While much of the environmental justice literature has focused on exposure to environmental contaminants, this article argues that access to environmental goods should be explored, as well. We do this by looking at the rates paid for drinking and wastewater infrastructure in the United States (US). Although US residents, in aggregate, pay very little for water and sewer (around 1% of household income), the rate varies significantly by place (with Chicago residents paying roughly one fourth of the rates of residents in Atlanta, for instance). We ask whether particular groups may disproportionately pay higher rates. Using census data, we compare the cost of water and sewer across counties in Michigan and find tremendous disparity in reported expenditure. We then use multivariate regression analysis to investigate the relationship among income, urbanicity, race, and cost of water and sewer. Our findings indicate that a higher reported cost of water and sewer is associated most strongly with minority racial status. This results from postindustrial divestment and subsequent depopulation of particular urban areas. As a result, decreased demand (fewer households remaining in the city) actually increases prices (per remaining household), since water infrastructure costs are fixed, and this phenomenon disproportionately disadvantages people of color—who make up the majority of the great industrial cities.

Environmental Practice 13:386–395 (2011)

When it comes to transportation and sustainability, the conversation almost inevitably veers toward low-emission or zero-emission vehicles—and surmounting the technological challenge of creating cars that will run on something other than fossil fuels and the batteries to store the power. While this is a worthy goal, the technology is not there yet. Replacing our cars won't be enough: we need to replace our roads.

This article analyzes how Stop the Power (STP), an environmental justice social movement organization based in Brockton, Massachusetts, has confronted a well-resourced corporate opponent and a challenging state regulatory process. Drawing on semistructured interviews with key activists, organization-generated documents such as flyers, petitions, videos, and webpages, and articles from local newspapers, we argue that, rather than jump scale, STP has instead engaged in scale focusing. Scale focusing is conceptualized as the process of a movement organization intentionally localizing and particularizing its strategies. STP does scale focusing in three ways: critiquing the local built environment, articulating a geographically bounded collective identity, and deploying community-based strategies such as information dissemination and participating in local electoral politics. Since scale focusing represents a generative contribution to the social movements literature, we conclude by considering the broader implications of this concept.

Environmental Practice 13:396–405 (2011)

Moving into the 21st century's second decade, policy makers and urban planners are well aware of the importance of diverse transportation networks for communities small and large. As climate change, energy, public health, and quality-of-life concerns—all of which link with transportation to some degree—continue to grab our collective attention, cities throughout the world are working to broaden their transport systems to better serve a wider user range. These efforts often include improving nonmotorized transportation options, notably though expansion of walking and bicycling networks. This is obviously not new to some regions (such as Western Europe, where comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle systems have existed for decades); however, the trend is gaining traction around the world. Even in the oil-rich Middle East, communities are becoming increasingly aware of the need for enhanced nonmotorized transport systems to address growing—often chronic—traffic congestion, air pollution, user safety, public health, and other concerns.

This article analyzes community building and political agency through an investigation of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN). By using farming as a strategy of resistance against the structural factors that have left much of Detroit in a condition of food insecurity, DBCFSN not only meets citizens' needs for fresh produce, but also builds community by transforming the social, economic, and physical environment. In so doing, it creates new community spaces on vacant land. DBCFSN uses the farm (a) as a community center, (b) as a means to articulate culturally relevant language about healthy food and healthy lifestyles, and (c) as a tangible model of collective work, self-reliance, and political agency. These farmers adopt a community-based model for increasing access to healthy food for the mostly African American citizens of Detroit. By focusing on improving the daily existence of citizens rather than mobilizing against the power structures, D-Town, a seven-acre model urban farm project of DBCFSN, activists participate in the revival of a city mired in racism and poverty, and all but abandoned by politicians, the automobile industry, and the merchants and supermarkets who once served Detroit's residents.

Environmental Practice 13:406–417 (2011)

The Gorham (Maine) East-West Corridor Study is a major new transportation and land use study of the Greater Portland region, with a strong focus on transportation corridors immediately west of Portland. This region has historically been the fastest-growing residential and job area in Maine and, as a result, the recipient of many undesirable regional growth challenges. The current crisis in transportation funding, added to rising energy and highway construction costs, makes this a good time to take a step back and fully evaluate the range of opportunities available for this corridor. The study's goal is to evaluate all the options and find the right package of alternatives to protect home owners' quality of life over the long term, increase mode choice, and address regional growth challenges through coordinated local land use actions and transportation system investment, all while striving to maximize the life of existing and future roadway networks.

The relationship between transportation and climate change seems so obvious that it can be surprising to learn that federal policy on these two issues is completely separate and that few elected officials are even aware of the overlap. While President Obama made energy and climate change a focal point of his campaign, and then tried unsuccessfully to pass cap-and-trade climate legislation, he has not yet made the case that energy and climate should be important considerations in our future surface transportation policy. And even though Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works oversees not only climate but also highway funding, there has been little attempt so far by that committee to connect the two issues.