Sustainable development has become a central objective of policy worldwide. Although the term is widely used, there is little agreement on what it means in practice and how progress toward it can be measured. The European Commission, as part of its Programme on Competitive and Sustainable Growth, commissioned the SUMMA (SUstainable Mobility, policy Measures and Assessment) project. Among SUMMA's objectives were to define and operationalize the concept of sustainable transport and mobility in terms of its environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and to define outcome indicators from the transport system that can help policy makers monitor progress toward its achievement. To achieve these objectives, we used the systems approach, which identifies the interrelationships among the elements of a complex system and helps in the design of policies to steer the system toward sustainability. This article describes the first phase of the systems approach: the set of outcome indicators that we developed and how we defined the transport system in terms of three markets—a movement market, a transport market, and a traffic market—in which choices are made that result in traffic streams. The traffic streams determine the values of the outcome indicators, which can then be used to identify good policies. The approach is illustrated with examples from the SUMMA project.

Low-income, minority residents of the Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP) community in San Francisco, California, face considerable environmental hazards. There are strong beliefs within the community that BVHP is a victim of environmental injustice, based on perceived political neglect concerning potential links between environmental hazards and disproportionately high rates of cancer and asthma. The Yosemite Watershed Restoration Project seeks to apply the well-demonstrated benefits of community-based monitoring to a struggle for environmental justice in BVHP. Community members participated in a water quality assessment at Yosemite Slough, gathering a baseline data set to be used as a reference for watershed restoration and identifying potential pollutant sources and health hazards that had otherwise been ignored. The effort highlighted key opportunities for inspiring action among disaffected community members as well as key obstacles in engaging the broader community. It has laid a foundation for future efforts that will continue to build the community's capacity to play an active role in achieving environmental justice in BVHP.

As a planning concept, Smart Growth leads to a dead end. Planners and environmental professionals must help communities work toward a different planning theory predicated on the truth that, at some juncture, growth must stop. Impediments to achieving the necessary steady-state community are political, economic, legal, and ethical. Politically, most people do not want more growth, but growth happens because the pro-development community—buoyed by market forces—lobbies local government for pro-growth policies and because the pro-growth community often misrepresents the consequences of low or no growth. Economically, communities must move toward an economy of “relocalization” that promotes prosperity with growth. Legally, there are no insurmountable obstacles to the necessary (and inevitable) development of a steady-state economy that does not grow in quantity. Ethically, we must recognize that preserving a place from over-development is the right thing to do.

Nearly two decades ago, the United States Army began implementation of a method for developing and analyzing reasonable alternatives, as per the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The method was developed collaboratively by the Army's planners (including the authors) and environmental advocates in response to the needs for expeditious decision making (for the operational planners) and statutory compliance (for the environmental aspects). Fundamentally, the method painted a picture of the desired outcome in terms of quantifiable attributes (what should the end result ideally look like?). It then compared every possible alternative against those attributes, through a series of screening operations (will these alternatives, if selected, produce success?). Those alternatives remaining after the screening became the reasonable alternatives; these were the only alternatives that could produce successful outcomes if chosen. The method, initially developed for the stationing of Army units and often referred to as the “Hierarchy of Needs” screening process, is quick, understandable, and—most importantly—allows the rationalization of the decision-making process. Our article presents an overview of this novel process, which is well suited for dealing with a continuing problem facing federal agencies today—that of developing reasonable alternatives and rationalizing the outcomes for all stakeholders.

Chemical contaminants—such as explosives from unexploded ordnance and impact—found within cratered areas on military firing ranges are subject to environmental fate and transport processes. Depending on the solubility and charge of the pollutant, soils with higher fractions of organic carbon and/or higher cation exchange capacities may inhibit movement of contaminants and provide time for contaminant transformation and degradation to take place before resources such as groundwater are impacted. Cation exchange capacity should allow the use of the retardation factor approach in determining the relative risk for organic contaminant releases to soils. A soil property investigation, involving the collection of soil samples from an active impact area and subsequent mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of soil laboratory results, was used to determine the soil properties that best predict soil cation exchange capacity and describe crater disturbance, in terms of the resulting loss of organic matter. Organic matter content of the soil, in this study, proved to be a good predictor of cation exchange capacity and also a good descriptor of munitions disturbance. Because soil organic matter has an influence on contaminant fate and transport through the environment, and because its availability is affected by munitions disturbance, resource managers should be concerned with the effect of munitions use on soil organic matter dynamics.

Public opinion, expressed through written comments, developed very differently throughout the planning phases of two road projects in southern Sweden. Each project's Prefeasibility Study, Feasibility Study, and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) were studied to analyze the changes between five evaluation phases: background and inventory of base data, replenishment with additional information, consequence analysis, conflict analysis, and priorities. For one of the road projects, rich and early descriptions of impact estimates, along with appraisals of the effects on the landscape, paved the way for more effective dialogue. Better disclosure of its reports' established facts and evaluations might explain the more solid acceptance for that road project. The other project did not clearly show the reasoning behind its priorities, which may explain the many public and agency comments on the EIR; consequently, people constructed and submitted their own viewpoints regarding impact. This article discusses how transparent documentation and presentation of priorities ultimately can contribute to the success of similar projects.

During September and October of 2002, we collected and moved more than 2,000 endangered fat pocketbook pearly mussels, Potamilus capax, from a 5.7-km reach of a drainage ditch in eastern Arkansas. The translocation was to protect mussels from planned maintenance dredging and was required by the Biological Opinion prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The project did not proceed as planned, and we removed only about 80% of the P. capax. In this article we examine mistakes made, lessons learned, and discuss procedures that might have led to a more favorable outcome. We identified three key decisions that should have been thoroughly discussed prior to initiating the work: percentage of mussels to be removed, choice of recipient sites, and number of mussels to be marked and measured. Two other issues were important: the status of P. capax in Arkansas and the likelihood of future dredging needs at recipient sites. Initially, we felt that decision-analysis tools, used during planning, would have facilitated a better understanding of complex issues. Although such tools would have encouraged better discussion, it is now apparent that communication was hampered largely by the different perspectives of participants.

As broad-scale cumulative effects become increasingly evident across certain landscapes, science points to the need for broader understanding of ecosystem processes, functions, and interrelationships upon which to base our management strategies. The resultant shift to ecosystem-based management has led to landscape assessments much larger in geographic scope than traditional planning efforts. Broad-scale assessments not only provide context for establishing relative priorities within large geographic areas but also provide for stepping down their science findings through finer-scaled assessments that inform equivalent levels of planning and decision making. A systematic step-down process, such as one that was formalized for an innovative regional ecosystem project, allows managers to put local needs into broader perspective, ensuring more efficient investment of limited funding and personnel. This article provides a novel overview of the benefits of a step-down analysis and decision-making approach, describing a tiered assessment strategy linked to existing federal land use planning and decision hierarchies. Two particular assessment tools are summarized—one for mid-scale, or subbasin, assessments (400,000 to 1,000,000 hectares) and one for fine-scale, or watershed, assessments (5,000 to 50,000 hectares)—followed by an example of the use of tiered assessments to focus subsequent management attention.

Recent literature on the diffusion of innovations concentrates either specifically on public adoption of policy, where social or environmental conditions are the dependent variables for adoption, or on private adoption of an innovation, where emphasis is placed on the characteristics of the innovation itself. This article uses both the policy diffusion literature and the diffusion of innovation literature to assess watershed management councils' decisions to adopt, or not adopt, scientific models. Watershed management councils are a relevant case study because they possess both public and private attributes. We report on a survey of councils in the United States that was conducted to determine the criteria used when selecting scientific models for studying watershed conditions. We found that specific variables from each body of literature play a role in explaining the choice to adopt scientific models by these quasi-public organizations. The diffusion of innovation literature contributes to an understanding of how organizations select models by confirming the importance of a model's ability to provide better data. Variables from the policy diffusion literature showed that watershed management councils that employ consultants are more likely to use scientific models. We found a gap between those who create scientific models and those who use these models. We recommend shrinking this gap through more communication between these actors and advancing the need for developers to provide more technical assistance.

Sustainable Leadership. Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink. 2006. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. 352 pp. $25.00 paperback.

Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. David W. Orr. 2004. Island Press, Washington, DC. 224 pp. $19.95 paperback.

Recently, David Orr's young classic, Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, celebrated its lasting place in education and sustainability literature with a tenth-year anniversary re-release edition. This year, noted educational leadership authors Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink have collaborated to produce Sustainable Leadership. Although both books purport to address ideas of sustainability in education, their approaches could not be more dramatically, diametrically different.

The assessment of cumulative impacts is one of the most difficult tasks a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) practitioner faces when preparing an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, and it recently has become an increasing focus area of legal challenges. Historically, federal agencies have a very poor track record in this litigation. This research examines 25 recent judicial opinions involving challenges to various NEPA documents' cumulative impact analyses, from the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Challengers were victorious on their claims of inadequate analysis in 60% of the cases decided in the 10-year analysis period. In recent years, the success rate for challengers has risen even higher, to victories in eight of 11 cases (72%). The main reasons federal agencies have lost these court challenges is because they failed to present any cumulative impact analysis whatsoever in their NEPA document; they left out obvious past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions; or they provided undocumented assertions that their projects would not cause any cumulative impacts. Four key lessons for practitioners emerge from the results: (1) Make sure to include a discussion of cumulative impacts for each resource and include all past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions; (2) Do not make unsubstantiated claims about cumulative impacts; (3) Assessments do not have to be perfect but should be thorough and based on data and explained rationales; and (4) Do not tie assessments solely to programmatic or non-NEPA documents.

The “six-pack” of hormone growth promoters used in feedlot cattle deserves closer investigation from researchers and policy makers. The potential effects of exposure to such compounds are of particular interest in the field of endocrine disruption, which focuses on the effects these compounds can have during sensitive developmental periods, rather than using a carcinogenesis model. Steroid hormones participate in a delicate balance during fetal development. Interference with that balance can lead to disruptions that manifest as health problems at birth and later in life. Although we need more studies of the effects of feedlot compounds on human and wildlife development, some industry and government literature leads consumers to conclude that all the data are in. Governmental reviews of the literature from the European Union (where hormone use is banned) and Australia (where hormones are used) reveal different attitudes and conclusions about the same body of research, and these differences may relate to a different understanding of the value of the endocrine-disruption model. It is important to approach examinations of the effects of trenbolone and other growth promoters without bias and to acknowledge that cattle growth promoter research in the context of endocrine disruption has just begun. The scientific jury is still out regarding whether introducing these compounds into the human food supply and ecosystems—research suggests that hormonally active feedlot effluent may harm wildlife—can be deleterious.

Most of us were brought up to clean our plates at the dinner table. We find the lesson hard to unlearn. We apply this to books as well—if we haven't time to read the whole thing, we don't pick it up at all. In this note, I offer a list of heavy, very thorough books as a buffet—suggesting that you read only the parts that interest you. Then, I list a few shorter ones offering easier reading but still filled with ideas and insights. Many of these will be valuable for people wanting to lead discussions and workshops on applied ethics.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 implementing regulations require an assessment of cumulative impacts in reaching a determination regarding the potential significance of impacts associated with a proposed action. Analysis of cumulative impacts is one of NEPA's most challenging and complex requirements. With respect to the assessment of cumulative impacts, a strict regulatory interpretation of “significance” can lead to a paradox (the Cumulative Impact Paradox, or “Paradox”). A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), by its very definition, states that an action will not result in a significant effect, including a cumulatively significant impact. But because many environmental resources have already sustained significant cumulative impacts, a logical paradox can arise in which a strict interpretation of the regulatory requirements leads to the conclusion that many federal activities are technically ineligible for FONSIs and therefore require preparation of Environmental Impact Statements. A strict interpretation of “significance” can lead to such a conclusion, even in cases where the direct and indirect impacts of the proposed activity may be relatively nonsignificant. This Paradox must be resolved, if the analysis of cumulative impacts is to be practically and effectively integrated into federal decision making. This article presents a method or tool referred to as the Significant Departure Principle for resolving the aforementioned Paradox. Emphasis is placed on assessing environmental resources that have already sustained cumulatively significant impacts.

Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes. Götz Schroth, Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Celia A. Harvey, Claude Gascon, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and Anne-Marie N. Izac, eds. 2004. Island Press, Washington, DC. 523 pp. $90 cloth, $45 paperback.

It is common knowledge that coral reefs and tropical rain forests hold the greatest amount of biodiversity; yet, both have suffered grievous damage in modern times. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes brings together the works of hundreds of scientists, dedicated environmentalists, conservationists, social activists, and economists, in a series of articles arguing the merits of agroforestry strategy and its attempts to mitigate the damage to tropical forests and conserve their biodiversity.

The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty. Robyn Eckersley. 2004. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 347 pp. $25 paperback.

Green political theorists often express deeply antagonistic attitudes toward the modern nation-state. The nation-state is denounced by many such thinkers for contributing to ecological destruction through the encouragement of unsustainable economic growth and the facilitation of natural resource extraction, among other practices. Another frequent criticism is that the finite territorial sovereignty of nation-states renders them inadequate to deal with environmental problems that are inherently transnational in scope. While recognizing the legitimacy of such critiques, Robyn Eckersley comes to the defense of the beleaguered nation-state in her provocative new work, The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty. Throughout its pages, Eckersley argues that because the nation-state is still the primary locus of social and political power in the world, the most realistic and effective strategy for addressing environmental problems is to work toward transforming individual states into greener institutions, rather than seeking elusive supranational solutions.

In a previous study of hydropower project relicensing, the author suggested that a consultative, consensus model of policy making, based on extensive negotiations between stakeholder interests, holds the greatest potential to achieve broadly conceived public policy goals. This article examines the effort of Avista Utilities to relicense five hydropower facilities on the Spokane River in Idaho and Washington using an Alternative Licensing Process, or ALP. This effort was patterned after an earlier one on the Clark Fork River in western Montana, where Avista was able to negotiate with a number of different stakeholders a consensus agreement that included changes in facility operation and mitigation of adverse ecological effects. Yet in the Spokane River case, the effort to reach a consensus agreement was unsuccessful. This article argues that irreconcilable differences over the water resource created a multiple-level conflict between stakeholders (Avista, upstream property owners, downstream users) to protect or challenge the established distribution of costs and benefits. The article suggests that a consultative model of policy making may not be appropriate in all cases and concludes with a brief examination of other models of relicensing policy making—the Integrated Licensing Process, the traditional model, and the political model.

Collaborative Environmental Management: What Roles for Government? T. M. Koontz, T. A. Steelman, J. Carmin, K. S. Korfmacher, C. Moseley, and C. W. Thomas. 2004. RFF Press, Washington, DC. 200 pp. $50 cloth, $23.95 paperback.

The concepts and practices surrounding institutionalized public participation in the United States have evolved over the past six decades, resulting in increased attention toward collaboration. Koontz et al. open their book with a thorough, but succinct, review of this evolution, providing excellent context for this book's focus on the role that government plays in collaborative natural resource management. Following the introductory chapter, the authors document six case studies organized around government roles as follower, encourager, and leader in collaborative activities. This is an effective organizing principle that provides the reader with valuable insight into the direct and indirect roles that government plays in any environmental management effort. The case studies are geographically diverse and cover both land and water management projects. The cases highlighting government as follower and as leader document details of specific collaborative processes, while the two cases featuring government as an encourager place more emphasis on how to establish a collaborative process. The case studies include efforts that were largely successful, as well as those that did not achieve their goals. A summary chapter provides a solid overview, with helpful tables documenting the governmental roles of actor and institution in the case studies. The final chapter offers a thoughtful discussion about what role government might play in collaborative efforts in light of the findings from the research presented. The authors describe the limitations of the present work and provide ample ideas for future research to better understand the dynamics inherent in collaboration. They also provide citations to allow the reader to review research that is critical of the collaborative approach.

Empty Pastures: Confined Animals and the Transformation of the Rural Landscape. Terence J. Centner. 2004. University of Illinois Press, Champaign. 189 pp. $35 cloth.

Terence J. Centner, a Professor in the Agriculture and Environmental Science Department of the University of Georgia, has created a work of profound importance. The book is short and the title is, frankly, unassuming and perhaps a bit misleading, at least until the reader reaches the last chapters of the book. The title implies that the book is simply a history of how the American agricultural system has evolved to become what it is today. The book is much more than a simple history of the transformations that have occurred in rural America since the 1960s. Instead, it provides chapters filled with detailed explanations of numerous agricultural, environmental, and property rights issues to educate the reader. Once the stage is set, the final chapter offers a nine-point plan to transform today's rural economy into something magnificent.

Basic Concepts of Environmental Chemistry, 2nd Edition. Des W. Connell. 2005. Taylor and Francis/CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 462 pp. $79.95 cloth.

Over the years, there have been many excellent environmental chemistry texts written; however, due to the dynamic nature of this field, the entrance of a more current and timely text is always welcomed. There are essentially two types of scientific texts. The first type is an objective assessment of the scientific field that focuses on the essential information and concepts needed to rigorously assess a situation. The second type presents a slightly biased perspective, which perhaps could lead the reader to preclude an assessment away from the full spectrum of possible conclusions; it is important that authors be ever vigilant of the latter. For example, science has determined that the major reasons for pollution and environmental impairment are due both to Mother Nature (volcanic action, hurricanes, floods, forest fires, etc.) and societal needs (such as transportation related emissions, air conditioning power demands, higher lifestyle requirements, etc.). Industry is not the culprit it once was, and what impairment it creates is now attributed to increased societal demands. The initial impression I received from this text, however, is that industry is more of a major culprit than a segment of the whole problem.