This study employed deductive content analysis how hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, in online versions of elite American newspapers. The media sources The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post were chosen as the best outlets to analyze to gain insight into the print and digital media that influence public opinion in the United States. A total of 349 articles published from 1851 to May 2014 were included in this study. The study instrument was based on previous media framing studies, including those on hydraulic fracturing and climate change communication, in addition to observations of patterns noted by the authors during an initial round of coding in the interest of relevance. This study examined the tone in which media coverage portrays hydraulic fracturing, thereby influencing social perceptions of the practice. Significant findings from the study are (a) hydraulic fracturing is presented by elite news outlets through conflict, responsibility (blame), and environmental concerns; and (b) water pollution was the main concern portrayed in the articles, which presents hydraulic fracturing mostly as a water-related issue while leaving out other important aspects of natural gas extraction.

Environmental Practice 18: 83–93 (2016)

Eastern hemlock [Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière] is a valuable component of Allegheny Plateau forests in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York. Since the 1950s, hemlock forests throughout the Central Appalachians have been under threat from a nonnative forest insect pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand). In 2012, to address this threat at the most meaningful scale, the United States Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy organized a diverse partnership to develop a strategy for landscape-level conservation of hemlock on the High Allegheny Unglaciated Plateau. The main goal of the partnership was to locate hemlock across the landscape regardless of land ownership and prioritize the hemlock for monitoring and protection from the adelgid. The priority Hemlock Conservation Areas that were identified by this partnership provide a guide for focusing limited financial and personnel resources, with the goal of protecting at least a portion of these areas from the impacts of the adelgid until more long-term management techniques are identified. To protect the important hemlock forests identified in this prioritization, a partnership of private and public land managers are forming a Cooperative Pest Management Area to continue this important collaboration, allocate scarce resources across the area, and allow private partners access to public funding for protection of priority hemlock on their lands.

Environmental Practice 18: 94–105 (2016)

The majority of humans now live in cities where access to usable open space is often limited, causing a reexamination of current practices and values related to reuse of available urban lands. Closed landfills offer an unprecedented opportunity to convert large underutilized land into usable urban open space, as well as habitat for multiple species. However, existing landfill regulations and closure practices do not allow optimal ecological restoration designs for these underutilized properties to be realized, because current regulations focus on methods that protect required caps and prevent water infiltration. Through the exploration of two design case studies, the authors illustrate the opportunities to increase habitat diversity on closed landfills and to more closely approximate a natural topographic/vegetation interaction. Although initially a more costly restoration, unique restoration design elements enhance both long-term environmental and socio-economic values associated with the reuse of closed urban landfills, which are currently underutilized.

Environmental Practice 18: 106–115 (2016)

Unprecedented levels of global bottled water consumption present a major challenge for the environment and water conservation initiatives. Educational institutions are in a unique position to promote conservation behavior by signaling pro-environmental norms. To decrease disposable bottled water consumption on campus, Princeton University instituted an innovative “Drink Local” program in 2009. The program provides reusable water bottles to all incoming students and we analyze the program’s impact here by drawing on behavioral and social influence research. In particular, we hypothesized that by signaling that the desired “prototypical” behavior of Princeton students should be “sustainable,” students would be less likely to consume bottled water on one hand, and more likely to offer normative support for a campus bottled water ban on the other. Results from a quasi-experiment involving over 1,300 students confirm our hypotheses; students who received the reusable Drink Local bottles upon arrival to Princeton are significantly less likely to drink disposable bottled water and more likely to support a campus-wide bottled water ban. These results are promising for educational institutions who wish to promote water conservation behavior on campus and beyond.

Environmental Practice 18: 116–122 (2016)

With the rapid pace of development in the various shale plays across the United States, there is a cultural change for the electric utilities occurring. Electric power infrastructure is being rapidly constructed to support shale development that requires environmental review that was rarely conducted in the past. Power generation and transmission lines are an important cog in the development of this infrastructure but not in the limelight when discussing shale energy development. This presentation will highlight some of these shale plays, the infrastructure being built in support of these plays, and the key environmental issues that may impact the pace of development.

Environmental Practice 18: 125–128 (2016)

Public participation can not only contribute to improvement of decisions, but can also help in enhancing the capability of communities to solve problems and pursue common concerns. Arguably, a strong public participation in environmental governance could increase the commitment among stakeholders, which strengthens the compliance and enforcement of policies. Nevertheless, despite the critical importance of public participation in policy making, such involvements are not as effective as may be desired for logical conclusion and efficient implementation of policies. The near nonexistence of visualization tools at the disposal of the general public to aid in visual understanding of the problem is the major cause factor for the non-involvement and negligible influence of the populace in policy making. One such facility is being established at Wildlife Institute of India for visualizing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).

Environmental Practice 18: 129–131 (2016)