Pathways to policy: Partisanship and bipartisanship in renewable energy legislation

The effort to transition energy sources away from dependence on fossil fuels has become highly divided along partisan lines in some countries, but the social-science literature has not yet caught up with this important problem. Policy-adoption studies do not address the specific problem of polarization and gridlock, and the literature on gridlock does not examine conditions for breaking gridlock for renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) policy. Qualitative research can help to fill the void by identifying strategies that legislators use for achieving support for REEE policy where there is gridlock, polarization, and/or strong opposition. Interview data from a stratified sample of US states reveals three strategies that state-government legislators use to enhance REEE policy development under these conditions: bring to the process countervailing industrial interests to align REEE with business; transfer decision making to public service commissions; and use extra-legislative consultation processes to develop stakeholder consensus.     

Extent of pyrolysis impacts on fast pyrolysis biochar properties

A potential concern about the use of fast pyrolysis rather than slow pyrolysis biochars as soil amendments is that they may contain high levels of bioavailable C due to short particle residence times in the reactors, which could reduce the stability of biochar C and cause nutrient immobilization in soils. To investigate this concern, three corn ( L.) stover fast pyrolysis biochars prepared using different reactor conditions were chemically and physically characterized to determine their extent of pyrolysis. These biochars were also incubated in soil to assess their impact on soil CO emissions, nutrient availability, microorganism population growth, and water retention capacity. Elemental analysis and quantitative solid-state C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed variation in O functional groups (associated primarily with carbohydrates) and aromatic C, which could be used to define extent of pyrolysis. A 24-wk incubation performed using a sandy soil amended with 0.5 wt% of corn stover biochar showed a small but significant decrease in soil CO emissions and a decrease in the bacteria:fungi ratios with extent of pyrolysis. Relative to the control soil, biochar-amended soils had small increases in CO emissions and extractable nutrients, but similar microorganism populations, extractable NO levels, and water retention capacities. Corn stover amendments, by contrast, significantly increased soil CO emissions and microbial populations, and reduced extractable NO. These results indicate that C in fast pyrolysis biochar is stable in soil environments and will not appreciably contribute to nutrient immobilization.     

The importance of skillful community leaders: understanding municipal pesticide policy change in Calgary and Halifax

This paper focuses on policy change under scientific uncertainty. This is done by exploring two case studies of Canadian pesticide policy evolution applied to Sabatier's ‘Advocacy Coalition Framework’. ‘Stakeholder’ and ‘narrative policy’ analyses are emphasised to understand pesticide policy changes in Calgary (public education without a restrictive by-law) and Halifax (restrictive by-law). The parallel case studies consist of qualitative interviews with members of pesticide policy advisory committees in each city and a content analysis of local newspaper articles. Key resources mobilised by coalitions to achieve their policy goals include skillful leadership, and the use by those leaders of the media to disseminate coalition narratives. Further, the context of policy change contributed to the scenarios whereby pro-by-law grassroots activists were particularly successful in Halifax and anti-by-law city employees were most influential in Calgary.     

Status and trends in EFlows in southern Africa

Environmental Flows (EFlows) are defined as the quantity, timing and quality of the flow of water, sediment and biota necessary to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems, and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems. As such they are a vital component of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). A recent survey found that, in general, Africa lags behind schedule with respect to the global SDG Target 6.5 to implement IWRM at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate. This web-based review explores progress made in EFlows Assessments and implementing their outcomes in southern Africa. It outlines the apparent impetus to the uptake of EFlows provided by legislation, common funding mechanisms for EFlows assessment and evolving trends in EFlows assessment. It also highlights instances of implementation of EFlows in both in-country and transboundary settings.     

Australian firefighters' exposure to air toxics during bushfire burns of autumn 2005 and 2006

Bushfire fighting is a hazardous occupation and control strategies are generally in place to minimize the hazards. However, little is known regarding firefighters' exposure to bushfire smoke, which is a complex mixture of toxic gases and particles. In Australia, during the prescribed burning season, firefighters are likely to be exposed on a regular basis to bushfire smoke, but whether these exposures affect health has yet to be determined. There are a number of factors that govern whether exposure to smoke will result in short-term and/or long-term health problems, including the concentrations of air pollutants within the breathing zone of the firefighter, the exposure duration, and health susceptibility of the individual, especially for pre-existing lung or heart disease. This paper presents measurements of firefighters' personal exposure to bushfire smoke, the first step within a risk management framework. It provides crucial information on the magnitude, extent and frequency of personal exposure to bushfire smoke for a range of typical scenarios. It is found that the primary air toxics of concern are carbon monoxide (CO), respirable particles and formaldehyde. Also, work activity is a major factor influencing exposure with exposure standards (both average and short-term limits) likely to be exceeded for activities such as suppression of spot fires, holding the fireline, and patrolling at the edge of a burn area in the urban-rural interface.     

Processing of antifouling paint particles by Mytilus edulis

Particles of spent antifouling paint collected from a marine boatyard were ground and subsequently administered to the filter-feeding bivalve, Mytilus edulis, maintained in static aquaria. Concentrations of Cu and Zn were measured in seawater throughout a 16 h feeding phase and a 24 h depuration phase, in rejected and egested particles collected during the respective phases, and in the organisms themselves at the end of the experiments. Concentrations and distributions of Cu and Zn in processed particles indicated that M. edulis was able to ingest paint particles, regardless of whether nutritionally viable silt was present, and no mechanism of particle discrimination was evident. Enrichment of Cu and Zn in the visceral mass of individuals and in the aqueous phase during depuration supported these assertions, although elevated concentrations in other compartments of the organism (e.g. shell, gill) suggested that biotic and abiotic uptake of aqueous metal was also important.     

Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes1

van de Meene, Susan J. and Rebekah R. Brown, 2009. Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1448‐1464. Abstract: This paper is based on the proposition that the transition to sustainable urban water management has been hampered by the lack of insight into attributes of a sustainable urban water regime. Significant progress has been made in developing technical solutions to advance urban water practice, however it is the co‐evolution of the socio‐institutional and technical systems that enable a system‐wide transition. A systematic analysis of 81 empirical studies across a range of practice areas was undertaken to construct a schema of the sustainable urban water regime attributes. Attributes were identified and analyzed using a framework of nested management regime spheres: the administrative and regulatory system, inter‐organizational, intra‐organizational, and human resources spheres. The regime is likely to involve significant stakeholder involvement, collaborative inter‐organizational relationships, flexible and adaptive organizational cultures, and motivated and engaging employees. Comparison of the constructed sustainable and traditional regime attributes reveals that to realize sustainable urban water management in practice a substantial shift in governance is required. This difference emphasizes the critical need for explicitly supported strategies targeted at developing each management regime sphere to further enable change toward sustainable urban water management.     

Spore release by the green alga Ulva: a quantitative assay to evaluate aquatic toxicants

A toxicity test using spore release of the aquatic green alga, Ulva, was developed and evaluated by assessing the toxicity of different organic and inorganic chemicals and elutriates of sewage or waste sludge. The toxic ranking of four metals was: Cu (EC50 of 0.040mgL(-1))>Cd (0.095mgL(-1))>Pb (0.489mgL(-1))>Zn (0.572mgL(-1)). The EC50 for TBTO ranged from 24 to 63microgL(-1). The most toxic VOC was formalin (EC50 of 0.788microlL(-1)) and the least toxic was acetone. Spore release was significantly inhibited in all elutriates; the greatest and least toxic effects were for industrial sewage (3.29%) and filtration bed (10.08%), respectively. The bioassay is simple, inexpensive and sensitive. The cosmopolitan distribution of Ulva means that the test would have a potential application worldwide.     

U(VI) adsorption on aquifer sediments at the Hanford Site

Aquifer sediments collected via split-spoon sampling in two new groundwater wells in the 200-UP-1 operable unit at the Hanford Site were characterized and showed typical Ringold Unit E Formation properties dominated by gravel and sand. High iron-oxide content in Fe oxide/clay coatings caused the highest U(VI) adsorption as quantified by batch K(d) values, indicating iron oxides are the key solid adsorbent in the 200-UP-1 sediments that affect U(VI) fate and mobility. Even though U(VI) adsorption on the gravel-sized fraction of the sediments is considered to be negligible, careful characterization should be conducted to determine U(VI) adsorption on gravel, because of presence of Fe oxides coatings and diffusion-controlled adsorption into the gravel particles' interior surfaces. A linear adsorption isotherm was observed up to 10(-6) M (238 microg/L) of total U(VI) concentration in batch U(VI) adsorption tests with varying total U(VI) concentrations in spiked groundwater. U(VI) adsorption decreased with increasing concentrations of dissolved carbonate, because strong anionic aqueous uranium-carbonate complexes formed at high pH and high alkalinity conditions. Noticeable uranium desorption hysteresis was observed in a flow-through column experiment, suggesting that desorption K(d) values for aged uranium-contaminated sediments at the Hanford Site can be larger than adsorption K(d) values determined in short-term laboratory experiments and slow uranium release from contaminated sediments into the groundwater is expected.