Evaluation of methods for determining adverse impacts of air pollution on terrestrial ecosystems

Methods used to determine adverse impacts of air pollution on four levels of biological organization of terrestrial ecosystems were evaluated for their use in decision making by federal land managers of class I areas and as guidelines for scientists employed to design field studies in these areas. At the level of the individual, visible injury, biomass, and sulfur uptake were the most often used components; at the population level, natality and mortality; at the community level, diversity; and at the ecosystem level, biogeochemical cycling. Most studies focused on structural responses of individual organisms. These components are relatively sensitive and are easy and inexpensive to measure; however, linkages of these parameters to adverse impacts on populations, communities, or ecosystems are lacking. Measurements of effects of air pollution at the higher levels of organization are confounded by natural variability, long response times, climatic variation, pathogens, and other factors. In addition, the lack of replication and of true control areas creates severe problems for design of monitoring programs and testing of hypotheses concerning effects.     

U.S. Electric Utilities and Renewable Energy: Drivers for Adoption

Renewable energy can address rising demand for energy, environmental protection, energy security, and job creation. This paper assesses resource, economic, social, and political drivers for the adoption of renewable energy. Analysis of the data collected from over 100 interviews with utility managers reveals that production tax credits significantly influence the percent of renewable energy in a utility's portfolio. The availability of renewable energy resources, economic drivers, social influences, and political drivers such as renewable portfolio standards and government grants are not significant drivers. Understanding these drivers can help electric utilities, governments, and other stakeholders with their efforts to reap the benefits of renewable energy.     

Ammonia assessment from agriculture: U.S. status and needs

Recent studies suggest that human activities accelerate the production of reactive nitrogen on a global scale. Increased nitrogen emissions may lead to environmental impacts including photochemical air pollution, reduced visibility, changes in biodiversity, and stratospheric ozone depletion. In the last 50 yr, emissions of ammonia (NH3), which is the most abundant form of reduced reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere, have significantly increased as a result of intensive agricultural management and greater livestock production in many developed countries. These agricultural production practices are increasingly subject to governmental regulations intended to protect air resources. It is therefore important that an accurate and robust agricultural emission factors database exist to provide valid scientific support of these regulations. This paper highlights some of the recent work that was presented at the 2006 Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality in Washington, D.C. regarding NH3 emissions estimates and emission factors from agricultural sources in the U.S. and Europe. In addition, several best management practices are explored as the scientific community attempts to maximize the beneficial use of reactive nitrogen while simultaneously minimizing negative environmental impacts.     

U.S. Natural Resources and Climate Change: Concepts and Approaches for Management Adaptation

Public lands and waters in the United States traditionally have been managed using frameworks and objectives that were established under an implicit assumption of stable climatic conditions. However, projected climatic changes render this assumption invalid. Here, we summarize general principles for management adaptations that have emerged from a major literature review. These general principles cover many topics including: (1) how to assess climate impacts to ecosystem processes that are key to management goals; (2) using management practices to support ecosystem resilience; (3) converting barriers that may inhibit management responses into opportunities for successful implementation; and (4) promoting flexible decision making that takes into account challenges of scale and thresholds. To date, the literature on management adaptations to climate change has mostly focused on strategies for bolstering the resilience of ecosystems to persist in their current states. Yet in the longer term, it is anticipated that climate change will push certain ecosystems and species beyond their capacity to recover. When managing to support resilience becomes infeasible, adaptation may require more than simply changing management practices—it may require changing management goals and managing transitions to new ecosystem states. After transitions have occurred, management will again support resilience—this time for a new ecosystem state. Thus, successful management of natural resources in the context of climate change will require recognition on the part of managers and decisions makers of the need to cycle between “managing for resilience” and “managing for change.”     

美国有机农业迅猛发展

过去10多年中,有机农业成为美国农业增长最快的领域之一。美国转向有机农业生产方式的农民越来越多,主要目的是:降低农业投入成本,保护不可再生资源,捕捉高值产品市场,以及在大宗农产品价格下降的情况下提高农场收入。有机农业生产体系依靠栽培方法和生物方法来控制害虫,在作物生产中禁止使用各种人工合成化学品,在家畜生产中禁止使用抗生素或激素。有机农业体系带来的潜在好处包括:改良土壤肥力,提高生产率,减少能源消费,降低杀虫剂使用量等。美国有机产品的零售额1990年仅为10亿美元,1996年为33亿美元,2000年为78亿美元,2001年达到90亿～9…     

Adaptive management in the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System: science-management partnerships for conservation delivery

Adaptive management is an approach to recurrent decision making in which uncertainty about the decision is reduced over time through comparison of outcomes predicted by competing models against observed values of those outcomes. The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a large land management program charged with making natural resource management decisions, which often are made under considerable uncertainty, severe operational constraints, and conditions that limit ability to precisely carry out actions as intended. The NWRS presents outstanding opportunities for the application of adaptive management, but also difficult challenges. We describe two cooperative programs between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to implement adaptive management at scales ranging from small, single refuge applications to large, multi-refuge, multi-region projects. Our experience to date suggests three important attributes common to successful implementation: a vigorous multi-partner collaboration, practical and informative decision framework components, and a sustained commitment to the process. Administrators in both agencies should consider these attributes when developing programs to promote the use and acceptance of adaptive management in the NWRS.     

A roadmap for carbon capture and storage in the UK

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been endorsed by the IPCC and the UK government as a key mitigation option but remains on the cusp of wide-scale commercial deployment. Here we present a technology roadmap for CCS, depicted in terms of external factors and short- and long-term pathways for its development, moving from a demonstration to commercialisation era. The roadmap was been developed through a two-phase process of stakeholder engagement; the second phase of this, a high level stakeholder workshop, is documented here. This approach has provided a unique overview of the current status, potential and barriers to CCS deployment in the UK. In addition to the roadmap graphics and more detailed review, five consensus conclusions emerging from the workshop are presented. These describe the need for a monetary CO₂ value and the financing of carbon capture and storage schemes; the lack of technical barriers to the deployment of demonstration scale CCS plant; the role of demonstration projects in developing a robust regulatory framework; key storage issues; the need for a long-term vision in furthering both the technical and non-technical development of CCS.     

Farmer Participation in U.S. Farm Bill Conservation Programs

Conservation policy in agricultural systems in the United States relies primarily on voluntary action by farmers. Federal conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, offer incentives, both financial and technical, to farmers in exchange for adoption of conservation practices. Understanding motivations for (as well as barriers to) participation in voluntary programs is important for the design of future policy and effective outreach. While a significant literature has explored motivations and barriers to conservation practice adoption and participation in single programs, few studies in the U.S. context have explored general participation by farmers in one place and time. A mixed-methods research approach was utilized to explore farmer participation in all U.S. Farm Bill programs in Indiana. Current and past program engagement was high, with nearly half of survey respondents reporting participation in at least one program. Most participants had experience with the Conservation Reserve Program, with much lower participation rates in other programs. Most interview participants who had experience in programs were motivated by the environmental benefits of practices, with incentives primarily serving to reduce the financial and technical barriers to practice adoption. The current policy arrangement, which offers multiple policy approaches to conservation, offers farmers with different needs and motivations a menu of options. However, evidence suggests that the complexity of the system may be a barrier that prevents participation by farmers with scarce time or resources. Outreach efforts should focus on increasing awareness of program options, while future policy must balance flexibility of programs with complexity.     

GIS在美国源水评估中的应用

本文主要研究GIS在美国源水评估中的应用，介绍了地理信息系统在国内外源水评估中的重要性，详细的论述了美国源水评估地理信息系统(Water Source Appraise GIS-WSA-GIS)的开发过程，主要包括设计数据库、建造数据库、分析数据以及显示结果四个方面，从而为我国建立水源评估的GIS提供参考。     

Organizational learning during policy implementation: lessons from U.S. forest planning

ABSTRACT

Learning is critical for land management agencies implementing new policies in the face of rapid social and ecological change. We investigated learning in the U.S. Forest Service as it implemented new planning regulations. Our research objectives were to: (1) identify collective learning processes and outcomes during this time, and (2) understand factors within the organization supporting or impeding learning. Based on participant observation and 25 interviews with planning personnel, we found evidence of collective learning on individual national forests and across the organization. Several factors helped the agency act as a ‘learning organization,’ including internal networks and tools for information sharing, and meetings for staff to exchange lessons learned. Learning was compromised by limited time and capacity, and lack of internal clarity about balancing the desire for innovation with the need to ensure legal compliance and meet deadlines. This work contributes to the empirical foundations of collective learning theory, allowing us to identify learning processes and outcomes at multiple levels in a public organization, and identifying topics for future research. Based on our exploration of organizational learning, we offer suggestions for how to effectively support learning during times of new policy implementation.     

The U.S. Flood Control Program at 75: Environmental Issues1

Black, Peter E., 2012. The U.S. Flood Control Program at 75: Environmental Issues. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 244‐255. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00609.x Abstract: Recent, recurring, and increased magnitude floods adversely challenge long‐held and erroneous concepts of flood control. This article focuses on the environmental issues with comprehensively reviewed essentials of the United States (U.S.) riverine Flood Control Program, including news reports, scientific articles, books, and landmark treatises. For the past three‐quarters of a century, U.S. floods have continued (and will continue) to occur, causing increasing property damage with growing fiscal loss. Reasons include inattention to fundamental principles of physics, hydrology, and ecology. There are also important challenges involving environmental policy, economics, and common sense. Measures afforded by the existing program encourage and enable investment in floodplains while violating a variety of natural principles that make the situation worse. This detailed review includes the questionable (actually untrue) justification in the document‐setting policy for the 1936 Omnibus Flood Control Act. The well‐documented evidence is overwhelming. An alternative approach is presented that would enable and celebrate natural floods, managing their ecological and hydrological values, and not attempting to control them.     

Examining Flood Frequency Distributions in the Midwest U.S.1

Villarini, Gabriele, James A. Smith, Mary Lynn Baeck, and Witold F. Krajewski, 2011. Examining Flood Frequency Distributions in the Midwest U.S. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(3):447‐463. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00540.x Abstract: Annual maximum peak discharge time series from 196 stream gage stations with a record of at least 75 years from the Midwest United States is examined to study flood peak distributions from a regional point of view. The focus of this study is to evaluate: (1) “mixtures” of flood peak distributions, (2) upper tail and scaling properties of the flood peak distributions, and (3) presence of temporal nonstationarities in the flood peak records. Warm season convective systems are responsible for some of the largest floods in the area, in particular in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Spring events associated with snowmelt and rain‐on‐snow are common in the northern part of the study domain. Nonparametric tests are used to investigate the presence of abrupt and slowly varying changes. Change‐points rather than monotonic trends are responsible for most violations of the stationarity assumption. The abrupt changes in flood peaks can be associated with anthropogenic changes, such as changes in land use/land cover, agricultural practice, and construction of dams. The trend analyses do not suggest an increase in the flood peak distribution due to anthropogenic climate change. Examination of the upper tail and scaling properties of the flood peak distributions are examined by means of the location, scale, and shape parameters of the Generalized Extreme Value distribution.     

Electronic waste recycling: A review of U.S. infrastructure and technology options

The useful life of consumer electronic devices is relatively short, and decreasing as a result of rapid changes in equipment features and capabilities. This creates a large waste stream of obsolete electronic equipment, electronic waste (e-waste).Even though there are conventional disposal methods for e-waste, these methods have disadvantages from both the economic and environmental viewpoints. As a result, new e-waste management options need to be considered, for example, recycling. But electronic recycling has a short history, so there is not yet a solid infrastructure in place.In this paper, the first half describes trends in the amount of e-waste, existing recycling programs, and collection methods. The second half describes various methods available to recover materials from e-waste. In particular, various recycling technologies for the glass, plastics, and metals found in e-waste are discussed. For glass, glass-to-glass recycling and glass-to-lead recycling technologies are presented. For plastics, chemical (feedstock) recycling, mechanical recycling, and thermal recycling methods are analyzed. Recovery processes for copper, lead, and precious metals such as silver, gold, platinum, and palladium are reviewed. These processes are described and compared on the basis of available technologies, resources, and material input–output systems.     

Risk Tradeoffs in Adaptive Ecosystem Management: The Case of the U.S. Forest Service

Natural resource planning processes on public lands in the United States are driven in large part by the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which dictates general processes for analyzing and disclosing the likely impacts of proposed actions. The outcomes of these processes are the result of multiple factors, many related to the manifold smaller incremental decisions made by agency personnel directing the processes. Through interviews with decision makers, team leaders, and team members on five NEPA processes within the U.S. Forest Service, this study examines those incremental decisions. Risk, in particular external relationship risk, emerged as a dominant lens through which agency personnel weigh and make process-related decisions. We discuss the tradeoffs associated with agency actors’ emphasis on this form of risk and their potential implications for adaptive ecosystem management and organizational performance.     

美国环境产业相关政策及启示

本文将美国的环境产业发展过程划分为三个阶段，并对后两个阶段的政策特点进行了分析。最后，借鉴美国环境产业相关的政篆并结合我国国情，提出了针对我国环境产业发展的建议。     

美国废水治理发展与展望

文章介绍了美国废水治理过程中环保法规和主要水处理技术的发展,阐述工业废水治理的发展及其前景。     

Intermediate storage of carbon dioxide in geological formations: A technical perspective

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) through CO₂ flooding has been practiced on a commercial basis for the last 35 years and continues today at several sites, currently injecting in total over 30 million tons of CO₂ annually. This practice is currently exclusively for economic gain, but can potentially contribute to the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases provided it is implemented on a large scale. Optimal operations in distributing CO₂ to CO₂-EOR or enhanced gas recovery (EGR) projects (referred to here collectively as CO₂-EHR) on a large scale and long time span imply that intermediate storage of CO₂ in geological formations may be a key component. Intermediate storage is defined as the storage of CO₂ in geological media for a limited time span such that the CO₂ can be sufficiently reproduced for later use in CO₂-EHR. This paper investigates the technical aspects, key individual parameters and possibilities of intermediate storage of CO₂ in geological formations aiming at large scale implementation of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) for deep emission reduction. The main parameters are thus the depth of injection and density, CO₂ flow and transport processes, storage mechanisms, reservoir heterogeneity, the presence of impurities, the type of the reservoirs and the duration of intermediate storage. Structural traps with no flow of formation water combined with proper injection planning such as gas-phase injection favour intermediate storage in deep saline aquifers. In depleted oil and gas fields, high permeability, homogeneous reservoirs with structural traps (e.g. anticlinal structures) are good candidates for intermediate CO₂ storage. Intuitively, depleted natural gas reservoirs can be potential candidates for intermediate storage of carbon dioxide due to similarity in storage characteristics.