Physicochemical aspects of using natural scavengers in removing methylene blue (basic dye) from solution

Effluent from dyeing and finishing processes is an important source of water pollution. The effectiveness of bentonite, kaolinite and sediment from a local deposit in removing methylene blue as a cationic dye from aqueous solutions has been investigated. The adsorption equilibrium (isotherm) has been determined according to Freundlich and Langmuir equations. The optimum amount is 0.5 g for all adsorbents, and the optimum pH ranges are 2-8 for bentonite and 2-6 for kaolinite and sediment. With respect to kinetic modelling, the adsorption of methylene blue on various adsorbents was fitted to a second-order equation. Also, the thermodynamic parameters were determined. The negative free energy values indicate the feasibility of the process and spontaneous nature of adsorption. The positive ΔH° values indicate the endothermic nature of the process. Thus, Egyptian clay minerals and sediments have a great tendency to remove the dye from solutions.     

Dynamics and Causation of Environmental Equity, Locally Unwanted Land Uses, and Neighborhood Changes

/ Why are some environmental risks distributed disproportionately in the neighborhoods of the minorities and the poor? A hypothesis was proposed in a recent study that market dynamics contributed to the current environmental inequity. That is, locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) make the host communities home to more poor people and people of color. This hypothesis was allegedly supported by a Houston case study, whereby its author analyzed the postsiting changes of the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods surrounding solid waste facilities. I argue that such an analysis of postsiting changes alone is insufficient to test the causation hypothesis. Instead, I propose a conceptual framework for analysis of environmental equity dynamics and causation. I suggest that the presiting neighborhood dynamics and the characteristics of control neighborhoods be analyzed as the first test for the causation hypothesis. Furthermore, I present theories of neighborhood change and then examine alternative hypotheses that these theories offer for explaining neighborhood changes and for the roles of LULUs in neighborhood changes. These alternative hypotheses should be examined when analyzing the relationship between LULUs and neighborhood changes in a metropolitan area. Using this framework of analysis, I revisited the Houston case. First, I found no evidence that provided support for the hypothesis that the presence of LULUs made the neighborhoods home to more blacks and poor people, contrary to the conclusion made by the previous study. Second, I examined alternative hypotheses for explaining neighborhood changes-invasion-succession, other push forces, and neighborhood life-cycle; the former two might offer better explanation.KEY WORDS: Environmental equity and justice; Locally unwanted lane uses; Siting; Market dynamics; Invasion-succession; Neighborhood changes     

Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

建设规范化实验室工作中的档案管理

以大连市环境监测中心为例，介绍了实验室认可中档案管理人员的设置，人员技术档案、监测业务档案、仪器设备档案、物资采购档案、质量体系文件归档的方法和要求。阐述了实验室认可中档案管理的重要性。     

王心芳会长在2006年全国环保产业协会工作会议上的讲话(摘录)

中国环境保护产业协会王心芳会长在2006年7月18-19日在北京召开的全国环境保护产业协会工作会议上，就我国环保产业的现状及存在的主要问题、环保产业“十一五”期间面临的形势及“十一五”期间中国环境保护产业协会主要的工作思路做了讲话（本文为讲话摘录）。     

移动通信基站电磁辐射环境保护与评价浅析

通过对移动通信基站天线的电磁辐射分析和探讨,归纳了移动通信基站建设在施工期、营运期环境保护工作的重点与措施,对电磁环境影响评价制度与方法进行了系统的描述,并指出了今后的工作方向。     

辽河流域畜禽养殖污染源仿真研究

随着国家对流域水质改善要求的逐渐提高,流域污染源管理变得日益重要。提出了一种基于CPNTOOLS的辽河流域畜禽养殖行业污染源仿真技术,并采用CPNTOOLS软件对辽河流域内一家典型畜禽养殖基地进行了仿真研究,经过多次仿真与数据统计分析,分别得出了该畜禽养殖基地的CODCr,BOD5,NH3-N,TP,TN日排放量的正态分布均值在90%,95%,99%置信水平下的置信区间,并结合排水量分别计算出各污染物指标排放浓度的区间。结合BAT处理技术对污染物浓度削减进行了计算仿真,并得出了处理后CODCr,BOD5,NH3-N,TP,TN排放浓度的正态分布均值在90%,95%,99%置信水平下的置信区间以及排放浓度的极大值和极小值。     

畜禽养殖中沙门氏菌污染的PCR快速检测

针对畜禽养殖是造成农村水环境生物性污染的主要原因,指出用常规生化检测技术耗时长、效率低,不能满足环境管理的要求：应用PCR技术检测沙门氏菌,特异性高、敏感性强、耗时短,与常规分离鉴定方法比较,完全符合实验证明,PCR技术可很好的应用于沙门氏菌污染的调查与监测。     

一般工业固废填埋场建设项目环境监理探析

介绍了一般工业固废填埋场工程的特点和环境监理的现状;结合填埋场项目环境监理工作的实践,分析并总结了填埋场建设项目环境监理要点,即制订切实的监理方案,对工程的关键部位、关键工序做好巡视、旁站监理工作,在实施过程中做好水土保持、生态保护的监理工作。     

Renewable energy in Australia: a wider policy discourse

ABSTRACT

This paper assesses the evolution of generation technology-mix in Australia, with specific emphasis on understanding how such evolution has been shaped by wider political and socio-economic influences. This assessment is predicated on the argument that the contemporary, quintessentially techno-economic, policy discourse on renewable energy is deficient, as it ignores climacteric political and socio-economic influences on generation technology-mix. The methodological framework employed in this paper is informed by the core tenets of technological change theory. The assessment suggests that generation technology-mix in Australia has historically been overwhelmingly influenced by the underlying technological paradigm of the electricity industry; and that this technological paradigm essentially draws its imprimatur from the wider political and socio-economic contexts. By implication, it suggests that a rapid uptake of renewables will have widespread ramifications, extending into political, socio-economic and cultural realms of a society. Clearly, existing policy discourse – that tends to focus on technical potentials, cost competitiveness, externalities and risks of various renewable technologies – is deficient. A much broader discourse is needed. This paper also made an attempt to develop a basis for such a discourse by reviewing broader aspects of the Australian society that would be affected by a rapid uptake of renewables.