Environmental degradation and remediation: is economics part of the problem?

It is argued that standard environmental economic and 'ecological economics', have the same fundamentals of valuation in terms of money, based on a demand curve derived from utilitymaximization. But this approach leads to three different measuresof value. An invariant measure of value exists only if the consumer has 'homothetic preferences'. In order to obtain a numerical estimate of value, specific functional forms are necessary, but typically these estimates do not converge. This is due to the fact that the underlying economic model is not structurally stable.According to neoclassical economics, any environmental remediation can be justified only in terms of increases in consumer satisfaction, balancing marginal gains against marginal costs. It is not surprising that the optimal policy obtained fromthis approach suggests only small reductions in greenhouse gases.We show that a unidimensional metric of consumer's utility measured in dollar terms can only trivialize the problem of global climate change.     

Stimulation of aerobic degradation of chlorinated ethenes in soil by microbial inoculation

Degradation of chlorinated ethenes under aerobic conditions has been reported using a cometabolic pathway. A site in Illinois had shallow contamination and sandy soils, which in combination created aerobic conditions. The aerobic conditions prevented the degradation of chlorinated ethenes by reductive dechlorination. Biodegradation of chloroethenes under aerobic conditions does not occur naturally at all sites; however, it can be enhanced if microorganisms capable of cometabolic degradation are introduced into the soil. In this study, trichloroethene (TCE) removal in the soil was enhanced by the injection of a commercially available microbial inoculum (CL‐OUT® inoculum, CL‐Solutions, Cincinnati, OH) and nutrients and was compared to chlorinated ethene removal in soil that had received nutrients only and soil that had received activated sludge and nutrients. Trichloroethene removal was measured after one week, seven weeks, and eleven weeks. After one week, no significant TCE removal had occurred in any of the test microcosms. After seven weeks, a slight decrease in TCE levels accompanied by an increase in cis‐1,2‐dichloroethene (cis‐1,2‐DCE) was seen in the microcosms that had received CL‐OUT®. After 11 weeks, a marked decrease in TCE levels was observed in the microcosms that had received CL‐OUT®. No significant TCE decrease was observed in any of the other microcosms. These data suggest that organisms capable of aerobic TCE degradation were not present at the site; however, the addition of an inoculum containing such organisms enabled aerobic degradation to occur. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.