Good Steward Research Articles

BREADCRUMB LEGACY: THE EVERYDAY IMPACT OF OUR ACTIONS, DECISIONS, AND BEHAVIORS

AbstractThe author, professor merita at Central College, writes about her concept of breadcrumb legacy, including that our legacy is formed by our day‐to‐day actions over a long time period. She notes that in her interviews, “along with my own research and experiences working with leaders, drove home that legacy, much like leadership, is all about conscious impact, and living how you'd like to be remembered. But not in the way that you might think.” She draws on various examples, such as Robert Glazer, founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners; Sounds True founder Tami Simon; leadership adviser/authors Jim Collins, Stephen R. Covey, and Sally Helgesen; developmental psychologist Erik Erikson, psychotherapist David Richo; and authors Studs Terkel and Rob Salafia. Freed writes that a “leader’s legacy also includes how well the leader builds capacity for the organization to thrive after the leader has left. While some may call this succession planning, it is the mindset of any good steward and servant leader.” She concludes that “since leadership is a relationship, not a position or title, thinking about how we want to be remembered can positively impact all of our relationships. Call them strong skills, brave skills, or leadership superpowers–breadcrumbs.”

"Být dobrým sousedem a dobrým hospodářem": Význam antropocentrických a biocentrických postojů zástupců environmentálních organizací v úspěšných strategiích správy krajiny

"Být dobrým sousedem a dobrým hospodářem": Význam antropocentrických a biocentrických postojů zástupců environmentálních organizací v úspěšných strategiích správy krajiny

KEPRIBADIAN DAN PENATALAYAN EMOSI HAMBA TUHAN DI DALAM GEREJA

This research aims to describe emotional stewardship, characteristics of healthy and unhealthy emotions, Biblical emotions, personality formation, personality traits and the correlation between personality and emotional stewardship. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative methods. The research results reveal that a good steward is able to regulate his emotional condition in any condition and situation, and is responsible for it before God. A steward should have healthy emotions, namely not using God as an excuse to run away from Him, releasing negative emotions, accepting the impact of mistakes in the past to learn to be better in the future, living a balanced life between spirituality and the secular, always communing with God. Researchers emphasize that before someone is appointed as a steward in the church, it is better to have guidance both in terms of personality and emotions between fellow workers. Another alternative is to carry out a personality test so that you can find out what the characteristics of the steward are so that you can assess yourself and others. In this way, it is hoped that you will be able to be open to each other and accept the shortcomings and weaknesses of each worker. Researchers concluded that personality is able to influence someone in carrying out emotional stewardship.

How Far Will Managers Go to Look Like a Good Steward? An Examination of Preferences for Trustworthiness and Honesty in Managerial Reporting†

ABSTRACTGrowing calls for expanded disclosure on managerial stewardship raise important questions about how finer (i.e., disaggregated) reporting, when paired with discretion over classification, will influence managerial behavior. To study this question, we develop an investment game in which, if the investor chooses to invest, the manager privately observes production costs, chooses their personal pay, and provides a cost report in one of three reporting regimes: aggregated, disaggregated without discretion, or disaggregated with discretion. In Experiment 1, as predicted, managers report lower personal pay under both disaggregated regimes than what they consume under the aggregated regime. Yet, when disaggregated reports allow for discretion, managers misclassify personal pay as production costs to such an extent that their actual consumption is no different than in the aggregated condition. In Experiment 2, we allow managers to choose either an aggregated report or a disaggregated report with discretion. We find that, rather than remaining silent, the vast majority of managers still prefer the opportunity to report on their pay explicitly so that they can use their reporting discretion to appear trustworthy, despite not actually being so. In summary, our evidence suggests a strong weight of preferences for appearing trustworthy in the managers' utility function, a much lower weight for actually being trustworthy, and little evidence that preferences for being honest are strong enough for discretionary disaggregated reporting to curb agency costs. In other words, whether disaggregation can reduce agency costs will depend on managers' reporting discretion. Our findings have important implications for control system designers, financial and sustainability accounting standard setters, and regulators.

Introduction to the Special Issue: A Human Security Perspective to the 2018 Revitalized ARCSS and Beyond

Introduction to the Special Issue: A Human Security Perspective to the 2018 Revitalized ARCSS and Beyond Francis Onditi (bio) INTRODUCTION This special issue is dedicated to a departed colleague and an eminent scholar: Prof. Samson Wassara. Samson sadly passed away on December 29, 2020. It was difficult to believe that Samson had left us. When a friend, colleague, or relative departs from this world, a vacuum is created, and those left behind seek to answer the “why now” question. However, certain situations will inevitably elude us. In any case, humans are not obliged to know everything that happens in the universe. A year earlier, we had finalized a High-Level Experts’ Seminar in Juba organized by the Government of South Sudan and the UNDP, November 5–6, 2019. Samson was the lead expert on this seminar. The purpose of the seminar was to review the six sections of the 2018 revitalized agreement and recommend possible policy options to the government of South Sudan and other key stakeholders.1 The idea to develop a special issue emerged out of that seminar. When I mentioned to Samson my intent to put together a special issue focused on the outcome of the seminar, he was supportive of the idea and flagged it off immediately after the seminar. This special issue focuses on human [End Page 1] security and institutionalism within the context of the 2018 revitalized ARCSS (Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan) and beyond. Samson was particularly passionate about institutionalism as a branch of political science. On this note, I fully agree with Samson’s refutation of power-sharing as an institutional prescription to Africa’s conflict problems. But what he offers as an alternative presents yet another puzzle. For he constructs a strategy for equitable distribution of resources among those he calls “civilian groups who did not take up arms” (Wassara 2019, 113). Thus, this prescription is obviously inclined to disfavor the military and political elites. As such, his analysis presents certain conceptual and practical difficulties in resolving conflict, particularly in complex environments such as South Sudan. He views conflict resolution from a political system perspective. In fact, he equates political systems with state-building. This is understandable, as it comes from a political scientist of his stature. However, political systems are all pervasive and tend to be misconstrued as power-sharing and territorial entitlements. In this special issue, I submit that state-building and sustainable peace should be viewed from a human security perspective—as an all-inclusive phenomenon—because what we see as separate processes of peacebuilding (economic reforms, safety and security, security sector reforms, political arrangement, humanitarian assistance, mediation, and realignment of territorial boundaries) are in fact interrelated aspects of the process of conflict transformation and state-building. The notion of state-building for South Sudan preoccupied Samson’s mind and spirit.2 He was generous and a good steward and left us far too soon. The South Sudanese scientific community is grateful for his legacy and contribution to the field of political science and to the people of South Sudan. I first came to know Samson Wassara in 2016, when he was transitioning from the Bahr el-Ghazal University in Wau, South Sudan, where he had held the position of Vice Chancellor from 2014. Later on, we both participated in the 2019 African Unity for Renaissance Conference organized by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa. Samson and I published together in different scholarly platforms and on multiple occasions; he was generous in sharing his time to peer review and write prologues. In 2019, he was kind enough to write a foreword for my book, Conflictology: Systems, Institutions and Mechanisms in Africa. As a tribute, I would like to dedicate this special issue to a topic Samson Wassara wrote about in his final days: “Why conflict in South Sudan and Somalia is beyond prevention and management” (Wassara 2019). I and Prof. Cheryl Hendricks formerly of the HSRC, Pretoria, [End Page 2] edited this volume. In the article he contributed, Samson calls for an interdisciplinary approach in addressing institutional weaknesses in conflict-protracted countries. He opines that many times...

Sermons to Address Obesity in Partnership With African American and Latino Churches

Sermons to Address Obesity in Partnership With African American and Latino Churches

“Thou maiest inforce my body but not mee”: Racializing Consent in John Marston’sThe Wonder of Women

“Thou maiest inforce my body but not mee”: Racializing Consent in John Marston’s<i>The Wonder of Women</i>

Enhancing research excellence through diversity and transparency.

It is an honor, a privilege, and an enormous responsibility to serve as the editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP), the leading outlet for high-quality empirical research in the field of educational psychology. The journal’s stellar reputation and standing in the field have continuously grown under the leadership of my predecessors (including those during the last 4 decades: Joanna Williams, Samuel Ball, Robert Calfee, Joel Levin, Michael Pressley, Karen Harris, Art Graesser, and Steve Graham). They have ensured that the work submitted and published in the journal represents the best empirical research in educational psychology and education more broadly. I recognize that the publication standards each editor sets in the journal not only have a direct impact on what gets published but also influence research practices and, consequently, the training of new scholars. My main priority is to be a good steward of this legacy and continue to enhance the journal’s commitment to research excellence through greater emphasis on diversity and transparency . (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Corporate Role Conceptions in Global Forest Governance

AbstractMultinational corporations (MNCs) are increasingly seen as key actors in global governance. This article introduces the concept of corporate role conceptions as a new and interdisciplinary approach for analysing the self‐conception of MNCs. To illustrate its analytical strength, the concept is used to explore how MNCs operating in major forest‐risk supply chains, that is, cattle, palm oil, pulp, soy and timber, conceive themselves and their function in global forest governance. The empirical analysis shows that their self‐conception is both complex and multifaceted as they seek to perform several functions at the same time: corporate decision‐makers consider it appropriate for their corporation to be a pioneer, a role model, a supporter and co‐creator, a dedicated worker, a force for prosperity, a good global citizen and a good steward. However, these corporate role conceptions are overlapping and partly incompatible, which leads to role conflict. I argue that this role conflict constrains corporate agency in global forest governance and therefore diminishes the potential of MNCs to promote positive change.

Validation of the GeoWATCH soil moisture model and proposed bias correction method

The US Army is required to be a good steward of the land per US Army regulation AR 200-1. Based on this regulation, Army installations need to manage lands, to reduce potential damage and impacts to water quality and habitat that may occur from training. Maneuver training does impact the vegetation and soil and this damage is directly related to soil moisture. Soil moisture is an important factor for understanding the potential for soil surface disturbance due to vehicle impacts and predicting soil resilience to vehicle traffic, however, producing accurate estimates of the spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture has historically been elusive. GeoWATCH, which stands for Geospatial Weather-Affected Terrain Conditions and Hazards (formerly DASSP), simulates soil moisture world-wide, at relatively small spatial and temporal scales. GeoWATCH uses a physics-based downscaling approach that uses weather-scale land surface model estimates of soil moisture and land surface water and energy fluxes, with high resolution geospatial data. GeoWATCH soil moisture outputs coupled with vehicle impact models, are anticipated to be useful for near-real-time estimation of ground disturbance, but will require ground validation. To validate GeoWATCH soil moisture estimates, we utilized Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) gauge network soil moisture data from 127 sites across 34 states. Statistical analysis of the raw GeoWATCH output indicated the model performs statistically better in certain soil textures. Model bias is largest for sandy soils, whereas clayey soils were least biased. As a result, bias correction models were applied to the raw GeoWATCH simulated values using linear regression to predict correction factor (CF) values based on physical site characteristics. The bias correction models significantly improved the performance of the GeoWATCH soil moisture model in terms of average performance statistics and number of statistically cally unbiased sites. This process could easily be incorporated into GeoWATCH, allowing for a capability to rapidly estimate vehicle impacts and determine rehabilitation requirements by installation land managers.

State of the Society: A Solid Foundation, A Bright Future

In presenting her “State of the Society” report at the annual conference of AMDA — The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine in March, outgoing president Cari Levy, MD, PhD, CMD, started with a comment that likely resonated strongly with her audience. She said, “When I came to AMDA in 2002, I felt as if I had found my people, my family.” She went on to share the organization’s plans for the future and its efforts to support, nurture, promote, celebrate, and care for this “family” and the important work they do. “Last year, I spoke about the light shining on us,” she said, “and now we are at a point of inflection. We are being recognized, and we have the ability to let others know the importance of our work.” The Society’s latest strategic plan, she said, “will put wings on the work we do.” The plan includes four goals:•Ensure that the Society is a good steward of its resources: human, financial, time, infrastructure, and systems.•Develop and deliver timely, relevant education and clinical tools for post-acute and long-term care medicine clinicians to improve patient/resident care and attract more members.•Define and promote the unique roles and skills of PALTC medicine.•Advocate for public policy that facilitates the optimal delivery of PALTC medicine for the benefit of patients and residents. Dr. Levy stressed the importance of and the organization’s commitment to spreading the word about the Society and the good work its members do every day. “We will do it in ‘elevator’ speeches, whenever and wherever we have an opportunity. We are complex care specialists, and we need to communicate well and proudly.” The Society will continue to support PALTC practitioners with education, advocacy, certification and competency opportunities, tools and resources, innovative ideas, and more. For example, Dr. Levy said, “We hope to create practical tools to help you work better and help those around you to work better as well.” Dr. Levy highlighted some of the Society’s accomplishments in the past year, including:•Launch of the AMDA On-The-Go podcast, with more than 30 episodes and over 17,000 downloads to date.•Establishment of a nurse practitioner/physician assistant council to better understand their needs and explore the possibilities of further opening up our membership.•Efforts to advocate for and promote telehealth in PALTC, an issue of particular import to our rural members.•Beginning work on developing a playbook on severe mental illness issues.•Establishment of a PALTC “influenza honor roll,” paying tribute to those nursing homes that have made mandatory staff vaccinations a goal. Dr. Levy urged her audience to get involved, noting that member volunteers are essential and welcome. This is a critical time, she noted, but she also expressed optimism and hope for the organization’s — and the profession’s — future. “We have to focus our energy and resources on those issues that matter the most,” she said. “The timing is perfect.” Senior contributing writer Joanne Kaldy is a freelance writer in Harrisburg, PA, and a communications consultant for the Society and other organizations.

How Far Will Managers Go to Look Like a Good Steward? A Re-Examination of Honesty Preferences in Managerial Reporting

How Far Will Managers Go to Look Like a Good Steward? A Re-Examination of Honesty Preferences in Managerial Reporting

Noble Subjects: The Russian Novel and the Gentry, 1762–1861 by Bella Grigoryan

Reviewed by: Noble Subjects: The Russian Novel and the Gentry, 1762–1861 by Bella Grigoryan Anna A. Berman GRIGORYAN, BELLA. Noble Subjects: The Russian Novel and the Gentry, 1762–1861. Dekalb, IL: NIU Press, 2018. 189 pp. $39.00 paper. “Nobility” is a notoriously slippery concept in the Imperial Russian context. Noble status could be inherited or could be earned through service, raising questions about what it actually meant to be a Russian nobleman. As Grigoryan’s new study shows, these questions were central to the Russian literary tradition in the nineteenth century. Combining detailed historical research with close readings of literary works, Noble Subjects brings little-studied agricultural texts and advice literature into dialogue with canonical literature, revealing the close interrelationship between the two. Breaking free of the tendency to focus on a very limited range of Russia’s “literary giants” and to assume their uniqueness, Grigoryan instead places the subjects of her study in their historical and literary context, offering balanced explanations that “historicize various aspects of Tolstoy’s work,” for example, and explain them “as not just ‘Tolstoyan’ (read: protean, strange), but also as all but determined by Russian imperial culture and political history” (8). In so doing, the book provides a timely reminder of the dangers of myopic study of single “geniuses.” The first chapter takes up the eighteenth-century ideal of the noble farmer who serves the Tsar by being a good estate manager and “picking up the plow.” Grigoryan traces how this figure of the gentleman farmer was cultivated in the burgeoning new journals that appeared during Catherine the Great’s reign, focusing particularly on the creation of the Free Economic Society and its quarterly periodical, Transactions, along with the writings of Nikolai Novikov, Andrei Bolotov, and Nikolai Karamzin. Chapter Two then traces the noble estate owner through the notes, unfinished literary writings, and published prose of Alexander Pushkin, beginning from Pushkin’s 1830 question: “The Russian nobility—what does it mean now?” (47). The question will stay relevant for the next half century. At issue, ultimately, is the “inherited character of noble identity” versus nobility as “the product chiefly of practice and cultivation” (55, 61). To my mind, Grigoryan’s book fully comes into its own in the middle chapters on Faddei Bulgarin and Nikolai Gogol. Here, Noble Subjects delves into the polemics in the periodical press about estate management and agriculture. Writing in his Northern Bee and Ekonom, a Universally Useful Domestic Library, Bulgarin cultivated “the persona of an exemplary pomeshchik and an authoritative voice in the growing market of how-to literature about home life” (73). His rivals, too, took up the personae of “everyman” landowners, their articles and reviews aimed at the “middling” public (srednee sostoianie), not just the nobility. Together, they facilitated the rise of what Grigoryan calls “middlebrow institutions of Russian print culture” (69). In the journals as well as in Bulgarin’s novel Ivan Vyzhigin (1829) we see again and again “a cliché of Nikolaevan agricultural literature: that the nobleman may serve the state in his capacity as a good steward of property” (71). Yet, as Grigoryan will show in the Conclusion on Anna Karenina, this idea is also vulnerable, and Konstantin Levin, for one, feels insecure about his choice to work only on his estate. Continuing to look at the influence of middlebrow agricultural and domestic writing, Chapter Four illuminates the relationship between Dead Souls (especially the unfinished Part Two) and its media environment. Through close readings, Grigoryan reveals the ways Gogol polemicized against and parodied Bulgarin, while similarly positioning himself as a writer of advice literature. She makes the bold—but well justified—claim that “the expanded Bulgarin intertext of [the unfinished] volume two may be emblematic of a veritable vocational shift in Gogol’s work” (91). Having [End Page 318] read her meticulously researched argument, it would be difficult not to agree. Gogol’s famous (and bizarre) invitation to readers in the preface to the 1846 republication of Dead Souls to send him suggestions on how to improve the novel suddenly makes new sense as Grigoryan reminds us that “[f]or authors of advice literature, the invitation that readers aid them in the enterprise...

Precision Livestock Farming and Farmers’ Duties to Livestock

Precision livestock farming (PLF) promises to allow modern, large-scale farms to replicate, at scale, caring farmers who know their animals. PLF refers to a suite of technologies, some only speculative. The goal is to use networked devices to continuously monitor individual animals on large farms, to compare this information to expected norms, and to use algorithms to manage individual animals (e.g. via changes in climate, feeding, or reproductive decisions) automatically. Supporters say this could not only create an artificial version of the partially mythologized image of the good steward caring for his or her animals, but to also improve on it. As one paper in favor of PLF has said, “We can not only replace the farmer’s ‘eyes and ears’ to each individual animal as in the past, but several other variables (infections, physiological variables, stress, etc.) will soon be measurable in practice” (Berckmans, in: Geers, Madec (eds) Livestock production and society, Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, pp 287–292, 2006). Yet these methods of monitoring and control raise a host of ethical issues, including alienation of laborers, further consolidation of farms, and further cover for meat consumption (a possibly independent ethical problem depending on one’s views of eating meat). In this paper, I will address these ethical issues, and suggest a different, under-examined concern: namely, that though PLF may indeed improve the lives of livestock, and the sustainability of livestock operations, it is possible that it will do so at the cost of a loss of identity and relationships for farmers, as well as for the animals in their charge.

Tracing a Lineage of Social Reform Programs at Catoctin Mountain Park

This article uses Catoctin Mountain Park as a case study to chart the evolution of social policy on a national park landscape. It places these changes in the larger context of economic, social, and land use policies throughout the twentieth century. These policies and programs often created complicated relationships between the park and certain groups. It is essential for the National Park Service to understand these complexities in order for it to be a good steward of the agency’s own history and provide new opportunities for visitor engagement.

In Health Care, It Pays to be Green

&lt;p&gt;Firms have a responsibility to their shareholders to maximize their financial performance however they are increasingly scrutinized for environmental practices as well. These two objectives are often thought to be in conflict; it can be costly to be a good steward of the environment however it may be more costly in the long run to ignore societal pressures and environmental impacts. While various studies provide ambiguous and sometimes contradictory results, we conduct a rigorous analysis of the health care sector using Trucost’s Environmental Impact Score and financial data. The study uses regression analysis to identify the extent to which the benefit to the firm of reducing its environmental impact is financially beneficial. In the health care sector, an increase in the environmental impact score of 1 unit is correlated with an increase of 4% of their earnings per share. Improving the environmental bottom line improves the financial bottom line.&lt;/p&gt;

Pengaruh Partisipasi Anggota terhadap Kinerja KUD Di Kecamatan Tapung Kabupaten Kampar

&#x0D; Abstract: The issue of performance KUD in Kampar regency low because alleged by the participation of its members. Based on the results of studies using 93 respondents KUD members proves that the participation of members and not significant positive effect on the performance of cooperatives, it can be shown with the sig of 0.034 and the value of the effect of 0.008. Value influence member participation, and not significant positive effect on the performance of KUD members. This means KUD is not yet a true KUD, where KUD good steward is to be memintarkan and prosper member, go look for life or property at KUD.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: KUD Performance, Member Participation&#x0D;

Presidential address, 2014-embracing complexity: community inclusion, participation, and citizenship.

A couple of years ago, Mike Wehmeyer set a new precedent by issuing the presidential address at the beginning of his term, rather than at the end. So, thank you Mike for establishing this tradition—I am sure that I will like it more in about 30 minutes—and thanks to all of you, who stayed to the end of the conference, for the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon to deliver my presidential address, Embracing Complexity: Community Inclusion, Participation, and Citizenship, and to serve your organization in a leadership role. It is such an honor to be here today among so many people that I consider esteemed colleagues and dear friends. I am certainly humbled by this opportunity and, frankly, a little intimidated to be speaking to a group of such distinguished leaders in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). My path to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) was pretty simple. I was working for a provider organization and one of my colleagues came back from an AAIDD Minnesota meeting and mentioned planning the upcoming state conference. I told her that sounded interesting, and she invited me to the next meeting. I have been involved since that time and have always found AAIDD to be my professional home because of its multidisciplinary focus on IDD. My path to this organization should be a reminder to all of you that all it takes is a simple invitation and people respond and become engaged. I urge each of you to invite at least one of your colleagues or friends to join AAIDD. As a good steward of the role of incoming president of this organization and this task of putting together these thoughts, I did my homework. Thanks to Maggie Nygren’s help, I was able to read presidential speeches in every decade since this organization began. I started with 1894 and ended by reading every speech that I have listened to in the 20+ years I have been a member. My purpose for this task was to understand a bit of AAIDD history and to look for trends and themes that relate to the topic of my address, Embracing Complexity: Community Inclusion, Participation, and Citizenship. I can unequivocally report to you that this organization has been wrestling with these issues since its beginning; certainly in different time periods and contexts but, at the root, very similar issues. In preparing, I also consulted with living past presidents of the association to learn from them what they perceived as the most complex issues we face in the contemporary field. Now, I have to admit, part of this exercise was to validate that I was not way off base in the complexities I thought existed and planned to include in my address. To my surprise, nearly all of the living past presidents who responded to my request had remarkably similar ideas about the complexities we face, and, luckily for me, I was not way off base. Most importantly, as I prepared, I reflected on and consulted with the people with whom I have worked and learned from throughout my career who live with disabilities. Their voices and our shared experiences will certainly be heard throughout my remarks. Lastly, I consulted with the Merriam-Webster dictionary to ensure that I had a clear understanding of the words I selected for the conference theme. I was initially a bit overwhelmed and stunned at the amount of advertising that was occurring as I was consulting the online dictionary, and I was simultaneously fascinated by how this advertising changed depending on the word I was searching for. It is truly fascinating. This complex marketing was a lesson for me in the remarkable changes that have occurred in our culture since I have been a member of this association and a lesson in the power of marketing and advertising. However, as a quick reminder, or perhaps as a mini-lesson to you, here’s what Merriam-Webster had to say about the conference theme. INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

Book Review: Sustainable Healthcare Architecture

As an individual continuously striving to stay current in the healthcare construction field, Sustainable Healthcare Architecture, Second Edition, was instantly appealing, if initially title only. Sustainable building and the concept of less is in terms of resource consumption are appealing both personally and professionally. Many will agree with the notion of leveraging renewable resources, water conservation, and the creation of a holistic healing environment as a worthy goal; however, one aspect of this edition of Sustainable Healthcare Architecture caused this reader significant cognitive dissonance. In Part 1, Context, throughout Chapter 1, Design and Stewardship, and mentioned occasionally throughout the book, the argument of global warming, or climate as caused by human activities appeared.Why start the review presenting this as an issue? Simply for the fact that discussion of this highly politicized issue became a barrier in my ability to absorb the wealth of information the book offers. On page 25, Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH, is quoted stating, no scientific doubt remains about the causes of climate change, seemingly in reference to human activities as the source.This line of thinking may be credited in part to the timing of writing and publishing of the book. Recently many news stories and studies have been publicized that have debunked early climate change studies and have revealed questionable sources of study funding as well as the emergence of new studies showing global cooling. Physicists have even joined the discussion with explanations of how carbon dioxide molecules repel solar radiation as well as cause a transfer of heat energy when colliding with oxygen molecules, ultimately causing a cooling of the atmosphere. NASA's Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) study supports this theory as well. Further, several studies using data provided by NASA compare the dramatic increase of man- made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past two decades alongside the relatively constant atmospheric temperatures, again, not reflecting a direct correlation to global warming as a man-made phenomenon.It may already be obvious that this reader does not support global warming, global cooling, or climate change theories that place climate change squarely on the shoulders of humans and the creation of carbon dioxide in a statistically significant way. Some may interpret this as heresy and believe me to be some sort of nature-hating, earth-destroying individual-not true. On the contrary, I strongly believe in living conservatively, being self-sufficient, and being a good steward of natural resources. The notion of efficiently leveraging resources, reducing waste, and realizing cost efficiencies in the process is universally appealing. The second edition of this book would have been better served avoiding the political issue of man-made climate change as its premise for the merits of sustainable building in healthcare environments. The notion that humans significantly impact climate change is scientifically flawed and only undermines the value of this work. It should be noted that the first edition of this book (published in 2007) treads much more lightly in regard to the causes of global warming and climate and I would recommend the first edition for those that share in this school of thought.After the strong words rejecting one of the central tenets of this book, one might be surprised to learn that it pulled this reader right back in with its discussion of the direct effect humans do have on the environment, for example, polluted water sources and loss of natural resources. These are tangible impacts to which almost everyone can relate. This discussion makes a perfect argument for the need to build in a more responsible, sustainable manner. Sustainable Healthcare Architecture provides a solid foundation to the benefits of sustainable building supported by multiple case studies. …

Scientists: you really need to get out of the lab more

There is no rulebook for how to be a scientist−advocate, but that shouldn't stop researchers from engaging with the broader community. In fact, it's an essential part of being a good steward of your science.