With this issue, Environmental Practice and the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) begin a new relationship with Cambridge University Press as our publisher. We are delighted to be part of the Cambridge collection of journals and we believe that NAEP members and other subscribers will receive better benefits from our new arrangements.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law by Richard M. Nixon on January 1, 1970; this year marks its 35th birthday. NEPA was the first of the major environmental statutes passed during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Its requirement that the environmental consequences of actions be evaluated before implementation has been copied by a number of states, some municipalities and tribal governments, and over 100 other jurisdictions around the world. We believe this is an appropriate time to look at some of the issues surrounding NEPA and make suggestions regarding future directions.The authors acknowledge the contribution of ideas by Helen Ingram, University of California, Irvine; Jo Ann Beckwith, Michigan State University; and Jon Allan, CMS Energy Corp. The Editorial Staff is grateful to Michael R. Thomas, Environmental Practice Advisory Board, for his role in obtaining this manuscript. A portion of this article first appeared as a letter to the editor in Science 307:674 (February 4, 2005).

As figuratively as chess simulates military combat on a game board, land mines actualize consequences of combat on wartime battlefields and beyond. Global activism for years has protested land mine use because of its nonmilitary human consequences, but land mines also have environmental consequences. Though eclipsed by the human consequences, the environmental consequences of land mine use are patent, widespread, and unarguable: killing flora and fauna, obliterating habitat, and retarding ecosystem recovery in blast and fire zones. Such consequences legitimize environmental professionals' concerns about land mine use, just as the environmental consequences of potential nuclear warfare legitimized rigorous study of (clearly more severe) “nuclear winter” effects.

What is the significance of a round sign emblazoned with a ladybug and the words “Pesticide Free Zone”? At The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, it is an institutional commitment to maintaining grounds without pesticides that dates back to the college's founding. At Seattle University, the signs signify that grounds manager Craig Chatburn has “just cleaned all pesticides from our storage locker.”

To inquire about reviewing one of these books, contact the editorial office (SEM 3127, The Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW, Olympia, WA 98505, (phone) 360-867-5955, (fax) 360-867-5430, (e-mail) [email protected]).

One important result of electric power deregulation in the United States has been a growing potential for small, distributed sources of electrical power that may serve a single home, neighborhood, business, or business complex more efficiently and reliably than centrally located power plants, and at lower cost. The expectation that distributed generation (DG) can provide reliable electrical power more efficiently and less expensively than conventional power plants is complicated, however, by the high levels of air pollution and low efficiency generally associated with the most affordable and accessible DG technologies. Therefore, the prospect of greater reliance on distributed sources of electrical power raises a number of important questions, among them, these: (1) How can a state's energy and environmental regulatory system best encourage the economic success of clean and efficient DG? (2) Exactly which DG technologies are the cleanest and most efficient? (3) What kind of policy is most likely to yield the most favorable level of DG usage in a given state? In answer to these questions, we present the development of DG policy in California as a study in establishing and deepening a network of state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals committed to the integration of clean, efficient DG into the state's electric utility system. More specifically, the California Energy Commission, the California Air Resources Board and most local air districts, the California Public Utilities Commission, environmental and professional organizations, DG manufacturers and other businesses, and interested individuals have responded to the rising demand for electricity in the state by advocating clean and efficient DG. Although the many agencies, organizations, and individuals involved in the “clean DG” network have not been overtly identified as such, we argue that administering the currently favored technology-forcing, clean DG policy will require ongoing and pervasive coordination among the members of this nascent network.

Data from a 16-year period were used to investigate ground-water quality and its relation to nearby land uses in the Carson Valley area of Douglas County, Nevada. Within 500 m of ground-water wells with increasing nitrate concentrations, properties on septic systems accounted for 40% of the area, whereas agricultural areas accounted for 8.5%. Agricultural lands comprised 18% of the area near wells with stable contamination trends and 40% near wells with decreasing trends, indicating that lands converted from agriculture to nonsewered properties may be related to increases in nitrate concentrations. The mean size of parcels with septic systems near wells with increasing nitrate concentrations was about half (1.1 ha) that of those near wells with stable nitrate concentrations (2.0 ha). For wells with increasing nitrate and dissolved-solids trends, 50 to 55 properties utilized septic systems within 500 m, compared to fewer than 25 properties near stable trends. The number of wells with increasing trends rose from 2 in 1988 to 15 in 2001 for nitrate and from 1 to 14 for dissolved solids, an indication that it takes a minimum of 20 to 30 years before increasing trends can be identified. Geoprocessing tools and Geographic Information System (GIS) methods in this study can be used for efficient interpretation of ground-water contaminant location and trend, relative to surrounding land uses.

Two Swedish road projects were studied to find ways to shorten the time spent in the road planning process. The results indicated that the road projects developed very differently. One planning project developed rather smoothly, while the other received an escalating flood of letters. Concerns about the environment and landscape were present in the majority of these letters, pointing to the importance of involving the expertise of landscape planners or environmentalists in the management of road development projects. This article's conclusion stresses the importance of inviting early submission of viewpoints and of responding to people's questions in order to achieve acceptance of a project; it also stresses the significance of keeping communication open with affected sectors of the public from the very beginning of a project.

David W. Orr. 2004. Island Press, Washington, DC. 192 pp. $20 hardcover.

Readers of David Orr's previous work will be delighted, though I suspect not surprised, to learn that he has written yet another landmark book. The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror is a timely collection of 13 essays, most of which appeared originally in the journal Conservation Biology. The essays contained in The Last Refuge are diverse, ranging from an examination of the environmental movement's shortcomings to a scathing critique of Bjørn Lomborg's controversial book, The Skeptical Environmentalist. If the essays are viewed as a whole, however, they constitute a coherent jeremiad against the prevailing political, economic, and cultural values of modern America.

Gregory M. Ruiz and James T. Carlton, eds. 2003. Island Press, Washington, DC. 518 pp. $75 hardcover, $40 paperback.

Invasive Species consists of 18 chapters contributed by different authors, all directed at an overview of “vectors” that transport species to new regions in which the organisms are not indigenous. The intent is to provide an overview of the transnational transfers of such species—crop pests, pets, ornamental plants, potential invaders of ecosystems, pathogens, others—with a view to improving the efficacy of policy and management strategies for reducing said transfers. The book is only partially successful at this.

Frederick W. Pontius, ed. 2003. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 1,029 pp. $150 cloth.

In many cases, the “clean water” focus has been from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) water discharge perspective and on ensuring that the water emanating from various point sources is “clean.” Such a perspective is, of course, necessary, and water that emanates from such sources into an ecosystem does need to be clean in order to mitigate any potential negative ecosystem impacts. For the general populace, however, the most important facet of water regulation and technology is always eclipsed by the USEPA initiative. This equally important facet is that of drinking water.

Alfred R. Conklin Jr., with Rolf Meinholtz. 2004. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. 355 pp. $135 hardcover.

Whether for remediation, evaluation, design, or regulation, the need for quality information is essential. The two most common questions asked by environmental design and regulatory professionals are, What is the degree of contamination? and What contaminants are present? The actions that must be taken are based on the resulting answers, and quality laboratories are sought to provide accurate and reproducible analyses. The fact usually missed is that the data provided are functions of the quality of samples taken, and unfortunately the weakest link in the system is many times the lack of a quality sample. The quality of a sample can be affected, for example, by where it was taken, how it was taken, how it was preserved, and/or how it was transported.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 2004. UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya. 208 pp. $20 paperback.

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) held its 22nd Governing Council in early 2003 and decided at that meeting to prepare an annual Global Environmental Outlook statement. The statement's purpose is to “highlight significant environmental events and achievements during the year and raise awareness of emerging issues from scientific research and other sources,” according to Klaus Topfer, the Executive Director of UNEP. This slim yet useful Yearbook is the Program's response to that decision. Its primary goal is to make new environmental information accessible in a timely fashion and bridge gaps between environmental science and policy. After an explanatory preface, UNEP sets forth a global overview followed by a series of chapters that are geographically focused.

David P. Lawrence. 2003. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. 562 pp. $99.95 hardcover.

The title of this textbook, Environmental Impact Assessment, belies the complexity and sophistication of its contents. David Lawrence has produced a monumental work outlining Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as it is practiced globally. The global practice of EIA was inspired in large part by the American practice of environmental impact analysis conducted in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. This practice is not synonymous with NEPA practice in America, which makes this work especially important for American-trained NEPA specialists working outside the United States.

Jane A. Grant. 2003. Rowman & Littlefield, New York. 135 pp. $60 cloth, $19.95 paperback.

In Community, Democracy, and the Environment, Jane A. Grant advocates for a strong version of sustainable development, which strives for structural changes to current economic, political, and social institutions, with the underlying assumption that increased community engagement will lead to more sustainable outcomes (Humphrey, Lewis, and Buttel, 2002). In this context, Grant searches for a social/political model that will foster deliberation on common interests, or the development of a civil ethos that will serve as a guide to more sustainable policies and goals at the local, national, and international levels. Community, Democracy, and the Environment outlines how the civil and political spheres in America have become separated in modern society and how the concept of sustainable development may reunite these spheres, at the same time allowing discussion about two competing values—economic growth and environmental protection. For instance, Grant writes: “The usefulness of sustainable development as a mechanism to guide both growth and environmental protection in the following decades will depend on the actual agreements worked out in its name” (p. 13).

Theodore Roszak. 2002. Phanes Press, Grand Rapids, MI. 377 pp. $35 hardcover, $19.95 paperback.

Our relationship with our environment has never been more in question. Current analysis on such subjects as global warming, the prevalence of pesticides in the environment, and the current condition of water quality makes Theodore Roszak's work seem essential as well as urgent. This is not a book to be skimmed. In fact, it cannot be skimmed. It is a deep psychoanalysis of the person/environment interface and what that relationship may mean to future generations. It is a book to be read and re-read. The ideal approach would be to read 20 to 30 pages at a time and then just think about it for a few days. Attending to our planet requires one to come to terms with personal philosophy and individual, as well as group thought and behavior.

Contributors.