Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 10/14/2005
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library, reporting a selection of recently published titles we have acquired. Our pledge is to keep the bulletin relevant to your work and brief -- no more than 10 titles. You are
welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more
information on any of the articles listed here.
- GM Crops: the Global Socio-economic and Environmental
Impact -- the First Nine Years 1996-2004. 2005
- Paper + Plastic = Coal? October 2005
- Earth System Analysis for Sustainability. October 2005
- Virginia Tech geoscientists follow arsenic from chicken
feed to streambeds. 2005
- Brominated Flame Retardants in Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment: Substance Flows in a Recycling Plant. October 2005
- Industrial Coolant Offers High-Temp 'Green' Solutions. October 2005
- Early Environmental Origins of Neurodegenerative Disease
in Later Life. September 2005
- LCAccess -- Global Directory of LCI Resources. November 2005
- Mercury in the Environment: Sources and Health Risks. 2005
- BASF Targets Printed Electronics. October 2005
1. GM Crops: the Global Socio-economic and Environmental
Impact -- the First Nine Years 1996-2004
AUTHOR Brookes, Graham; Barfoot, Peter
DATE 2005
SOURCE PG Economics Ltd,
ABSTRACT This study presents the findings of research
into the global socio-economic and environmental impact of GM crops since their
introduction in 1995. It focuses on the farm level economic effects, the
environmental ‘foot print’ resulting from changes in the use of insecticides
and herbicides, and the contribution towards reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. The analysis presented is largely based on the average performance
and impact recorded in different crops. The economic performance and
environmental ‘foot print’ of the technology at the farm level does, however
vary widely, both between and within regions/countries. This means that the
impact of this technology (and any new technology, GM or otherwise) is subject
to variation at the local level. Also the performance and impact should be
considered on a case by case basis in terms of crop and trait combinations.
Agricultural production systems (how farmers use different and new technologies
and husbandry practices) are dynamic and vary with time. This analysis seeks to
address this issue, wherever possible, by comparing GM production systems with
the most likely conventional alternative, if GM technology had not been
available. This is of particular relevance to the case of GM herbicide tolerant
(GM HT) soybeans, where prior to the introduction of GM HT technology,
production systems were already switching away from conventional to no/low
tillage production (in which the latter systems make greater use of, and are
more reliant on, herbicide-based weed control systems.) In addition, the market
dynamic impact of GM crop adoption (on prices) has been incorporated into the
analysis by use of current prices (for each year) for all crops.
2. Paper + Plastic = Coal?
AUTHOR Wood, Andrew
SOURCE Chemical Week, v167 n32,
ABSTRACT DSM says it has developed a process that
combines waste from paper mills with recycled plastic to produce fuel pellets
with the energy equivalent of coal. The pellets contain up to 60% plastic, burn
efficiently, and can fire part of their own production process, the company
says. The process has already been proven at a paper mill in the
3. Earth System Analysis for Sustainability
AUTHOR Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim; Crutzen, Paul J.;
Clark, William C.; Hunt, Julian
SOURCE Environment, v47 n8, October 2005, pp11-25
ABSTRACT In 2001, delegates from more than 100 countries
participating in the 4 major international research programs on global
environmental change endorsed the Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change, which
formally established the Earth System Science Partnership and set the stage for
what one might call a second Copernican Revolution. The very fact that the
Amsterdam Declaration resulted from an intricate cooperative process--and not
from one ingenious idea of a stand-alone intellectual giant--adequately
reflects the co-productive mode that will be instrumental for the much-debated
"new contract between science and society.''[6] Even a superficial look at
the current state and dynamics of our planet indicates that the sustainability
of modern civilization is at risk without such a contract. For today, we live
in what may appropriately be called the "Anthropocene": a new
geologic epoch in which humankind has emerged as a globally significant (and
potentially intelligent) force capable of reshaping the face of the Earth past
all recognition. An up-to-date understanding of how human actions have brought
about and are accelerating the Anthropocene is the necessary foundation for any
serious effort to harness science and technology for sustainability. The recent
reports of the world scientific community's decade-long research programs on
global environmental change and the Earth System provide such a foundation.
4. Virginia Tech geoscientists follow arsenic from chicken
feed to streambeds
DATE 2005
SOURCE Virginia Tech News
ABSTRACT What happened to the chicken when she crossed
the road is less important that what happens to what she eats when it is used
as fertilizer. Organic arsenic is fed to poultry to prevent bacterial
infections and improve weight gain. A little bit of arsenic is taken up by the
tissue and the majority of it is excreted in urine. Poultry litter -- the wood
chips, feathers, droppings, and urine from under poultry houses -- is rich in
nitrogen and phosphorous, so is a logical fertilizer. But what happens to that
arsenic? In research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Madeline
Schreiber, associate professor of geosciences in the
5. Brominated Flame Retardants in Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment: Substance Flows in a Recycling Plant
AUTHOR Morf, L.; Tremp, J.; Gloor, R.; Huber, Y.; Stengele, M.; Zennegg, M.
SOURCE Environmental Science & Technology ASAP,
released
ABSTRACT Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are synthetic
additives mainly used in electrical and electronic appliances and in
construction materials. The properties of some BFRs are typical for persistent
organic pollutants, and certain BFRs, in particular some polybrominated
diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), are
suspected to cause adverse health effects. Global consumption of the most
demanded BFRs, i.e., penta-, octa-, and decaBDE, tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA),
and HBCD, has doubled in the 1990s. Only limited and rather uncertain data are
available regarding the occurrence of BFRs in consumer goods and waste
fractions as well as regarding emissions during use and disposal. The knowledge
of anthropogenic substance flows and stocks is essential for early recognition
of environmental impacts and effective chemicals management. In this paper,
actual levels of penta-, octa-, and decaBDE, TBBPA, and HBCD in waste
electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as a major carrier of BFRs are
presented. These BFRs have been determined in products of a modern Swiss
recycling plant applying gas chromatography/electron capture detection and gas
chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. A substance flow analysis (SFA)
technique has been used to characterize the flows of target substances in the
recycling process from the bulk WEEE input into the output products. Average
concentrations in small size WEEE, representing the relevant electric and
electronic appliances in WEEE, sampled in 2003 amounted to 34 mg/kg for
pentaBDE, 530 mg/kg for octaBDE, 510 mg/kg for decaBDE, 1420 mg/kg for TBBPA
(as an additive), 17 mg/kg for HBCD, 5500 mg/kg for bromine, and 1700 mg/kg for
antimony. In comparison to data that have been calculated by SFA for
Switzerland from literature for the 1990s, these measured concentrations in
small size WEEE were 7 times higher for pentaBDE, unexpectedly about 50% lower
for decaBDE, and agreed fairly well for TBBPA (as an additive) and octaBDE.
Roughly 60% of the total bromine input determined by SFA based on X-ray
fluorescence analysis of the output materials of the recycling plant cannot be
assigned to the selected BFRs. This is an indication for the presence of other
brominated substances as substitutes for PBDEs in electrical and electronic
equipment. The presence of BFRs, in particular PBDEs in the low grams per
kilogram concentration range, in the fine dust fraction recovered in the
off-gas purification system of the recycling plant reveals a high potential for
BFR emissions from WEEE management and point out the importance for
environmentally sound recycling and disposal technologies for BFR-containing
residues.
6. Industrial Coolant Offers High-Temp 'Green' Solutions
DATE 2005
SOURCE Wire Journal, v38 n10, October 2005, p78
ABSTRACT U.S.-based Harry Miller Corp. has introduced a
new semi-synthetic coolant, Kleerkut(r) 4900, for industrial machining and
grinding applications that it said is specially designed to meet the demands of
high-temperature alloys, stainless steel and titanium processes. The product, a
press release said, increases coolant longevity through exceptional bacterial
resistance, reduces the need for additional chemical additives and lowers the
volume of industrial chemical waste that must be handled.
7. Early Environmental Origins of Neurodegenerative Disease
in Later Life
AUTHOR Landrigan, Philip J.; Sonawane, Babasaheb;
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, v113 n9,
September 2005, pp1230-1233
ABSTRACT Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease
(AD), the two most common neurodegenerative disorders in American adults, are
of purely genetic origin in a minority of cases and appear in most instances to
arise through interactions among genetic and environmental factors. In this article
we hypothesize that environmental exposures in early life may be of particular
etiologic importance and review evidence for the early environmental origins of
neurodegeneration. For PD the first recognized environmental cause, MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine),
was identified in epidemiologic studies of drug abusers. Chemicals
experimentally linked to PD include the insecticide rotenone and the herbicides
paraquat and maneb; interaction has been observed between paraquat and maneb.
In epidemiologic studies, manganese has been linked to parkinsonism. In
dementia, lead is associated with increased risk in chronically exposed
workers. Exposures of children in early life to lead, polychlorinated biphenyls,
and methylmercury have been followed by persistent decrements in intelligence
that may presage dementia. To discover new environmental causes of AD and PD,
and to characterize relevant gene–environment interactions, we recommend that a
large, prospective genetic and epidemiologic study be undertaken that will
follow thousands of children from conception (or before) to old age. Additional
approaches to etiologic discovery include establishing incidence registries for
AD and PD, conducting targeted investigations in high-risk populations, and
improving testing of the potential neurologic toxicity of chemicals.
8. LCAccess -- Global Directory of LCI Resources
AUTHOR Skone, Timothy J.; Curran, Mary Ann
SOURCE Journal of Cleaner Production, v13 n13-14,
November-December 2005, pp1345-1350
ABSTRACT LCAccess is an EPA-sponsored web-site intended
to promote the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in business decision-making
by facilitating access to data sources that are useful in developing a life
cycle inventory (LCI). While LCAccess does not itself contain data, it is a
searchable global directory of potential data sources. In addition to directing
users to relevant data sources, LCAccess also serves as a central source for
LCA information. To find the LCAccess web-site go to: http://www.epa.gov/ORD/
NRMRL/lcaccess. LCAccess is soliciting organizations that have completed
LCI/LCA studies to provide their data sources for reference in LCAccess.
9. Mercury in the Environment: Sources and Health Risks
AUTHOR Schierow, Linda-Jo
DATE 2005
SOURCE Congressional Research Service (CRS)
ABSTRACT Concern about mercury in the environment has
increased in recent years due to emerging evidence that exposure to low levels
of mercury may harm the developing nervous systems of unborn children. At least
five bills in the 109th Congress aim to reduce mercury emissions from
coal-fired electric utilities. The various proposals and a final regulation
promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 15,
2005, differ in how much and how soon emission reduction would be required, and
in whether reductions would be achieved through controls at each plant or
through a nationwide cap and trade system. The latter approach could allow
individual plants to continue emitting current levels of mercury, potentially
worsening conditions at nearby “hot spots.” Analysis of competing proposals
raises questions about the sources, fate, and toxicity of mercury in the
environment. This CRS report provides background information about mercury and
summarizes recent scientific findings.
10. BASF Targets Printed Electronics
DATE 2005
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, v268 n11, 3-9 October
2005, p7
ABSTRACT BASF future business subsidiary announced that
it is jointly developing lead-edge printed electronics technology with Lucent
Technologies Bell Labs and Chemnitz, Germany-based Printed Systems GmbH. The
new technology will be based on organic semiconductors that have a variety of
applications and is expected to be cheaper and less complex than traditional
silicone-based processes currently used to manufacture integrated circuits. The
companies recently completed the production of the first fully printed ring
oscillator that is mass-producible at a low cost.
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