The winner of the 2017 Ernest Cole Award is Daylin Paul for his project, Broken Land. The project explores the other side of power. Set in Mpumalanga, home of 46% of South Africa's arable soil, it is also the area where nine power-burning coal stations are active. Paul's work explores the direct impact of fuel-burning coal stations on the local economy, population, farming community and, more broadly, climate change. As Paul says, "These power stations, while providing electricity for an energy-desperate South Africa, also have a devastating and lasting impact on the environment and the health of local people. Mining licences granted conditionally by the South African government are meant to safeguard the ecology and allow local people to benefit from the mineral wealth of the land. But it is clear that these conditions are not being followed and that the health and economic well-being of both the land and its people are being jeopardised. Vast tracts of fertile, arable land are being ripped up, the landscape scarred with the black pits of coal mines while coal-burning power stations are one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world." The polluting power stations not only contribute to global climate change but, through toxic sulphur effluents, also to the poisoning of scarce water supplies for a range of communities who are dependent on these for their survival. The area has in recent years also been hit by devastating droughts. The power dynamics in the area have in recent times been drawn into the national political arena. The former Glencore coal mines, taken over by Optimum Coal Holdings Limited, a conglomerate owned by the Gupta family, are embroiled in corruption and nepotism scandals that are affecting the very highest levels of the South African government. The aim of Paul's project as he says is "to look at both the macro issues like pollution, poverty and climate change while also personalising the experience of the local people who are on the front lines of this crisis and provide us with a glimpse of what the future could be like for the country and indeed the SADC region."

Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Second Edition provides an integrated look at major impacts to the Earth’s biosphere caused by diseases, algal blooms, insects, animals, species extinction, deforestation, land degradation, and comet and asteroid strikes, with important implications for humans. This second edition from Elsevier’s Hazards and Disasters Series incorporates perspectives from the natural and social sciences to offer in-depth coverage of threats from microscopic organisms to celestial objects and their potential impacts. Contributions from expert biological, health, ecological, environmental, wildlife, physical, and health scientists, readers will gain valuable insights on damages, causality, economic impacts, preparedness, and mitigation.

Environmental pollution by man-made Persistent Organic Chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. Exposure to POCs may result in health effects, including, endocrine disruption leading to birth defects, intellectual disability, low testosterone, childhood obesity, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, POCs have been the subject of intensive regional, national, and international efforts to limit the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are ubiquitous and recalcitrant, and cause long-term effects on wildlife and humans, trend monitoring studies are valuable in making clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to two-thirds of the world's population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. Due to this diversity of climatic and socio-economic conditions, environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. The Pacific Rim countries play a pivotal role in governing global POC contamination and resulting harmful health effects. Because articles on POCs and their effect on environment and health are published in a large number of different journals, it is useful to have a book that includes original papers and reviews on the latest advances by well-known scientists in the field, especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim. The two volumes of this book satisfy this need. Topics covered in Volume 1 include an overview of POCs contamination status and trends in the Pacific Basin Countries; human exposure to brominated flame retardants; POCs in sediments, soil and atmosphere of South Korea; and new research on sequestration and redistribution of emerging and classical persistent organic pollutants by polystyrene. The collection of chapters in these volumes may serve as a reasonable representation of current and future trends of POCs in the Pacific Basin countries. It is hoped that the book can inspire students and researchers, as well as professionals, to facilitate the understanding of the environmental and biological behavior of these persistent chemicals and to help in the development of strategies and practices for protecting the global environment for future generations.

Materials for Carbon Dioxide Mitigation Technology offers expert insight and experience from recognized authorities in advanced material development in carbon mitigation technology and constitutes a comprehensive guide to the selection and design of a wide range of solvent/sorbent/catalyst used by scientists globally. It appeals to chemical scientists, material scientists and engineers, energy researchers, and environmental scientists from academia, industry, and government in their research directed toward greener, more efficient carbon mitigation processes.

In 2005, The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided the first global assessment of the world's ecosystems and ecosystem services. It concluded that recent trends in ecosystem change threatened human wellbeing due to declining ecosystem services. This bleak prophecy has galvanized conservation organizations, ecologists, and economists to work toward rigorous valuations of ecosystem services at a spatial scale and with a resolution that can inform public policy.
The editors have assembled the world's leading scientists in the fields of conservation, policy analysis, and resource economics to provide the most intensive and best technical analyses of ecosystem services to date. A key idea that guides the science is that the modelling and valuation approaches being developed should use data that are readily available around the world. In addition, the book documents a toolbox of ecosystem service mapping, modeling, and valuation models that both The Nature Conservancy and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) are beginning to apply around the world as they transform conservation from a biodiversity only to a people and ecosystem services agenda. The book addresses land, freshwater, and marine systems at a variety of spatial scales and includes discussion of how to treat both climate change and cultural values when examining tradeoffs among ecosystem services.

The Protection of Subjects in Human Research rule by the USEPA, including the establishment of the Human Studies Review Board (HSRB), has resulted in changes to both study design and study evaluation processes, particularly with respect to ethical considerations. Non-Dietary Human Exposure andRisk Assessment is a compilation of the presentations given in a symposium of the same name at the 238th ACS National Meeting in Washington D.C. The purpose of the symposium was to provide a forum for scientists from industry, academia, and government to share investigative methods used to generate data for use in non-dietary human risk assessments and to share methodology for performing and evaluating those assessments.
This compilation is intended to provide the reader with a concise overview of the current status of both the scientific and regulatory aspects of non-dietary human exposure and risk assessment as applied to pesticides. It is the hope of the editors that it will also be the starting point for discussions leading to the further refinement of study and risk assessment design, data evaluation, and regulatory harmonization.
Three major areas are covered in this symposium edition. The first area is regulatory issues including the development of the Protection of Subjects in Human Research rule and the HSRB, statistical procedures involved in designing human exposure studies, handling of the data generated in those studies, and quality assurance processes related to worker exposure studies. The second area, study design, includes processes for the identification and recruitment of volunteers for human exposure studies, overviews of several studies that have been recently performed, the development of procedures for evaluating the resulting data by Regulatory Agencies, and efforts towards international cooperation in the generation and use of exposure data. The final area, methodology, includes examples of the development of methods for the analysis of samples generated in non-dietary human exposure studies with particular emphasis on the use of hyphenated techniques and the development of a model for determining greenhouse exposures that is currently being used in Europe.

Appreciating that coastal areas are under threat from misuse and overuse worldwide, this book reviews the need for marine conservation, summarizes general measures for ocean and coastal conservation, and explains the rationale for establishing marine protected areas. The second half of the book is a guideline for designing and implementing protected areas in order to make them viable and long-lasting in their effectiveness.

Could low-level exposure to polluting chemicals be analogous to exercise-a beneficial source of stress that strengthens the body? Some scientists studying the phenomenon of hormesis (beneficial or stimulatory effects caused by low-dose exposure to toxic substances) claim that that this may be the case. Is A Little Pollution Good For You? critically examines the current evidence for hormesis. In the process, it highlights the range of methodological and interpretive judgments involved in environmental research: choices about what questions to ask and how to study them, decisions about how to categorize and describe new information, judgments about how to interpret and evaluate ambiguous evidence, and questions about how to formulate public policy in response to debated scientific findings. The book also uncovers the ways that interest groups with deep pockets attempt to influence these scientific judgments for their benefit. Several chapters suggest ways to counter these influences and incorporate a broader array of societal values in environmental research: (1) moving beyond conflict-of-interest policies to develop new ways of safeguarding academic research from potential biases; (2) creating deliberative forums in which multiple stakeholders can discuss the judgments involved in policy-relevant research; and (3) developing ethical guidelines that can assist scientific experts in disseminating debated and controversial phenomena to the public. Kevin C. Elliott illustrates these strategies in the hormesis case, as well as in two additional case studies involving contemporary environmental research: endocrine disruption and multiple chemical sensitivity. This book should be of interest to a wide variety of readers, including scientists, philosophers, policy makers, environmental ethicists and activists, research ethicists, industry leaders, and concerned citizens. "This is a timely, well-researched and compelling book .Elliott admirably combines insights and strategies from philosophy of science with those of applied ethics to carefully analyze contemporary science and science policy around pollutants and human health. There is a growing interest in the philosophy of science community in bringing the work of philosophers to bear on contemporary social issues. This book stands out as a model for how to do just that." - Sandra D. Mitchell, Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Is A Little Pollution Good For You? is a wonderfully clear and insightful book dealing with the interplay between social values and economic and political interests in scientific research. He articulates an account of how societal values should and should not enter into science and illustrates his views with an extended discussion of research on hormesis-the hypothesis that chemicals that are toxic at high doses may be benign or even beneficial at low doses. The chemical industry has a strong financial interest in promoting scientific acceptance of hormesis, as this could convince regulatory agencies to loosen up restrictions on allowable exposures to pesticides and other chemicals. Elliott argues that because scientists have an obligation to minimize the harmful effects of their research, they must be mindful of the social context of their work and how it may be interpreted and applied by private companies or interest groups, to the potential detriment of public and environmental health. Elliott's book is a must read for researchers, scholars, and students who are interested in the relationship between science, industry, and society." - David B. Resnik, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, author of Playing Politics With Science: Balancing Scientific Independence And Government

We are becoming increasingly aware of the overwhelming pollution of our limited water resources on this planet. And while many contaminants originate from Mother Earth, most water pollution comes as a direct result of anthropogenic activities. This problem has become so immense that it threatens the future of all humanity. If effective measures to reduce and/or remediate water pollution and its sources are not found, it is estimated by UN that 2.7 billion people will face water shortage by 2025 as opposed to 1.2 billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water now. Therefore, development of novel green technologies to address this major problem represents a priority of the highest importance. This book discusses green chemistry and other novel solutions to the water pollution problems which includes some interesting applications of nanoparticles. Novel Solutions to Water Pollution is a useful and informative text for those engaged in issues of water quality and water pollution remediation at operational, administrative, academic, or regulatory levels.

In the popular imagination, the Caribbean islands represent tropical paradise. This image, which draws millions of tourists to the region annually, underlies the efforts of many environmentalists to protect Caribbean coral reefs, mangroves, and rainforests. However, a dark side to Caribbean environmentalism lies beyond the tourist's view in urban areas where the islands' poorer citizens suffer from exposure to garbage, untreated sewage, and air pollution. Concrete Jungles explores the reasons why these issues tend to be ignored, demonstrating how mainstream environmentalism reflects and reproduces class and race inequalities. Based on over a decade of research in Kingston, Jamaica and Willemstad, Curacao, Rivke Jaffe contrasts the environmentalism of largely middle-class professionals with the environmentalism of inner-city residents. The book combines a sophisticated discussion of the politics of difference with rich ethnographic detail, including vivid depictions of Caribbean ghettos and elite enclaves. Jaffe also extends her analysis beyond ethnographic research, seeking to understand the role of colonial history in shaping the current trends in pollution and urban space. A thorough analysis of the hidden inequalities of mainstream environmentalism, Concrete Jungles provides a political ecology of urban pollution with significant implications for the future of environmentalism.

Climate Physics is a modern subject based on a space-era understanding of the physical properties of the atmosphere and ocean, their planetary-scale history and evolution, new global measurement systems and sophisticated computer models, which collectively make quantitative studies and predictions possible. At the same time, interest in understanding the climate has received an enormous boost from the concern generated by the realization that rapid climate change, much of it forced by the relentless increase in population and industrialization, is potentially a serious threat to the quality of life on Earth. Our ability to resist and overcome any such threat depends directly on our ability to understand what physical effects are involved and to predict how trends may develop. In an introductory course like that presented here, we want to clarify the basics, topic by topic, and see how far we can get by applying relatively simple Physics to the climate problem. This provides a foundation for more advanced work, which we can identify and appreciate at this level although of course a full treatment requires more advanced books, of which there are many.

This Poem book takes you on an underwater adventure to meet all sorts of characters under the sea! Swimming around and hvaing fun with new friends, one thing become clear.... There's too much plastic in our oceans! Something needs to be done.

Addressing one of the most pressing environmental issues, this topical book carefully inspects the current extent of the plastic pollution crisis and observes contemporary approaches to its regulation. By adopting a strong interdisciplinary approach, the book fully encapsulates the key challenges and solutions surrounding this globally applicable problem. Through critical analysis, this insightful book methodically identifies the faults in existing efforts to tackle the problem of plastic pollution such as often-fragmented regulation tactics, proposing potential approaches to policy reform. It utilises stakeholder analysis to offer a study of key participants such as governments and industries and comprehensively surveys the ongoing nature of this provocative issue. This comprehensive book will be crucial for students and scholars of law, economics, politics, and environmental studies endeavouring to further understand the multi dimensional issue of global plastic pollution. It will additionally be valuable for policy and decision-makers seeking to understand the challenges involved in environmental policy regulation.

Originally published in 2005 under the title La Tierra Herida, this book grew out of a series of conversations that took place during the previous summer between Miguel Delibes and his son, Miguel Delibes de Castro. Acknowledged as one of Spain's foremost novelists and essayists of the 20th century, Miguel Delibes won every literary award his country had to offer. In 1975 he was elected into the Spanish Royal Academy and used the occasion of his acceptance speech (later to be published under the title A World that is Dying) to make explicit his growing concerns about the future of the planet. Miguel Delibes de Castro, an internationally recognised research biologist, was for many years the Director of the Biological Station at the world-renowned Donana National Park. He was an adviser to the Spanish delegation at the Rio de Janiero Conference on Biodiversity and was awarded the King James I prize for his efforts in protecting the environment. Father and son, novelist and scientist, each with a life-long commitment to the environment, discuss the environmental changes threatening our planet at the start of the 21st century, and whether or not we can find the means and summon up the will to reverse them. It is the father, speaking here as the anxious citizen, and pessimistic for our future, who asks the layman's questions; it is his son who provides the scientific explanations, and offers whatever cause for optimism there is to be found. Miguel Delibes de Castro has provided a Postscript, written in November 2019, shortly before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, which brings events up to date.

This timely Handbook offers a comprehensive outlook on global environmental politics, providing readers with an up-to-date view of a field of ever-increasing academic and public significance. Its critical perspective interrogates what is taken for granted in current institutions and social and power relations, highlighting the issues preventing meaningful change in the relationship between human societies and their biophysical underpinnings. Featuring contributions from over 60 established and emerging international scholars, the Handbook is organized into six thematic sections. It addresses theoretical approaches, contested notions, key issues, governance processes, mobilizations and emergent directions of inquiry, presenting a vital contemporary analysis of the major social science and political ecology debates over environmental questions. Scholars and students in the social sciences, in particular those studying politics and public policy, with an interest in the environment and climate change will find this Handbook to be essential reading. It will also be useful to academics in other disciplines related to ecology and environmental politics, as well as politicians and practitioners involved in green transition policies.

This thought-provoking book explores how the global ecological crisis profoundly challenges conventional meanings of environmental security and raises important questions about how states and other institutions now face the future. Simon Dalby provides unique insights into the traditional search for security in terms of using firepower to dominate states and environments, and how this is now endangering people across the globe. Whereas earlier concerns about nuclear firepower focused on the security dilemmas it posed, Dalby offers a new perspective into the existential threats to civilization presented by the combustion of fossil fuels. Propounding that the constraint of firepower in both senses is now key to a flourishing human future, the book calls for international relations scholars to rethink many of the central premises in the field and formulate new policies that focus on the necessity of ecological flourishing to provide meaningful security in a climate disrupted world. Visionary and inspiring, Rethinking Environmental Security will be a critical read for scholars and students of international relations, climate change, environmental governance and regulation, and political geography and geopolitics. Its novel ideas will also be beneficial for policy makers and practitioners in these fields.

Novel Materials for Environmental Remediation Applications: Adsorption and Beyond presents detailed, comprehensive coverage of novel and advanced materials that can be applied to address the growing global concern of the pollution of natural resources in water, the air, and in soil. The book provides up-to-date knowledge of state-of-the-art materials and treatment processes, as well as details of applications, including adsorptive remediation and catalytic remediation. Chapters include the characteristics of materials, basic and important physicochemical features for environmental remediation applications, routes of synthesis, recent advances as remediation medias and future perspectives. This book offers an interdisciplinary and practical examination of novel materials and processes for environmental remediation that will be valuable to environmental scientists, materials scientists, environmental chemists, and environmental engineers alike.

Environmental Noise Pollution, Second Edition, addresses the key debates surrounding environmental noise pollution, its modelling and mitigation using examples from across the globe. Environmental noise pollution is now an established concern in environmental and public policy and is considered one of the most important environmental stressors affecting public health throughout the world. Thoroughly revised, this new edition includes updated global case studies as well as new chapters on 'soundscapes and noise mapping' and 'environmental noise and technology'. This book examines environmental noise pollution, its health implications, noise modelling, the role of strategic noise mapping for problem assessment, major sources of environmental noise pollution, noise mitigation approaches, and related procedural and policy implications. Drawing on the authors' considerable research expertise in the area, the book is a fully updated resource on this major environmental stressor that crosses disciplinary, policy and national boundaries.

CO2 Acidification in Aquatic Ecosystems: An Integrative Approach to Risk Assessment focuses on the characterization of different aspects of ecosystem science to describe the situation of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems. This extensive coverage looks at the effects of CO2 acidification throughout all oceans and coastal areas. In addition, the book describes integrative approaches based on global case studies to determine the effects associated with this kind of acidification. It allows the reader to understand the different sources of CO2 in the aquatic ecosystems and the different approaches and lines of evidence available to characterize the impact of this acidification. This book provides researchers, professors and post graduate students in oceanography and aquatic ecology with a new and complete tool set to address and understand the potential impacts of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems.

Emerging Contaminants in the Environment: Challenges and Sustainable Practices covers all aspects of emerging contaminants in the environment, from basic understanding to different types of emerging contaminants and how these threaten organisms, their environmental fate studies, detection methods, and sustainable practices of dealing with contaminants. Emerging contaminant remediation is a pressing need due to the ever-increasing pollution in the environment, and it has gained a lot of scientific and public attention due to its high effectiveness and sustainability. The discussions in the book on the bioremediation of these contaminants are covered from the perspective of proven technologies and practices through case studies and real-world data. One of the main benefits of this book is that it summarizes future challenges and sustainable solutions. It can, therefore, become an effective guide to the elimination (through sustainable practices) of emerging contaminants. At the back of these explorations on sustainable bioremediation of emerging contaminants lies the set of 17 goals articulated by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all its member states. This book provides academics, researchers, students, and practitioners interested in the detection and elimination of emerging contaminants from the environment, with the latest advances by leading experts in emerging contaminants the field of environmental sciences.

Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Groundwater Systems: Occurrence, Impact, Fate and Transport addresses the current need for comprehensive and detailed information on emerging contaminants in the environment. Due to increasing industrial expansion and evolving technologies, novel contaminants are being found in the environment with little information on their analysis, fate and transport. This book covers pharmaceuticals and personal care products, perfluorinated compounds, engineered nanoparticles and microplastics, providing the information environmental scientists require to study their occurrence and interactions, including case studies for each contaminant. This book is a valuable read for postgraduate students, academics, researchers, engineers and other professionals in the fields of Environmental Science, Soil Science, and Hydrology who need the most up-to-date information and analytical methods for analyzing newly emerging contaminants in soil and groundwater.

Assisted Phytoremediaion covers a wide range of uses of plants for remediation of environmental pollutants. It includes coverage of such techniques as root engineering, transgenic plants, increasing the biomass, use of genetic engineering and genome editing technology for rapid phytoremediation of pollutants. In order to improve the efficiency of plant remediation, genetic engineering plays a vital role in the overexpression of genes or gene clusters, which are responsible for degradation and uptake of pollutants. The book presents state-of-the-art techniques of assisted phytoremediation to better manage soil and water pollution in large amounts. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, students, and engineers in environmental science and bioengineering, with case studies and state-of-the-art research from eminent global scientists. This book serves as an excellent basis from which scientific knowledge can grow and widen in the field of environmental remediation.

Sorbents Materials for Controlling Environmental Pollution: Current State and Trends presents data on current use and future trends regarding sorbent materials employed against soil, water, and air pollution. The book is organized first by use and research for a variety of geographic areas. It will then focus on different sorbent materials and their uses, followed by various pollutants and their management. Including updated and extensive data from an assortment of sources, the book is organized to be very accessible, including with an interactive table to help identify the results of appropriate sorbents for each environmental compartment. The growing concern regarding soil, water and air pollution all over the world has implications for climate change and sustainability, making Sorbents Materials for Controlling Environmental Pollution: Current State and Trends an important reference for environmental scientists to identify tools for moving forward in solving these problems.