Since the creation of the Great Lakes with the last Wisconsin glaciations, its ecosystem has endured a diversity of impacts from humans and its surrounding environment. Today, the Great Lakes continue to face numerous challenges from a variety of threats that at times appear to be more rigorous than those of the past. Great Lakes restoration and conservation involve issues ranging from the legacy pollutants of years past, such as heavy metals and synthetics, to an exotic species invasion and quantity issues such as overconsumption. The looming threat of climate change is one of the most challenging that the Lakes will face in the next decade unless changes are made in human behavior. With these and other threats in mind, this issue of Environmental Practice is dedicated to the challenges of Great Lakes sustainability. This issue concludes the thematic year for the journal, which focused on international issues.

In a world of increasing globalization, environmental concerns must contend with a variety of geopolitical borders for policy solutions. More than ever, environmental practitioners and students work in a global community, where the challenges of one nation impact worldwide issues that interconnect to other issues like poverty, human rights, and quality of life. During my trip two years ago to China, where I was invited to speak on international environmental treaties, particularly the Kyoto Protocol, I was struck by the global impacts from local practices in our megacities across the planet. The phrase by the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency of “act locally and think globally” does not capture the magnitude of impacts from our large, dense megacities that collectively as urban dwellings are changing the quality of life of places on the globe much farther away. This poses new challenges for environmental professionals implementing projects and for academics teaching environmental public policy and sciences. The challenge is to expand both the professionals' and the students' understanding of not just of the environmental impacts to a region or state, or even nation, but also the sociocultural and economic ramifications of environmental impacts globally. In that spirit, Environmental Practice has focused our issues of 2013 on international environmental issues, beginning with our March issue on the European Union (EU). Continuing in the international theme, this issue of Environmental Practice is devoted entirely to the environmental challenges faced by China—with regard to the US, as well—for environmental issues today.

The spring issue for Environmental Practice has been focused traditionally on the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) conference in April. The NAEP/AEP joint conference “Walk the Talk” was held in Los Angeles, where the principles behind economic development and environmental conservation were put into practice by professionals across a broad spectrum of environmental professions. The articles in this issue of Environmental Practice reflect that same spirit of practical application of those ideals. We return to our focus on international environmental research and work in the following issues after this spring issue. This issue provides some stimulating research and commentary on our profession and discipline.

With the start of 2013, the roles of coeditors of Environmental Practice transition: I take on the role of lead coeditor while Dr. James Montgomery begins planning for his role as lead editor in 2014. Over the past year, the journal focused on a variety of topics, including green infrastructure, environmental ethics, and hydrofracturing. Strategic planning for the 2013 volume, with the assistance of Paul Looney and Roger Turner, has led to focus this year on a more international theme. While we have had manuscripts periodically on international topics, this year the editorial office made a strong effort to reach out to international authors and readers alike to bring a more global approach to understanding environmental issues. This special issue issue of Environmental Practice begins that international theme by focusing on the European Union (EU).

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.

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 the close of calendar year 2009 is upon us, it is an important time to reflect on the state of environmental policy for the nation and the world. This cannot be a reflection that excludes the national and international issues impacting our environment, such as the spread of nuclear weapons, conflicts in Afghanistan and Iran, and our turbulent economy. The economy is a major agenda item for all levels of government, and will be for some time into the future. The interconnectedness of world economies means increasingly that all nations share the impacts for economic downturns. For environmental professionals, the past year has had a significant impact on employment for seasoned practitioners, as well as on entry-level positions for college graduates. One area of the environmental profession that is well positioned for future investment and assistance with economic recovery is brownfield redevelopment. This is the second issue in a two-part sequence on brownfields. Because of the interest by professionals in this field, there was a large response to the call for papers. While there are several reasons for this response, one contributing factor involves the future of the environmental profession and its link to the economy. Several outstanding articles in this issue provide that link, as well as examples on what is occurring both in the United States and Europe.

Successful redevelopment of lands with perceived or real contamination and left idle are commonly termed brownfield sites. These sites often require redevelopment that should consider the site's broader social, political, and economic setting. The parcel of land, which can range from a rural community to an urban neighborhood, is part of a larger ecosystem both scientifically and socially. Most of the urban brownfield literature focuses on the loss or underutilization of the property's function and resulting loss in economic value, sometimes neglecting this large social context of the location of the property.

A call for papers went out for a thematic issue of Environmental Practice dedicated to brownfields redevelopment as defined in the broadest policy and technical sense. The response was extremely positive. The result is that the journal will have a two-part series on the subject of brownfields that includes both this September/October issue as well as the theme for the December issue. Brownfields is a field of interest to environmental professionals both across the United States and abroad. At its foundations, it is a field that requires a team of multidisciplinary experts. It is also a field that has contributions from both practitioners and scholars. This makes it an ideal thematic issue based on the mission and vision of Environmental Practice. This year, two national brownfield conferences have helped focus professionals and scholars alike on the topic. These conferences bring a wide range and increasing number of professionals together to deliberate on a wide variety of brownfield-associated issues. The first conference, titled ‘The Big Deal’, was held in Phoenix in March 2009 by the Chicago-based National Brownfield Associations. The second is sponsored by International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) which will be held in November 2009 in New Orleans. While there are many other statewide or regional brownfield conferences, it appears that interest in urban revitalization through brownfield redevelopment continues as a vibrant field. As a result, brownfield redevelopment is the focus for the next two issues of the journal. The editorial office invited two guest editors from the USEPA Region 5 Office who have many years of experience working in this area: James Van der Kloot and Joseph Dufficy. As a result of their efforts, together with the editor of the journal, Dr. Kelly Tzoumis, the issues reflect the collaboration and the balance between professionals and scholars who study and work in this field.

On July 1, 2008, Jim Montgomery and I became co-Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Practice, alternating as lead editor for different periods of time. Together, we comprise a combination of science and policy that appears to fit the journal's mission. This editorial is my voice and is written from a policy standpoint as I begin to look toward the calendar year's end, reflecting upon where the United States is going with respect to environmental issues and, internationally, with regard to leadership. As Environmental Practice's last editorial for 2008, I will make some predictions for 2009 as well.

Beginning July 1, we are the new co-Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Practice, journal of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP). We are excited to lead this journal, particularly during a time when the public appears to have a renewed interest in environmental issues. With a new President and Congress, the environment may become one of the salient domestic issues for the country.

Since Executive Order 12898 in 1994, environmental justice analyses are required in the draft environmental impact statements (DEISs) prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act. Of a total of 2,062 DEISs produced from 1994 to 2001, approximately 994 documents had some form of environmental justice analysis. These 994 DEISs were evaluated to determine the methodology utilized in the analyses. Most analyses are conducted by the United States Navy, Department of Energy, Federal Highway Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers. Only about half (49.3%) of the analyses focused on low income as the sole variable. Most documents (93%) concluded that there was no impact to environmental justice communities. Results show that the analyses included some level of empirical information in only about half of the analyses (49.3%). A small percentage (4.4%) of analyses relied upon a qualitative history. Less than half (46.3%) of the analyses merely stated that there was no impact and did not contain substantial qualitative or empirical information. Thus, the findings suggest that there is a potential for environmental justice concerns to be overlooked due to deficient methodology by the DEIS preparers and the large number of DEISs claiming that there is no impact to communities. For instance, a little more than half (57.2%) of the analyses did not include a geographical unit, necessary to the identification of environmental justice communities. Recommendations are made for practitioners and policy makers to rely more on geospatial tools like geographical information systems and to build more sophisticated methods for environmental justice analyses, including statistical analyses using empirical data.