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A student-led department greening competition brought significant change to certain departments at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary. The purpose of the paper is to help sustainability groups at other tertiary education institutions to organize similar competitions.

First, the approach and methodology of the competition are explained in detail. Second, results of the competition in the first three years are summarized. Third, opportunities for improvement are discussed. Fourth, potentials and limitations are reviewed. Finally, the most important success criteria are listed.

Eight weeks of assisted learning and two audit-based assessments are appropriate to facilitate the greening process of departments. To successfully organize a competition, a reliable team with a core group of at least five to six experienced members is needed. Maximal effectiveness can only be achieved if local environmental leaders at departments are activated.

If local environmental leaders act as internal project managers, environmental practices can change significantly. Improvements can affect material and energy use, transportation behavior and external outreach activities.

The project description shows a structure for how to engage in greening departments. A consistent rubric was applied across multiple departments over a span of three years, which allows for drawing general conclusions. Insights can facilitate similarly effective projects elsewhere.

Nishinomiya City in Japan is one of the most successful cities in implementing eco-community and has served as a particularly influential model, especially through programs on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which the Japanese Ministry of the Environment recognized as the nationwide environmental education program. Nishinomiya City has been implementing a project, “Environmental Learning City,” where community-based environmental management has been conducted through environmental education programs. And it established an NPO, “the Learning and Ecological Activities Foundation for Children (LEAF),” to facilitate the programs and build partnerships among citizens, businesses, and the local government. As a result, Nishinomiya's eco-community activities have been sustained, and not only environmental improvement but also social cohesion and mutual learning have been achieved.

Four cast iron lions guard the charming Lions footbridge crossing St. Petersburg's Griboedov Canal. The first author strolled across the bridge on an August evening in 1998 with a Russian friend, Polina. The experience presents a parable for concluding this volume:As we crossed the bridge in the dark, we barely avoided stepping into a gaping hole in the deck half way across. A person could easily fall through. I reacted as a typical American, immediately taking responsibility for doing something about the problem, looking for some board to place over the hole or a barrier to warn pedestrians or someone to report the hazard to who would address it promptly. Polina indicated that no Russian would make such a fuss, and she could think of no one to report the hazard to who would respond. As we stood discussing this problem before two of the guardian lions, a group of drunken soldiers began to cross the bridge from the far side, arm in arm, singing loudly. Sure enough, one slipped through the hole and, but for his comrades holding his arms, he would have plunged into the canal. Surely they will report it, I said, but Polina was doubtful. She saw little chance for some protective action to fix the bridge or even to warn passers-by to beware. We went on our way mindful of the problem left behind. Perhaps a month after my return to the U.S., I received an email from Polina that she had gone to the bridge and, to her surprise, it was fixed. “Perhaps,” she wrote, “there is hope for Russia after all.”

In this chapter we explore some of the intriguing questions raised by contaminated communities. Is there a connection between exposure to environmental hazards and psychological distress? If yes, how best can it be measured? What kinds of psychological problems are aggravated by this kind of life stress? How do we know that victims are truly experiencing increased problems such as anxiety, depression and fears about their health?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed the ISO 14000 series of standards for environmental management as a response to the concerns about sustainable development expressed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. The most important standard is ISO 14001, published in 1996 and slightly modified in 2004, which specifies requirements for environmental management systems. Worldwide, 188,815 organisations have obtained a certificate for their environmental management system based on this standard (figures December 2008). This paper aims to address the extent to which implementation of this standard has contributed to sustainability and also whether implementation is not only an expenditure, but also a source of business benefits.

In order to answer these questions, the existing literature on the impact of ISO 14001 has been reviewed.

Literature shows evidence for environmental and/or business improvements of organisations that have implemented the standard, however, the opposite can also be found. The performance indicators have been identified from which this evidence could be found. Also the literature shows some moderating variables for the impact of ISO 14001.

This paper contributes to the insights in the effects of ISO14001.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issues of accountability, social responsibility and law related with local action groups (LAGs) to achieve local economic and sustainable development.

The literature review justifies the conceptual frame of the issues under discussion. Thus, on the one hand, the LEADER+ programme system statistics were used and, on the other hand, the Portuguese Government and European Union laws, regulations and official documents were used.

LAGs represent civil society in its various aspects and interests, assuming many times as privileged partners of the State, strengthening the rights of individual citizens against the political and economic power. Also, the LAGs as partners have specific local conditions, such as historical, social and cultural identities, governance and geography, that should be equally considered.

The results of the paper show accountability limitations, but the LAG is developed as a source of indispensable and fundamental information for the decision‐making process of local sustainability.

LAGs sometimes, forgetting their real purpose, follow socially responsible practices, often, to apply the strict compliance with the law, regulations and norms, even if social responsibility strategies are arguably recognized as crucial to promote economic success, social and life quality, and environmental sustainability.

The challenges of local development in which the citizen, firms, entities and policy makers are merged need sophisticated and comprehensive strategies and socially responsible best practices to promote the welfare of the society.

This paper identifies case studies that highlight different strategic approaches to recognize the importance of the LAGs in the implementation of sustainable policies and social responsibility strategies. Also, different levels of accountability, social responsibility and law are applied and promoted by LAG.

Adopting a two-sited approach, this paper examines frames deployed by a network of organizations by developing the concept of the transnational field. The transnational field is the geo-specific field within which the movement organizations are encompassed which can explain the differential power across ties in a transnational network. It enables analyzing whether frames at the local and transnational level are similar, remain as is or are altered within a field which is mediated by the power dynamics embedded in the political-economic-cultural relationships between countries. Using qualitative data, this study of ties between movement organizations in the Amazonian region of Ecuador (local level) and organizations in the United States (transnational level) provides evidence for empirical and narrative fidelity of frames at both ends of the network. The two-sited approach enriches the understanding of resistance to globalization by prioritizing the perspective of indigenous peoples in the Global South highlighting the North–South power dynamic. Departing from common assumptions about the power of US-based groups in the choice of frames deployed, the analysis show that ties between organizations in a transnational network are complex as they rely on each other for resources and information. We discuss the conditions under which local frames are deployed or redefined at the transnational level.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the relationship between volunteer leadership competencies and stewardship action-taking experiences among Master Gardener (MG) and Master Watershed (MW) volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from 1196 Penn State Extension MG and MW respondents. The mean summative score for the volunteer stewardship action-taking experience was 2.32 (SD = .79), and volunteer leadership competencies was 3.45 (SD = .60). The results of this study showed a significant moderate association between volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences and volunteer leader competencies (r = .34, p ≤ .001). Volunteer leadership competencies can explain approximately 11 % of the variation in volunteer stewardship action-taking experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new knowledge that our research brings can significantly contribute to the practice in leadership teaching and learning of Extension organizations’ volunteers. Future leadership trainings on the enhancement of the MG and MW volunteer leaders’ stewardship action-taking capacity can help contribute to the greater good in their communities in a more confident and efficient manner. Further research should focus on identifying other factors that can affect MG and MW stewardship action-taking experiences, including the impact of the demographics and motivation.

Institutional actors are critical allies for grassroots movements, but few studies have examined their effects and variations within the non-democratic context. This chapter argues that while institutional allies are heavily constrained and unlikely to give open endorsement to grassroot activists, some institutional activists indirectly facilitate movement mobilization and favorable outcomes in the process of advancing their own political agendas. Drawing upon in-depth interviews conducted in 2008 and 2012, I illustrate this argument by examining the Anti-PX Movement – a landmark grassroots environmental movement against a chemical plant – in Xiamen, China. I find that the environmental institutional actors were constrained and divided, yet some still fostered opportunities for movement mobilization and in turn exploited the opportunity created by the protesters to pursue their policy interests, thus facilitating positive movement outcomes. As long as the claims are not politically subversive to the authoritarian rule, this type of tacit and tactical interaction between institutional activists within the state and grassroot activists on the street is conducive to promoting progressive policy changes.