pay too much attention to group dynamics and that the proximity to a “real” management decision does influence the cooperative modeling process. Recommendations to others embarking on a cooperative modeling effort include reviewing the literature regarding previous projects; establishing clear guidelines for team interaction early in the project; and remaining flexible, to allow the project to evolve.

It is crucial to understand the response reproducibility of on-line continuous-flow respirometers applied as biological toxicity monitors to alert plant operators to contamination in wastewater influent. Used as upset early warning systems, on-line respirometers could identify toxic waste streams that should be diverted from activated sludge treatment systems. This study used a continuous flow-through respirometer (Bioscan™) to examine the reproducibility in the respiration response of activated sludge biomass from a local wastewater treatment plant and a commercially available seed (POLYTOX®), when each was exposed to a toxic pH 3.0 buffer solution. Respiration response is characterized in this study as a change in dissolved oxygen concentration over time in the respirometer effluent. This response was segregated into groups, including within an inoculated population of a given seed source (activated sludge biomass or POLYTOX®), between different inoculations of the same seed source, and by the two different seed sources. Reproducibility in the response of the Bioscan™ respirometer was as high as 22% within populations, 23% between populations, and 29% for the same population over time. In addition, time dependency in the respirometer response to the toxin was examined. It was demonstrated that response to the same toxic pulse varies between and within populations and that reduced sensitivity of the microorganisms can occur if repeatedly exposed to an individual toxin. A genetic DGGE analysis for one population suggests that the observed reduction in sensitivity may be caused by changes in species composition.

Reported herein are the results of two surveys designed to determine the predominant social paradigm, together with opinions on and attitudes toward the environment and environmental issues, within the Slovene coastal zone. The research is a cross-sectional study of selected populations in time. Opinions of different social groups with regard to their priority values, trust in technological development, moral responsibility toward their environment, and readiness to participate in environmental protection are analyzed. The study finds that a stable economy is the primary societal goal in the Slovene coastal zone; this must be realized before people begin to concern themselves with environmental protection. Also, the coastal community is prepared to participate in environmentally protective actions such as separate waste collection, but they are not in favor of making major lifestyle changes, although they are aware of that need.

Biodiversity Conservation Handbook: State, Local, and Private Protection of Biological Diversity. Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., Coreen Ripp, and Emily Lisy, eds. 2006. Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC. 651 pp. $49.95.

This book, with a subtitle describing its focus on state, local, and private protection of biological diversity, begins by discussing international protocols on biodiversity. It also contains much discussion on federal programs, but this seemingly contradictory approach is quickly explained. Indeed, the international protocols have taken into account the types of concerns often voiced at the local level and provide a useful framework for establishing programs that fit into local land use regulatory regimes. The US approach, which defers so heavily to local governments in the land use arena, is not necessarily an excuse for ignoring biodiversity considerations, as this book so ably points out. First, the various federal grant and permitting programs are often administered by the states or in partnership with the states. Second, there are ample tools in most states that concerned local governments can use to take biodiversity into account in their land use decisions. This book provides a wealth of information on the tools that state and local governments can use to discover, understand, conserve, and sustainably use biodiversity.

Sustainable Business Development: Inventing the Future through Strategy, Innovation, and Leadership. David L. Rainey. 2006. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 734 pp. $85.00 hardcover.

In the introduction to Sustainable Business Development, the author states that sustainable outcomes result from “profound changes in strategic thinking, leadership, and management,” which essentially result from enterprise thinking, visionary leadership, strategic thinking, and product and technological innovation. The book's philosophy is to show how corporations can use these qualities to support their sustainable business development and sustainable progress.

Precautionary Tools for Reshaping Environmental Policy. Nancy J. Myers and Carolyn Raffensperger, eds. 2006. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 400 pp. $62 cloth, $25 paperback.

It is telling that this otherwise useful and informative overview of the principles and application of the precautionary principle would include a chapter entitled “Answering the Critics.” The problem is that the authors have overlooked the answering of questions raised by their allies and supporters.

Earthly Politics: Local and Global in Environmental Governance. Sheila Jasanoff and Marybeth Long Martello, eds. 2004. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 376 pp. $27 paperback.

Environmental governance today usually involves negotiations—often lengthy and complex—between scientists, policy makers, and other stakeholders such as business leaders and citizens' groups. Although full inclusion and democratic participation in such negotiations is a lofty goal held by many involved, the decisions about who should be included as a stakeholder, and what influence their experience and perspective should be given in comparison to that of scientists, are ultimately political. These decisions are the subjects of Earthly Politics and, as the editors strive to show, they are highly placed-based and variable.

Contributors.