Seventh Generation Thinking is attributed to Native American lore. Specifically, the Six Nations of the Iroquois (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, and Tuscarora) are given the most credit for developing and codifying the idea here in the North American continent. The idea is that we do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

Since receiving the honor of serving as President of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP), I have taken a good look at what NAEP is doing for our members, what we are proposing for the future, and what is still necessary. In many ways, this analysis is an outgrowth of the NAEP Board of Directors continuing efforts to improve and redefine what NAEP is and what it means to environmental professionals. Having been a part of these tremendous advances, in my new role I am evaluating our efforts from a different perspective to help steer the future of the association.

During 2010, Environmental Practice (ENP) focused issues on sustainability, the 40th anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and water. Last year was an active period for the ENP editorial office at DePaul University. These journal issues were produced by lead editor Dr. James Montgomery in conjunction with Dan Carroll as managing editor and an editorial board with several new members committed to participating in journal operations. The editorial office implemented a revised ENP format for manuscripts and a new cover that has been well received by the readers.

As 2011 comes to an end, and my rotation as lead editor comes to a close, I reflect on the progress and changes made at the journal in terms of publications, as well as the management structure. The editorial office of the journal has been effective at implementing a two-year round of changes to both the management and the visual look for the journal, with the assistance of Cambridge University Press and the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP). In the March 2011 issue, we introduced the new cover designed by Cambridge University Press, as well as a new table of contents with a diverse selection of manuscript categories for our authors. We have an active editorial board of 15 members who represent a healthy mixture of scholars and practitioners from across the United States. These folks have all reviewed or written manuscripts on an annual basis for the journal. We hope to expand the editorial board to include more international representation over the next couple of years.

Many fields of study reinvent themselves as new ideas come to the fore, but this process has been particularly profound in transportation science. This discipline, once largely the province of civil engineers, microeconomists, and travel-demand forecasters who tended to look rather narrowly at the various transportation modes, now attracts a more colorful spectrum of stakeholders. Environmental experts, urban-development specialists, and social scientists in many disciplines are pushing the field into exciting new areas. Along the way, much of the prevailing orthodoxy is being overturned.

The United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) offers a great opportunity to implement solar energy solutions across its US bases. It is the single largest energy consumer in the federal government and has sufficient land requirements to implement solar energy solutions. By implementing solar energy solutions across its bases in the US, the DoD will be able to realize benefits such as meeting federal policies and mandates, reducing energy intensity from fossil fuel resources (including foreign oil), reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and improving national security and mission readiness. This report describes the current DoD energy landscape for its facilities and nontactical (fleet) vehicles, DoD benefits of implementing solar energy technologies, and research methods and results that will help realize these benefits through the development of a decision model that will augment the implementation of solar energy technologies on DoD bases.

Environmental Practice 13:1–13 (2011)

The environmental justice movement has grown phenomenally since the 1980s. Though the movement is rooted in activism, research, and scholarship occurring in the United States (US), in recent decades it has emerged as both a global movement and field of research. The broader environmental movement and environmental research in general have benefited tremendously by the emergence of environmental justice scholarship. This is the case because the new area of inquiry has contributed greatly to our understanding of the relationship between social inequality and the environment. It has also provided mechanisms for people who traditionally did not participate in environmental affairs to become actively engaged in them.

This research addresses a key aspect of federal-local relationships in American federalism. How do Colorado county commissioners react in terms of supporting or restricting the development of renewable energy resource decisions under the control of federal agencies? Do they support the removal of legal obstacles to the construction of renewable energy facilities on federal lands under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)? And to what extent do they favor the prospective use of eminent domain authority by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site interstate transmission lines across county boundaries? The results presented here suggest that commissioners are less likely to support the exercise of eminent domain authority if they are favorably predisposed toward clean coal or nuclear power and prefer a more gradual transition to the use of renewable energy resources. Commissioner resistance to the development of renewable energy facilities on federal lands is more likely to occur in counties with a greater percentage of BLM or Forest Service lands and with higher PILTs (payments in lieu of taxes) from natural resource uses.

Environmental Practice 13:1–7 (2011)

I don't know about you, but to me the world in which we live appears to be faster and more full of information than in years past. The pace of information being provided to us is increased by modern conveniences like television and the Internet. While it is amazing the speed with which we can receive information, I am concerned that the information is not getting processed properly. In some cases, I am convinced that the information provided is faulty.

With energy legislation pending in Congress, research is urgently needed on the public's preferences for environmental policies. This study investigated preferences for government investment in new energy production relative to energy conservation and the variables that influence these preferences among members of the general public and those who live near nuclear and/or coal energy facilities (site-specific sample). A survey using random digit dialing assessed preferences for new energy production relative to energy conservation, beliefs about coal and nuclear energy, cultural worldview, trust in nuclear and coal agencies, environmental activism, and demographics among a general public sample (n = 800) and a site-specific sample (n = 2,400). Results showed that fewer than half of the participants desired more than half of the funding to be invested in new energy production relative to energy conservation. The general public sample's preferences were driven primarily by beliefs about coal, hierarchical values, environmental concern, and gender. The model of the site-specific sample's preferences was more complex and showed that preferences were driven primarily by coal and nuclear beliefs, hierarchical values, environmental concern, age, and race. Overall, the results underline the importance of investigating the underpinnings of beliefs of different groups and being cognizant of the unique factors that influence energy preferences among these groups.

Environmental Practice 13:1–14 (2011)

Do you believe we are on the way to a more sustainable life? The words transportation and sustainable probably don't mix well in many people's minds. When we think of transportation, it may be hard to realize modes of transportation that do not have some lasting effect on the environment. It may also challenge us to think about how we would get our sons and daughters to soccer practice, music lessons, and other school activities, and how we would do our weekly grocery shopping, errands, and our daily work commute without getting in our cars, SUVs, or vans. How do we get smarter about the choices we make when we travel?

Many sustainable development goals require collaboration among agencies and stakeholders at the regional scale in order to motivate and enable action. The need for regional-scale institutions to facilitate this collaboration has resulted in innovative activities by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). This article reviews the recent experiences of the DoD in the context of existing literature on collaborative natural resource management and finds many common challenges. Even though collaboration at this scale is difficult and there are few hard and fast rules for success, lessons from the DoD can help advance the state of practice. The question remains whether large public organizations like the DoD can institutionalize these newer collaborative approaches and make the necessary long-term commitments that are necessary for success.

Environmental Practice 13:1–11 (2011)

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are environmental contaminants introduced by the activities of man. PPCPs are not new or emerging from the perspective of knowing about them, but they are of growing interest due to reports in the popular media on occurrence and environmental impacts. As a result, PPCPs may be deemed as emerging issues by the public and utilities. Likewise, the biological constituents are not new—but, for reasons that are unclear, certain ones appear to pose a greater risk to consumers today than they have in the past. Similarly, Cryptosporidium parvum did not appear to pose a risk until 400,000 people became ill, and approximately 100 people died of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee's water service area in 1993. Today, regulators and public health scientists are trying to identify microbes that pose a similar risk in the future. If these constituents occur in raw water supplies, they may need monitoring and treatment prior to these waters entering the potable water distribution system. The Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) developed by United States Environmental Protection Agency outlines a series of biological contaminants of concern that are not currently regulated but may pose a threat. Should these contaminants move from the CCL to a regulatory framework, water supply utilities will incur added monitoring and testing of their water supply sources, and potentially added monitoring and treatment costs in their operations.

Environmental Practice 13:198–215 (2011)

We present the study results on the noise impact assessment for the proposed 30-MW wind farms in Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada. This report also reviews noise issues of a wind farm, sound propagation, and the major factors that might affect the sound-propagation and the noise-modeling results. The noise guidelines of Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) extensively are referenced in this assessment. The potential noise receptors have been identified in order to predict the noise-reception level at certain setback distances. WindPRO professional software designed for wind farms is used for the noise-modeling prediction. The noise-impact calculation by WindPRO is based on the ISO 9613-2 (General Acoustics: Attenuation of Sound during Propagation Outdoors—Part 2: General Method of Calculation). Additionally, meteorologic conditions, including the wind profile of the wind farm sites and topography as well as acoustic emission data for the selected wind turbine brand, have been coupled into the model. The detailed octave data at the wind-speed range of 6–11 m/s for each point of reception have been predicted. The results of the noise-impact assessment are demonstrated by noise level and noise contours, and the corresponding compliance of wind turbine noise criteria regulated in Ontario are analyzed for the proposed wind farms.

Environmental Practice 13:101–112 (2011)

This article argues that there is a long history of environmental racism in American society. The first part of the article briefly discusses some of the environmental practices that discriminated against and negatively impacted people of color. It also discusses the responses of people color to these inequities. The second part of the article examines the rise of the contemporary environmental justice movement. This portion of the essay also looks at the evolution of environmental justice scholarship. It argues that despite controversy over the assertion that race and class are related to the siting patterns of hazardous facilities, most studies support the claim.

Environmental Practice 13:280–301 (2011)

The intercity bus sector in the United States (US) has experienced a dramatic recovery in recent years due to the expansion of new curbside operators—express operators linking major cities that do not use traditional stations. Curbside operators such as BoltBus, DC2NY Bus, and Megabus are infusing new life into this once-struggling sector, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast. This study explores two aspects of the changing role of the intercity bus. First, it evaluates the extent to which intercity bus service diminished after 1960 and its subsequent recovery starting in 2006. Drawing on newly collected data from 11,400 arrivals and departures from a representative sample of US cities between 1960 and 2010, it shows that US cities lost more than three quarters of their intercity bus services before the recovery began. Secondly, it shows how recent growth of curbside-bus operators is reducing fuel consumption by about 11 million gallons annually and reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 242 million pounds. This is the equivalent benefit of removing 23,114 vehicles from the road or having 66,041 people convert from conventional to hybrid cars. These findings suggest that the sector's recovery has significant and perhaps underappreciated environmental benefits. It also suggests that further expansion by the sector, nurtured by public policy, could be an effective strategy to promote more energy-efficient intercity travel.

Environmental Practice 13:1–9 (2011)

The main concept in this article is that the federal government has fallen behind in implementing its basic law for protecting the environment, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Public Law 91-190, as amended. This idea is not new, as pointed out in our overview. This report is a broad-brush approach to a series of critical NEPA implementation issues. Any one of these issues warrants more in depth research and analysis. Our dual purpose is to broach these issues to spur further discourse so that NEPA can be strengthened.

Environmental Practice 13:1–11 (2011)

Like most other United States (US) governmental agencies, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was established and its purposes defined in US statutory law. Specifically, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) gave the CEQ responsibility for pursuing the development and implementation of policies that support and encourage environmental stewardship and sustainability. In this article, we examine what has happened to CEQ over the 40 years from its birth on January 1, 1970, to January 1, 2010. Among the key findings of the study is that the CEQ energetically and effectively pursued its assigned statutory goals during the 1970s, the first decade of its existence, but its capacity to do so was dramatically reduced during most of its second decade, the 1980s. The CEQ's capacity improved somewhat at the end of the second decade. Then the CEQ's fortunes declined again in the early years of the 1990s, its third decade, before recovering modestly in the middle of the decade. During most of its fourth decade, 2000–2008, the CEQ's energy level was elevated, but its presidentially assigned task seemed to be an inversion of its statutory purposes. These findings illustrate the malleability of statutory law in the American political context, and they illuminate gaps that exist in two prominent agency life-cycle theories.

Environmental Practice 13:1–9 (2011)

Biking is increasingly being recognized as a highly sustainable form of transportation. Consequently, a growing number of American cities have seen tremendous growth in bicycle travel, in part because many cities are also investing resources into improving bicycling infrastructure. Aside from the environmental advantages, there is now growing evidence to suggest that cities with higher bicycling rates also have better road safety records. This study attempts to better understand this phenomenon of lower fatality rates in bike-oriented cities by examining 11 years of road safety data (1997–2007) from 24 California cities. The analysis included accounting for crashes across all severity levels, as well as for three classes of road users: vehicle occupants, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Additionally, we looked at issues of street and street network design to help determine the role that these features might play in affecting both bicycling rates and road safety outcomes. Overall, cities with a high bicycling rate among the population generally show a much lower risk of fatal crashes for all road users when compared to the other cities in our database. The fact that this pattern of low fatality risk is consistent for all classes of road users strongly suggests that the crashes in cities with a high bicycling rate are occurring at lower speeds. This agrees with the finding that street network density was one of the most notable differences found between the safer and less safe cities. Our data suggest that improving the streets and street networks to better accommodate bicycles may lead to a self-reinforcing cycle that can help enhance overall safety for all road users.

Environmental Practice 13:16–27 (2011)

We compare the environmental voting behavior of Hispanic congressional members with those of White and African American members, seek to explain disparities in long-term voting trends, and discuss the implications for future environmental policy development. We analyzed congressional members' voting behavior from 1995 to 2006. Multivariate regression models were employed to determine what factors explain racial disparities in voting. Hispanic members were more likely than White, but less likely than African American, to vote proenvironmentally throughout the period. Results show political party increasingly explains this difference. This is because Democrats and Republicans have become increasingly polarized around environmental issues while at the same time racial disparities in party membership in Congress, largely due to increasing Hispanic membership, have also widened. Although oil-and-gas PAC contributions, region, and other variables are also significant predictors of proenvironmental voting, these variables are secondary to party. Our results add to the building evidence that racial/ethnic minorities are as supportive, if not more supportive, of environmental protection policies as their White counterparts. There has been little research on environmental voting behaviors of Hispanic congressional members. Although the number of Hispanic representatives has to date been relatively small (N = 24 in the 109th Congress), our results lend insight into the changing demographics of the Congress and how this may affect American environmental policy development in the future.

Environmental Practice 13:302–313 (2011)