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This article presents a framework for considering the relevance of the physical environment to obesity. The authors adopt the notion that the “environment” constitutes the space outside the person and therefore broaden the common conceptualization of the “environment” to encompass a full spectrum from small-scale design elements to large-scale community infrastructure. An energy balance approach is also adopted. The energy balance perspective recognizes the equilibrium of food consumption and energy expenditure, rather than focusing solely on one or the other side of the equation. The authors consider how environmental characteristics present either barriers (that hinder), or supports (that promote) healthy habits. Thus, they describe a range of obesity-related environmental themes that provide opportunities for innovative collaborative research between environmental psychologists and colleagues in fields ranging from apparel design to landscape architecture. Last, conceptual and methodological considerations are briefly presented.

Street tree diversity is widely viewed as a key component in the resilience of street tree populations to pests, diseases, and climate change. Assessment of street tree diversity is considered integral to sustainable street tree management and preservation of the ecosystem services and social benefits that street trees provide. This paper assesses street tree diversity in three northeastern U.S. states—New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania— by analyzing municipal street tree inventory data stratified by the 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. Despite the lesson learned from the historical devastation of overplanted American elms (Ulmus americana) by Dutch elm disease, and awareness of the contemporary threats posed to ashes (Fraxinus spp.) by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) and to maples (Acer spp.), and other tree genera by the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), results presented here indicate a current concentration of street trees among a relatively small number of species and genera, and in particular the dominance of maples as street trees. Results also show a positive relationship between street tree diversity and warmer average minimum winter temperatures. Consequently, there is a clear need in all three states for greater species and genus diversity in statewide and municipal street tree populations. However, meaningful impediments exist to increasing street tree diversity, especially in the short term.

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Pests, disease, and climate change pose major challenges to street tree survival, and diversity in tree species and genera is widely considered to promote the sustainability of municipal street tree populations. Conversely, the lack of sufficient diversity in street tree population was judged a contributing factor in the death and removal of thousands of street trees in Worcester, Massachusetts, that state’s second most populous city, due to an infestation of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis). Therefore, reducing the dominance of prevalent street tree species and genera and increasing tree species and genera diversity are considered vital to sustainable street tree management and to the preservation of the ecosystem services and social benefits that street trees provide. This paper assesses street tree diversity in Massachusetts by analyzing a nonrandom sample of collated municipal street tree inventory data stratified by plant hardiness zones. Consistent with results previously found for Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, results in Massachusetts indicate that a relatively small number of species and genera dominate the composition of most municipal street tree populations, including in particular Acer spp. (maple), one of the ALB’s favorite host genera. There is accordingly a need for greater species and genus diversity in municipal street tree populations statewide. While there may be a trend towards increased street tree diversity and reduction in the dominance of Acer spp., considerable work remains to be done.