Bad economic news abounds these days—recession, home foreclosures, unemployment, jitters, and collapses on Wall Street. And, of course, we also have the war, with costs already in the trillions and counting and oil prices seemingly firmly stuck over $100 per barrel. All these indicators and more suggest that prudent souls should hunker down for the duration.

Earth Day comes but once … no … twice a year—April 22nd and around March 20th, the equinox.

Forest certification has quickly emerged as a prominent non-governmental policy approach to forest management, where market and civic stakeholders play increasingly important roles in new institutional development. In Finland, this development has been characterized by an adversarial and politicized environment between entrenched interest groups competing for decision-making authority in forestry governance. In this article, we discuss key distinctions between the two rival certification schemes, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Finnish Forest Certification System (FFCS), and explain the factors in the development process that led to the domination of the forest landowner- and forest industry-led FFCS. A central finding is that, although an alternative to traditional governmental approaches to forest management, the dominant FFCS adopted and modified traditional rulemaking processes and institutionalized the status quo of rulemaking and rule makers that existed prior to the development of forest certification. This resulted in the elimination of new perspectives in FFCS certification development. An absence of incentives and facilitating mechanisms to build trust between old and new policy participants fostered the collapse of a new integrated policy network in Finland.

Environmental Practice 10:4–12 (2008)

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)

This commentary provides a synopsis and evaluation of the Kelay Conservation Health Program (KCHP) and “lessons learned” through the program that may be applicable to other conservation projects. The KCHP is an example of a collaboration of multiple stakeholders (university, non-governmental organization, and local government) that uses medicine in the service of conservation. The program site in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) is noted for its exceptionally high biodiversity value, with a human population whose health and well-being are deeply linked to the rainforest ecosystem. The KCHP has a dual agenda: (1) to improve health for local people, and (2) to allow more effective conservation of critical rainforest habitat. As such, it is a unique example of a conservation agency collaborating with a government health department to improve health and healthcare for people living in a conservation target area. A comprehensive evaluation indicated that the program has had significant positive impacts on both health and conservation in the area it serves, at a total cost of about $62,500 (USD). The KCHP has allowed an international conservation organization to further its orangutan conservation goals while addressing human needs in the conservation area.

Environmental Practice 10:20–28 (2008)

The first green steps to sustainable living leave extra large footprints to follow. That was the message from the San Diego Sustainability Forum by the Association of Environmental Professionals. I left with a mental map and intellectual compass on how to get from point NOW to point NEXT. I left reassured that if California can stretch today's event horizon from what is to the more sustainable triple bottom line of what can be, the rest of the US surely can, too.