On climbing trees: an Australian perspective on sustainability and political risk>

This paper examines how political risk taking is necessary for gains in sustainability. It provides a personal perspective covering some of the key turning points in Australia (and some global examples) to demonstrate how policy innovation in sustainability will always require political leaders to go out on a limb and then in hindsight the policy will be seen as obvious and normal. The key components of sustainability (vision, interdisciplinary, geographical and sectoral synergies) are used to illustrate stories of tree climbing. Some deeper levels of sustainability applied to thinking, creativity, belonging and spirituality are then used as the framework for illustrating the significance of political risk taking for sustainability.     

Sorption and degradation of pesticides in nursery recycling ponds

Knowledge of pesticide distribution and persistence in nursery recycling pond water and sediment is critical for preventing phytotoxicity of pesticides during water reuse and to assess their impacts to the environment. In this study, sorption and degradation of four commonly used pesticides (diazinon, chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, and pendimethalin) in sediments from two nursery recycling ponds was investigated. Results showed that diazinon and chlorothalonil were moderately sorbed [K(OC) (soil organic carbon distribution coefficient) from 732 to 2.45 x 10(3) mL g(-1)] to the sediments, and their sorption was mainly attributable to organic matter content, whereas chlorpyrifos and pendimethalin were strongly sorbed (K(OC) > or = 7.43 x 10(3) mL g(-1)) to the sediments, and their sorption was related to both organic matter content and sediment texture. The persistence of diazinon and chlorpyrifos was moderate under aerobic conditions (half-lives = 8 to 32 d), and increased under anaerobic conditions (half-lives = 12 to 53 d). In contrast, chlorothalonil and pendimethalin were quickly degraded under aerobic conditions with half-lives < 2.8 d, and their degradation was further enhanced under anaerobic conditions (half-lives < 1.9 d). The strong sorption of chlorpyrifos and pendimethalin by the sediments suggests that the practice of recycling nursery runoff would effectively retain these compounds in the recycling pond, minimizing their offsite movement. The prolonged persistence of diazinon and chlorpyrifos, however, implies that incidental spills, such as overflows caused by storm events, may contribute significant loads of such pesticides into downstream surface water bodies.     

Soil organic carbon and nitrogen accumulation in plots of rhizoma perennial peanut and bahiagrass grown in elevated carbon dioxide and temperature

Carbon sequestration in soils might mitigate the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Two contrasting subtropical perennial forage species, bahiagrass (BG; Paspalum notatum Flügge; C4), and rhizoma perennial peanut (PP; Arachis glabrata Benth.; C3 legume), were grown at Gainesville, Florida, in field soil plots in four temperature zones of four temperature-gradient greenhouses, two each at CO2 concentrations of 360 and 700 micromol mol(-1). The site had been cultivated with annual crops for more than 20 yr. Herbage was harvested three to four times each year. Soil samples from the top 20 cm were collected in February 1995, before plant establishment, and in December 2000 at the end of the project. Overall mean soil organic carbon (SOC) gains across 6 yr were 1.396 and 0.746 g kg(-1) in BG and PP, respectively, indicating that BG plots accumulated more SOC than PP. Mean SOC gains in BG plots at 700 and 360 micromol mol(-1) CO2 were 1.450 and 1.343 g kg(-1), respectively (not statistically different). Mean SOC gains in PP plots at 700 and 360 micromol mol(-1) CO2 were 0.949 and 0.544 g kg(-1), respectively, an increase caused by elevated CO2. Relative SON accumulations were similar to SOC increases. Overall mean annual SOC accumulation, pooled for forages and CO2 treatments, was 540 kg ha(-1) yr(-1). Eliminating elevated CO2 effects, overall mean SOC accumulation was 475 kg ha(-1) yr(-1). Conversion from cropland to forages was a greater factor in SOC accumulation than the CO2 fertilization effect.     

A pipeline of tweets: environmental movements’ use of Twitter in response to the Keystone XL pipeline

Social movements often amalgamate otherwise diffuse public political interests. In recent years, social media use has allowed both groups and individuals to engage with political issues both online and offline. How do organizations use Twitter to mobilize networked publics? To what extent do groups promote both ‘connective action’ online and traditional activism offline? How do their strategies differ according to whether they seek to promote or combat the status quo? And how do they balance encouraging and reinforcing individualized expression through group messaging? The ways pro-Keystone XL pipeline and anti-Keystone XL groups differed in their Keystone-related action on Twitter from January 2010 until October 2014 are analyzed. Boolean searching and Natural Language processing are used to analyze more than three million tweets. The results demonstrate that the frames within Twitter conversations have significant implications for how communities understand, develop, and mobilize around environmental issues.     

Religion and environmental politics in the US House of Representatives

Does religion affect legislators’ behavior on environmental policy in the US? Studies of environmental policy making have not examined this question, although the literature suggests that religion might affect legislative behavior on environmental policy. This study examines the relationship between US House members’ religion and roll-call voting on environmental legislation from 1973 to 2009. It finds significant differences across religious traditions. Legislators’ party and characteristics of constituencies relevant to environmental politics increasingly, but not entirely, mediate these differences.     

Silver near municipal wastewater discharges into western Lake Ontario,Canada

Because of the widespread use of silver nanoparticles in commercial products, discharges of municipal wastewater may be a point source of silver in the aquatic environment. We monitored two sites in western Lake Ontario impacted by discharges from wastewater treatment plants serving the City of Toronto. Concentrations of silver were elevated in bottom sediments and suspended sediments collected at the two sites. We also deployed two types of passive samplers in the water column at the two sites, the newly developed Carbon Nanotube Integrative Samplers for monitoring “CNIS-labile” silver and Diffusive Gradient in Thin Film samplers for monitoring “DGT-labile” silver. Results from these passive samplers indicated that the concentrations of silver at the two sites were either below detection limits or were in the ng/L range. In laboratory experiments where the sediments were re-suspended in Milli-Q water, a small proportion of the silver (i.e., <?25%) was labile and partitioned as colloidal or dissolved silver into the liquid phase after agitation. Nanoparticles tentatively identified as silver nanoparticles were detected by single-particle ICP-MS in suspension after agitation of both suspended and bottom sediments. Therefore, there is a need to assess whether silver species, including silver nanoparticles are transported from wastewater treatment plants into sediments in the aquatic environment. This study is unique in focusing on the in situ distribution of silver in natural waters and in sediments that are potentially impacted by urban sources of nanoparticles.     

Probability analyses of combining background concentrations with model-predicted concentrations

In order to calculate total concentrations for comparison to ambient air quality standards, monitored background concentrations are often combined with model predicted concentrations. Models have low skill in predicting the locations or time series of observed concentrations. Further, adding fixed points on the probability distributions of monitored and predicted concentrations is very conservative and not mathematically correct. Simply adding the 99th percentile predicted to the 99th percentile background will not yield the 99th percentile of the combined distributions. Instead, an appropriate distribution can be created by calculating all possible pairwise combinations of the 1-hr daily maximum observed background and daily maximum predicted concentration, from which a 99th percentile total value can be obtained. This paper reviews some techniques commonly used for determining background concentrations and combining modeled and background concentrations. The paper proposes an approach to determine the joint probabilities of occurrence of modeled and background concentrations. The pairwise combinations approach yields a more realistic prediction of total concentrations than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) guidance approach and agrees with the probabilistic form of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

Implications: EPA's current approaches to determining background concentrations for compliance modeling purposes often lead to “double counting” of background concentrations and actual plume impacts and thus lead to overpredictions of total impacts. Further, the current Tier 1 approach of simply adding the top ends of the background and model predicted concentrations (e.g., adding the 99th percentiles of these distributions together) results in design value concentrations at probabilities in excess of the form of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.     

Comparative statistical study of hourly precipitation determined by radar-based Stage IV and ground-based methods in the North Central United States

Detailed hourly precipitation data are required for long-range modeling of dispersion and wet deposition of particulate matter and water-soluble pollutants using the CALPUFF model. In sparsely populated areas such as the north central United States, ground-based precipitation measurement stations may be too widely spaced to offer a complete and accurate spatial representation of hourly precipitation within a modeling domain. The availability of remotely sensed precipitation data by satellite and the National Weather Service array of next-generation radars (NEXRAD) deployed nationally provide an opportunity to improve on the paucity of data for these areas. Before adopting a new method of precipitation estimation in a modeling protocol, it should be compared with the ground-based precipitation measurements, which are currently relied upon for modeling purposes. This paper presents a statistical comparison between hourly precipitation measurements for the years 2006 through 2008 at 25 ground-based stations in the north central United States and radar-based precipitation measurements available from the National Center for Environmental Predictions (NCEP) as Stage IV data at the nearest grid cell to each selected precipitation station. It was found that the statistical agreement between the two methods depends strongly on whether the ground-based hourly precipitation is measured to within 0.1 in/hr or to within 0.01 in/hr. The results of the statistical comparison indicate that it would be more accurate to use gridded Stage IV precipitation data in a gridded dispersion model for a long-range simulation, than to rely on precipitation data interpolated between widely scattered rain gauges.

Implications:

The current reliance on ground-based rain gauges for precipitation events and hourly data for modeling of dispersion and wet deposition of particulate matter and water-soluble pollutants results in potentially large discontinuity in data coverage and the need to extrapolate data between monitoring stations. The use of radar-based precipitation data, which is available for the entire continental United States and nearby areas, would resolve these data gaps and provide a complete and accurate spatial representation of hourly precipitation within a large modeling domain.