Environmental pollution of China to foreign investors: detrimental or beneficial?

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study investigates the dynamic linkage among foreign direct investment, energy consumption, and environmental pollution of China spanning from...     

Utilizing sustainability criteria to evaluate river basin decision-making: the case of the Colorado River Basin

Regional Environmental Change - Increasing demands, climate change and variability, and over-allocation pose tremendous challenges for the sustainable management of water resources. Federal river...     

Nanomaterials in Biology

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Metals demand in the Pacific Rim countries of Asia

In the early years after World War II the developed countries, and in particular the USA, acounted for a large portion of world metal consumption. Since that time a shift in consumption has occurred favouring the industrialized states of Western Europe, the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, and more recently Japan and the other Pacific Rim countries of Asia (PRA). After assessing the magnitude of the shift in metal consumption toward the PRA countries, this paper focuses on differences in economic growth, the nature of trade, and other factors responsible. Finally, the implications of the shift are considered for the nature of metal trade, the competitiveness of metal exporting countries, the structure of international metal markets, and the future availability of metal supplies.     

Environment as the Stage for Economic Actors

The relative importance of economics and environment in debate may soon be reversed due to the influence of three fac- tors. Firstly, in the global economy it is hard to hide the unwanted products of economic processes. Secondly, huge advances in sci- ence will reduce the imperfect knowledge of markets, making some monitoring and analyzing tools show the design of sensible and equitable livelihood in communities, which is more important than the motivation of maximising profits for some individuals or firms. Thirdly, China, as the last major player on the planet to take on economic growth, comes from traditions fundamentally differ- ent from those economies that have experienced the Industrial Revolution previously. Its challenges with sustainability and en- vironmental conservation predate Western economics by millennia, and it is implementing policies domestically and starting to work on the world stage that acknowledges that the surroundings are the host for any economic and socio-political system.     

Non-motorised Transport and Sustainable Development: evidence from Calcutta

The important role that non-motorised transport plays in urban sustainability is discussed with particular reference to the developing world and to the links between environmental and poverty issues. The significance of non-motorised transport in terms of reduced pollution, income maintenance for the poor and providing transport for vulnerable groups is stressed and placed within the general context of sustainable development. More specifically, evidence is presented for rickshaws in Calcutta, which demonstrates the vital role that non-motorised transport must play if sustainable development objectives are to be met. This evidence indicates that if rickshaws were to disappear from Calcutta's streets there would not only be significant increases in air pollution but also a substantial increase in the numbers of people living in poverty.     

Gypsum Waste Disposal: Land vs Sea or Recycling

The disposal of waste gypsum wallboard at landfill sites in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, resulted in the generation of hydrogen sulphide gas and toxic leachates. Although some remedial measures were taken to reduce or eliminate problems resulting from past dumping practices, many landfill operators refused to accept new waste for fear of litigation over the pollution of nearby streams and rivers. with the availability of legitimate disposal sites greatly reduced, a serious waste management problem arose. the two most promising options for reducing the accumulating waste appeared to be recycling and ocean disposal.

Agricultural use of the waste for soil conditioning would account for only a small portion of the waste generated annually. Manufacturing plants were reluctant to accept waste gypsum with a high paper fibre content for fear it would lower the quality of the new wallboard product or interfere with the existing equipment and processes in the plants. the technology for economically removing and separating the paper from the used or substandard wallboard had yet to be developed.

The environmental implications of disposal at sea were assessed by a government advisory committee under the provisions of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Although results of a test dump in internal waters of B.C. were positive, the committee felt that valuable amenities of nearshore waters would only be assured by restricting dumping to a remote offshore location. an acceptable disposal method with minimal impact on the marine environment was eventually found with appropriate pretreatment of the waste and the use of remotely controlled bottom dump scows. Recent progress in the processing of waste wallboard to make it acceptable to the manufacturing industry should significantly reduce if not eliminate the need to dispose of gypsum wallboard wastes at sea.