Education for sustainability: Are we flunking the future?

When New Jersey's Office of Sustainability was originally established in 1997, it was at first quizzically referred to as the “Office of What?” Now, good people, high purpose, and new name (Sustainable Business Division of the Commerce Commission) have steadily gained respect as skeptics reflected on what the term sustainability can mean to life on earth as we know it in New Jersey and elsewhere. Current rates of growth in population, industrial production, consumerism, and environmental degradation cannot be supported indefinitely by Earth's finite carrying capacity. New ways of thinking, working, and living will be required to change our course of unsustainable human activity both locally and globally. Such a transformation is achievable only through major changes in education. This article contends that the rate, content, and scope of learning required to take a sustainable path in America are not happening. Some ideas for what needs to be done are suggested.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Sperm ultrastructure of the giant clam Tridacna maxima (Tridacnidae: Bivalvia: Mollusca) from the Great Barrier Reef

Using transmission electron microscopy, spermatozoa from a member of the Tridacnidae, or giant clams, are described for the first time and compared with spermatozoa of other bivalves, especially other heterodonts. The acrosomal vesicle of Tridacna maxima (Röding, 1798) is short (0.37?μm), blunt-conical, and exhibits a prominent basal ring. A narrow apical elaboration of the nucleus, the nuclear peg, projects deep into the basal invagination of the acrosomal vesicle. Aside from this specialization, the nucleus is a solid elongate-cylindrical structure (7.66?μm) that exhibits several small irregular lacunae. Four or occasionally three round-ovate mitochondria surround a pair of orthogonally-arranged, triplet-substructure centrioles. The proximal centriole is connected to a small indentation of the nuclear base by a thin layer of granular pericentriolar material, whereas the distal centriole is anchored to the plasma membrane by nine terminally-forked satellite fibres. The 9?+?2 pattern axoneme of the tail is continuous with the distal centriole. Comparison with other bivalves indicates a very close relationship between tridacnids and cardiids based on sperm ultrastructure. Specifically, the presence of a nuclear peg links Tridacna spp. with the cardiid genus Cerastoderma, but further information on the many unstudied genera is required to test the exact nature of this relationship. The sperm ultrastructure provides additional support for the recently proposed hypothesis that the Tridacnidae may be no more than a specialized subfamily of the Cardiidae.     

Trace metals in the hair of habitants of the Ok Tedi region, Papua New Guinea

It has long been known that mining activity can markedly change the level and distribution of certain heavy metals in the adjacent environment. This pollution can be quite widespread and long lasting and often has deleterious effects on the health of local populations. In the present study scalp hair was used as the biopsy material because of its ease of collection and long history of use in this connection. Hair was collected from all the local villages in the vicinity of the mine site, as well as from Papua New Guinean nationals from other provinces, and European expatriates who were employed by the mining company and who were resident in the area. Hair from local people showed a remarkably high iron content by comparison with previously studied populations. The extreme variations in hair iron levels were reflected in the differential distribution of levels according to location, age and sex. Hair cadmium was also high in the population studied. Hair copper, lead, zinc and mercury all appeared to be within 'normal' limits by comparison with other general populations. These results are discussed in the context of the environmental and social impact of the mining operations on the local people.     

The fate of metal contaminated sediments in Foundry Cove, New York

The distribution of heavy metal contaminated sediments in Foundry Cove, a freshwater embayment of the Hudson River, was examined twelve years after the discharging of wastes from a battery factory had ceased. Concentrations of Cd, Ni and Co were measured in surficial sediments (top 5 cm) and seven detailed depth profiles. Comparison with earlier surveys showed that metal levels of surficial sediments have been considerably reduced throughout the cove. Evidence suggests that this reduction may be largely due to burial rather than transport of metals out of the cove or a redistribution (via sediment resuspension and redeposition) within the cove. This is suggested by the presence of a peak in metal concentrations at a depth of several centimetres in depositional environments, a calculation showing the loss of waterborne cadmium to be much less than the amount of cadmium lost from the surficial sediment, and the absence of increased pollution in the cleaner parts of the cove. Despite improvement, metal levels remain extremely high, including a persistent 'hot-spot' with levels higher than 10 000 ppm Cd.     

Changes in pH as a measure of photosynthesis by marine macroalgae

An automatically operated method for high precision measurements of steady-state photosynthesis by macroalgae was developed. Changes in pH and oxygen content of seawater passing the algae in a flowthrough system, could be measured with extremely high accuracy over very long periods of time. The method is especially suitable for measurements on flowthrough systems with high rates of water exchanges (i.e. short retention time), and can be used to study exchange processes for marine plants, animals and small ecosystems. Since the same measuring unit is used for several flowthrough chambers, the method is very suitable for comparisons between different species, or between differently pretreated specimens of the same species (e.g. in toxicological studies). The method was used to study the ratio: [oxygen production] to [CO₂+H⁺ uptake] at different light intensities for several macroalgae belonging to different systematic groups and from different habitats. At lower photosynthetic rates this ratio was similar for all of the algae studied (1.17±0.02). For brown algae of the fucacean family, the ratio increased by 0.08 units at higher photosynthetic rates. This increase was thought to be related to the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)-like strategies connected to these algae. For all other algae studied, the ratio remained constant or decreased slightly (at most by 0.04 units) at higher photosynthetic rates. The relations between the abovementioned ratio and the photosynthetic quotient are discussed on a theoretical basis.