Community Vision and Leadership in Practice

This book adds some especially needed assets to my teaching toolbox. I have used Chris’s publications for years and have considered his works to be the Compass. Holly and Chris integrate the inviolable principles with agency such that students can see how a sustainable end can be accomplished. Year after year I have seen students struggle with overpowering feelings of loss and lack of control once they truly begin to understand how natural systems work and then learn the reality of current conditions. This can shut them down and affect their ability to fully integrate what they have learned, their desire to learn more, and then act on it. I also think the questions at the end of the chapters are useful for topic review and because they are introspective, they encourage meaningful class discussions. Glad to have a book like this structured for student learning!

Cindy Haws, Assistant Professor of Science, Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, OR.

Chris and Holly have made the topic very approachable with the clarity of definitions, thesis statements, and useful examples cited. The discussion questions are both useful in helping the reader to recall and integrate what they’ve learned of the topics discussed and inviting the reader(s) to contribute back. Lastly, the book leaves the reader with hope, with a sense of real possibility. We are indeed faced with complicated problems, but there are solutions that we all can and must contribute to. I think that’s one of the most important things in a book of this nature—did you leave the reader thinking, “Yes, I can”? In my eyes, yes! They have succeeded in that!

Taryn Bazurto, Chairperson (2020-2022), Benton County Democrats, Corvallis, OR.

Campbell and Maser narrate a series of imperative matters, weaving stories about socio-ecological system sustainability throughout forests, coastal seas, and urban areas. Their perception of the lane that social acuity and environmental management share deepens consciousness into a global confrontation of the problems our communities face. The sustainability practitioner community will gain traction into the crux of querying land-use alterations, critical nature-based solutions, and historical shifts. Elucidating the evolution of conserving social and ecological resources, this text takes readers on a necessary trip to view communities confronting unremitting change. It delivers a newfangled vision of sustainability spanning the socio-environmental realm while unifying peoples, establishments, and mindsets engaged in the matrix of global-change planning.

Joshua Redford Kesling, Honors Bachelor of Science Student in Natural Resource Management and Conservation Policy. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who works with a range of stakeholders and wants to enhance their skills in identifying shared values, which will serve as the basis for building consensus and moving towards tangible results. For this reason, I believe it would be especially useful to community planners, who frequently find themselves in processes that depend on clear communication and often involve parties with competing interests. The book helps readers recognize barriers to communication and to identify what is negotiable, and what is not, when working towards sustainability visions, goals, and objectives. I especially loved the discussion on leadership and the need for leaders to be authentic and good followers.

Matt Bowling, AICP, Matt Bowling Planning, LLC, Buffalo, New York