Environmental Damage,Abandoned Treaties,and Fossil-Fuel Dependence: The Coming Costs of Oil-and-Gas Exploration in the “1002 Area” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Contrary to claims from American politicians, lobbyists, and oil and gas executives, allowing energy development in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) will harm the environment, compromise international law, erode the social significance of wilderness protection, and ultimately fail to␣increase the energy security of the United States. After exploring a brief history of the ANWR controversy, this piece argues that the operation of oil and gas refineries in ANWR will release discharged solids, drilling waste, and dirty diesel fuel into the ecosystem’s food-chain, as they have from oil operations in Prudhoe Bay. Less obvious but equally important, oil and gas exploration in ANWR will violate a number of international treaties on biodiversity protection. In the end, development in ANWR will threaten the concept of wilderness protection, and will do little to end US dependence on foreign sources of energy. About the Author: Benjamin K. Sovacool is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. He works as a research analyst for the Consortium on Energy Restructuring and is a Senior Research Fellow for the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. He also just completed a Graduate Fellowship in Energy Policy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Environmental Awareness, Economic Orientation, and Farming Practices: A Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farmers

/ This study examines similarities and differences between organic and conventional farmers. We explore the factors that underlie farmers' conservation attitudes and behaviors, including demographic and farm characteristics, awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture, economic orientation toward farming, and self-reported conservation practices. A series of intensive personal interviews was conducted with 25 farmers in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods. The findings indicate that both groups of farmers share a concern for the economic risks associated with farming, although the organic farmers reported a significantly greater concern for long-term sustainability and a greater willingness to incur present risk to gain future benefits. Organic farmers expressed a greater awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture. Organic farmers also scored significantly higher on a multifaceted measure of conservation practices, although both groups had a fairly high adoption rate. Implications of these findings are discussed, relative to economic risks of farming, implications for new farmers, effectiveness of conservation education and government programs, and impact of farm size and crop diversity.KEY WORDS: Environmental attitudes; Conservation behaviors; Organic farming; Agricultural sustainability     

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF TAILINGS DISPERSAL FROM A URANIUM MINE USING TOXICITY TESTING PROTOCOLS1

ABSTRACT: Toxicity testing is a means of establishing the environmental risk of a uranium tailings release. It is valuable in designing tailings containment structures because it assists in setting acceptable levels of risk for the design. This paper presents details of toxicity tests of the tailings from Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Territory, Australia. The results suggest that the non-radiological toxicity of the tailings is low. The environmental risk of a tailings release is more likely to be related to the physical impacts of the tailings, including infilling of billabongs and changes in the sedimentology of riparian ecosystems rather than their biogeochemical impact. Two major results were: (1) water from treatment with washed tailing fines were not toxic to Hydra viridissima, and (2) mixtures of washed tailings fines and natural floodplain sediment (overlying water or elutriates) were not toxic to Hydra viridissima or Moinodaphnia macleayi.     

Enhanced recycling through a materials tax

This article attempts to evaluate whether an appropriate consumption-based tax is likely to be successful in reducing demand for certain exhaustible resources, thereby curtailing their rate of depletion and increasing the demand for, and utilization of, secondary materials. The nature of such a tax and anticipated effects (including environmental impact) of its imposition on certain primary materials are considered, concentrating here on one metal, aluminium. The study concludes that a tax based on the exhaustible resources and energy used in the production of a good is likely to create more savings for fossil fuels than for other exhaustible resources.     

Environmental awareness and biodiversity conservation among resettled communal farmers in Gwayi Valley Conservation Area,Zimbabwe

This study was conducted in Gwayi Valley Conservation Area in Zimbabwe. The objective was to evaluate the level of environmental awareness raising among rural communities resettled by government in a wildlife conservation area and their behavior and actions towards biodiversity conservation. We selected three communities based on the degree of exposure to environmental awareness campaigns by various government departments and non-governmental organizations. This formed a gradient of exposure to environmental awareness campaigns, ranging from the most accessible and exposed community (Hangano), moderately exposed (Gwayi) through to the least accessible and exposed community (Karna). We used focus group discussions, key informant interviews and structured interviews with 95 respondents in the selected communities from November 2016 to April 2017. Through public awareness raising, a number of conservation groups were established including fire and hunting committees, anti-poaching teams and environmental resource monitors. While these groups were found to be either inactive or less effective in Gwayi and Karna, all were found to be very active and effective in Hangano. Similarly, community behavior and actions that caused biodiversity loss such as indiscriminate cutting of live trees, poaching, streambank cultivation, fishing in rivers with nets and use of sledges were much reduced in Hangano than in Gwayi and Karna. Frequent environmental awareness campaigns played a critical role in promoting biodiversity in Hangano. We conclude that substantial gains can be made in environmental conservation by investing more in public awareness campaigns, particularly in developing countries such as Zimbabwe where financial resources for conservation are scarce.     

Economic growth,international trade,and the depletion or conservation of renewable natural resources

Conservation of renewable natural resources and promotion of economic growth are both sustainable development goals. Here, we study the interdependency between economic growth, international trade, and the use of renewable natural resources—under alternative institutional settings of either open access or full property rights—in an endogenous growth model. We find that if the resource is depleted over time, consumption growth is reduced. Economic growth and international trade only impact resource use when the resource is harvested under full property rights. Then, widening international trade can lead countries to shift from conservation to depletion. Changes in the institutional setting of resource use in one country may have repercussions on trading partners. Our results indicate potential trade-offs between the sustainable development goals and imply that policies focusing on resource use or trade (e.g., international trade bans or certified trade) are not sufficient to prevent resource depletion.     

Do trace metal(loid)s in road soils pose health risks to tourists? A case of a highly-visited national park in China

Nowadays, more people tend to spend their recreational time in large national parks, and trace metal(loid)s in soils have attracted long-term attention due to their possible harm to human health. To investigate the pollution levels, potential sources and health risks of trace metal(loid)s in road soils, a total of eight trace metal(loid)s (including As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Hg) from 47 soil samples along roads were studied in the Huangshan National Park in Southeast China. The results showed that the concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Zn and Hg appeared different degrees of pollution compared with their corresponding background values. According to the pollution indices, Hg and Cd were recognized as significant pollutants presenting moderate to high ecological risk. Combining principal component analysis and positive matrix factorization model, the results showed that traffic, industrial, agricultural and natural sources were the potential origins of trace metal(loid)s in this area, with contribution rates of 39.93%, 25.92%, 10.53% and 23.62%, respectively. Non-carcinogenic risks were all negligible, while the carcinogenic risk of As was higher than the limit (1 $\times$ 10⁻⁶). Moreover, children were more susceptible to trace metal(loid)s by ingestion which appeared to be a more important exposure pathway than dermal contact and inhalation. The contribution rates of different sources to non-carcinogenic risks and carcinogenic risks were similar among children and adults, while traffic and industrial sources have a significant impact on health risks. This study will give more insights to control the environmental risks of trace metal(loid)s in national parks.     

Characteristics of animal-related motor vehicle crashes in select National Park Service units—United States, 1990–2013

Objectives: Nationally, animal–motor vehicle crashes (AVCs) account for 4.4% of all types of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). AVCs are a safety risk for drivers and animals and many National Park Service (NPS) units (e.g., national park, national monument, or national parkway) have known AVC risk factors, including rural locations and substantial animal densities. We sought to describe conditions and circumstances involving AVCs to guide traffic and wildlife management for prevention of AVCs in select NPS units.

Methods: We conducted an analysis using NPS law enforcement MVC data. An MVC is a collision involving an in-transit motor vehicle that occurred or began on a public roadway. An AVC is characterized as a collision between a motor vehicle and an animal. A non-AVC is a crash between a motor vehicle and any object other than an animal or noncollision event (e.g., rollover crash). The final data for analysis included 54,068 records from 51 NPS units during 1990–2013. Counts and proportions were calculated for categorical variables and medians and ranges were calculated for continuous variables. We used Pearson’s chi-square to compare circumstances of AVCs and non-AVCs. Data were compiled at the park regional level; NPS parks are assigned to 1 of 7 regions based on the park’s location.

Results: AVCs accounted for 10.4% (5,643 of 54,068) of all MVCs from 51 NPS units. The Northeast (2,021 of 5,643; 35.8%) and Intermountain (1,180 of 5,643; 20.9%) regions had the largest percentage of the total AVC burden. November was the peak month for AVCs across all regions (881 of 5,643; 15.6%); however, seasonality varied by park geographic regions. The highest counts of AVCs were reported during fall for the National Capital, Northeast/Southeast, and Northeast regions; winter for the Southeast region; and summer for Intermountain and Pacific West regions.

Conclusions: AVCs represent a public health and wildlife safety concern for NPS units. AVCs in select NPS units were approximately 2-fold higher than the national percentage for AVCs. The peak season for AVCs varied by NPS region. Knowledge of region-specific seasonality patterns for AVCs can help NPS staff develop mitigation strategies for use primarily during peak AVC months. Improving AVC data collection might provide NPS with a more complete understanding of risk factors and seasonal trends for specific NPS units. By collecting information concerning the animal species hit, park managers can better understand the impacts of AVC to wildlife population health.