Are young professionals prepared to lead us in solving the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century, such as disaster recovery or global deforestation? Have they learned the basic skills it takes to communicate and work together with different people and cultures? Do they have the inner passion and mindset to be of service to the earth and their community rather than acting in self interest? The nation's universities have responded well in the last decade to become the young professional's preparatory launch pad for lifelong learning. Yet, after they leave school and enter the variety of environmental fields, are their jobs vital?

Despite ongoing recession-induced cutbacks of public health program funding, this article presents a feasible option to certain issues raised at the Second National Planning Meeting for the Surveillance, Prevention, and Control of West Nile Virus in the United States (Nasci, 2001; Roehrig, 2001). This county-level, cost-effective program illustrates the importance of maintaining and improving public health infrastructure, including the role of enhanced surveillance and vector control efforts in preventing human cases of infection. Many agencies at the federal, state, and local levels are available to assist in the planning and start-up of such programs. The goal of Monroe County's Vector Control Program has been to minimize or eliminate risk of arthropod-borne disease to residents/resort area visitors, through a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management framework for mosquito surveillance and control. Monroe County has supplemented their efforts with (1) new technology like Internet/Web-based surveillance data reporting, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and Geographic information Systems (GIS); (2) vigorous public education and involvement, including mosquito breeding site identification, control strategies for the homeowner/other residents, and use of personal protection measures; (3) active interaction with East Stroudsburg University; and (4) interagency collaboration, including local, state, and federal agencies. Until September 2003, when the first and only (to date) human case was reported, there were no human infection cases in Monroe County.

Uneasy Alchemy: Citizens and Experts in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor Disputes. Barbara L. Allen. 2003. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 224 pp. $55 cloth, $22 paperback.

Earth Day 1970 is generally recognized as the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the US. Of the many issues that have emerged since then, one of the most complex and polarizing is what has become known as “environmental justice,” the belief that a disproportionate percentage of environmental risk is borne by persons with little or no political power, mostly minority and low-income groups.

The 2003 Brownfields Conference, “Growing a Greener America,” which convened in Portland, Oregon, was held on October 27–29. A record 4,100 people attended. Portland was chosen to host the conference, due to its role as a national leader in growth management. Portland's unique urban growth boundary is managed by Metro, the only directly elected regional government in the country. The success of the growth boundary in leading to redevelopment of brownfield sites in Portland was highlighted in sessions and mobile workshops at the conference.

The early inclusion of tourism, especially skiing, in the economy of Whitefish, Montana, set it on a different path from many other Western towns that relied only on the boom-and-bust cycles associated with extractive industries. Towns that stayed committed to logging or mining relegated themselves to economic oblivion or increasingly severe natural resource degradation. Whitefish, a place that gradually increased tourist business in response to the decline of traditional industries, fared much better both economically and environmentally. Whitefish's history provides insight into the impacts of a place selecting tourism in order to sustain community development. Whitefish's choices produced some problems; minimum wage jobs prevailed and the town's growth led to increased real estate prices. Overall, however, the millions of dollars that poured into local businesses, the solid economy that grew as the number of visitors increased, and the quality of life in Whitefish proved that the incorporation of tourism had positive impacts on the community. Understanding how tourism has developed differently across the Rocky Mountain region will be an important component in thoughtful planning for the future.

The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) baseline Hudson River health risk assessment (HRA) is evaluated and found to be biased toward keeping polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sediments. The HRA systematically mis-quantified parameters, underestimating PCB movement from sediments to water and from water to air. The EPA excluded from its analysis all mono- and dichlorinated PCB congeners, which EPA subsequently estimated at one-third of total PCB mass in the river, and excluded dissolved and colloidal PCB. The EPA included silt-adsorbed PCB, but overestimated the rate at which it would settle out of the water column by inappropriately basing the rate on Stokes' Law for more massive spherical particles. Flat clay particles settle more slowly with a longer path length and residence time. The EPA omitted electrostatic charges on clay particles that separate them, preventing agglomeration and maintaining clay in suspension; they also assumed that particles never “reflect” back into the water column after settling, likewise underestimating PCB concentrations in water. Also omitted was PCB codistillation, in which PCBs at low bulk concentrations preferentially distribute to the air-water interface, accelerating PCB transfer from water to air. Indeed, EPA cited empirical data showing more rapid PCB water-to-air transfer, but reduced its effect on the HRA, reducing the transfer coefficient by averaging in lower modeled PCB transfer coefficients that ignored codistillation. Finally, EPA omitted PCB release to the atmosphere from hot water in cooling towers in communities along the Hudson River. Water at cooling tower temperatures may release PCB into the air more than 10 times faster than rates determined from the surface of cold water and multiple orders of magnitude more rapidly than in EPA's models. Together, EPA's procedures reduced airborne PCB concentrations from above to below de minimis concentrations. This, in turn, eliminated the requirement for EPA's HRA to quantify inhalation risks posed by airborne PCBs; the HRA, therefore, considered airborne PCBs, but attributed zero health risk to them.

Environmental Practice 9:96–111 (2007)

What's beyond oil? This question is leading to one of the most important debates these days. Even if oil resources are only decreasing slowly (but surely), other options to power the future are essential in consideration of climate changes due to greenhouse gas emissions. An obvious solution can be found looking at the perpetual solar energy supply, especially in regions with high availability of sun irradiation. Converting this renewable energy with wind turbines or photovoltaic or solar power plants is common by now. But storing and using the electric energy generated with these technologies is quite difficult because of low energy densities obtained from current battery technologies. By contrast, hydrogen energy storage has the advantage of its higher energy density. It can be used, for example, for auxiliary power units (APUs) in combination with fuel cell systems, for powering automotive fuel cell–based drivetrains, or for local energy supply in fuel cell power plants. Additionally, hydrogen can be transported easily by trucks or pipelines even over long distances and can be distributed and sold. From the economic perspective, with hydrogen and fuel cells some interesting business models can be developed. Investing in hydrogen production and storage equipment, fuel cell systems for APUs and vehicle drivetrains, or a hydrogen infrastructure, return on invest can be seen some years ahead by selling hydrogen or fuel cell systems to national and international customers with increased ecologic responsibility. Finally, in spite of the longer energy conversion chain for hydrogen compared to pure electrical energy storage, hydrogen with the described advantages generated from renewable energies used in fuel cells is definitely an economic and ecologic chance for a greener future.

Environmental Politics and Policy, 6th Edition. Walter A. Rosenbaum. 2005. CQ Press, Washington, DC. 366 pp. $44.95 paperback.

The Sixth Edition of Walter A. Rosenbaum's much-used volume is a necessary update for several reasons, not the least of which is the insight provided throughout on the environmental policy impacts of the G. W. Bush administration. Continuing changes in environmental indicators, the effects (or lack thereof) of public opinion on environmental policies, and the emergence of new issues as we learn more about our effects upon the environment justify this important update. In all cases, Rosenbaum, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida and Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, has done a masterful job at keeping the older material intact while bringing in the new.

This autumn, President George W. Bush belatedly held international meetings to discuss global climate change. It may have been a calculated gesture from a leader whose political stock has been plummeting for some time. But the move underscored the dramatic shift in the debate over global warming. Mostly ignored for years, climate change had burst into view again between 2005 and 2007 for a number of reasons: the release of a major scientific report that the Arctic was melting; the unprecedented natural devastation on US soil of Hurricane Katrina; two more years of record heat in 2005 and 2006 followed by an ongoing severe drought in 2007; the release in early 2007 of a gloomy Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment of climate change; a renewed environmental and climate change movement symbolized by the popularity of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth; and, of course, the sweep of the Republican Congress that had featured climate change deniers like Senator James (“it's a hoax”) Inhofe (R-OK).

Art is a powerful tool for conveying ideas. It transcends various modes of communication, allowing it to trigger mental, emotional, and physical responses from its target audience. Its effectiveness as a tool for environmental advocacy, however, is limited by the sustainability of the practice and the materials used. Contemporary art practices in the Philippines have found ways to support the campaign for environmental sustainability by using repurposed materials that result in a decreased carbon footprint in the art production process, while conveying environmental themes. This evaluative article presents two case studies tackling the new-found indigenous art practice of the Talaandig tribe in the province of Bukidnon, Philippines, and the contemporary art practice of select assemblage artists from Metro Manila using found objects. This article illustrates how Filipino artists in both the indigenous and contemporary art scenes are supporting the global campaign of environmental conservation in message and action.

Environmental Practice 18: 260–266 (2016)

In 2008, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation funded the Northern West Virginia (WV) Brownfields Assistance Center (i.e., the Center) to create a mini-grant program that encourages brownfield redevelopment in West Virginia. The Center's Foundation for Overcoming Challenges and Utilizing Strengths (FOCUS) WV Brownfields program enables communities to cultivate and implement a redevelopment vision for brownfield properties of strategic community interest. This article describes the FOCUS WV Brownfields program and provides examples of three projects that demonstrate creative and collaborative means toward brownfield redevelopment in West Virginia.

A Best Management Practice (BMP)-based air permitting program has been developed for large dairies in Idaho. General “Permits to Construct” are being issued for the emission of ammonia to all new and existing dairies based on the type of facility, manure handling system, and dominant land application method. A list of BMPs to control ammonia emissions has been developed, and each practice was given a score for its relative control of ammonia emission. Producers then select which BMPs will be installed or implemented on the farm and will be reviewed for compliance by the Idaho Department of Agriculture. Inspections during the summer of 2006 found that 95% of all permitted dairies were in compliance with the Rules for the Control of Ammonia from Dairy Farms, with an average score of 32.9 ± 6.1 points of BMPs, exceeding the 27 points required. Solid separation of manure, corral harrowing, low-pressure irrigation, composting, and rapid manure removal from outdoor lots were found to be the most common BMPs.

Environmental Practice 10:13–19 (2008)