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Environmental discourse in western democracies has become embroiled in a post-political crisis in which environmental problems that were once seen as public concerns to be debated openly are now defined as problems that are placed outside of politics. Meanwhile, a focus on urban sustainability has come to heavily influence both the management and the conduct of everyday urban life. This concurrence presents a paradox in which the de-politicization of the environment occurs even as environmental concerns are politically mobilized through various policy initiatives, consumer discourses, and environmentalist calls to action. In this paper, I consider the role of public engagement in the management of urban environments and its ability to undermine post-political discourses. In particular, I explore the ways in which the ethical propositions of an apoliticized environment are variously taken up uncritically, challenged, and sometimes modified through the public's engagement with de-politicized discourses of environment management. Drawing from a case study in Philadelphia involving ecological restoration volunteers, I argue that volunteerism provides opportunities for the marginalization of the public, but also for confrontation and modification of expert knowledge. Volunteers contest the conceptual underpinnings and desired outcomes of environmental management even as they discipline themselves according to its goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]