Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/31/2006 / Greenlist Bulletin Archives: 2006 Issues / Greenlist(tm) Bulletin / Library / TURI - TURI

Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/31/2006

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.

Titles here, abstracts below them:

A Community-based Initiative to Reduce Children’s Exposure to Toxics in Household Products
Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation
Hi-Tech Textiles Take Out Toxins
Bamboo in Construction: Is the Grass Always Greener?
A Guide to Biodiversity for the Private Sector: Why Biodiversity Matters and How It Creates Business Value
Green primaries: Environmentally friendly energetic complexes
Biodiesel Research: A Bibliography and Finding Aid
Harvard Six Cities Study Follow Up: Reducing Soot Particles Is Associated with Longer Lives
Cargill Starts Up Bio-Based Polyol Production for Flexible PU Foam
Options for Conservation Program Design

1. A Community-based Initiative to Reduce Children’s Exposure to Toxics in Household Products

AUTHOR Blackman, Anne Berlin; Luskin, Jack

SOURCE Health Education, v106 n2, 2006, pp98-113

ABSTRACT Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the efficacy of a community-based outreach initiative, piloted in Worcester, Massachusetts, to reduce children’s exposure to toxic chemicals in common household products by changing parental behavior regarding product purchase and use. Design/methodology/approach – The program model was based on the premise that community health workers have the potential to deliver health education messages with particular effectiveness. Community health workers in Worcester received customized training to learn about the impact of toxic chemicals on children’s health and strategies to reduce children’s exposure to toxics in household products. The health workers then delivered this information to low-income parents in English or Spanish. Through follow-up interviews, the health workers used short surveys to collect data regarding the effect, if any, of the outreach on parental behavior regarding household product purchase and use. Findings – Parents were receptive to receiving technical information about toxics and household products from outreach workers who could convey the message at an appropriate comprehension level. Parents’ responses to the survey questions suggest that the outreach efforts increased their awareness and understanding of how toxics affect their children’s health. Research limitations/implications – Design and implementation aspects of the initiative – notably the size of the cohort recruited to the project – make it difficult to draw robust conclusions from the survey data. Nevertheless, the data do reflect at least a modest degree of parental behavior change regarding household product purchase and use. Practical implications – Outreach efforts that reach parents individually in their homes are effective at communicating targeted information but do not necessarily result in parental behavior change. As consumers, many parents need to hear the message more than once before they will change their behavior regarding product use and purchase. Originality/value – This paper describes a health education model that addresses an important but often overlooked area of risk to children’s health: their exposure to toxics in common household products.

2. Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation

AUTHOR Wilson, Michael P.; Chia, Daniel A.; Ehlers, Bryan C.

SOURCE California Policy Research Center, University of California

ABSTRACT This report makes the case that a modern, comprehensive chemicals policy is essential to placing California on the path to a sustainable future. Problems associated with chemicals are already affecting public and environmental health, business, industry, and government in California. On the current trajectory, the coming years will see these problems broaden and deepen. Correcting these problems will require much more than isolated chemical bans and other piecemeal approaches that currently characterize the Legislature’s efforts in this arena. Rather, a comprehensive approach is needed that corrects long-standing federal chemicals policy weaknesses and builds the foundation for new productive capacity in green chemistry—the design, manufacture, and use of chemicals that are safer for biological and ecological systems. This approach to chemicals policy will link economic development in California with improved health and environmental quality, but it will require a long-term commitment to leadership on the part of California policymakers. We describe initiatives by leading California businesses and the European Union (E.U.) that are already driving interest by industry in cleaner technologies, including green chemistry. Given California’s unparalleled capacity for innovation and its scientific, technical, and financial resources, a proactive response to these developments in the form of a modern, comprehensive chemicals policy could position California to become a global leader in green chemistry innovation. The report illustrates that to do so, California will need to adopt a chemicals policy that greatly improves chemical information, regulatory oversight, and support for green chemistry research, development, technical assistance, and education.

3. Hi-Tech Textiles Take Out Toxins

AUTHOR Staedter, Tracy

SOURCE Discovery News, www.dsc.discovery.com, March 8, 2006

ABSTRACT New textiles that kill bacteria and decompose harmful toxins while allowing the skin to breathe could be ready for field tests in as little as two years. The protection lies in a fabric coating that consists of destroyer molecules formulated at the University of California, Davis that were grafted onto porous membranes developed at Cornell University. "They will do double-duty work," said U.C.-Davis professor Gang Sun, who has partnered with Kay Obendorf. Initially, the material will go toward making clothing for agricultural workers, who frequently spend hot, humid days amid pesticide-sprayed plants. Eventually, such garments could safeguard soldiers, emergency personnel, and medical workers.

4. Bamboo in Construction: Is the Grass Always Greener?

AUTHOR Malin, Nadav; Boehland, Jessica

SOURCE Environmental Building News, v15 n3, March 2006, pp1, 11-17

ABSTRACT In little more than a decade, bamboo flooring has become a serious contender in the hardwood flooring market, and some believe that bamboo plywood is next. Lauded in environmental circles for its quick growth and the fact that it can be harvested without harming the plant, bamboo seems almost too good to be true. In fact, like any product, it has its downsides. “There is a lot of mythology about bamboo,” says Manuel Ruiz-Perez, professor of ecology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, who has been researching bamboo for more than ten years. “You have to be cautious.” Now that bamboo flooring has grown beyond niche market status, it is beginning to attract more scrutiny. This article explores how bamboo measures up as a building material.

5. A Guide to Biodiversity for the Private Sector: Why Biodiversity Matters and How It Creates Business Value

SOURCE International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/Content/BiodiversityGuide

ABSTRACT IFC looks at each and every environmental and social issue from two perspectives: how to manage the risk and how to secure the opportunity. These are the foundation stones of sustainable business and both require active, informed management. When addressing biodiversity, these foundation stones are obscured for many private sector companies. Biodiversity is a broad term, subject to different definitions and different value interpretations, depending on whom you ask. It is a global concept but decisions often play out at the local (at times, micro) level. Many private sector companies – including those in the emerging markets where IFC does business – understand that biodiversity is important, but also complicated: what to do is not always apparent. Helping companies operating in the emerging markets understand, manage and benefit from biodiversity is the goal of this guide. The emerging markets focus is appropriate not only for IFC, but for biodiversity too, given that emerging markets hold the majority of the world's most significant biodiversity assets. The guide provides an overview of issues surrounding biodiversity, including its importance to society and the relationship of biodiversity to business. It does not seek to be definitive: with so many excellent resources publicly available, the guide is as much about navigation as it is about advice. Where IFC does have experience to draw on, however, we do so and, as a result, the guide benefits from case studies from IFC's investment portfolio.

6. Green primaries: Environmentally friendly energetic complexes

SOURCE Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, published online before print March 27, 2006

AUTHOR Huynh, My Hang; Hiskey, Michael A.; Meyer, Thomas J.; Wetzler, Modi

ABSTRACT Primary explosives are used in small quantities to generate a detonation wave when subjected to a flame, heat, impact, electric spark, or friction. Detonation of the primary explosive initiates the secondary booster or main-charge explosive or propellant. Long-term use of lead azide and lead styphnate as primary explosives has resulted in lead contamination at artillery and firing ranges and become a major health hazard and environmental problem for both military and civilian personnel. Devices using lead primary explosives are manufactured by the tens of millions every year in the United States from primers for bullets to detonators for mining. Although substantial synthetic efforts have long been focused on the search for greener primary explosives, this unresolved problem has become a "holy grail" of energetic materials research. Existing candidates suffer from instability or excessive sensitivity, or they possess toxic metals or perchlorate. We report here four previously undescribed green primary explosives based on complex metal dianions and environmentally benign cations, (cat)2[MII(NT)4(H2O)2] (where cat is NH4+ or Na+, M is Fe2+ or Cu2+, and NT- is 5-nitrotetrazolato-N2). They are safer to prepare, handle, and transport than lead compounds, have comparable initiation efficiencies to lead azide, and offer rapid reliable detonation comparable with lead styphnate. Remarkably, they possess all current requirements for green primary explosives and are suitable to replace lead primary explosives in detonators. More importantly, they can be synthesized more safely, do not pose health risks to personnel, and cause much less pollution to the environment.

7. Biodiesel Research: A Bibliography and Finding Aid

AUTHOR Barnes, Laura

SOURCE Illinois Waste Management and Research Center (WMRC)

ABSTRACT With gas prices soaring, people are looking for cheaper, renewable sources of fuel for their vehicles. Biodiesel fuel is used in diesel engines and is made from domestically available, renewable organic resources, such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Biodiesel burns cleaner (i.e. produces fewer emissions) than traditional petroleum diesel fuel and is biodegradable, making it an interesting alternative fuel option in terms of both environmental protection and U.S. energy independence. Biodiesel fuels most commonly available are really blends of biodiesel and petroleum diesel (B20, or 20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel, for example). An American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard does exist for biodiesel (ASTM D6751). Based upon that standard, only pure (100%) biodiesel should be referred to as such. Any blend of biodiesel and petroleum diesel is properly referred to as "biodiesel blend." The intended audience for this publication is scientists and engineers interested in the technical aspects of biodiesel formulation and use.

8. Harvard Six Cities Study Follow Up: Reducing Soot Particles Is Associated with Longer Lives

SOURCE Harvard School of Public Health, www.hsph.harvard.edu, March 15, 2006

ABSTRACT An eight-year follow up to the landmark Harvard Six Cities Study has found an association between people living longer and cities reducing the amount of fine particulate matter, or soot, in their air. The follow-up study found that an average of three percent fewer people died for every reduction of one ug/m3 in the average levels of PM2.5 fine particulate matter, defined as having a diameter of 2.5 microns or less -- narrower than the width of a human hair. This decreased death rate is approximate to saving 75,000 people per year in the U.S., said lead author Francine Laden, HSPH Assistant Professor of Environmental Epidemiology. The largest drops in mortality rates were in cities with the greatest reduction in fine particulate air pollution. The findings remained valid after controlling for the general increase in adult life expectancy in the U.S. during both the original and follow-up study periods (1979 to 1989 and 1990 to 1998).

9. Cargill Starts Up Bio-Based Polyol Production for Flexible PU Foam

AUTHOR D'Amico, Esther

SOURCE Chemical Week, March 15, 2006, v268 n9, p27

ABSTRACT Cargill says it has begun selling commercial volumes of bio-based polyols used to produce flexible polyurethane (PU) foam for automotive, furniture, and bedding applications. The move positions Cargill as the leading bio-based polyol maker for the flexible foam market, the company says. It says the bio-based polyols are an alternative to synthetic polyols, which rely on high-cost crude oil and natural gas feedstocks. There have been high technical hurdles to formulating bio-based polyols into flexible foams, and so earlier efforts to commercialize these products were focused on rigid foams and coatings, Cargill says. The company’s newly launched polyols are made through a proprietary process that can use various natural oils, including linseed, rapseed, soy, and sunflower, the company says. These polyols are the first of what will be a line of bio-based polyols across a range of urethane applications, it says.

10. Options for Conservation Program Design

SOURCE United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, March 2006

ABSTRACT A multitude of design decisions influence the performance of voluntary agricultural conservation programs. These Economic Briefs explore the implications of decisions policymakers and program managers must make about who is eligible to receive payments, how much can be received, for what action, and the means by which applicants are selected: "Greening Income Support and Supporting Green"; "Better Targeting, Better Outcomes"; "Participant Bidding Enhances Cost Effectiveness"; "Contrasting Working-Land and Land Retirement Programs"; and "Rewarding Farm Practices Versus Environmental Performance."

You are welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more information on any of these resources. Also, please tell us what topics you are particularly interested in monitoring, and who else should see GREENLIST. An online search of the TURI Library catalog can be done at http://greenlist.turi.org/ for greater topic coverage.

Compiled by the TURI Library, University of Massachusetts Lowell

This page updated Friday April 07 2006

TURI - Toxics Use Reduction Institute

Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/31/2006