This editorial note introduces the four major conference themes of the 5th International Water History Association (IWHA) Conference ‘Pasts and Futures of Water’ in June 2007: (i) water, health and sanitation; (ii) water, food and economy; (iii) water and the city; and (iv) water governance and policy.

In the United States, debate over the responsibilities of different levels of government are framed within our system of constitutional federalism, which divides sovereign power between the central federal administration and regional states. Dilemmas about devolution have been erupting in all regulatory contexts, but environmental governance remains uniquely prone to federalism discord because it inevitably confronts the core question with which federalism grapples—“who gets to decide?”— in contexts where state and federal claims to power are simultaneously at their strongest.

In this episode from the New Books Network podcast, Evan Friss is interviewed on his book, The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s.

A comprehensive history of the development of Houston, examining the factors that have facilitated large-scale energy production and unprecedented growth—and the environmental cost of that development.