Manufacturing actor’s LCA

Modern industrial environmental management encompasses life-cycle thinking. This entails considering not only the emissions and resource use of the company’s production processes, but also the environmental consequences of all processes related to a product’s life cycle. However, no single actor can influence the whole life cycle of a product. To be effective, analysis methods intended to support improvement actions should therefore also consider the decision makers’ power to influence.Regarding the life cycle of a product, there are at least as many perspectives on life-cycle thinking as there are actors. This paper presents an approach with which manufacturing decision makers can sharpen the focus in life-cycle assessment (LCA) from a conventional ‘products or services’ emphasis to a company’s manufacturing processes. The method has been developed by combining knowledge gained from earlier LCA studies with new empirical findings from an LCA study of an SKF manufacturing line.We demonstrate how system boundaries and functional units in an LCA can be defined when adding the perspective of a manufacturing decision maker to the product life-cycle perspective. Such analysis helps manufacturing decision makers identify improvement potentials in their spheres of influence, by focusing on the environmental consequences of energy and material losses in manufacturing rather than merely accounting for the contributions of individual stages of the life cycle to the overall environmental impact. The method identifies and directly relates the environmental consequences of emissions or raw material inputs in the product life cycle to manufacturing processes. In doing so, the holistic systems perspective in LCA is somewhat diminished in favor of the relevance of results to manufacturing decision makers.     

“The Moral Difference between Intragenic and Transgenic Modification of Plants”

Public policy on the development and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has mainly been concerned with defining proper strategies of risk management. However, surveys and focus group interviews show that although lay people are concerned with risks, they also emphasize that genetic modification is ethically questionable in itself. Many people feel that this technology “tampers with nature” in an unacceptable manner. This is often identified as an objection to the crossing of species borders in producing transgenic organisms. Most scientists reject these opinions as based on insufficient knowledge about biotechnology, the concept of species, and nature in general. Some recent projects of genetic modification aim to accommodate the above mentioned concerns by altering the expression of endogenous genes rather than introducing genes from other species. There can be good scientific reasons for this approach, in addition to strategic reasons related to greater public acceptability. But are there also moral reasons for choosing intragenic rather than transgenic modification? I suggest three interrelated moral reasons for giving priority to intragenic modification. First, we should respect the opinions of lay people even when their view is contrary to scientific consensus; they express an alternative world-view, not scientific ignorance. Second, staying within species borders by strengthening endogenous traits reduces the risks and scientific uncertainty. Third, we should show respect for nature as a complex system of laws and interconnections that we cannot fully control. The main moral reason for intragenic modification, in our view, is the need to respect the “otherness” of nature.     

Spatial analysis of extreme precipitation in Sweden 1961-2000

Extreme daily precipitation in Sweden for the years 1961-2000 is analyzed with respect to spatial scale, regional variations and associated weather types. Correlograms based on a lag distance of 30 km estimated the spatial scale of variation of the annual mean precipitation, the 99th percentile of daily precipitation and the average of annual maximum daily precipitation to 100 km, 60-100 km and 40-70 km, respectively. Regions of correlation with respect to precipitation at 82 stations during days of extreme events are identified through Maximum-Likelihood Factor Analysis. Eleven factors are found to provide the optimum factor solution. Weather types for the days of extreme events are determined by an objective classification scheme, based on daily sea level pressure, which is modified by subjective inclusion of fronts. In total, 63% of the extreme events occurred during cyclonic weather types, 32% during frontal, 3% during directional and 2% during anticyclonic types. The frequency of the weather types during extreme events varied between the regions however.     

Fungal DNA and pet allergen levels in Swedish day care centers and associations with building characteristics

Pet allergens and mold growth related to damp are common phenomena in day care centers in Sweden but exposure measurements of these factors are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between building construction and indoor environment quality in Swedish day care centers and the potential for exposure to fungi (analyzed by quantitative PCR) and animal allergens (analyzed by ELISA). Measurements were performed in 21 day care centers (103 rooms) from one municipality in Sweden, which were identified as constructions at risk of dampness (85% of the buildings) and with visible damage and mold growth (54% of the buildings). Dust samples were collected using cotton swab and Petri dishes. Total fungal DNA was detected in 99% and 100%, Aspergillus/Penicillium DNA in 54% and 68%, and Stachybotrys chartarum DNA in 4% and 9% of the investigated rooms in cotton swab and Petri dish samples, respectively. The total fungal DNA levels (Geometric Mean, GM) were 4.2 × 10(6) cell equivalents per m(2) and 2.9 × 10(5) cell equivalents per m(2) per day in the swab and Petri dish samples, respectively. The concentrations (GM) of cat (Fel d1), dog (Can f1), and horse (Equ cx) allergens were 9.4, 7.2 ng m(-2) day(-1), and 5.0 unit per m(2) per day, respectively. Total fungal DNA levels were higher in risk construction buildings (p = 0.01), in rooms with linoleum flooring material (p = 0.003), and in buildings with rotating heat exchangers (p = 0.02). There were associations between total fungal DNA levels and cat (p = 0.02), dog (p < 0.001), and horse (p = 0.001) allergens. In conclusion, risk constructions, damp constructions, mould growth, fungal DNA, and animal allergens were common exposure factors in Swedish day care centers. Building constructions that represent a high risk for internal dampness should be avoided in the future, and measures to reduce allergen levels should be considered to protect pet-allergic children from asthmatic problems.     

Trace elements and organochlorine pollutants in selected fish species from Lake Phewa,Nepal

Lake water and fish livers and gills of sahar (Tor putitora), spiny eel (Mastacembelus armatus), African magur (Clarias gariepinus), and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from Lake Phewa, Nepal, were assessed for the concentrations of trace metals/elements and persistent organic pollutants. The lake water was neutral with low ionic and metallic concentrations as compared to high-altitude lakes of Nepal. The four elements Cu, Zn, Se, and Cd had highest concentrations in livers, indicating uptake from diet, whereas four other metallic elements Cr, Mn, Ni, and Pb had highest concentrations in gills, indicating uptake from lake water. O. niloticus tended to have most of trace metals in the liver at higher concentrations than the other species but significant differences among the different species were found only for Mn, Ni, and Zn in the gills. A pilot study on the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in muscle revealed that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and related compounds were the dominant organochlorine pesticides, having highest concentrations in C. gariepinus and lowest in O. niloticus.     

Reconciling local control with appropriate scale in Norwegian moose management

In a landscape of fragmented private ownership, the need to coordinate game management across large areas presents challenges for landowners and public agencies alike. This paper describes how a recent reorganization of moose management in Norway achieves landscape-level planning while maintaining a tradition of local management by hunting teams. These two seemingly contradictory imperatives – coordinating wildlife management across large areas while keeping benefits and control in the hands of local resource users – are resolved through a nesting of management institutions, wherein the state serves a regulatory function and mid-level government (the county) serves to facilitate inter-local cooperation. This paper documents how the system is structured and describes the balance of incentives that enable the system to work. Information was gathered via interviews with staff at the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management (now called the Norwegian Environment Agency), with wildlife management officials at the municipal level, with hunters, and from the most recent regulatory documents.     

The impact of iron limitation on the physiology of the Antarctic diatom Chaetoceros simplex

Iron availability strongly governs the growth of Southern Ocean phytoplankton. To investigate how iron limitation affects photosynthesis as well as the uptake of carbon and iron in the Antarctic diatom Chaetoceros simplex, a combination of chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements and radiotracer incubations in the presence and absence of chemical inhibitors was conducted. Iron limitation in C. simplex led to a decline in growth rates, photochemical efficiency and structural changes in photosystem II (PSII), including a reorganisation of photosynthetic units in PSII and an increase in size of the functional absorption cross section of PSII. Iron-limited cells further exhibited a reduced plastoquinone pool and decreased photosynthetic electron transport rate, while non-photochemical quenching and relative xanthophyll pigment content were strongly increased, suggesting a photoprotective response. Additionally, iron limitation resulted in a strong decline in carbon fixation and thus the particulate organic carbon quotas. Inhibitor studies demonstrated that, independent of the iron supply, carbon fixation was dependent on internal, but not on extracellular carbonic anhydrase activity. Orthovanadate more strongly inhibited iron uptake in iron-limited cells, indicating that P-type ATPase transporters are involved in iron uptake. The stronger reduction in iron uptake by ascorbate in iron-limited cells suggests that the re-oxidation of iron is required before it can be taken up and further supports the presence of a high-affinity iron transport pathway. The measured changes to photosystem architecture and shifts in carbon and iron uptake strategies in C. simplex as a result of iron limitation provide evidence for a complex interaction of these processes to balance the iron requirements for photosynthesis and carbon demand for sustained growth in iron-limited waters.     

Speaking of fire: reflexive governance in landscapes of social change and shifting local identities

ABSTRACT

The concept of reflexive governance has to a large extent emerged from an increasing recognition of the need to consider different meanings of nature in the environmental policy-making process. Yet, so far, little attention has been paid to creating conditions for reflexive governance among different actors in intercultural settings, particularly in the context of environmental conflict and strong cultural change among indigenous peoples. This paper reviews three participatory research projects carried out in the Gran Sabana in Canaima National Park, Venezuela, which facilitated dialogue among indigenous people regarding their conflicting views of fire, in part by developing community-wide critical reflections on processes of cultural change and identity formations. These experiences suggest that once marginalized environmental knowledge is publicly acknowledged within the context of endogenous cultural processes, indigenous people feel more confident to engage in dialogue with other actors, thus allowing the emergence of reflexive environmental governance.     

Combined integral and particle model for describing the dispersion,dilution, terminal layer formation and influence area from a point source discharge into a water body

Contamination of coastal water is a persistent threat to ecosystems around the world. In this study, a novel model for describing the dispersion, dilution, terminal layer formation and influence area from a point source discharge into a water body is presented and compared with field measured data. The model is a Combined Integral and Particle model (CIPMO). In the initial stage, the motion, dispersion and dilution of a buoyant jet are calculated. The output from the buoyant jet model is then coupled with a Lagrangian Advection and Diffusion model describing the far-field. CIPMO ensures that both the near- and far-field processes are adequately resolved. The model either uses empirical data or collects environmental forcing data from open source hydrodynamic models with high spatial and temporal resolution. The method for coupling the near-field buoyant jet and the particle tracking model is described and the output is discussed. The model shows good results when compared with measurements from a field study.