Engineers and scientists have made great progress in advancing the understanding of the principles underlying environmental quality and public health. However, all too often, society and the scientific community do not realize the connections between environmental occurrences. In their haste to remedy a situation, they overlook lessons that could be learned to prevent future disasters. Paying attention to the past instructs us about the future.
Paradigms Lost combines the historical case perspective with credible and sound scientific explanations of key environmental disasters and problems. The author sorts through natural disasters and human mistakes from Love Canal, New York to Bhopal, India to provide larger lessons that can be applied by scientists, engineers and public safety officials. The analysis of these events includes viable alternatives for future generations.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Vallero's engaging, accessible prose mostly avoids the stiffness that often pervades books of this type, making it easier to digest the technical context and analysis.? --Civil Engineering, March 2006
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Elsevier Science & Technology
Zielgruppe
Für Beruf und Forschung
Environmental Engineers, Civil Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Chemists, Plant Managers, Public Safety Administrators, Lawyers, Surveyors, Petroleum Engineers, Waste Managers, Military Personnel,
Government Agencies (EPA, FEMA)
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 152 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7506-7888-9 (9780750678889)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Professor Daniel A. Vallero is a renowned environmental scientist and engineer with four decades of experience. He has advised U.S. government agencies on critical issues like PBTs, climate change, acid rain, and chemical risks. At Duke University, he led the Engineering Ethics program and taught courses on air pollution, sustainable design, and ethics. Vallero has served on the National Academy of Engineering's Online Ethics Committee and the National Institute of Engineering Ethics. An expert in emerging technologies, he focuses on societal, ethical, and public health challenges related to nanotechnology and environmental biotechnology. His work also encompasses emergency response and homeland security, making him a leading voice in environmental risk and ethics.
Part I: New Science and New Paradigms
Lessons Learned: A Case Approach to Environmental Problems
Pollution Revisited
Part II: Key Environmental Events in Media
Something in the Air
Watershed Events
Landmark Cases
By Way of Introduction
Environmental Swords and Damocles
Part III: Other Paradigms
Dropping Acid and Heavy Metal Reactions
Spaceship Earth
Myths and Ideology: Perception versus Reality
Just Environmental Decisions, Please
Part IV: What is Next?
Bottom Lines and Top of the Head Guesses
Appendix 1: Equilibrium
Appendix 2: Government Reorganizations Creating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Appendix 3: Reliability in Environmental Decision Making
Appendix 4: Principles of Environmental Persistence
Appendix 5: Cancer Slope Factors
Appendix 6: Equations for Calculating Lifetime Average Daily Exposure (LADD) for Various Routs of Exposure
Appendix 7: Characterizing Environmental Risk
Appendix 8: Risk-Based Contaminant Cleanup Example
Appendix 9: Shannon Weiner Index Example
Appendix 10: Useful Conversions in Atmospheric Chemistry
INDEX
