可持续工商教育催生未来商业精英

本文为美国环保署副署长在世界资源研究所BELL会议上的讲话。这次会议召开于1997年,即8年前,但讲话内容并未“过时”。从中我们不仅可以了解贝迩项目的发展历史,而且还对一些环境管理制度有深入的理解。[编者按]     

Local and Indigenous management of climate change risks to archaeological sites

Hundreds of thousands of significant archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) along the coasts of every continent are threatened by sea level rise, and many will be destroyed. This wealth of artefacts and monuments testifies to human history, cosmology and identity. While cultural sites are especially important to local and Indigenous communities, a stall in coordinated global action means adaptation at a local scale is often unsupported. In response, this paper produces a practical climate change risk analysis methodology designed for independent, community-scale management of cultural sites. It builds on existing methods that prioritise sites most at risk from climate impacts, proposing a field survey that integrates an assessment of the relative cultural value of sites with assessment of exposure and sensitivity to climate impacts. The field survey also stands as a monitoring program and complements an assessment of organisational adaptive capacity. The preliminary field survey was tested by Indigenous land managers in remote northern Australia at midden and rock art sites threatened by sea level rise, extreme flood events and a range of non-climactic hazards. A participatory action research methodology—incorporating planning workshops, semi-structured interviews and participant observations—gave rise to significant modifications to the preliminary field survey as well as management prioritisation of 120 sites. The field survey is anticipated to have global application, particularly among marginalised and remote Indigenous communities. Well-planned and informed participation, with community control, monitoring and well-informed actions, will contribute significantly to coordinated global and regional adaptation strategies.     

Exposure of PM2.5 and EC from diesel and gasoline vehicles in communities near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,California

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the entry point for almost half of all cargo containers entering the United States. The use of diesel trucks to move Port-related goods has raised significant public health concerns associated with black carbon and other air pollutants. It is difficult to reliably estimate people's exposure to vehicle-related pollutants due to the narrow impact zone of traffic, usually within 200–300 m downwind of major roadways. Previous studies suffer from the lack of traffic count data on surface streets and the lack of neighborhood-level population data. We examined seasonal and annual average exposures of particulate matter less than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and elemental carbon (EC) at a neighborhood scale for communities heavily impacted by diesel trucks near these ports. We assembled a traffic-activity database that distinguishes gasoline and diesel vehicles on both freeways and surface streets, by consolidating information from several sources, including our own field measurements. The CALINE4 model was used to estimate residential exposure of the study population to PM_2.5 and EC. Parcel property data were used to allocate Census block group (BG) population to increase spatial resolution. The annual average PM_2.5 and EC exposure due to local traffic was 3.8 and 0.4 μg m^?3, respectively. On average, surface streets contributed a little more than freeways (55% vs. 45% for EC and 57% and 43% for PM_2.5). Light-duty vehicles contributed significantly more than heavy-duty trucks for PM_2.5 (61% vs. 39%), but slightly less than heavy-duty trucks for EC (49% vs. 51%). Community mean population exposure was similar using parcel, census block, and BG population data, but extreme values and standard deviations varied significantly at different spatial resolutions. The intake fraction for the study population was in the range of 1.0–2.2 × 10^?5 by vehicle type, roadway type, and season.     

Evaluation of surface water quality impacts of hazardous chemical sites

Common deficiencies in the typical evaluation of the surface water quality impacts of hazardous chemical sites are discussed. Particular attention is given to deficiencies in monitoring stormwater runoff, as well as the input of contaminated groundwaters that lead to impairment of the beneficial uses of nearby surface waters because of site-derived hazardous and deleterious chemicals. An alternative approach, Evaluation Monitoring, is presented in this paper. Evaluation Monitoring shifts the monitoring program from periodic sampling and analysis of stormwater runoff and ambient waters for a suite of chemical parameters, to examining the receiving waters to determine what, if any, water quality use impairments are occurring in surface waters due to the runoff-associated constituents and shallow groundwater input.     

Mammalian community characteristics on surface mine lands in Pennsylvania

Mammalian communities were studied on 10 surface mines over a four year period. The size and composition of these communities varied among the different areas. The size, composition, and spatial distribution of these mammalian communities were related to the structure of the plant community, and native plant species were of greater importance in determining size and composition of these communities than were those used in reclamation.     

THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF DUAL PURPOSE NUCLEAR DESALINATION OF GROUND WATER1

ABSTRACT: The economic feasibility of a large scale dual purpose (desalting water and power production) facility were evaluated. Although a site in the Tularosa basin of southern New Mexico was chosen as a case study for this analysis, it is believed that the approach and consequential results would be applicable to alternative sites in the Southwest. The basic project evaluated included: a) a ground water well field; b) a dual purpose, nuclear, desalination plant; c) a mineral recovery plant; and d) a reservoir for recreation and irrigation storage. Principle project outputs included electrical power, minerals, recreation, and water for either irrigated agricultural production or export to an adjoining river basin. Two alternative project designs were developed for detailed analysis. The first alternative encompassed all major project components. The results, in discounted net values used to assess the feasibility of the project, were essentially negative; that is, values were less than zero for full scale development. The net benefits ranged from $-986.57 million at a 5 percent discount rate, to $-1,137.528 million at a discount rate of 10 percent. In the second alternative, exportation of the desalted water from the Tularosa basin to two adjacent rivers was analyzed with somewhat better net benefits, ranging from $-382,527 million to $-478,612 million at the 5 and 10 percent discount rates.     

EFFECTS OF NITRATE AND PHOSPHATE CONCENTRATION ON NATURAL AQUATIC BACTERIAL POPULATIONS1

ABSTRACT: Natural aquatic bacterial populations in three streams located at the Savannah River Project, Aiken, S.C. have been studied in relation to the effects of ambient temperatures, dissolved River Project, Aiken, oxygen (DO), nitrate and phosphate concentrations. ³ 3 This work was supported in part by Contract #AT (38–1–824) with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and was done in part in connection with AEC Contract #AT (07–2)–1.
Samples collected at monthly intervals for a period of one year from each system, were plated in duplicate at each of two dilutions on 1/4 strength Standard Plate Count Agar (Difco). After incubation at 25±1 °C for four days, total colony forming units, percent chromagens, and number of colony types (diversity) were determined and colonies were picked for identification. Temperatures were generally equal in two of the streams throughout the year, being lowest in Upper Three Runs (U3R) and Tirns Branch (TB), and highest in the Ash Basin System (ABS). DO content did not vary appreciably between the streams. Nitrates and phosphates were lowest in U3R, next lowest in TB, higher in the last station in ABS, and highest in the ash basin per se. Total colony forming units were highest in the ash basin, whereas chromagen percentage and diversity were highest in the last station in ABS. Results of these studies indicate that high nitrates and phosphates, in the absence of high organic carbon concentrations, have little, if any detrimental effect on the stability of natural aquatic bacterial populations.     

OPTIMIZING FLOOD CONTROL ALLOCATION FOR A MULTIPURPOSE RESERVOIR1

ABSTRACT. In the last decade much research has been devoted to applying the systems analysis approach to water resources problems. A popular research goal has been determination of the “best” method of operating a multipurpose reservoir. The goal of this study was to derive the economically optimum flood control diagram for a multipurpose reservoir by systems analysis. The technique employed to optimize the flood control diagram was programmed so that the optimization process could be applied to other multipurpose reservoirs. Two computer programs developed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hydrologic Engineering Center were utilized with modifications to simulate the operation of Folsom Reservoir in central California. Economic analyses were incorporated along with an optimization technique into the reservoir operations program; and the resultant program was capable of routing a sequence of monthly reservoir inflows, computing benefits for various flood control diagrams (as dictated by the optimization procedure), and selecting the economically optimum flood control diagram. The univariate gradient technique was the optimization procedure employed. The two computer programs are on file at the Hydrologic Engineering Center in Davis, California.