Low priorities for black american leaders: Environmental and occupational health

Summary Black Americans face increased health risks from environmental and occupational exposures when compared with white Americans, but they also face increased risks for more immediate health problems such as HIV infection/AIDS, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, and infant mortality. A survey of more than 1,000 black public health and black political leaders solicited opinions on the relative importance of 1) environmental health and 2) occupational health and safety compared with other public health problems faced by the black community. The survey also determined opinions about the degree to which specific health problems are amenable to change for black Americans and who (or what agency) should spearhead efforts aimed at specific public health objectives.Responding black leaders felt environmental health and occupational health and safety goals were somewhat important for black Americans, but among the most difficult of all public health objectives to meet. Those who felt that the above objectives were very important identified the federal govemment as the primarily responsible party for seeing that the objectives are met.Dr Dona Schneider is Assistant Professor of Public Health at Rutgers University. She teaches epidemiology and biostatistics for the New Jersey Graduate Program in Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and holds memberships in both the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and the National Institute for Environmental and Health Sciences. Her research spans the health problems of children and minorities. She regularly reviews books for theEnvironmentalist.     

基于“90后”大学生特点的高校辅导员工作方法

经济全球化和信息网络技术的发展,为高校大学生的思想政治工作既提供了机遇,也带来了诸多挑战。面对9"0后"思想叛逆、社会意识淡薄、功力倾向严重等现象,高校辅导员思想政治工作要引导学生融入校园精神文明建设,加大心里健康教育并正确运用网络。     

全球变暖对人类健康的影响与对策研究

全球变暖是当前人类所面临的一个非常严重的环境问题。全球变暖等环境问题的产生是与人类的各种活动息息相关的，环境的恶化必将给人类的健康带来严重的后果。本文吸收了较新的科学发现对全球变暖成因进行了阐述；综合该领域近年的研究进展，将全球变暖对人类健康的影响纳为三个方面，并作了比较详尽的分析；从多个方面探讨了应对策略。     

An Integrated Framework for Multipollutant Air Quality Management and Its Application in Georgia

Air protection agencies in the United States increasingly confront non-attainment of air quality standards for multiple pollutants sharing interrelated emission origins. Traditional approaches to attainment planning face important limitations that are magnified in the multipollutant context. Recognizing those limitations, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has adopted an integrated framework to address ozone, fine particulate matter, and regional haze in the state. Rather than applying atmospheric modeling merely as a final check of an overall strategy, photochemical sensitivity analysis is conducted upfront to compare the effectiveness of controlling various precursor emission species and source regions. Emerging software enables the modeling of health benefits and associated economic valuations resulting from air pollution control. Photochemical sensitivity and health benefits analyses, applied together with traditional cost and feasibility assessments, provide a more comprehensive characterization of the implications of various control options. The fuller characterization both informs the selection of control options and facilitates the communication of impacts to affected stakeholders and the public. Although the integrated framework represents a clear improvement over previous attainment-planning efforts, key remaining shortcomings are also discussed.     

Progress with implementing local air-quality management in rural areas of England

Air quality in the UK, although vastly improved from the smogs of the 1950s, now faces a new set of challenges from a variety of sources and pollutants. Poor air quality has long been associated with urban areas, but it is becoming clear that many rural locations also have locations likely to exceed the UK Air Quality Strategy-objectives: This paper will examine the extent to which rural authorities have been engaged in the local air-quality management (LAQM) process, a new regime by which air quality control is being accomplished in the UK. Results are presented from a questionnaire survey of environmental health officers of 100 rural authorities undertaken in January 1999. The paper investigates both the technical aspects of the LAQM process as well as the management approaches. The current progress of rural authorities, and some of the problems they face, are discussed particularly in comparison with urban areas. It is concluded that some rural authorities with air pollution problems stemming either from within or outwith their borough, may face significant challenges from the LAQM review and assessment process, particularly where air pollution responsibilities have only relatively recently been addressed. Rural authorities seem to be embracing these new responsibilities enthusiastically, but it is almost inevitable that they will be trailing behind urban authorities who have several decades of experience and joint working to draw upon.     

Social and environmental injustices in solid waste management in sub-Saharan Africa: a study of Kinshasa,the Democratic Republic of Congo

This paper investigates social and environmental injustices in solid waste management in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The urban poor in most parts of Kinshasa bear a huge encumbrance of the solid waste burden and face multiple challenges associated with poor management of solid waste. This situation has resulted in poor and unhealthy living conditions for the majority of the urban residents. The problem of solid waste management in Kinshasa has further been compounded by rapid urbanisation which has occurred in the face of poor urban governance, civil conflict and weak institutional set-up. The combination of these challenges has resulted in increased overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, lack of water and an unprecedented accumulation of solid waste which have triggered a myriad of urban problems. The worst affected are the poor urban who reside in locations that receive little or no socio-economic services from the Kinshasa Municipal authority. Using secondary data collected through a desk study, this paper argues that the poor solid waste situation in Kinshasa is not only a health risk, but also presents issues of both social and environmental injustices. These issues are analysed within the context of evolving arguments that focus on the need to develop a pro-poor approach in solid waste management that may present an opportunity for achieving both social and environmental justice for the urban poor in Kinshasa.     

Green jobs for the disadvantaged in British Columbia: the perspectives of non-governmental organisations and social entrepreneurs

This paper examines the actions and potential of green jobs for the disadvantaged, from the perspective of non-governmental organisations and social entrepreneurs. The populations of interest include: low-income, developmentally challenged, those with mental health or addiction issues, women, and First Nations. Findings indicate that green businesses and social entrepreneurs have uniquely engaged in social training and hiring strategies related to green jobs. The major challenges they face include a lack of policies that support the development of green jobs through social training and hiring. As a result of these findings, an argument is made for combining job and life skills for both disadvantaged populations and the agencies that serve them as well as building the capacity of employers to practise social hiring.     

Managing Asia's environmental crisis: EQM opportunities for remediation and technology transfer

Conditions of environmental pollution and degradation in Asia are among the worst in the world. Rapid economic growth and industrialization over the past half century have accelerated the pollution of air, water, and land resources in a region with the world's largest concentration of population. As the economics of Asia recover from financial crisis in the late 1990s, they will face a more serious environmental crisis in the early years of the 21st century. Remediation of soil and water contamination will become a stronger concern in the region, as the human health impacts become more visible and widespread. Although environmental remediation is only beginning to emerge in Asia as a solution to problems of natural resource degradation, the authors show how U.S. firms with experience in quality environmental management and biological remediation technologies will find new opportunities for exports and technology transfer. Environmental technology and services firms interested in Asia must understand both the opportunities for and barriers to operating in Asia.     

Salmon Farming in First Nations' Territories: A Case of Environmental Injustice on Canada's West Coast

This paper argues that salmon aquaculture operations situated in First Nations' claimed territories on Canada's West Coast create issues of environmental injustice. Salmon farms are associated with various environmental problems including pollution of the aquatic environment, risks to wild salmon, and food safety issues. These environmental problems constitute issues of environmental injustice due to the disproportionate, and different, impacts they have on coastal First Nations in comparison with other Canadians. The paper draws on material from several reviews of British Columbian (BC) salmon aquaculture to analyse coastal BC First Nations' claims and concerns about salmon farming along three environmental justice dimensions: distribution, participation and recognition. Qualitative evidence is obtained suggesting that coastal First Nations face disproportionate health risks from salmon farms, are excluded from decision-making processes with respect to the farms, and feel that their worldviews, identities, and ways of life are both ignored and at risk from the farms.     

Value of information analysis: the state of application

The value of information (VoI) is a decision analytic method for quantifying the potential benefit of additional information in the face of uncertainty. This paper reviews the prevalence of VoI applications reported in the peer-reviewed literature from the years 1990–2011. We categorize papers’ applications across the types of uncertainties considered, modeling choices, and contexts of social importance (such as health care and environmental science). We obtain and analyze statistics on the range of applications and identify trends and patterns in them, and conclude with an interpretation of what these mean for researchers and practitioners as they pursue new efforts. Key results include a substantial increase over the last 20 years in published papers utilizing VoI, particularly in the medical field. Nineteen trends in VoI applications from the period of 1990–2000 to 2001–2011 were found to be at least weakly significant. Beyond simple trends, some characteristics of VoI usage depend on the area of application, and in some cases, certain sets of characteristics tend to be found together.     

经济欠发达地区的可持续发展战略

在人类面临多种生存危机的今天，经济欠发达地区应重视发展中“不可持续”观念和行为，控制人口数量，提高人口质量，规范政府行为，树立一种全新、科学和适度的富裕观，并通过有节制，保护性地发展生产，走上可持续发展的轨道。     

Strong Patient Advocacy and the Fundamental Ethical Role of Veterinarians

This essay examines the fundamental role of veterinarians in companion animal practice by developing the idea of veterinarians as strong advocates for their nonhuman animal patients. While the practitioner-patient relationship has been explored extensively in medical ethics, the relation between practitioner and animal patient has received relatively less attention in the expanding but still young field of veterinary ethics. Over recent decades, social and professional ethical perspectives on human-animal relationships have undergone major change. Today, the essential role of veterinarians is not entirely clear. Furthermore, veterinarians routinely face pressure, often insidious, to refrain from pursuing their patients’ vital interests. In exploring the concept of strong patient advocacy, this essay investigates the increasingly common suggestion that veterinarians have ‘primary obligation’ and ‘first allegiance’ to their animal patients rather than to other parties, such as their clients or employers. The related concept of a fiduciary duty, which is sometimes encountered in medical ethics, is similarly explored as it applies to companion animal practice. The resultant idea of a strong patient advocate places companion animal veterinarians conceptually and ethically close to human health professionals, not least pediatricians.     

A STUDY OF COASTAL POLLUTION AND AGENCY INTERFACE1

ABSTRACT: The 26-mile man-made beach bordering part of Mississippi's Gulf Coast and the contiguous Mississippi Sound waters provide an important recreational and tourist attraction for that area. Being the tourist nucleus for the State, announcements in September 1973 by the Mississippi Air and Water Pollution Control Commission and the State Board of Health that Sound waters had reached a level of pollution that made them potentially dangerous for body contact was met with a myriad of responses. The resulting multi-governmental, multi-agency interface that resulted in trying to deal with the situation highlighted the type of problems that can arise when social, economic, political, and legal forces come to bear on a sensitive area. Questions of jurisdictional and legal authority to act, tourist industry economic pressures, and water quality testing and monitoring procedures were representative of the type of problems that arose during this period. A retrospective analysis of this problem served to isolate the type of articulation that is essential between federal, state, and local agencies vested with responsibilities such as monitoring water quality, protecting public health, etc. This paper develops some of the interface complexities that emerged in dealing with this problem and makes selected recommendations for other areas that may potentially face similar situations.     

Constrained Choice and Ethical Dilemmas in Land Management: Environmental Quality and Food Safety in California Agriculture

As environmental and conservation efforts increasingly turn towards agricultural landscapes, it is important to understand how land management decisions are made by agricultural producers. While previous studies have explored producer decision-making, many fail to recognize the importance of external structural influences. This paper uses a case study to explore how consolidated markets and increasing corporate power in the food system can constrain producer choice and create ethical dilemmas over land management. Crop growers in the Central Coast region of California face conflicting demands regarding environmental quality and industry imposed food safety standards. A mail survey and personal interviews were used to explore growers’ perceptions and actions regarding these demands. Results indicate that in many cases growers face serious ethical dilemmas and feel pressured by large processing and retail firms to adopt measures they find environmentally destructive and unethical. Future strategies to address environmental issues on agricultural landscapes should consider the economic constraints producers face and the role of large firms in creating production standards.     

VIEWS OF WESTERN WHITEWATER FLOATERS TOWARD POSSIBLE SAFETY MEASURES1

For a risk recreation activity like whitewater boating, a manager's goal of providing for the health and safety of the visitor may conflict with the goal of providing the opportunity for a satisfying recreation experience. As whitewater river managers face the problem of safety and risks, they should consider what users think about safety programs. The views of whitewater boaters toward (1) first aid equipment requirements, (2) signs warning of hazards, (3) aggressive enforcement of the rules, and (4) patrols to assist and regulate users were determined on 13 river segments in the western United States. A test was made of the relation between views toward safety measures and the level of risk and thrills sought by floaters. Conclusions of the study are: (1) river floaters' views toward possible management safety measures are not related to the amount of risk they desire; and (2) floaters, in general, prefer some safety measures to others. If safety measures mean that managers will be more visible on the river, floaters tend to dislike them. Therefore, a manager's approach to safety management should parallel the approach to recreation management in general, and regulation of use should be the minimum necessary to achieve safety objectives.     

Consumption Advisories and Compliance: The Fishing Public and the Deamplification of Risk

Managers and regulators have recognized that the fishing public often ignores fish consumption advisories, and the reasons for non-compliance are explored in this paper. Risk assessors acknowledge that there is a social amplification (intensification) of risk where the public perceive a risk as much more severe than do the 'experts' or scientists, and this social amplification is a function of the interaction of hazards with social, psychological and cultural processes. I propose that non-compliance of consumption advisories occurs because of the deamplification of risk in hazards that are familiar and enjoyed, such as fishing and fish consumption. Although the public are generally aware of consumption advisories, they continue to believe the fish are safe to eat, and a high percentage eat the fish they catch. Unlike the amplification of risk, the deamplification of risk from fishing in the face of consumption advisories is partly legitimized by the actions of some governmental agencies, as well as by society at large. It is suggested that a variety of economic benefits and social institutions lead to a discounting of consumption advisories, and the delayed nature of adverse health effects allows for additional disregard. Further, it is suggested that co-management of the risk from contaminated fish would increase public involvement, and therefore compliance.     

The role of climatic variations on migration and human health in Africa

In Africa, climatic variations, as typified by widespread rainfall fluctuations, are a prominent feature of the climate of the continent. The effects of these climatic variations are multifarious and affect the environmental, economic and social well-being of the societies concerned. This is particularly so since the majority of the people depend on rain supported agricultural production for their sustenance and livelihood. Any short-fall in the amount, frequency and manner of occurrence of the rains received, tends to reflect on the people's spatial behaviour, particularly as migration in trying to make up for the impact of the deficit. This paper describes the nature of climatic variations over the continent and highlights the extent to which climatic variations play a significant role in population movement and the health of peoples as documented in studies carried out in different parts of the region. An awareness of the implications of climatic variations as reviewed in this work suggests the need for better monitoring systems to measure the impacts of climatic variations. This will provide governments and all stakeholders with a proper perspective of the vagaries of climate and enhance the development of suitable policies to mitigate and alleviate the impact on the general populace of the affected areas. This is especially important in the face of changing world climate and its antecedant effects which are especially felt in developing societies.     

Neither Owners Nor Guardians: In Search of a Morally Appropriate Model for the Keeping of Companion Animals

The institution of owning pets has been subjected to compelling criticism on moral grounds. Yet advocates of a reformed, guardian/dependent model may yet face an abolitionist conclusion. We argue that treating companion animals as dependents entails an indefensible moral priority for them in the face of their guardians’ competing moral demands. An abolitionist dilemma arises as a result: if the property and reformed models fail, a morally acceptable characterization of the moral relationship between humans and their companion animals has yet to be articulated. We close by inviting others to develop plausible alternatives to the ownership and reformed models.     

环境可接受的甲酸盐钻井完井液性能探讨

随着环境保护的要求日益严格,一种新型的钻井完井液 ── 环境可接受的甲酸盐钻井完井液,正在国外现场试验和推广应用,目前已引起国内有关研究人员和技术人员的高度重视。分析了甲酸盐钻井完井液的工艺性能,并着重对甲酸盐钻井完井液在环境保护方面的优越性能进行了探讨。     

Building Greater Sustainability in Supply Chains

Challenges companies face and tools they use to identify and reduce their environmental footprints across their supply chains