Abstract: Through a comparative model of energy sources and emissions in the globalized paper industry, this article reveals how complexities associated with geographic variation and land use change create indeterminancy in footprints based on life cycle assessment protocols. Using industry and trade data, the authors develop geographic information system transportation and energy models to map the globally dispersed pulp supply networks and to rescale Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change GHG inventory guidelines to include carbon loss associated with land use change in the carbon footprint of coated paper.

Abstract: Modification and loss of forests due to natural and anthropogenic disturbance contribute an estimated 20% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. Although forest carbon pool modeling rarely suggests a ‘carbon neutral’ flux profile, the life cycle assessment community and associated product carbon footprint protocols have struggled to account for the GHG emissions associated with forestry, specifically, and land use generally. In this paper, through a comparative study of U.S. and Chinese coated freesheet paper, we develop the initial foundations for a methodology that rescales IPCC methods from the national to the product level, with reference to the approaches in three international product carbon footprint protocols.

Abstract: Engineering research has conceptualized and modeled cities as an organismic metabolism, consuming energy and materials, and metabolizing them, and generating emissions and waste. But through this material and energy flow analysis, the specific complex interactions between infrastructure systems that shape these flows remain poorly understood. Understanding how these infrastructures interact with each other and how city-level properties emerge from such underlying interactions is fundamental to the design, development, and operation of sustainable urban systems. This article proposes the concept of infrastructure ecology as a way to analyze, via analogical mapping of urban to natural systems, the complex interdependence of urban infrastructure systems, and offer four fundamental research questions to foster the science of this new concept.

Abstract: “Resilience thinking” is an increasingly popular approach among scholars and policymakers, with advocates heralding it as the successor to the dominant sustainable development paradigm. This article examines two programs for renewable, distributed power generation in Thailand from a resilience perspective. A conceptual model is constructed from the literature and use to analyze the programs based on information from expert interviews and other sources. Results suggest that the programs are increasing the resilience of the system, but their contribution is limited by barriers related to governance.

Abstract: This article analyzes alley greening programs in seven cities in the United States using the lens of sustainability planning. Study results indicate that most alley greening programs are narrowly oriented toward stormwater management. An in-depth exploration of the alley greening program in the city of Los Angeles illustrates a more robust commitment to sustainability– through the adoption of goals related to environmental protection, economic development, and social equity– might be actualized in the context of alley greening efforts.

Abstract: While literature describes the influence of parks on physical activity, and identifies factors contributing to park utilization, little work has been done researching the availability of recreation resources within parks. In this study, an audit of recreation programs with moderate or higher levels of physical activity in Los Angeles area cities was conducted using the internet, telephone, and survey methods. Overall, findings suggest that the capacity of recreational courses to promote energy expenditure may depend on targeted age groups, age of the city’s population, and municipal fiscal capacity.

Abstract: Using production and trade flow data from 1946 to 2012, this paper assesses the state of Russia’s forest resources and demonstrates how sweeping changes ushered in by perestroika and globalization have forged a highly export-dependent forest sector. In tracking these flows through China to US urban centers, we demonstrate how consumption patterns affect ecosystems and socioeconomic relations in resource and manufacturing peripheries far beyond regional and national borders. The research is illustrative of how the “ecological shadow” of forest change and degradation in post-Soviet Russia is a confluence of factors related to both consumption and production.

Abstract: Despite widespread media coverage of livestock-related issues and growing scientific evidence linking meat production and climate change, systematic content analysis of this relationship in media coverage has been surprisingly minimal. In this article, we coded livestock-related articles from the Los Angeles Times over the 1990-2010 period to understand how various actants and artifacts shaped different story-networks– how a media report or “story” is framed. Distinctive story-networks framed the livestock-climate change linkage as an issue to be addressed through either technological innovation, individual lifestyle choices, or policy action.

Abstract: Urban green space, such as parks, forests, green roofs, streams, and community gardens provide critical ecosystem services, as well as promote physical activity, psychological well-being, and the general public health of urban residents. Recognizing these benefits, many US cities have implemented strategies to increase the supply of green urban space, especially in park-poor neighborhoods. However, urban green space strategies may be paradoxical. Strategies that are “just green enough”, and that protect both social and ecological sustainability, deserve more attention, as the creation of new green space can lead to gentrification and displacement of the very individuals it is intended to benefit.View this article featuring Jennifer Wolch on “eco-gentrification”.

Abstract: This paper develops a political-industrial ecology approach to explore the urban water metabolism of Los Angeles. Conventional approaches to quantify urban carbon footprints tend to “black box” methodologies that guide the carbon emissions calculus and the social, political, ecological, and economic processes that perpetually reshape nature-society metabolisms. To more fully delineate the water supply metabolism of Los Angeles, this paper combines theory and method from urban political ecology and industrial ecology. This approach offers valuable insights into the spatiality of material metabolisms and the socio-political processes reshaping the relations between nature and society.