Despite the dominant trends toward farm consolidation and cheap food policies in California, there are many examples of producers who are adopting regenerative on-farm practices and supporting organizations that assist small, beginning, and sustainability-focused farmers to thrive in a challenging environment. Sustainability innovations profiled in this case study are variously related to the three broader concepts of socioecological systems, integrated landscape management, and rural-urban interface. After reviewing these concepts, this case study presents the main barriers to sustainable farming and sustainable food systems, which are identified in interviews with producers. This case study then profiles illustrative examples of economic, social, and environmental innovations at the farm and institutional levels, which have achieved success at overcoming these barriers and are sufficiently documented for sharing and scaling-up impact. Producer innovations to reduce climate and market risks are then classified on a scale continuum. Finally, this case study presents the diverse types and qualities of support available to sustainability-focused farmers and ranchers in California, with clear policy implications for broadening and deepening this support.

Who and what academic journals publish reflects and affects the broader social context in which they are embedded. Case Studies in the Environment ( CSE ) is a new peer-reviewed journal developed by UC Press due to the growing interest in environmental studies and the increasing use of case studies in teaching at all levels. This paper examines the gender and geographic distribution of authors and editors during CSE ’s first year of publication, the geographic distribution of the case studies, and attitudes of authors regarding the journal’s purpose, format, and use in teaching. While studies of many journals reveal a predominance of male authors, women authors slightly outnumber men in CSE . Large majorities of the authors and editors are based at United States institutions and >90% are located in industrialized countries. Approximately half of the published articles present case studies from the US and nearly 75% are from industrialized countries. Authors reported being generally pleased with the purpose, format, and publishing logistics of the new journal.

The federal government of India and the state government of Bihar, India’s least electrified state, have always focused on grid expansion to bring power to those living without grid access. However, grid expansion has been slow. In Bihar, 83% of people still live without electricity, relying on dangerous kerosene lamps to light their homes. In the 1980s, an alternative—a market for solar home systems and solar lanterns—started to develop in Bihar. Yet, this market has failed to thrive, despite three decades of intervention by the government and activity by private companies. Today, fewer than 4.2% of unelectrified Bihar households use a solar lighting product. Based on interviews with key stakeholders, this case study found that the biggest obstacle to market growth is the government kerosene subsidy, which halves the price of kerosene, and makes people less interested in solar lighting products. Lack of company financing, product quality issues, lack of customer awareness of the benefits of solar, and another counterproductive government subsidy for solar products are other challenges that hamper market growth. Interviewees also identified factors promoting the growth of the sector, including the large unmet electricity demand and unreliable electricity supply, and dropping solar prices. Overall, there is significant potential for market growth if strategies are developed by key stakeholders to help overcome the challenges identified in this case study, and build on the factors promoting the sector’s growth. Most importantly, the government needs to re-think their subsidy policies and adopt a stance to encourage market forces.

Environmental crises require collective and sustained action. However, pro-environmental action (PEA) has been mostly approached as an individual process. Further, conventional approaches to promote PEA assume an information-processing model of actions based on knowledge acquisition, which has been critiqued. Recent environmental education approaches emphasize more complex, non-linear models of action and focus on the acquisition of action-competence, which allows students to feel empowered to act in their local communities. Extending this approach, the potential of using the school as a base to involve other members of a community to engage in collective pro-environmental practices is a promising, but under-researched, direction to address sustainability issues. In this school-based case-study, we explored the development of action-competence, particularly the processes that lead up to such competence, by facilitating an urban farming project (40 students, 12–13 years old, tracked for 10 months). We studied students’ interaction with farming structures and entities closely, taking an analysis approach inspired by: (1) recent work highlighting the affective-aesthetic appeal of environmental entities and (2) embodied cognition models. Based on these data and analysis, we show how meaningful and embodied encounters with nature contribute to the enhancement of students’ environmental “action-space”. More interestingly, sharing of these “action-spaces” with adults, through various social experiences, motivated adults to participate in PEAs. This case-study is relevant to environmental educators and researchers seeking to design proactive interventions and explore general principles underlying collective environment-oriented actions.

For the most part, research and policymaking on urban gardening have focused on community gardens, whether in parks, vacant lots, or other public land. This emphasis, while important for many Midwestern cities, can obscure the significance of privately owned land such as front yard and back yard and their crucial connections with gardening on public land. In this case study, we examine how policies and practices related to gardening and the management of green space in two Midwestern cities exceed narrow visions of urban agriculture. The article explores the cultivation of vacant lot gardens and private yards as two modes of property in similar Midwestern contexts and argues that the management of green space is about more than urban agriculture. Instead, we show how urban gardening occurs across public/private property distinctions and involves a broader set of actors than those typically included in sustainability policies. Gardening also provides a key set of connections through which neighbors understand and practice sustainability in Midwestern cities.

The Reuse-A-Shoe program and Nike Grind are sustainability initiatives run by Nike to improve their environmental performance through the recycling of worn out shoes and surplus manufacturing materials into various surface materials. However, the positive environmental benefits associated with recycling may be offset by the negative impacts caused by the extensive logistics associated with these programs. This case study provides an overview and breakdown of both Nike and its recycling programs. It addresses the positive and negative environmental impacts of these programs, such as reduced waste to landfill and increased greenhouse gas emissions from increased transportation. The analysis concludes that these programs have limited potential in achieving any significant positive environmental impact and that Nike should investigate alternative models focusing more on biodegradable materials or a closed-loop system where materials are upcycled rather than downcycled, and where both material use and greenhouse gas emissions are considered.

In Bangladesh, there is a need for socioeconomic sustainability in land management systems. An exploratory study was conducted in the southern part of Bangladesh (Nesarabad) to evaluate the successful strategy of sustainable land management (SLM), where swampy land is transformed, using ridges and ditches. Approximately 25 agro-based sites were studied to evaluate their relevant land use, management, and economic aspects. We determined that nearly 100% of the cultivated lands adopted this technology, representing a combination of SLM measures. The technology was based mainly on structural measures, combined with other conservation measures. The maintenance and recurring activities increased the efficiency of the technology and improved the land quality, making it more useful for various agricultural practices. Most of the lands were cultivated with fruit trees and vegetables, which provided high net average profits with low effort during cultivation. Land users claimed some weaknesses in establishment cost, marketing, transportation, etc. This study assesses these constraints and recommends some suggestions to generate a more suitable scheme for more SLM measures.

To improve and to protect brand reputation, corporate sustainability officers must assist with decisions about how to manage supply chains to avoid deleterious impacts from consumer products, such as food or clothing. This case study shows how one method typically used to identify problematic materials and sources in a supply chain, life cycle assessment, can be made spatially explicit for water footprints. Water must be understood spatially because the use of the same amount of water in an arid place creates more ecological damage than the use of water in places with ample water resources. This case reports on the development of a spatially explicit water footprint for Guess?, Inc., a global apparel company to highlight “hot spots” of negative impacts on water resources. Freshwater resources consumed throughout the life cycle for a pair of blue jeans were assessed, including the growth of cotton, production of the fabric and other materials, industrial laundering, and washing by the consumer. The locations of these steps were then mapped with a geographic information system to generate spatially explicit water impact estimates. Engaging with this case, students will learn about key methodological choices and limitations in such projects, think about how to advise the company on steps to be taken in its water management action plan, and reflect on the implications for sustainable corporate management of consumer products.

The peat forests of Indonesia have experienced extensive deforestation and degradation over recent decades. High demand for Indonesian timber and plantation development has driven large-scale draining and clearing of peat forest, resulting in extensive fires and smoke haze problems across the region. These fires caused more than 100,000 premature deaths in 2015 alone, increased the pressure on several already threatened species, and placed Indonesia among the top greenhouse gas emitting countries globally. In response, the Indonesian government has launched an initiative to restore more than 2 million ha of peatland between now and 2020. Although there is a substantial body of academic literature that deals with technical aspects of tropical peatland restoration, little is published on the costs of tropical peatland restoration activities. In this study, we examine the case of peatland restoration in the provinces of Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua in Indonesia, and propose a restoration activity classification scheme based on fire, drainage, and logging history of peatland areas. We use this scheme to identify the restoration activity needs of different areas and then develop a preliminary gross financial cost estimate for the restoration activities proposed under the national 2-million-ha peatland restoration initiative. We find that it is likely to cost more than US$4.6 billion to complete the national 2-million-ha restoration initiative, which is substantially more than the funds currently allocated to the challenge across Indonesian and international donor budgets.

Land reclamation activities can, directly and indirectly, impact the environment. Examples of direct effects include alterations in coastal geomorphology, variations in the chemical content of water and changes in biological composition along the littoral zone. The indirect impacts can involve geological changes and increase vulnerability to natural disasters. Reclamation processes also result in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicle and machinery fuel use and through the release of carbon stored in vegetation, soils and sediment in mangroves and seagrass ecosystems. Considering the global extent of land reclamation, the scale of these emissions is likely to be of widespread interest. The case of Jakarta Bay provides useful insights that can contribute to the improved environmental management of kindred land development projects in Indonesia and other parts of Asia. More than 5,100 ha of new land mass is planned from the Jakarta Bay reclamation. Preliminary analysis suggests that 30% of the planned area will require more than 150.7 million cubic metres of sand sourced from 8,628 ha of marine quarry area. In this study, we examine the sources of GHG emissions in these activities and the potential opportunities available to reduce them. The audience for this paper includes policymakers, environmental practitioners, city developers and postgraduate scholars dealing with land reclamation or other major infrastructure developments.

Anchorage’s community gardening program is administered by the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation program and part of their mission is to provide “a food system where locally produced, affordable, and nutritious food is available to all”. The demand for access to community gardens far outweighs the supply raising the question, how can the city of Anchorage strategically and sustainably expand their community garden system? To explore this question, the Municipality of Anchorage partnered with the University of Alaska Anchorage to better understand how expanding community gardens can bridge a gap in the local food system and increase access to fresh foods by the city’s most vulnerable and diverse individuals. To do this, we developed a multi-faceted needs assessment that included a community survey, stakeholder workshop, and key informant interviews. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of expanding Anchorage’s community gardens and offers expansion strategies that balance the needs of the community’s diverse populations with the city’s community gardening mission. The findings of this study show that to sustainably meet the needs of diverse audiences, community garden expansion efforts should focus on 1) making new gardens accessible by identifying safe, convenient, and functional locations; 2) building gardener capacity through education and outreach programs; and 3) strengthening partnerships with other community organizations to share resources and capabilities. The methods used and the associated findings revealed through this study can be adapted and applied in other cities looking to develop a sustainable and strategic model for community gardening.

The government of Kenya has been trying to expand the electricity grid for decades, with little success—80% of Kenyans are still living without access to the grid. An alternative solution, off-grid solar lighting products, such as solar lanterns and solar home systems, increasingly provide Kenyans with decentralized clean energy. Kenya’s private sector market for off-grid solar lighting products has been developing since the 1980s, yet the key to rapid market growth was the introduction of a pioneering pay-as-you-go business model in 2011 that made solar products affordable for poor rural customers. Today, with almost 30% of all off-grid households using some type of off-grid solar lighting products, Kenya is a market leader. Other factors that have encouraged market growth include the massive need for power in areas where grid electricity is not available, the high cost and unreliability of grid power where it is available, a value-added tax exemption on solar products, numerous education and awareness campaigns, and expensive kerosene. However, poor quality products present a major challenge. This challenge will have to be overcome for the market to reach its full potential and to ensure that these products represent an effective and lasting lighting solution.

This case study introduces the concepts of place-based and Indigenous environmental justice as well as the theory of Indigenous sovereignty, as articulated within a Canadian context and considers their application with respect to the Indigenous peoples with traditional territories within the borders of Canada. The specific legal and industrial contexts affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada are briefly examined to frame two cases of environmental justice issues in the northeastern corner of British Columbia. The two cases are oil and gas development and the proposed development of a new dam which will represent the largest industrial development in Canada in the last several decades. The perspectives of British Columbia Treaty 8 Indigenous Nations on the impacts of these industrial developments are presented.

Environmental disasters, such as hurricanes, landslides, and earthquakes, are pervasive and disproportionately affect rural and poor populations. The concept of resilience is typically used in disaster scenarios to describe how a community or person is able to “bounce back” from a disaster event. At the same time, resilience theory also contends that disasters, or environmental shocks, can produce or initiate profound changes in social and ecological systems. This case uses a post-disaster resilience assessment to examine how the series of earthquakes that hit central Nepal in 2015 impacted farming communities. Mid-montane smallholder farming communities near the epicenters of the earthquakes were the most affected and the associated damages impeded traditional and subsistence agricultural practices. Our results show how some aspects of the Nepali farming social–ecological system (SES) bounced back more quickly than others and how farmers used various types of coping strategies, including the adoption of labor-saving cash crops as part of their post-disaster recovery. The increased interest in cash crops after the earthquake accelerates an ongoing transition toward more market activities in subsistence communities and illustrates the potential of environmental shocks to transform and change SESs.