Farmers’ attitudes about farming and the environment: A survey of conventional and organic farmers

Farmers have been characterized as people whose ties to the land have given them a deep awareness of natural cycles, appreciation for natural beauty and sense of responsibility as stewards. At the same time, their relationship to the land has been characterized as more utilitarian than that of others who are less directly dependent on its bounty. This paper explores this tension by comparing the attitudes and beliefs of a group of conventional farmers to those of a group of organic farmers. It was found that while both groups reject the idea that a farmer’s role is to conquer nature, organic farmers were significantly more supportive of the notion that humans should live in harmony with nature. Organic farmers also reported a greater awareness of and appreciation for nature in their relationship with the land. Both groups view independence as a main benefit of farming and a lack of financial reward as its main drawback. Overall, conventional farmers report more stress in their lives although they also view themselves in a caretaker role for the land more than do the organic farmers. In contrast, organic farmers report more satisfaction with their lives, a greater concern for living ethically, and a stronger perception of community. Finally, both groups are willing to have their rights limited (organic farmers somewhat more so) but they do not trust the government to do so.     

Status of Aquatic Bioassessment in U.S. EPA Region IX

U.S. EPA Region IX is supporting bioassessment programs in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada using biocriteria program and Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (R-EMAP) resources. These programs are designed to improve the state, tribal and regional ability to determine the status of water quality. Biocriteria program funds were used to coordinate with Arizona, California and Hawaii which resulted in these states establishing reference conditions and in developing biological indices. U.S. EPA Region IX has initiated R-EMAP projects in California and Nevada. These U.S. EPA Region IX sponsored programs have provided an opportunity to interact with the States and provide them with technical and management support. In Arizona, several projects are being conducted to develop the State's bioassessment program. These include the development of a rotational random monitoring program; a regional reference approach for macroinvertebrate bioassessments; ecoregion approach to testing and adoption of an alternate regional classification system; and development of warm-water and cold-water indices of biological integrity. The indices are projected to be used in the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) 2000 water quality assessment report. In California, an Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) has been developed for the Russian River Watershed using resources from U.S. EPA's Non-point Source (NPS) Program grants. A regional IBI is under development for certain water bodies in the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Resources from the U.S. EPA Biocriteria program are being used to support the California Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup (CABW) in conjunction with the California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG), and to support the Hawaii Department of Health (DoH) Bioassessment Program to refine biological metrics. In Nevada, R-EMAP resources are being used to create a baseline of aquatic information for the Humboldt River watershed. U.S. EPA Region IX is presently working with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to establish a Nevada Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup. Future R-EMAP studies will occur in the Calleguas Creek watershed in Southern California, and in the Muddy and Virgin River watersheds in southern Nevada, and the Walker River watershed in eastern California and west-central Nevada.     

Spatial Distribution of Water Supply in the Coterminous United States1

Abstract: Available water supply across the contiguous 48 states was estimated as precipitation minus evapotranspiration using data for the period 1953‐1994. Precipitation estimates were taken from the Parameter‐Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM). Evapotranspiration was estimated using two models, the Advection‐Aridity model and the Zhang model. The evapotranspiration models were calibrated using precipitation and runoff data for 655 hydrologically undisturbed basins, and then tested using estimates of natural runoff for the 18 water resource regions (WRR) of the 48 contiguous states. The final water supply coverage reflects a mixture of outputs from the two evapotranspiration models. Political, administrative, and land cover boundaries were mapped over the coverage of mean annual water supply. Across the entire study area, we find that 53% of the water supply originates on forested land, which covers only 29% of the surface area, and that 24% originates on federal lands, including 18% on national forests and grasslands alone. Forests and federal lands are even more important in the West (the 11 western contiguous states), where 65% of the water supply originates on forested land and 66% on federal lands, with national forests and grasslands contributing 51%.     

Kinetics of reductive dechlorination of 1,2,3,4-TCDD in the presence of zero-valent zinc

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) are toxic and widespread persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Cost-effective technologies for destroying or detoxifying PCDDs are in high demand. The overall purpose of this study was to develop a zero-valent zinc based technology for transforming toxic PCDDs to less- or non-toxic forms. We measured the dechlorination rates of 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (1,2,3,4-TCDD) in the presence of zero-valent zinc under aqueous conditions, identified the daughter compounds of the reaction, and constructed possible pathways for the reactions. The reaction rates of daughter compounds with zero-valent zinc were also measured independently. Our results showed that the zero-valent zinc is a suitable candidate for reducing PCDDs. Reductive dechlorination of 1,2,3,4-TCDD was stepwise and complete to dibenzo-p-dioxin (DD) mainly via 1,2,4-trichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (1,2,4-TrCDD), 1,3-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (1,3-DCDD), 1-chlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (1-MCDD) to DD and via 1,2,4-TrCDD, 2,3-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3-DCDD), 2-chlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2-MCDD) to DD. In each separate system, the observed half-lives of 1,2,3,4-TCDD, 1,2,3-TrCDD, 1,2,4-TrCDD, 1,2-DCDD, 1,3-DCDD, 1,4-DCDD and 2,3-DCDD are 0.56, 2.62, 5.71, 24.93, 41.53, 93.67 and 169.06 h respectively. The tendency of rate constant follows TCDD>TrCDD>DCDD. Our results suggest that zero-valent zinc is a suitable candidate for rapidly reducing highly chlorinated PCDDs to less or non-chlorinated daughter products.     

Noninvasive fetal genome sequencing: a primer

We recently demonstrated whole genome sequencing of a human fetus using only parental DNA samples and plasma from the pregnant mother. This proof-of-concept study demonstrated how samples obtained noninvasively in the first or second trimester can be analyzed to yield a highly accurate and substantially complete genetic profile of the fetus, including both inherited and de novo variation. Here, we revisit our original study from a clinical standpoint, provide an overview of the scientific approach, and describe opportunities and challenges along the path toward clinical adoption of noninvasive fetal whole genome sequencing. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Most Comfortable Listening Level and Speech Attenuation by Hearing Protectors

Hearing protectors attenuate both the background noise and the useful sounds embedded in noise such as the sounds of speech and warning signals. An effective hearing protector is one that attenuates background noise while leaving sufficient energy of speech and warning signals to reach the ear of the worker. At present, however, there are no established criteria for assessing effective change in speech-to-noise ratio caused by hearing protection devices (HPDs). One such criterion could be a change in most comfortable (listening) level (MCL) for speech caused by the presence of HPDs. In this study the HPD-related shift in MCL for speech presented in quiet was measured and compared with two measures of noise attenuation: Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) and high–medium–low (H–M–L). The results indicate that the MCL shift may be a sensitive measure of speech attenuation by HPDs, which together with the appropriate H–M–L may describe technical properties of HPDs.     

Communicating About Bioenergy Sustainability

Defining and measuring sustainability of bioenergy systems are difficult because the systems are complex, the science is in early stages of development, and there is a need to generalize what are inherently context-specific enterprises. These challenges, and the fact that decisions are being made now, create a need for improved communications among scientists as well as between scientists and decision makers. In order for scientists to provide information that is useful to decision makers, they need to come to an agreement on how to measure and report potential risks and benefits of diverse energy alternatives in a way that allows decision makers to compare options. Scientists also need to develop approaches that contribute information about problems and opportunities relevant to policy and decision making. The need for clear communication is especially important at this time when there is a plethora of scientific papers and reports and it is difficult for the public or decision makers to assess the merits of each analysis. We propose three communication guidelines for scientists whose work can contribute to decision making: (1) relationships between the question and the analytical approach should be clearly defined and make common sense; (2) the information should be presented in a manner that non-scientists can understand; and (3) the implications of methods, assumptions, and limitations should be clear. The scientists’ job is to analyze information to build a better understanding of environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic aspects of the sustainability of energy alternatives. The scientific process requires transparency, debate, review, and collaboration across disciplines and time. This paper serves as an introduction to the papers in the special issue on “Sustainability of Bioenergy Systems: Cradle to Grave” because scientific communication is essential to developing more sustainable energy systems. Together these four papers provide a framework under which the effects of bioenergy can be assessed and compared to other energy alternatives to foster sustainability.