Environmental education — Implications for public policy

Summary This paper examines first the practical requirements of educational participation, and attempts to define the kind of education system (both structure and curriculum) which would meet these requirements. Next, it describes the special role of environmental education for all age groups, not just those of school age. Organizational and curriculum models are presented to illustrate how locally based education could be developed in such a way as to draw together teachers, local people and technical professionals working in the locality, to make a collective learning process. Finally some conclusions are drawn about the politics of environmental education.Miss Jean Forbes is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Glasgow.     

Young driver risk in relation to parents' retrospective driving record

PROBLEM: Parents are an important potential influence on the driving safety of their children. This study examined the relationship of parental driving record on male and female offspring's at-fault collision risk. METHOD: Drivers aged 16-21 on the date of full licensure were selected from driver records and a matching process was used to identify putative parents in two-parent households. Poisson regression models were developed to predict at-fault collisions of male and female youth in the three years following full licensure from parents' at-fault collisions, speeding offenses, and other moving offenses in the four years prior to children's licensure. One set of models examined the relative risk associated with increasing numbers of maternal and paternal at-fault collisions and offenses. Other models examined the joint versus separate maternal and parental contributions. RESULTS: Controlling for region of residence, both mothers' and fathers' at-fault collisions were associated with an increased risk in both male and female youth at-fault collisions. Mothers' and fathers' speeding offenses were also associated with increased relative risk of at-fault collisions for both sons and daughters, while fathers' other moving offenses increased collision risk for sons but not daughters. DISCUSSION: Further research is required to identify how parental driving risk is transmitted to children. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: (a) Parents of young children should be informed of their role in influencing their children's future driving risk; (b) The results identify risk factors that could be of interest to licensing authorities and the insurance industry.     

Longitudinal examination of underage drinking and subsequent drinking and risky driving

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol use, alcohol misuse, and risky driving from adolescence into young adulthood were compared by drinking onset age. METHODS: Surveys were administered in Grades 5/6, 6/7, 7/8, 10, 12, and at approximately age 23. Participants were placed into Drinking Onset groups based on self-reported alcohol use frequency on the adolescent surveys. Driving records were examined in three age periods: under 21, 21-25, and 26+. RESULTS: The earliest drinking initiators reported higher alcohol use and misuse on each survey, and were more likely to have risky driving offenses before age 21 and to have alcohol driving offenses in all three age periods. DISCUSSION: The earliest drinking initiators engaged in risky drinking behavior and risky driving behavior that was consistently higher than those with later drinking initiation, beginning in adolescence and persisting well into young adulthood.     

Heavy metal contamination from mining sites in South Morocco: 1. Use of a biotest to assess metal toxicity of tailings and soils

Our work was conducted to investigate the heavy metal toxicity of tailings and soils collected from five metal mines located in the south of Morocco. We used the MetPAD biotest Kit which detects the toxicity specifically due to the heavy metals in environmental samples. This biotest initially developed to assess the toxicity of aquatic samples was adapted to the heterogeneous physico-chemical conditions of anthropogenic soils. Contrasted industrial soils were collected from four abandoned mines (A, B, C and E) and one mine (D) still active. The toxicity test was run concurrently with chemical analyses on the aqueous extracts of tailings materials and soils in order to assess the potential availability of heavy metals. Soil pH was variable, ranging from very acidic (pH 2.6) to alkaline values (pH 8.0-8.8). The tailings from polymetallic mines (B and D) contained very high concentrations of Zn (38,000-108,000 mg kg(-1)), Pb (20,412-30,100 mg kg(-1)), Cu (2,019-8,635 mg kg(-1)) and Cd (148-228 mg kg(-1)). Water-extractable metal concentrations (i.e., soil extracts) were much lower but were highly toxic as shown by the MetPAD test, except for soils from mines A, E and site C3 from mine C. The soil extracts from mine D were the most toxic amongst all the soils tested. On this site, the toxicity of soil water extracts was mainly due to high concentrations of Zn (785-1,753 mg l(-1)), Cu (1.8-82 mg l(-1)) and Cd (2.0-2.7 mg l(-1)). The general trend observed was an increase in metal toxicity measured by the biotest with increasing available metal contents in tailings materials and soils. Therefore, the MetPAD test can be used as a rapid and sensitive predictive tool to assess the heavy metal availability in soils highly contaminated by mining activities.     

Uptake and transformation of phenol and chlorophenols by hairy root cultures of Daucus carota, Ipomoea batatas and Solanum aviculare

Hairy root cultures of Daucus carota L., Ipomoea batatas L. and Solanum aviculare Forst were investigated for their susceptibility to the highly toxic pollutants phenol and chlorophenols and for the involvement of inherent peroxidases in the removal of phenols from liquid media. Roots of D. carota grew normally in medium containing 1000 micromol l(-1) of phenol, whilst normal growth of roots of I. batatas and S. aviculare was only possible at levels up to 500 micromol l(-1). In the presence of chlorophenols, normal root growth was possible only in concentrations not exceeding 50 micromol l(-1), except for I. batatas which was severely affected at all concentrations. Despite the reduction in biomass, the growth of S. aviculare cultures was sustained in medium containing up to 2000 micromol l(-1) of phenol or 2-chlorophenol, and up to 500 micromol l(-1) of 2,6-dichlorophenol. The amounts of phenol removed by the roots within 72 h of treatment were 72.7%, 90.7% and 98.6% of the initial concentration for D. carota, I. batatas and S. aviculare, respectively. For the removal of 2,6-dichlorophenol the values were, respectively, 83.0%, 57.7% and 73.1%. Phenols labelled with 14C were absorbed by the root tissues and condensed with highly polar cellular substances as well as being incorporated into the cell walls or membranes. The results suggest that S. aviculare, an ornamental plant, would be best suited for remediation trials under field conditions.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in fish and wastewater samples from an area of the Penobscot River in central Maine

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are one class of flame retardants commonly used in textiles, foams and plastics. They are similar in behavior to the well-studied polychlorinated biphenyls and growing evidence suggests they are widespread global environmental pollutants that are capable of bioaccumulation. Fish tissue samples were collected from sites along the Penobscot River in central Maine. The total concentration of tetra- to hepta-PBDEs in these samples were calculated and generally increased from upstream to downstream locations ranging from 800 to 1810 ng/g lipid at the northernmost site to 5750-29000 ng/g at the downstream sampling site. BDE-47, 99 and 100 were the predominant congeners found in the fish tissue. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the potential sources of these compounds to the environment through effluent discharge and landspreading of biosolids. Influent, effluent, activated sludge and dewatered biosolids were collected and analyzed for PBDE congeners from a WWTP at Orono, Maine. PBDE congeners were detectable in effluent samples at concentrations from 0.31 to 0.90 microg/l, in the activated sludge at 1.32-3.8 microg/l and in the influent at 4.2-4.3 microg/l, but the majority of the material was concentrated in the biosolids. Total concentration in the biosolids was 2320-3530 microg/kg dry weight.     

Tradescantia micronucleus test indicates genotoxic potential of traffic emissions in European cities

Urban atmospheres contain complex mixtures of air pollutants including mutagenic and carcinogenic substances such as benzene, diesel soot, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the frame of a European network for the assessment of air quality by the use of bioindicator plants, the Tradescantia micronucleus (Trad-MCN) test was applied to examine the genotoxicity of urban air pollution. Cuttings of Tradescantia clone #4430 were exposed to ambient air at 65 monitoring sites in 10 conurbations employing a standardised methodology. The tests revealed an elevated genotoxic potential mainly at those urban sites which were exposed to severe car traffic emissions. This bioassay proved to be a suitable tool to detect local 'hot spots' of mutagenic air pollution in urban areas. For its use in routine monitoring programmes, however, further standardisation of cultivation and exposure techniques is recommended in order to reduce the variability of results due to varying environmental conditions.     

Sleepiness among night-time drivers: relationship to blood alcohol concentration and other factors

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to explore the distribution and correlates of subjective sleepiness among the general night-time driving population. METHODS: The survey took place in three British Columbia communities in June 2003 between 21:00 hours to 03:00 hours. Sites and vehicles were selected randomly. Surveyors obtained information on several demographic and situational variables including self-assessed degree of sleepiness and self-reported hours asleep and awake, as well as an objective measure of blood alcohol concentration obtained from a hand-held breath-testing device. RESULTS: The total compliance rate among intercepted drivers was 85%. Among the 2335 drivers responding to the questionnaire, 68.4% indicated that they were wide awake, 27.6% were somewhat sleepy, and 4.1% were very sleepy. Logistic regression quantified the independent contributions of the various factors to subjective sleepiness. Male drivers with positive blood alcohol concentrations under 50 mg% were more likely to report feeling sleepy than those with either higher or with zero blood alcohol concentration. Greater relative risk of sleepiness was also associated with being female, being under age 55, and advanced hour of night. Driving with passengers of the same gender was associated with lower reported sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of night-time drivers are driving while sleepy, especially at late night and early morning hours. The combination of alcohol and sleepiness compounds impairment in experimental studies and deserves greater attention in crash risk studies and as a topic for public education and awareness.     

Towards a constructivist program in safety

This paper delves into the relationship between safety and constructivism. In the past 30 years, the constructivist discourse has become very popular but also controversial as it challenges some key categories associated with modernity, such as reason, objectivity, truth and reality. In the safety literature, several works advocate its use. This paper has three objectives. The first one is to reveal the existence of a constructivist discourse in the field of safety. It does this by bringing together scattered pieces of works from different authors who endorse and apply to various topics a position labelled as constructivist. However, and that is the paper’s second objective; it demonstrates that there is not only one constructivism, but several. In order to ground this contention, the paper proceeds with a multidisciplinary and historical approach. It is then argued that it is more appropriate not to conflate this diversity of constructivisms. The paper looks for a solution to this problem by providing a classification based on two groups of parameters: mild/strong and cognitive/social, defining four types. This step serves the third objective which consists in initiating a multifaceted constructivist program in safety composed of heterogeneous but related empirical and theoretical areas of investigations.     

Driving forces and decoupling indicators for carbon emissions from the industrial sector in Egypt,Morocco, Algeria,and Tunisia

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - North Africa currently accounts for about 40% of Africa’s total CO2 emissions, and the industrial sector is one of the energy-intensive sectors...