Historically, people and their governments have not understood or been prepared for the social, economic, and political instability that can result from energy scarcity or deterioration of the environment. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is an example from centuries ago where an isolated population irreversibly damaged its finite resources. The cutting of trees to move stone statues had a cascade effect on other resources and led to a dramatic decline in both population and prosperity (Diamond, 2005; Fagan, 2008; Pointing, 1991). More recently, in Darfur, human struggle over access to oil resources, compounded by problems wrought by persistent drought, produced both socioeconomic isolation and regional ethnic disconnection, magnifying a conflict that displaced nearly 2.5 million people (International Crisis Group—Sudan). We contend that disasters such as these can be mitigated or even averted if the complex connections and dependencies of the issues involved can be revealed and if there is a social network to connect isolated areas of expertise and knowledge in order to fully understand and visualize the problems and consequences to leaders and policy makers. This article describes a developing international effort to create a strategic foresight capability addressing the intersection of increasing energy demand and global environmental issues, such as climate change and declining natural resources.

Today we are living in a “go green” society where citizens recognize that the impact of what they eat, wear, and buy affects the earth. The terms green, sustainable, and eco-friendly have become buzzwords and hot topics in today's popular culture. Different variations of carbon-footprint calculators may be found on the Internet for individuals to use in order to determine how their lifestyle choices impact the earth. Companies hand out promotional canvas bags and reusable metal water bottles to persuade the public to reuse rather than to perpetuate consumption. So let's face it—it's hip to be green. Yet, as increased awareness of the drastic world climate change grows, we begin to realize that we need to not only make better personal decisions, but also alter how we build and plan for the future. The desire to build and live in an environmentally friendly way has planners, developers, architects, and government officials making sustainability standards a top priority when designing cities and neighborhoods for future development.

Successful redevelopment of lands with perceived or real contamination and left idle are commonly termed brownfield sites. These sites often require redevelopment that should consider the site's broader social, political, and economic setting. The parcel of land, which can range from a rural community to an urban neighborhood, is part of a larger ecosystem both scientifically and socially. Most of the urban brownfield literature focuses on the loss or underutilization of the property's function and resulting loss in economic value, sometimes neglecting this large social context of the location of the property.

The term brownfield has an expansive definition for rehabilitation and redevelopment in the state of Michigan. Brownfield redevelopment in Michigan is supported through state legislation that provides significant incentives to developers who redevelop not only contaminated properties but also functionally obsolete or blighted properties as defined by statute. Each municipality is enabled by legislation to create a brownfield authority that can approve two main brownfield incentives: a Michigan business tax (MBT) credit that is available for up to 20% of eligible capital expenses and tax-increment financing (TIF) that reimburses the developer for costs associated with brownfield redevelopment such as environmental remediation and infrastructure.

Diffuse anthropogenic pollution (DAP) is derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in natural environments without human influences. The term is often used in the context of environmental externalities in the form of chemical or biological wastes that are produced as by-products of otherwise purposeful human activities. For instance, it is widely believed that the production of carbon dioxide is the primary factor driving anthropogenic climate change.

The long fight in the desert over a nuclear repository headed for Yucca Mountain between Nevada and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is apparently over, and the man primarily responsible and who fought hardest to save Las Vegans from inheriting transported spent nuclear waste through their city is the state's senior senator, Harry Reid.

Environmental Practice 11:218–219 (2009)

In December of 2009, the nations of the world who contribute much of the greenhouse gas (GHG) that is emitted into the atmosphere will gather in Copenhagen to work collectively on a treaty to succeed the Kyoto pact. The last time they gathered was in Amsterdam in December of 2000 to put the final touches on what became the Kyoto Treaty. The United States (US) was something of an outlier in the drawn-out discussion that had preceded the meeting in Amsterdam. But the differences between the US and the vast majority of other nations were being worked out. At the end of the conference, the US delegation returned to Washington, DC, with a sprinkling of optimism. It reported to the president that a couple of more months of negotiations in the new year could lead to a document that the US could sign.