Welfare cost of pollution control

A model of joint-production of a conventional output and of pollutants is presented, within which continuous substitution between polluting fuels and nonpolluting inputs on the one hand and pollution control inputs on the other is allowed for. Using the steel industry as a case study, the welfare cost under an efficient policy to reduce particulate emissions is evaluated and compared with that under alternative inefficient policies. The results suggest that substantial cost savings can be made by following the “optimal” policy.     

Estimation of the cost of air pollution control regulation

Estimates of hydrocarbon pollution control costs under the alternative regulatory approaches of individual source or process standards, plant standards, and regionally marketable permits are presented. The estimates are obtained from data supplied by the DuPont Company based on a 1976 in-house engineering study. The estimation procedure is unique in that the data are based on uniform percentage control across sources while the estimated cost equations allow variable control at each source. The cost simulations show that considerable cost savings are available from allowing firms more flexibility in meeting a given environmental standard. The effect of plant relocation and monopoly in the pollution permit market are also investigated.     

Averting behavior and the benefits of reduced soiling

The individual's choice of cleaning frequency is examined theoretically under assumptions more general than those of previous authors. The individual is assumed to maximize utility over “cleanliness” and a general commodity, where cleanliness is determined by frequency of cleaning and ambient pollution. Allowance is made for the possibility that the cost per cleaning episode is positively affected by pollution and negatively affected by the frequency of cleaning. The present framework is used to make comparisons and comments regarding the assumptions and results of Watson and Jaksch [J. Environ. Econ. Manag.9 (1982), 248–262] and Courant and Porter [J. Environ. Econ. Manag.8 (1981), 321–329].     

Uncertainty and the choice of pollution control instruments

This paper compares the relative efficiencies of pollution taxes, pollution standards, and the auctioning of pollution rights when the marginal damage function or marginal control cost are subject to uncertainty. In the first case, we find that all instruments yield the same expected social surplus. In the latter case, the choice of the optimal instrument depends, in general, on the relative elasticities of the marginal damage and marginal expected cost functions, on the way in which uncertainty enters the model, and on the distribution of the error term. Policy conclusions are derived.     

Unemployment and the backward incidence of pollution control

This paper reexamines the backward incidence of pollution control using duality theory for a two-sector general equilibrium model in which the economy experiences large-scale unemployment and perfect capital mobility with a sector-specific rigid wage in the polluting sector. In this context it is shown that with stricter pollution controls the wage rate in the nonpolluting sector rises while the common rental rate falls. In addition, stricter pollution controls are shown to have an uncertain impact on national income.     

Badges of status and the cost of aggression

Summary The badges of status hypothesis suggests that frequency-dependent selection can maintain honest signalling of aggressiveness. Analysis of a simple ESS model reveals that this is only possible if aggressive individuals incur a cost independent of any particular fights they become involved in. Without such a cost, an honest population is vulnerable to invasion by a modest mutant bearing a dishonestly small badge. Analysis of a second model reveals that where individuals differ in their ability to bear the contest-independent cost of aggressiveness, badge size should reflect this ability. Under such circumstances, plumage badges which serve as honest status signals may have functional consequences beyond their role in settling contests. Thus females, when choosing a mate, could make good use of the information that plumage badges provide. Analysis of a third model shows that the existence of contest-independent benefits to badge size, such as increased mating success, is compatible with the maintenance of honest status signalling.Correspondence to: R.A. Johnstone     

Air pollution transport in the Balkan region and country-to-country pollution exchange between Romania, Bulgaria and Greece

US EPA Models-3 system is used for calculating the exchange of ozone pollution between three countries in southeast Europe. For the purpose, three domains with resolution 90, 30 and 10 km are chosen in such a way that the most inner domain with dimensions 90 × 147 points covers entirely Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.The ozone pollution levels are studied on the base of three indexes given in the EU Ozone Directive, mainly accumulated over threshold of 40 ppb for crops (AOT40C, period May–July), number of days with 8-h running average over 60 ppb (NOD60) and averaged daily maximum (ADM). These parameters are calculated for every scenario and the influence of each country emissions on the pollution of the region is estimated and commented.Oxidized and reduced sulphur and nitrogen loads over the territories of the three countries are also determined. The application of all scenarios gave the possibility to estimate the contribution of every country to the S and N pollution of the others and detailed blame matrixes to be build.Comparison of the ozone levels model estimates with data from the EMEP monitoring stations is made.     

北京市空气污染季节变化规律研究及污染控制建议

北京市的空气质量问题直接关系到首都的经济发展和生态环境建设,也影响着北京在世界大都市的地位.近几年,中央政府和北京市对首都空气质量的改善也越来越重视.根据北京市环保局下设的27个测站点从2005年末到2008年初的观测资料,借助SPSS统计软件,通过对北京市各区域不同时间段的空气污染指数进行对比分析和研究,旨在探索北京市空气污染的季节性变化规律及其污染控制埘策.研究结果表明:北京的首要污染物为可吸入颗粒物;在一年当中,6-8月份的气象条件有利于大气污染物的稀释和扩散,大气环境质量相对最好:冬季受气象条件和采暖的影响.春季季风段受西北部沙尘暴的影响,大气环境质量相对较差.根据这个规律,为确保北京市中长期大气环境保护工作目标的实现,进一步降低污染排放、改善城市空气质量提出了具体的对策和建议.     

Male-biased maternal expenditure and associated costs in fallow deer

This study tested whether fallow deer mothers, Dama dama, bias their investment towards sons and, thus, whether sons are more costly to produce than daughters. Young (2 years) and old (≥3 years) hinds were analysed separately. Old hinds who raised sons accumulated less body mass than those who raised daughters, during the period between late gestation and the end of lactation. This difference in body mass persisted to the following spring. Mothers who had raised sons gave birth later and their offspring's pre-winter mass was lower the following year than for mothers who had raised daughters. These results indicate higher expenditure for hinds who raise sons and support theories of male-biased maternal investment. However, young mothers with sons and those with daughters did not differ in reproductive performance the following year. One reason might be that young mothers are close to the maximum level of maternal expenditure, since they are still growing, and cannot invest any extra resources in sons. Received: 28 August 1997 / Accepted after revision: 5 April 1998     

Microplastics pollution and reduction strategies

Microplastic particles smaller than 5 mm in size are of increasing concern, especially in aquatic environments, such as the ocean. Primary source is microbeads (<1 mm) used in cosmetics and cleaning agents and fiber fragments from washing of clothes, and secondary source such as broken down plastic litter and debris. These particles are mostly made from polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyesters. They are ingested by diverse marine fauna, including zooplanktons, mussel, oyster, shrimp, fish etc. and can enter human food chains via several pathways. Strategy for control of microplastics pollution should primarily focus on source reduction and subsequently on the development of cost-effective clean up and remediation technologies. Recent research results on biodegradation of plastics have revealed a potential for microbial biodegradation and bioremediation of plastic pollutants, such as PE, PS and PET under appropriate conditions.     

土壤类型与污染浓度对漆酶修复DDT污染土壤的影响

具有难降解、高残留特征的DDT至今在土壤中仍有残留,对农产品安全和人体健康有严重影响.本文采用批实验的方法研究了3种不同类型土壤和3个污染水平对漆酶修复DDT污染土壤的影响.研究结果表明,不同类型土壤中DDT各组分及总量(DDTs)的降解率存在显著差异,总体上为水稻土＞菜园土＞赤红壤,对照处理土壤中DDTs的降解率仅为20%左右,加酶处理土壤中则高达50%～65%.对于不同污染水平的DDT污染土壤,土壤中DDT各组分及DDTs的降解率均随着污染水平的提高而增大,多数在不同污染水平之间差异显著.对照处理对不同污染水平土壤中DDTs的降解率仅为15%左右,而加酶处理则高达43.60%～50.53%.     

Economic growth and environmental pollution under the max-min principle

This paper first analyzes the interactions between capital accumulation and environmental pollution under the program of sustained constant utility, which depends on per capita consumption and pollution, over all generations. Then the optimal program of economic growth is discussed. The implications of the constant-utility criterion (or the max-min principle) are compared with those of the utilitarian criterion which has been widely adopted in environmental pollution literature. Subsequently, the analysis incorporates pollution-abatement investment and exhaustible resources. We conclude that the max-min principle works fairly satisfactorily in this world.     

Climate change and the cost of conserving species in Madagascar

We examined the cost of conserving species as climate changes. We used a Maxent species distribution model to predict the ranges from 2000 to 2080 of 74 plant species endemic to the forests of Madagascar under 3 climate scenarios. We set a conservation target of achieving 10,000 ha of forest cover for each species and calculated the cost of achieving this target under each scenario. We interviewed managers of projects to restore native forests and conducted a literature review to obtain the net present cost per hectare of management actions to maintain or establish forest cover. For each species, we added hectares of land from lowest to highest cost per additional year of forest cover until the conservation target was achieved throughout the time period. Climate change was predicted to reduce the size of species' ranges, the overlap between species' ranges and existing or planned protected areas, and the overlap between species' ranges and existing forest. As a result, climate change increased the cost of achieving the conservation target by necessitating successively more costly management actions: additional management within existing protected areas (US$0-60/ha); avoidance of forest degradation (i.e., loss of biomass) in community-managed areas ($160-576/ha); avoidance of deforestation in unprotected areas ($252-1069/ha); and establishment of forest on nonforested land within protected areas ($802-2710/ha), in community-managed areas ($962-3226/ha), and in unprotected areas ($1054-3719/ha). Our results suggest that although forest restoration may be required for the conservation of some species as climate changes, it is more cost-effective to maintain existing forest wherever possible.     

Efficiency of pollution taxation and market structure

This paper looks at the performance of a uniform pollution tax in achieving a given level of pollution abatement at least cost. It is shown that market structure is an important consideration in this performance and that in general least-cost abatement will not result from a pollution tax uniformly applied. The pattern of pollution taxes that will achieve least-cost abatement when differing degrees of market power exist among polluters is developed and discussed.     

Optimal pollution in the presence of adjustment costs

This paper explores optimal pollution control when pollution is considered a stock and costs of treating pollution are a function both of the level and rate of change of pollution control. It is shown that even if the long run optimum stock of pollution is below the initial level adjustment costs may imply an optimally increasing stock of pollution in the short run. The results obtained are contrasted with those which emerge when adjustment costs are absent and when damages are taken to be a function of the flow of pollution; the appropriate tax rates of polluting discharges are examined.     

Elemental pollution of the golden horn surface sediments

The total and acid leachable composition of Golden Horn surface sediments have been investigated for Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Co, Mn and Fe. Quantitatively, the majority of the Pb, Zn and Cu defined to be from anthropogenic origin and the sediments classified as contaminated with respect to these elements. The natural change in the depth of halocline, results in the remobilization of loosely held metals from sediments. Mediterranean water is more effective in remobilization of the loosely held metals than the brackish Black Sea water.     

广州市农业环境污染及其对策

慨述了广州市农业环境污染状况，指出工业“三废”和城镇生活污水等外源污染是造成农业环境污染的主要因素，养殖业废水直接排放和频繁使用农用化学品也对农业环境造成一定程度的污染。提出了建立健全农业环境监控管理体系、推行农业生产许可制度、加强面源污染控制、推广无公害农产品生产技术、加大农业生态环境保护执法力度等污染控制对策。     

基因污染与生态环境安全

论述了基因污染可能对生态环境安全造成的影响。转基因作物有可能污染天然物种的基因库；有可能破坏传统农作物品种的遗传多样性，加速作物种植品种的单一化及基因资源的流失；使抗除草剂作物的基因向野生或半野生植物漂移的可能性加大，有可能创造出“超级杂草”；带有病毒型转基因作物的基因重组，有可能创造出新的植物病毒，导致新的病害；BT转基因抗虫作物分泌的毒素，在食物链中传递，很难加以控制，对非目标生物造成危害，并最终破坏自然生态系统的平衡。文章还从不同角度分析了基因污染的严重性。     

Assessment of the pollution and ecological risk of lead and cadmium in soils

The aim of the study was to assess the content, distribution, soil binding capacity, and ecological risk of cadmium and lead in the soils of Malopolska (South Poland). The investigation of 320 soil samples from differently used land (grassland, arable land, forest, wasteland) revealed a very high variation in the metal content in the soils. The pollution of soils with cadmium and lead is moderate. Generally, a point source of lead and cadmium pollution was noted in the study area. The highest content of cadmium and lead was found in the northwestern part of the area—the industrial zones (mining and metallurgical activity). These findings are confirmed by the arrangement of semivariogram surfaces and bivariate Moran’s correlation coefficients. Among the different types of land use, forest soils had by far the highest mean content of bioavailable forms of both metals. The results showed a higher soil binding capacity for lead than for cadmium. However, for both metals, extremely high (class 5) accumulation capacities were dominant. Based on the results, the investigated soils had a low (Pb) and moderate (Cd) ecological risk on living components. Soil properties, such as organic C, pH, sand, silt, and clay content, correlated with the content of total and bioavailable forms of metals in the soils. The correlations, despite being statistically significant, were characterized by very low values of correlation coefficient (r?=?0.12–0.20, at p?≤?0.05). Therefore, the obtained data do not allow to define any conclusions as to the relationships between these soil properties. However, it must be highlighted that there was a very strong positive correlation between the total content of cadmium and lead and their bioavailable forms in the soils.