Island Press Field Notes

Pavan Sukhdev's latest event left audience members with plenty to think about:

In a 2006 article [PDF] in The American Naturalist, a small herd of perfectly respectable conservation biologists advocates a bold ecological restoration project they call “Pleistocene Rewilding.” The concept itself is outrageously wild. First of all, “rewilding” is the process of reintroducing species to ecosystems from which they have been extirpated—usually by that big bully, Homo Notsosapiens.

The soda wars are afizz again in two California communities. Voters in Richmond and El Monte will soon decide whether a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks is an appropriate municipal policy to help combat obesity.

The environmental justice movement is closely tied to urban planning and development. But, while planners and urban designers have made great strides in embracing the sustainability movement, social justice issues have not been getting the same attention. Of the three "e"s of sustainable planning—environment, economics, and equity—equity is the one most often left behind.