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Purpose: Previous studies have empirically examined the positive outcomes organizations can achieve by engaging in environmentally responsible actions, but the underlying mechanism of the reasons why publics engage in supportive behaviors for those organizations has not been examined in light of theoretical foundations. To fill this gap, this paper builds on a foundation of norm activation theory to explore the effect of publics' awareness of environmental consequences on perceived environmental responsibility of organizations and organizational norm, which can have an impact on publics' supportive behavior toward environmentally responsible organizations. The potential relationships between social media use for environmental information and other variables are also explored. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on norm activation theory, an online survey was conducted among 288 adults in the United States. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings: Findings indicate the impact of individuals' awareness of environmental consequences on their ascription of responsibility to organizations, which influences organizational norm and supportive behavior intention toward organizations. Originality/value: This study is one of the first attempts to explore the underlying mechanism of publics' support for environmentally responsible organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection and restoration of natural infrastructure are fairly new tactics to reduce coastal flood hazards. Increasingly, floodplain managers and environmental organizations have advanced use of these solutions and communities have embraced them, owing to the perceived multiple benefits derived from these projects. Assessing progress in the use of natural infrastructure solutions requires means to account for projects. One way to measure progress is to track investments made in such projects. This paper analyzes and estimates the United States' investments in natural infrastructure and provides a replicable method for determining whether a project qualifies as an investment in natural infrastructure that could reduce flood hazard and, therefore, have a coastal risk reduction benefit. Estimates of annual investment between 2012 and 2018 indicate increasing, yet variable, annual investment. Better data availability would improve the accuracy of findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal communities are among the most vulnerable to climate risks. Despite the negligence of climate policy at the federal level in the United States, subnational governments have taken action to adapt to climate change impacts. Using national-level data on subnational government climate activities, this research examines three aspects of coastal community adaptation actions. First, it examines whether there are differences in climate adaptation activity between coastal and non-coastal communities. It then tests the relative importance of political partisanship, population, perception of climate risk, and awareness of state-level climate planning effort. Lastly, it examines the impact of participation within climate policy networks on the likelihood of a subnational government taking a climate adaptation action. Three types of network partners are examined: those focused on sea-level rise and coastal communities, climate change mitigation, and general environmental organizations. Concern about severe storms, awareness of state plans, and having a network partner focused either on climate mitigation or the environment were found to be statistically significant indicators of climate adaptation action. The paper discusses the importance of understanding the localized context of adaptation within nested governance structures, and how informal policy networks can facilitate learning and innovation across coastal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, public and private environmental entities have been purchasing or leasing water rights across the Western United States (U.S.) in efforts to restore river flows and aquatic ecosystems. The need to pay for flow restoration arises from the fact that state governments did not begin to reserve water for instream purposes until the 1970s, long after water rights had become over‐appropriated and flows were substantially depleted in most rivers. As a consequence, flow depletion has become the leading cause of fish endangerment in the U.S., including the imperilment of two‐thirds of all native fish species in the Colorado River system. This paper takes stock of the progress made in buying water for the environment, specifically by reviewing and analyzing more than 50 transactions executed by public and private entities and the sources of funding underpinning these transactions. We conclude that nongovernmental actors — such as environmental organizations and state water trusts — are integral to regional efforts to restore river flows; these nongovernmental actors executed more than two‐thirds of the transactions we documented. However, we also conclude that the long‐term success of these nongovernmental actors depends upon the availability of sustained public funding that enables them to build capacity and engage in the large number of transactions needed to restore flows across each state. Research Impact Statement: River flow restoration is needed to stem widespread aquatic species declines but much greater public/private funding and transactional expertise is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who is a stakeholder? In this paper, stakeholders are defined in terms of who has a stake in an issue instead of who has a stake in a firm, and in so doing introduces the idea of an 'issue network.' Drawing on concepts familiar to the social movements (sociology) and interest groups (political science) literatures, I argue that members of an issue network can be identified as those with grievances, resources, or opportunities. To illustrate this argument, I consider the issue of land use in the western United States, showing how various environmental organizations might fit into such a land use network. I conclude with the INSPIRE model, which locates my argument in this larger model of stakeholder management currently being constructed in the stakeholder literature. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the US environmental justice movement with recent European developments, this paper suggests an environmental justice framework which is based on the idea of environmental justice as a heterogeneous process rather than an analytical or normative category. Using major debates on environmental justice particularly in the UK and Germany as a touchstone, eight dimensions of environmental justice are carved out and integrated into a processual model. It is discussed how environmental justice as a process may become robust enough to integrate and react to changing natural and social conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue represents an assessment of international organizations and transboundary networks governing natural resource and biodiversity issues in and among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The management of natural resources and protection of biodiversity is a highly technocratic process requiring collaboration and information sharing among a diversity of actors to facilitate the development and coordination of policy addressing complex and multisectoral issues. Numerous bilateral and trilateral organizations exist to ostensibly facilitate transboundary governance, yet the scholarly knowledge of their respective roles has many gaps. In this introductory article, we propose a typology of international environmental organizations based on two dimensions: (1) whether their activities center primarily on capacity building or regulation, and (2) the extent to which they exemplify the 'bureaucratic' or 'post-bureaucratic' model of governance. Using this typology we provide an overview of the special issue's contributions in terms of their assessment of North American bilateral and trilateral environmental organizations and transboundary networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broad intent of smart growth is to reduce development in environmentally sensitive areas by limiting the outward expansion of development and redirecting private investment to urban areas. Local decisions that shape and constrain land uses can pit narrow economic interests against broader-based environmental organisations and impact decisions on smart growth. Based on the political market framework, this study specifically examines the influence of pro-growth and smart-growth interest groups on smart growth policies adopted by local governments in the state of Massachusetts, USA. The results suggest both real estate interests and environmental groups influence local policy decisions, and depending on the policy, the characteristics of local political institutions mediate these influences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In WildEarth Guardians v. National Park Service, the plaintiff organization brought a values-based challenge to a National Park Service decision that was both based on a technical determination and within the agency's discretion. While such challenges must be channeled through the National Environmental Policy Act, the statute is a poor fit in that it cannot be used to force a different discretionary decision. Public participation is especially desirable for broad pol-icy decisions, because public input assures legitimacy, accountability, and trans-parency in decisions that cannot be made entirely on the basis of expertise. This is especially true of Park Service decisions involving broad discretion--by defi-nition including those made in Records of Decision based on Environmental Im-pact Statements--because the Park Service places special emphasis on values. One method of enhancing the value ofpublic input for these decisions is for the Park Service to include in its Records of Decision a statement ofpolicy, explain-ing not only why the decision is within the agency's discretion, but how it serves both the policies of the National Environmental Policy Act and the agency's mis-sion as mandated by its Organic Act and Management Policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, scholars have come to see the news media as playing a pivotal role in shaping whether social movements are able to bring about broader social change. By drawing attention to movements’ issues, claims, and supporters, the news media can shape the public agenda by influencing public opinion, authorities, and elites. Why are some social movement organizations more successful than others at gaining media coverage? Specifically, what organizational, tactical, and issue characteristics enhance media attention? We combine detailed organizational survey data from a representative sample of 187 local environmental organizations in North Carolina with complete news coverage of those organizations in 11 major daily newspapers in the two years following the survey (2,095 articles). Our analyses reveal that local news media favor professional and formalized groups that employ routine advocacy tactics, mobilize large numbers of people, and work on issues that overlap with newspapers’ focus on local economic growth and well-being. Groups that are confrontational, volunteer-led, or advocate on behalf of novel issues do not garner as much attention in local media outlets. These findings have important implications and challenge widely held claims about the pathways by which movement actors shape the public agenda through the news media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Environmental organizations have raised concerns about the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) implications of the hundreds of products containing nanomaterials that are now on the market. In the process they have drawn attention to the 'undone science' of EHS research and called for changes in both research and regulatory policy. Environmental and other advocacy organizations have been active in three policy fields in the United States: funding levels for EHS research, moratoria on the production of new nanomaterials largely based on the precautionary principle, and negotiations over definitions of safe or responsible nanotechnology with the private sector and the federal government. During the administration of President George W. Bush, calls for more research and industry guidelines met with greater success than those that called for moratoria and enhanced mandatory regulation. The more successful strategies tend to reproduce scientistic politics associated with risk assessment, whereas the less successful strategies would open up a broader public debate on the extent to which nanotechnology is needed or socially desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of a single assessment tool that is applicable to two organizations to reduce redundancy of operations. It is based on a case study of the application of Six Sigma tools and methods to develop an assessment tool for meeting the needs and procedures for the Office of Environmental Health and Engineering of the Albuquerque Area, Indian Health Service, and Region 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which had traditionally conducted independent surveys of water sewer and solid waste facilities of Indian tribal organizations in the same region. These efforts were focused on meeting the needs of tribal customers and the staff of both federal agencies following Six Sigma's Design Measure Analyze Improve and Control roadmap. Deliverables of the project included new survey forms, procedures, and training. The project resulted in the elimination of redundant services which in turn has allowed these organizations to be more cost effective in providing additional services to the tribal customers. This effort is resulting in similar adoptions in other regions of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relations between the labor and environmental movements exist within a complex web of clashing interests, electoral politics, and attempts to form enduring blue-green coalitions. Unions and other labor organizations are often portrayed as solely interested in economic growth. Environmental organizations are often seen as solely interested in preserving the natural world at the expense of economic growth, thus creating a direct conflict between the interests of labor and environmental organizations. Despite these perceived differences, efforts to bridge the divide between the two movements are increasingly common. This article examines the formation of a collective identity shared by workers and environmentalists participating in the coalition. I develop this argument through an ethnographic analysis of the formation of a blue-green coalition, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, using in-depth interviews, observations, and content analyses. I demonstrate how coalition leaders and bridge brokers work to bridge and consolidate the identities of labor and environmental groups to campaign for environmental health regulatory changes in Massachusetts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept and way of teaching ecology in the U.S. from 1965-1980. According to the author, the said years have been a dramatic change in the academic discipline of ecology. It states that membership in the Ecological Society of America has more than doubled. It emphasizes that public awareness of environmental problems grew and ecologists struggled to define their professional identity and roles in the growing emergence of environmental movements. It explores how Eugene P. Odum's book "Fundamentals of Ecology" published in the 1960s has been challenged in the early 1970s.

The article discusses the legal analysis on issues associated with the development and implementation of community benefits agreements (CBAs) in the U.S. It notes that community groups around the country are starting to experiment with CBAs. The authors claim that CBAs are generally negotiated between coalitions of community groups including labor, environmental and religious organizations.

Using data from the 2001 Giving and Volunteering in the United States survey, I examine household charitable donations to environmental organizations. Household income has a positive impact on environmental giving. While the tax price affects overall charitable contributions, it does not affect environmental giving. More education, being female, homeownership, and voting are also associated with a greater likelihood of contributing to the environment. African-Americans and Latinos are less likely to contribute to the environment, although conditional on giving, Latinos give more. Retired persons and households with children are less likely to contribute to the environment. Larger households give less to the environment. Households from the Northeast are the most likely to make environmental contributions while households from the South are the least likely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devolution, decentralization, or localism is a policymaking phenomenon now well documented by analysts of environmental politics. The reaction of the major environmental groups to devolution is less known. This article reports on research that documents a complex array of reactions among and within the major environmental groups for dealing with this trend. Those reactions, this article shows, vary in conformance with a four-part grouping or typology that divides groups up according to their understanding of this trend as (first) either inevitable or an artifact of the modern balance of political power and (second) either positive or negative for the environmental goals and values these groups, hold. After sketching this more complex picture of responses, this article suggests comparative strengths and weaknesses between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of a meeting related to climate change and pending congressional bills conducted by the National Fish Habitat Board held in Arlington, Virginia on October 7-8, 2009. It cites several fish habitat partnerships, whose applications for full recognition, were approved by the board during the meeting. The proposal of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) to secure the Data System of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) has been accepted by the board.