Measures Of Environmental Performance And Ecosystem Condition

Author : National Academy of Engineering
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1999-05-19
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309175739

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Measures of Environmental Performance and Ecosystem Condition by National Academy of Engineering Pdf

When Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969, no environmental measurements were necessary to know the seriousness of the problem. Incidents like the Cuyahoga fire raise an important question: Can catastrophes-in-the-making be detected early enough to be prevented? For those in industry, such disasters point to the need for measures that can improve the environmental performance of processes, products, business practices, and linked industrial systems. In Measures of Environmental Performance and Ecosystem Condition, experts share their insights on environmental metrics. The volume explores the most productive relationship between measures of environmental performance and measures of ecosystem conditions. It reviews current approaches, evaluates structures for business decisionmaking, and includes a matrix for determining the environmental performance of industrial facilities. Case studies include: Development and application of a water-quality rating scheme for streams and reservoirs in the Tennessee Valley. Three years of successful experience with waste metrics at 3M. The book covers the range of environmental performance and condition metrics, from the use of material flow data to monitor environmental performance at the national level to the use of bioassays to measure the toxicity of industrial effluents. This book offers something for everyoneâ€"policymakers, executives, engineers, managers, and advocatesâ€"with a stake in the measurement of environmental performance and ecological conditions.

Author : Laura E. Jackson,Janis C. Kurtz,William S. Fisher
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 116 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Ecological risk assessment
ISBN : UCSD:31822041178161

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Evaluation Guidelines for Ecological Indicators by Laura E. Jackson,Janis C. Kurtz,William S. Fisher Pdf

Author : National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council,Committee on Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1999-08-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309173001

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Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics by National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council,Committee on Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics Pdf

Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics is a corporate-focused analysis that brings clarity and practicality to the complex issues of environmental metrics in industry. The book examines the metrics implications to businesses as their responsibilities expand beyond the factory gateâ€"upstream to suppliers and downstream to products and services. It examines implications that arise from greater demand for comparability of metrics among businesses by the investment community and environmental interest groups. The controversy over what sustainable development means for businesses is also addressed. Industrial Environmental Performance Metrics identifies the most useful metrics based on case studies from four industriesâ€"automotive, chemical, electronics, and pulp and paperâ€"and includes specific corporate examples. It contains goals and recommendations for public and private sector players interested in encouraging the broader use of metrics to improve industrial environmental performance and those interested in addressing the tough issues of prioritization, weighting of metrics for meaningful comparability, and the longer term metrics needs presented by sustainable development.

Author : National Research Council,Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources,Water Science and Technology Board,Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology,Committee to Evaluate Indicators for Monitoring Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2000-05-12
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309068451

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Ecological Indicators for the Nation by National Research Council,Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources,Water Science and Technology Board,Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology,Committee to Evaluate Indicators for Monitoring Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments Pdf

Environmental indicators, such as global temperatures and pollutant concentrations, attract scientists' attention and often make the headlines. Equally important to policymaking are indicators of the ecological processes and conditions that yield food, fiber, building materials and ecological "services" such as water purification and recreation. This book identifies ecological indicators that can support U.S. policymaking and also be adapted to decisions at the regional and local levels. The committee describes indicators of land cover and productivity, species diversity, and other key ecological processesâ€"explaining why each indicator is useful, what models support the indicator, what the measured values will mean, how the relevant data are gathered, how data collection might be improved, and what effects emerging technologies are likely to have on the measurements. The committee reviews how it arrived at its recommendations and explores how the indicators can contribute to policymaking. Also included are interesting details on paleoecology, satellite imagery, species diversity, and other aspects of ecological assessment. Federal, state, and local decision-makers, as well as environmental scientists and practitioners, will be especially interested in this new book.

Author : Shabeg S. Sandhu,Laura Jackson,Kay Austin,Jeffrey Hyland,Brian D. Melzian,Kevin Summers
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 593 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401149761

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Monitoring Ecological Condition at Regional Scales by Shabeg S. Sandhu,Laura Jackson,Kay Austin,Jeffrey Hyland,Brian D. Melzian,Kevin Summers Pdf

The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program was created by EPA to develop the capability for tracking the changing conditions of our natural resources and to give environmental policy the advantages ofa sound scientific understanding of trends. Former EPA Administrators recognized early that contemporary monitoring programs could not even quantify simple unknowns like the number of lakes suffering from acid rain, let along determine if national control policies were benefiting these lakes. Today, adding to acidification impacts are truly complex problems such as determining the effects of climate change, of increases in ultraviolet light, toxic chemicals, eutrophication and critical habitat loss. Also today, the Government Performance and Results Act seeks to have agencies develop performance standards based on results rather than simply on levels of programmatic activities. The charge to EMAP of ecosystems is, therefore, the same today as it was a with respect to measuring the condition decade ago. We welcome the increasing urgency for sound scientific monitoring methods and data by efforts to protect and improve the environment. Systematic nationwide monitoring of natural resources is more than anyone program can accomplish, however. In an era of declining budgets, it is crucial that monitoring programs at all levels of government coordinate and share environmental data. EMAP resources are dwarfed by the more than $500 million spent on federal monitoring activities each year.

Author : Sven E. Jorgensen,Fu-Liu Xu,Robert Costanza
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 472 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2005-01-27
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0203490185

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Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health by Sven E. Jorgensen,Fu-Liu Xu,Robert Costanza Pdf

The field of ecosystem health explores the interactions between natural systems, human health, and social organization. As decision makers require a sound, modular approach to environmental management and sustainable development, ecosystem health assessment indicators are increasingly used across any number of applications. The Handbook of Ecologic

Author : National Academy of Engineering
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 1998-09-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309063555

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The Ecology of Industry by National Academy of Engineering Pdf

This volume provides insights into the environmental practices of five industry sectors: materials processing, manufacturing, electric utilities, and pulp and paper. The ecology of industry is presented in terms of systems of production and consumption, taking into account the flows of material, energy, capital, and information. The book examines ways to improve the environmental performance of these industries (and others, such as the service sector) and shows how decisions made by industry managers can leverage systemic environmental improvements elsewhere in the economy.

Author : Sven Jørgensen,Liu Xu,Robert Costanza
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-19
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781439858516

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Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health by Sven Jørgensen,Liu Xu,Robert Costanza Pdf

Continuing in the tradition of its bestselling predecessor, the Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health, Second Edition brings together world-class editors and contributors who have been at the forefront of ecosystem health assessment research for decades, to provide a sound approach to environmental management and sust

Author : OECD
Publisher : OECD Publishing
Page : 154 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2022-04-22
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9789264449268

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OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Norway 2022 by OECD Pdf

This is the fourth Environmental Performance Review of Norway. It provides an independent, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s environmental performance over the past decade.

Author : H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2002-09-09
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0521525721

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The State of the Nation's Ecosystems by H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment Pdf

We all rely on a familiar set of indicators - interest rates, unemployment, inflation, the Dow Jones index, and GDP, for example - to gauge the performance of national economies. No such measures are currently available to describe the environment. This book lays out a blueprint for periodic reporting on the condition and use of ecosystems in the United States. Developed by experts from businesses, environmental organizations, universities, and federal, state, and local government agencies, it is designed to provide policymakers and the general public with a succinct and comprehensive - yet scientifically sound and non-partisan - view of 'how we are doing'. This book should prove invaluable for decision makers in natural resource management and environmental policy in government and environmental organizations, businesses, and trade associations; academics with a research or teaching interest in environmental issues; and the general public interested in the continued well-being of American ecosystems.

Author : Matthew Frederick Coombs
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2008-01-01
Category : Aquatic ecology
ISBN : 0778573443

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Indicators for Assessing Environmental Performance of Watersheds in Southern Alberta by Matthew Frederick Coombs Pdf

This document provides information concerning the environmental performance of watersheds in southern Alberta, which are significant because the land base of watersheds acts as a catchment for precipitation. As a result, whatever occurs on this land base ultimately affects the quantity and quality of surface water running off the land into the streams, rivers, and lakes as well as the underlying groundwater. This report identifies generic condition and pressure indicators for land, water quantity, water quality, and aquatic and riparian ecosystems and explains how these indicators are linked to environmental outcomes.--Includes text from document.

Author : Daniel H. McKenzie,D. Eric Hyatt,V. Janet McDonald
Publisher : Springer
Page : 858 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781461546597

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Ecological Indicators by Daniel H. McKenzie,D. Eric Hyatt,V. Janet McDonald Pdf

Today environmental problems of unprecedented magnitude confront planet earth. The sobering fact is that a whole range of human activities is affecting our global environment as profoundly as the billions of years of evolution that preceded our tenure on Earth. The pressure on vital natural resources in the developing world and elsewhere is intense, and the destruction of tropical forests, wildlife habitat, and other irreplaceable resources, is alarming. Climate change, ozone depletion, loss of genetic diversity, and marine pollution are critical global environmental concerns. Their cumulative impact threatens to destroy the planet's natural resources. The need to address this situation is urgent. More than at any previous moment in history, nature and ecological systems are in human hands, dependent on human efforts. The earth is an interconnected and interdependent global ecosystem, and change in one part of the system often causes unexpected change in other parts. Atmospheric, oceanic, wetland, terrestrial and other ecological systems have a finite capacity to absorb the environmental degradation caused by human behavior. The need for an environmentally sound, sustainable economy to ease this degradation is evident and urgent. Policies designed to stimulate economic development by foregoing pollution controls both destroy the long-term economy and ravage the environment. Over the years, we have sometimes drawn artificial distinctions between the health of individuals and the health of ecosystems. But in the real world, those distinctions do not exist.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 72 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Environmental monitoring
ISBN : MINN:30000001367931

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Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program by Anonim Pdf

Author : John C. Dernbach
Publisher : Environmental Law Institute
Page : 1038 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Law
ISBN : 1585760366

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Stumbling Toward Sustainability by John C. Dernbach Pdf

In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the nations of the world agreed to implement an ambitious plan for ecologically sustainable human development. This book is a comprehensive review of U.S. efforts to achieve such development since Rio. The U.S. has unquestionably begun to take steps toward sustainable development. Yet the nation is now far from being a sustainable society, and in many respects is farther away than it was in 1992. Nevertheless, legal and policy tools are available to put the U.S. on a direct path to sustainability. This book brings together 42 distinguished experts from a variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines. It is among the most thorough assessments ever conducted of U.S. law and policy concerning the environment.

Author : OECD
Publisher : OECD Publishing
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2001-08-27
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9789264193499

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OECD Environmental Indicators Towards Sustainable Development 2001 by OECD Pdf

This publication measures environmental performance and progress towards sustainable development.