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On college campuses, environmental science education largely takes place in classrooms, thereby limiting impact on the full student body. By implementing an educational intervention in an informal campus setting, this study tested an approach aimed at expanding the reach of environmental learning. Students at a mid-size Midwestern university were exposed to a food-focused environmental and climate education intervention consisting of sustainability trivia and marketing materials displayed in dining halls. Prior to exposure, students completed a pre-test, followed by a 5-week intervention, then a post-test. Comparing correct responses between pre-test and post-test, we found a significant increase in environmental and climate impact knowledge. The intervention was especially effective for women such that knowledge increased significantly more among women than among men. Additionally, we found a significant decrease in red meat consumption post-intervention. There were no significant differences between major categories or race and ethnicity. Results indicate that sustainability interventions implemented outside classrooms can be effective. Emphasizing connections between environmental health and sustainable food choices is important in improving students’ environmental awareness.

By borrowing theoretical insights from institutional theory and environmental and military sociology, the paper examines a relatively unobservable yet deep impact of Scott Pruitt’s tenure as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator: changes in the institutional ethos of the EPA. Institutional ethos refers to the intangible and invisible fabric of the institution—its “spirit”—and implies the interconnection between moral priorities and emotions. The paper argues that Pruitt’s actions have been depleting the value dimension of the institutional ethos by devaluing the EPA’s mission, and depleting the emotive dimension of the institutional ethos by demoralizing EPA employees. The paper adds to the growing literature on the implications of the ongoing changes to US environmental policy and practice under the Trump Administration, and the counter-actions initiated by those opposing the current policy priorities. This paper serves as a call for further empirical research to uncover relatively intangible impacts of the Trump presidency on the EPA and other environmental institutions. More broadly, the paper intervenes in the scholarly discussion about the moral implications of institutional changes, especially ones exerted by political processes, and the impact of these changes on the character and integrity of institutions.

Systemic understanding of potential research activities and available technology seeds at university level is an essential condition to promote interdisciplinary and vision-driven collaboration in an attempt to cope with complex sustainability and environmental problems. Nonetheless, any such practices have been hardly conducted at universities due mainly to a lack of appropriate institutional schemes and methodologies to systemically collect, map out, and synthesize individual research activities within a university. In this paper, we present the recent initiative of such systemic and comprehensive understanding of research activities at university level. We carry out a case study, attempting to summarize all the relevant research activities and technology seeds associated with environmental issues and sustainability currently being studied individually at the laboratory level at Osaka University. We collected 138 potential seeds from the university's relevant schools and institutes and sorted them according to Japan's three sustainability visions. The case study demonstrates the university's potential to provide collective knowledge enabling the societal transition to sustainability if these seeds are systematically overviewed and effectively mobilized to mesh with specific social demands and purposes. We highlight the need for a framework and practice that allows synthesizing research activities and promising technologies even at university level to further facilitate providing collective knowledge and discuss challenges and research needs for promoting synthesis practices and interdisciplinary research that are essential to deal with sustainability problems.

If more conservation-minded citizens were aware of certain environmental threats and how to resolve them, these issues could be resolved more effectively. Scientific conferences focusing on conservation bring together countless experts on environmental problems and solutions, but are not an effective means of reaching the interested public on a large scale. This paper discusses the use of twitter to share important conservation information from scientific conferences with the interested public. The basic usage of twitter is explained, and strategies to promote live-tweeting of scientific conferences are introduced. A case study (the 2011 International Congress for Conservation Biology) is discussed. If used properly, twitter and other social media technology can be a powerful tool for conservation education and outreach from scientific conferences.

Green infrastructure shows promise as a “best management practice” for controlling stormwater runoff, particularly in older cities with combined sewer systems. Green infrastructure systems have been used to both mitigate pollutant loading to adjacent waterways as well as to reduce burdens on municipal wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment systems during storm events. Although the electric and water/wastewater networks are closely linked, wastewater, water supply, and energy systems have been typically studied in isolation. Here, we present a hypothetical case study for applying a modular hybrid green infrastructure approach to manage stormwater in the Newtown Creek sewershed in New York City. We provide background information on current and projected stormwater flows to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and evaluate how interception and storage rainwater in the Newtown Creek sewershed could offset inflows to the WWTP and how this offset of stormwater inflows might result in reduced electric grid burdens and cost savings for the city. Our assessment indicates that a 0.66 % conversion of impervious sewershed surface area to modular hybrid green infrastructure could reduce stormwater inflow volumes (i.e., for an annual median storm) to the Newtown Creek WWTP by 10 %. We estimate that this would result in a 14-MWh reduction in energy required for wastewater treatment per storm event. Collectively, our results suggest that implementation of modular hybrid green infrastructure can significantly reduce burdens on urban water and energy systems, thereby helping to mitigate water-energy nexus challenges associated with climate change and population growth.

With the ongoing need for water conservation, the American Southwest has worked to increase harvested rainwater efforts to meet municipal needs. Concomitantly, environmental pollution is prevalent, leading to concerns regarding the quality of harvested rainwater. Project Harvest, a co-created community science project, was initiated with communities that neighbor sources of pollution. To better understand how a participant’s socio-demographic factors affect home characteristics and rainwater harvesting infrastructure, pinpoint gardening practices, and determine participant perception of environmental pollution, a 145-question “Home Description Survey” was administered to Project Harvest participants (n = 167) by project promotoras (community health workers). Race/ethnicity and community were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with participant responses regarding proximity to potential sources of pollution, roof material, water harvesting device material, harvesting device capacity, harvesting device age, garden amendments, supplemental irrigation, and previous contaminant testing. Further, the study has illuminated the idiosyncratic differences in how underserved communities perceive environmental pollution and historical past land uses in their community. We propose that the collection of such data will inform the field on how to tailor environmental monitoring efforts and results for constituent use, how community members may alter activities to reduce environmental hazard exposure, and how future studies can be designed to meet the needs of environmentally disadvantaged communities.

Written as a trickster tale and co-narrated by the researcher and a trickster figure (Crow), this writing considers the challenges of bringing traditional ecological knowledge to environmental studies and science programs. The researcher describes a project to raise and release salmon, which was collaboratively developed and carried out by members of a First Nations community and staff at the local public school. The participants gathered in learning circles, shared stories of salmon and the river, and then ceremoniously released the salmon in the spring. Although at a different academic level, the research highlights key components of the work between formal education institutions and Indigenous communities to bring traditional knowledge into education programs. Trickster challenges the researcher's version of the story, suggesting it is simply a nice little story. Instead, he claims that the story has to be turned inside out. This takes the research story to “trickster space” (Vizenor, as cited in Blaeser 1996, p. 162), which is characterized by the contradictions and confusion that exist when moving from an Eurocentric to an Indigenous world view. The researcher concludes that in order to integrate Indigenous knowledge into university-based programs, scholars must develop relationships with members of the local First Nations communities and learn their ways of understanding the world.

Internships in STEM disciplines, especially in fields related to conservation and sustainability, have become more widespread in recent years. Such experiences are thought to go beyond traditional classroom learning and are now required as part of the curriculum in many programs. However, benefits of such internships have largely been presumed up to this point. In this work, we developed and tested a research question asking if there is a gradient of learning that occurs across immersive educational experiences. These range from low-level immersion classroom learning to highly immersive field internships. We found that student learning increases as the level of immersion increases. Furthermore, our findings suggest that highly immersive internships lead to more translational outcomes. This is based on values and dispositional changes relevant to research that are absent in lower-level immersive experiences. These findings suggest that highly immersive internships are likely to be key foundational experiences that help undergraduate student stakeholders develop a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are critical to a translational workforce in conservation and sustainability.

In recent decades, Indian cities have experienced massive restructuring, expansion, and redevelopment due to economic, social, and infrastructural changes. Urbanites commonly aspire for a livable city with more trees and green spaces to mitigate the pollution and extreme stress faced in their daily lives. However, unprecedented urbanization has caused such Urban Green Spaces (UGSs) to shrink, be poorly maintained, and lose biodiversity. Therefore, this paper aims to understand Delhi park users’ perceptions of UGSs in India’s capital. Specifically, the study investigated three key questions: (1) Why do respondents visit public green spaces? (2) What problems are associated with the UGSs? and (3) What roles should urbanites play in the ongoing management of UGSs? The study draws on 261 face-to-face surveys with randomly selected respondents visiting the UGSs. Most participants were satisfied with overall condition and current management practices in Delhi’s UGSs and believed that the parks could support the creation of a livable green city. Citizens believed that greater awareness of UGSs and further involvement from Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) could improve participatory and inclusive management. Commonly reported problems included park safety concerns, insufficient green cover, and the need for better management. Many residents were passionate about the UGSs and wanted to participate in ongoing park management activities. This study highlights the importance of public participation and the ongoing practices that support urban parks and garden management.