Contentious Environmental Issues Research Articles

Conversations in conservation: revealing and dealing with language differences in environmental conflicts

1. Applied ecology aims to translate research into policy recommendations. However, conflicts frequently develop if these recommendations propose a contentious course of action. A first step towards addressing such conflicts is to attempt to understand the values underpinning stakeholder viewpoints. 2. We develop a computer-aided Content Analysis to analyse the language surrounding environmental conflicts for insights into stakeholder values. Using the conflict arising over proposals to cull hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus on several Scottish islands, we show how different stakeholder groups frame the problem in different ways. 3. Stakeholder groups supporting different courses of action (culling vs. translocating hedgehogs) use different arguments, the former emphasizing conservation and biodiversity, the latter focusing on animal welfare. Our method results in a graphical representation of this failure to agree on a common way to frame the issue. 4. Including texts obtained from media sources illustrates how the media can exacerbate environmental conflicts through the issues they emphasize and the vocabulary they use. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our method provides a simple means to quantify levels of stakeholder disagreement concerning potentially contentious environmental issues. Our results provide a starting point for the development of a quantitative, graphical tool for managers, where repeated analysis will aid in monitoring and managing conflicts. In addition, we provide a clear example of the role of societal attitudes influencing the effective implementation of ecological advice, which should encourage ecologists to become more aware of the social environment into which policy recommendations are to be launched and to ensure that their advice does not ignore important stakeholder values.

Review of Impact of hazardous waste on human health: Hazard, health effects, equity, and communications issues by Barry L. Johnson

Cleanup of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites can be a contentious local environmental issue, especially when a site poses risks so high that it is added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List. The fireworks over these socalled ‘‘Superfund’’ site cleanups can be spectacular. Scientific risk assessments, economics, and community interests all have to be balanced by the public health officials responsible for coordinating the remediation effort. The process isn’t pretty, and the outcomes may not always reflect the best science. The Superfund law—properly known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act—is intended to protect human health and prevent further damage to natural resources and environmental quality. It is perhaps best known by the controversy that ensues when a site is discovered and parties potentially responsible for the mess are asked to pay for its cleanup. The overriding focus on litigation loses sight of a considerable body of good science that has been developed on the health impacts of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and the best way to tailor public health responses. In Impact of Hazardous Waste on Human Health, Johnson tries to shed light on how public health programs fit into the volatile mix that arises when uncontrolled hazardous waste sites are discovered and remediated. The author was the assistant administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and holds the rank of assistant surgeon general ~retired! in the U.S. Public Health Service. He spent the better part of 13 years involved in the public health aspects of the Superfund law. The book shows his extensive familiarity with the body of scientific information that informs public health responses to hazardous waste sites. The author intends to ‘‘provide up-to-date depictions of the human health impacts of hazardous waste and attendant public health responses.’’ The book’s intended audience is policymakers, environmentalists, toxicologists, public health officials, academic personnel, and health care providers. To make the technical information more accessible to the lay reader, Johnson provides explanations of key concepts in epidemiology, toxicology, and risk assessment. As someone who falls into the policymaker category and is moderately familiar with the jargon of the public health community, I found it tough going at times. Familiarity with some of the basic public health principles might help readers get the

The Two‐Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change and Our Future

Enhanced greenhouse warming attributable to our profligate consumption of fossil fuels has established itself as perhaps the most contentious environmental issue currently being debated in the international political arena. To a large extent, the debate over whether societies should undertake actions to mitigate potentially adverse effects of climate change focuses on uncertainties in climate predictions and societal impacts. In an effort to reduce some of the uncertainty the climate community has expended considerable efforts to obtain detailed records of past climates, recognizing that the past may hold the key to our future.The Two‐Mile Time Machine by Richard Alley tells the captivating story of how one such record reconstructed from the GISP2 core, drilled through the more than 3‐km thick Greenland Ice Sheet, has revealed startling clues about past climates and shattering many of our ideas on how climate operates.

Does Nitrogen Cycle?: Changes in the Spatial Dynamics of Nitrogen with Industrial Nitrogen Fixation

Industrialization of the N cycle after World War II made new spatial dimensions in the movement of N in agriculture and society possible. Nitrogen fertilizer consumption in the USA increased from less than 0.5 million tonslyr in 1940 to more than 11 million tons/yr in 1980. Not only were crop and animal productivity increased with the increased availability, but specialized crop production and animal production regions developed. With N fertilizer available, N in feeds imported to animal production regions does not have to be returned to sustain crop production. Therefore, understanding the biology of N in the farm-level N cycle in either type of production region will be insufficient to understand the consequences of the oneway transfers of N between production regions. An environmental issue associated with the industrialization of N fixation is the depletion of nonrenewable fossil energy reserves to produce and transport fertilizers and agricultural products. Another is the reduced efficiency of N use in crop production as a result of increasing N inputs and the extent of the areas planted to N-fertilized crops. Nitrogen accumulation in manure in animal production regions poses another threat to the environment. Resolving contentious environmental issues may depend on research and management approaches that are consistent with the new spatial dimensions of N movement and the interests of all stakeholders. Research Question Fertilizer N and animal manure are often implicated in the claims of environmental pollution from agriculture. This study attempts to evaluate the changes in agriculture and society that have taken place since fertilizer N became widely available. Understanding these changes may provide the basis for a comprehensive approach to reducing N losses from agriculture. Literature Summary The history of fertilizer use in the USA clearly documents the dramatic increase in fertilizer N use since the mid-1940s. Historic approaches to dealing with the movement of N in the environment and agriculture generally focus on N “cycling.” Recent developments in ecological theories suggest that observations of the world at different scales can provide new ways to organize information and stimulate new insights into every day activities. Study Description Agricultural statistics about fertilize N use, crop and animal productivity, and the locations of crop and animal production were evaluated to determine if N cycles within the existing managed pathways of agriculture and society. Applied Questions Does N cycle? Fertilizer N use in the USA increased from less than 0.5 million tons/yr to over 11 million in less than 50 yr. Also, the concentration of fertilizer N use moved from the southeastern USA to the north central USA. This change in fertilizer N use, especially for corn production, was accompanied by an increase in soybean production for the oilseed. Consequently, the basis for the concentration of animal production on few large farms outside the feed grain production areas was established. Even ruminant animal rations, such as for dairy cows, now emphasize concentrates, including corn and soybean oil meal. The spatial pattern of change in the relative importance of livestock and crop cash farm receipts to regional US agriculture was opposite to the new patterns in fertilizer N use. The difference between these two patterns reflects the ability to produce livestock and poultry outside the regions of intensive crop production. With the development of animal production regions, N no longer cycles within individual farm boundaries. Nitrogen in agriculture must be managed for efficient throughput in the crop production areas and for effective distribution as it accumulates in animal production regions. Will N cycling information help improve N management? Nitrogen management is no longer related only to the land base of an individual farm, but rather to the use of fertilizer N and animal feed as capital factors of production. Additional detailed farm-level N cycling information may provide limited improvements in N management to avoid unacceptable losses from agriculture. As an alternative, ways of measuring N movement in agriculture at regional and interregional scales must be researched. These new measurements and the resulting insights will complement new decisionmaking procedures that involve all the stakeholders in N management including farmers, community and business leaders, and the special interests of consumers and environmentalists. Current approaches to voluntary or regulatory change focus on farmer management of N recovery efficiency in crop production or different management of land-applied manure. With the separation of crop production and animal production, neither of these are adequate nor do they include all the stakeholders. Recommendation More emphasis should be placed on researching and monitoring the movement of N beyond the boundaries of individual farms and on developing comprehensive management approaches based on spatially extended N pathways, not just farm-level cycling. Better data for regional N budgets, new theories to organize large scale information, and new management procedures with multi-organizational participation to protect common water resources from N pollution should be developed.

NASA to revamp Earth Observing System

In the face of budget cuts and technical criticism, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration is overhauling plans for its ambitious Earth Observing System (EOS), a long-term effort to understand the impact of human activities on the environment. The massive spacecraft originally planned will be replaced by a more flexible series of small and intermediate-sized satellites. EOS is the centerpiece of NASA's comprehensive Mission to Plant Earth, a program designed to observe simultaneously the atmosphere, oceans, and land—and their interactions—from space. The ultimate goal of the program is quantitative predictions that policymakers can use to address such contentious environmental issues as global warming, deforestation, ozone depletion, and sea-level rise (C&EN, Sept. 24, 1990, page 21). As originally envisioned, EOS was to consist of a series of huge polarorbiting satellites, the first of which was to be launched in 1998. Each polar platform would carry a dozen or more instruments to measure fundam...