Focusing on class disadvantages in relation to conditions for the development of children born and raised in impoverished families in developing countries, and on disadvantages related to education particular, this paper sought to generally outline the framework by which disadvantages are formed in the process of a child's growth. To that end, an interview survey of 16 youth of different classes was conducted in 2006 in a provincial city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and comparison of the life histories and current living conditions of the interviewed youth was attempted. Results revealed two points. First, children of impoverished families were found to suffer various disadvantages throughout their lives, from a young age to adolescence, in comparison to children of wealthy families. In addition, disadvantages for such children of impoverished families were found to be severely affected and formed by not just a dearth of resources in terms of the family's financial, cultural, and social relationships but also by societal context (production system, labor market, educational and other systems, etc.).
The environmental consequences of persistent organic pollutants (POP's) are of increasing concern due to the serious health effects on animal and humans including reproduction, development and immunological function. Several major classes of POP's, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), chlorobenzenes, chlorinated dioxins and chlorinated furans, have been identified as products of incomplete combustion (PIC's) produced in trace levels in combustion systems. A wide variety of combustion processes, ranging from power plants, industrial boilers, industrial furnaces and incinerators, to home heating devices, are believed to be potential sources of POP's. Full-scale combustion facilities can be significant sources of POP's due to the large mass flow of flue gas released from a plant. Total emissions of POP's from small combustion devices, such as wood stoves and residential oil furnaces, can also be significant due to the large numbers of existing units near high population areas. It becomes increasingly important to understand the formation of POP's from different combustion processes to identify sources of POP's and to develop strategies for their prevention and mitigation. Research on POP emissions from combustion sources conducted by EPA is largely driven by the need for regulating the emissions of hazardous air pollutants as required by Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. This paper provides a summary of EPA's research on emissions and control of POP's from combustion sources with emphasis on source characterization and measurement, formation and destruction mechanisms, formation prevention and flue gas cleaning. Laboratory experiments conducted to examine the PAH emissions from a wide variety of combustion processes, ranging from pulverized coal utility boilers to wood stoves, have shown that they exhibit widely different emission characteristics. Waste incineration research conducted by the National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division (NRMRL/APPCD) has also shown that complex mechanisms, including physical mixing and chemical kinetics, are involved in the formation of chlorinated PIC's.(1) Research has also indicated that the formation of ultra-trace levels of chlorinated-dioxins and -furans in combustion/incineration processes includes the complex interaction of several factors including temperature, chlorine content and catalyst. The beneficial effect of sulfur and sorbents for dioxin formation prevention is demonstrated. This Laboratory's effort to develop and evaluate state-of-the-art technologies for on-line measurements of PAH's, volatile PIC's, dioxins and furans is also discussed. The promising potential of applying artificial-intelligence-based control systems for improving combustion processes operating conditions as a POP prevention approach is demonstrated.
Methane is an important greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere has more than doubled since pre-industrial times. It is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but due to its shorter atmospheric lifetime (of 12 years) it is estimated that global emissions would only need to be reduced by about 8% from current levels to stabilize methane concentrations at today's levels. This is a much smaller percentage reduction than those required to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of the other major greenhouse gases, CO2 and N2O.The main source of methane emissions within the EU is the agricultural sector, where emissions arise mainly from enteric fermentation in ruminant livestock, but also from livestock manure. The other major source is landfills, while coal mining and gas production and distribution are smaller, but still significant contributions. There are a range of possible measures for the reduction of emissions from each of these sectors, varying from technological options such as the collection and combustion of landfill gas, or the recovery and use of methane from animal waste, through to more general measures, often of a longer term nature, such as a reduction in the amount of organic waste going to landfill, or a reduction in livestock numbers. For some sources there are still significant uncertainties in emission factors, which make the development and assessment of abatement options difficult. In addition, there is a lack of data on the cost-effectiveness of many actions and measures. Any strategy for reducing emissions is thus likely to need to combine measures to encourage the deployment of proven techniques, and to encourage research into the cost-effectiveness of options, and to improve knowledge of emissions factors and processes for some sources. This paper discusses the main options for the reduction of methane emissions and briefly summarizes the strategy paper recently prepared on this subject by the European Commission.
A new national standard for particulate matter (PM) in the ambient air is being developed in the United States (U.S.). Whereas the current standard applies to PM less than 10 micrometers (m) in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), the standard being developed would also address particles smaller than 2.5 m (PM2.5). To meet either the current standard of a new one, sources of both primary and secondary particles need to be inventoried and controlled. (Control of 'primary' particles, which are emitted directly into the air, involves emissions prevention or collection at the source. Control of 'secondary' particles, which are formed in the atmosphere, requires reducing emissions of precursor constituents such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and ammonia.) This paper summarizes the current knowledge on sources of primary particles in the U.S., and options for control of their emissions. Research needs and plans are briefly addressed.
Most integrated assessments conducted on complex environmental issues, such as climate change, failed to fully meet the needs of the decision makers they are intended to serve. This observation has been recognized by many practitioners over the past two decades and also has been documented by social learning research. When researchers apply assessment models as mechanistic predictive tools, they risk producing results that are not sufficiently relevant and prone to misuse in decision making. Policy-relevant assessment is more of an organic process involving researchers and the issue's stakeholders in an interactive exercise that builds understanding rather than defines truth. The chapter examines some of the shortcomings of past assessment efforts, identifies possible solutions, and provides examples of recent work on climate change and air quality planning where new approaches have been applied successfully.
This chapter presents the perspectives on future risk assessment and prevention for the control of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The production, distribution, use, and disposal of substances lead almost inevitably to their presence in the environment. The development and harmonization of risk assessment methods is a necessary prerequisite to successful risk management. Recent developments in the legislation of the European Union have accelerated the need to define the principles and practical considerations of this process. In the scope of new and existing substances, the Commission Directives laying down the principles of risk assessment have been implemented in the practice of evaluating substances. Technical guidance documents (TGDs) have been developed to provide a helpful tool in performing risk assessment and to facilitate harmonization in the technical process. The essential information for risk assessment is environmental exposure and effect data. To evaluate all possible effects a set of tools, such as emission scenarios, predictive models, and extrapolation methods, are available. These tools are based on the concept that the EU harmonized minimal set of data at base set level is sufficient for risk assessment. The results of the already developed tools are joined together in the risk assessment model for the evaluation of new chemical substances based on causality between emissions and effects.
The U.S. chemical industry's future and its key technology needs and pathways are the subject of a joint effort of the Chemical Manufacturers Association, American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Council for Chemical Research, the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, and the chemical industry to (1) provide technology vision and establish technical priorities in areas critical for improving the chemical industry's competitiveness, (2) develop recommendations to strengthen cooperation among industry, government, and academe, and (3) provide direction for continuous improvement through step-change technology. The chemical industry provides the building blocks of a modern society, and its products are essential to a broad range of manufacturing industries and service sectors. These products meet the most fundamental needs for food, shelter, and health, and they are vital to the high technology world of computing, telecommunications and biotechnology. Chemicals are a keystone of U.S. manufacturing, essential to a large range of industries, such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles, textiles, furniture, paint, paper, electronics, agriculture, construction, appliances, and services. The driving forces that are changing the nature of the business environment and impacting other industries, as well, stimulated this effort to think about the future of the chemical industry include increasing globalization, sustainability, financial performance, customer expectations, and changing work force requirements
The compact city policy was welcomed in The Netherlands as a spatial concept during the mid eighties. The compact city concept meant a strengthening of the city as a place to live and to work in. It should also be the answer to the two most important problems, the economic hart and denser populated part of The Netherlands is facing a fast urbanization of open space and a continuous increase of mobility. Therefore, it was hoped that the compact city will not only contribute to the spatial quality of the urban area and the country side. It should also have a positive effect on the environmental quality, partly because of an expected reduction of traveling distances. Although the compact city concept was embraced as the answer to major issues urban planners had to deal with in the eighties, urbanization and mobility are today more than ever issues to be dealt with. Dutch planners have to locate more than a million houses that have to be build in the near future. This enormous task confronts Dutch planners with dilemmas of the compact city concept, which is basically a conflict between spatial and environmental policy making.
Publisher Summary Recent epidemiologic studies report statistical associations between a variety of health outcomes and indicators of particulate matter (PM). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended augmenting the current PM (thoracic particle) standards with new fine particle standards. This recommendation largely resulted from the growing epidemiologic evidence for an association of health effects with indicators of the smaller size fraction of the atmospheric aerosol. Two possible indicators of the smaller size fraction for both research and standard setting are (1) fine-mode particles and (2) respirable particles. EPA scientists have preferred to use measurements of fine-mode particles in preference to measurements of respirable particles, primarily because of the significant distinctions between fine-mode and coarse-mode particles in regard to their sources, composition, and properties (physical, chemical, and biological). As a result of the increasing concern with fine-mode particles and with specific components of PM, new techniques for the measurement and analysis of aerosol mass and components are needed.
This chapter presents a discussion on European integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) application of the best available techniques (BAT) reference documents. The BAT information exchange being organized by the Commission is a legal obligation of Council Directive 96/61/EC on IPPC. Its main objective is to provide guidance for the permitting authorities within the European Union (EU) when determining BAT as required by the Directive. The Directive sets general principles governing the basic obligations of the operators of industrial installations. First and foremost among these is the obligation to take all the appropriate preventive measures against pollution. The other obligations of the operator involve waste management (prevention, recovery, and disposal), efficient use of energy, accident prevention, and the return of the site of operation to a satisfactory state upon definitive cessation of activities. Measures to prevent pollution must in particular involve BAT. Fulfillment of these obligations is ensured by means of an integrated permitting procedure in which permit applications must include information on the installation and its activities, the substances and energy used or generated, emission sources, conditions of the site, the nature and quantities of the foreseeable emissions as well as the likely environmental impact, proposed abatement techniques, measures taken for the prevention and recovery of waste, and the measures planned to monitor emissions.
This chapter discusses renewable technologies and their role in mitigating greenhouse gas warming. Human activity has led to an increased atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and other gases that resist the outward flow of infrared radiation more effectively than they impede incoming solar radiation. This imbalance yields the potential for global warming as the atmospheric concentrations of these gases increase. The chapter discusses the role that renewable and other mitigation approaches could play in ameliorating such projected warming. There are many uncertainties associated with the expected magnitude of global warming, including atmospheric sensitivity, CO2 life cycles, projected growth of CO2 emissions over time, methane lifetime, projected growth of methane emissions, use of high global warming potential compounds to replace chlorofluorocarbons, actual temperature response versus calculated equilibrium warming, and aerosol (Sulfate) cooling. The chapter examines the important greenhouse gases and their potential warming contributions and discusses the uncertainties associated with future emissions of CO2.
