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The purpose of this paper is to identify the main environmental impacts of coal mining in China, examine the main institutions and reform factors that failed the control of these damages, and discuss what would be necessary to establish a sustainable and environmentally responsible coal mining sector in the context of market and institutional reforms.

Review of existing knowledge, and semi‐structured interviewing with key informants in the policy and industry sectors has been the main method of primary and secondary data collection. Grounded theory was used to analyze original data.

The large and fast growing coal industry in China has caused significant environmental degradation, including land subsidence and water intrusion, as well as remarkable records of miner's poor safety and health. Market reform was mostly unsuccessful in integrating environmental consideration into production and marketing decisions. Main factors of reform that have been associated with this problem are price deregulation and excessive competition inside the industry. Institutional reform, in fact, enhanced the status of State Environment Protection Agency; however, it impaired environmental governance in the coal industry. It is suggested that market reform as applicable to the China coal industry economic sector in particular should reconsider its approach in light of the numerous problems it has created.

The paper identifies and puts together the condition of the growing coal industry in China after market reform, articulating the huge environmental costs that this development has imposed on the country, while calling for an environmentally sustainable coal industry.

The chapter introduces the reader to select language of human sexuality and the definitions and characteristics of some key terms related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer (LGBTQ+), identifies different theoretical perspectives of human sexuality and sexual orientation, and discusses select LGBTQ+ theories and concepts in a historical context that library and information science (LIS) professionals should consider while performing their roles related to information creation–organization–management–dissemination–research processes. It helps better understand the scope of what is LGBTQ+ information and traces its interdisciplinary connections to reflect on its place within the LIS professions. The chapter discusses these implications with the expectation of the LIS professional to take concrete actions in changing the conditions that lack fairness, equality/equity, justice, and/or human rights for LGBTQ+ people via the use of information. Important considerations in this regard include the need for an integrative interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ information model, growth of a diversified LGBTQ+ knowledge base and experiences, holistic LGBTQ+ information representations, LGBTQ+ activism, and participatory engagement and inclusion of LGBTQ+ users.

Increasing the ethicality of a project and the usefulness of the data enhances the probability that social good will result from the research; a combination of ethical and methodological soundness is therefore crucial. From 1999‐2002 I conducted a qualitative study of women’s, men’s, and mixed Internet chat room conversations. In this article, I discuss the particular ethical issues that arose, outlining my ethical decision‐making process within the context of current debates. I also describe the methodological concerns, demonstrating why a synthesized method responsive to the advantages and disadvantages of cyberspace was necessary, and how the data were enhanced by this choice of method and by certain characteristics of cyberspace. In discussing the details of my study, my overall goal is to provide an assessment of the social good of the project with a view to increasing the probability of more ethical and useful Internet‐based research outcomes more generally.