{"title":"Integrating placemaking concepts into Green Stormwater Infrastructure design in the City of Philadelphia","authors":"Mahbubur Meenar","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2019.1568121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2019.1568121","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is a sustainable way to manage urban stormwater. GSI projects are usually designed with little or no community involvement and provide mostly environmental and some economic benefits—if designed effectively, constructed properly, and maintained regularly. GSIs in neighborhoods viewed as vulnerable or with a significant presence of disinvestment, however, rarely serve as placemaking projects offering social benefits such as recreational and community-building opportunities for residents. This article explains the process of planning and designing GSIs with a dual agenda: stormwater management and placemaking. The planning process used Geodesign and Community Design methods. This endeavor engaged community residents, stakeholders, and environmental professionals focusing on two vacant lots in a Latinx neighborhood of the City of Philadelphia, USA. The resulting site plans show that blending unique design elements derived from dual functionalities and multiple methods is possible through a collaborative design process. This article argues that integrating placemaking concepts into GSI design processes may have a broader appeal to communities viewed as vulnerable or with a significant presence of disinvestment.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"6 1","pages":"19 - 4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89695877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Better accounting of greenhouse gas emissions from Indian coal mining activities — A field perspective","authors":"Ajay K. Singh","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2019.1564428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2019.1564428","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Fugitive methane emissions from coal mining activities have been frequently talked about in the literature due to concerns about climate change. However, indirect and direct CO2 emissions may also result from coal mining processes. The indirect CO2 emissions include those from diesel combustion from equipment while direct CO2 emissions are a relatively new area of research and have been recently brought into the purview of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) inventory guidelines. We discuss some of the preliminary results which can give some directions into the potential research areas for better accounting of greenhouse gas emissions from coal mining activities. These have been derived from practical studies undertaken at selected coal mines in India.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"43 1","pages":"36 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73736035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Health risk assessment of engine exhaust emissions within Australian ports: a case study of Port of Brisbane","authors":"S. Jahangiri, N. Nikolova, K. Tenekedjiev","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2019.1564427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2019.1564427","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Emissions from ocean-going vessels present a significant health risk to populations surrounding ports and damage the environment. Emissions from ships using heavy fuel oil include substantial amounts of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. In order to assess the risk of these emissions, a complete methodology has been developed, based on the Australian Environmental Health Risk Assessment Framework. The method includes a detailed inventory of in-port and at-sea emissions using an activity-based approach applying downwash and near-field areas from first principles equations as well as the air-shed regions from CALPUFF dispersion modeling results for Port of Brisbane in 2013. The final risk values are validated against national and European guidelines. Various health impact assessments, as well as carcinogenic and ecological effects, are discussed in depth. This study offers a significant contribution to developing a baseline measurement of the current state of risk from emissions of the ocean-going vessels visiting the port, and suggests that, given the expected development of many Australian ports in the near future, the need for continual monitoring of shipping emissions is an essential and necessary area of research.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":"20 - 35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84196325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A fight for the environment is a fight for the earth that sustains humanity","authors":"Marie C. Campbell","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2018.1544017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2018.1544017","url":null,"abstract":"Naysayers would have the world believe that the Endangered Species Act has been detrimental to the economy, in the United States and abroad. However, in the 34 years since the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the gross domestic product in the US has grown an average of 3% per year (Amadeo 2018). More importantly, according to a study completed by The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Southwick Associates 2011), the Endangered Species Act has not only protected species, it has supported and sustained economic growth. The Foundation study quantifies five economic benefits associated with natural resources conservation.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"124 1","pages":"90 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82165648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stormwater the final frontier: Exploratory study of state-level implementation of the phase II municipal stormwater program","authors":"Megan M. DeMasters","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2018.1531648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2018.1531648","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The importance of water to support all aspects of human and non-human life has led to debates over the quality of water in the United States and continues to be a salient political issue. Stormwater runoff specifically continues to be a primary source of water pollution in the US posing risks to human health and ecosystems which is further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Growing concerns over water quality due to stormwater runoff as well as mixed results on the effectiveness of the stormwater permitting program is the basis for this research. The purpose of this articles is to gain a better understanding of how the municipal stormwater program operates by examining phase II of the program. Through an exploratory case study this article seeks to understand how states develop and implement their municipal stormwater programs. Findings from this study illustrate several important lessons including that how stormwater regulations are written allows for discretion across states in how state-wide general permits are written and implemented. Second, that permits are becoming increasingly prescriptive; and third, numerous environmental and contextual factors impact how states design and implement their programs.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"22 1","pages":"112 - 128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89522776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Microalternatives – A better way of thinking about alternatives in the context of the National Environmental Policy Act","authors":"Peyton Doub","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2018.1520537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2018.1520537","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) considers a comparison of alternatives to be the heart of any environmental impact statement (EIS). However, a question arises as to whether the real value of the alternatives analysis lies in comparing the handful of alternatives actually featured in most EISs. The reality of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) practice suggests that the true value of NEPA may not lie in the formal comparison of the alternatives typically designated in the text of most EISs. Instead, most of the value may actually lie in a multitude of undocumented considerations that informally precede the actual designation of alternatives for formal analysis in the EIS text. One may think of the alternatives actually featured in an EIS as Macroalternatives, while terming the hundreds of possible planning decisions in developing and identifying these formal alternatives as Microalternatives. Few EISs document or formally present these potentially innumerable Microalternatives; in fact, a complete accounting may not even be possible. But the decisions made, both consciously and subconsciously, among possible Microalternatives may be where the greatest potential lies within NEPA practice to actually reduce environmental impacts. The discussion presented herein illustrates the concept of Microalternatives spatially, using simplistic diagrams. Consider a decision by a scientist or engineer to move a road or transmission line around rather than through a wetland while laying out an alternative project design for an alternative to be evaluated in an EIS. The scientist or engineer has reached a decision point, albeit an informal one. Various possible routes through or around the wetland can be thought of as Microalternatives. Conceptually, the various routes can be thought of as sub-alternatives, alternatives for one element (one road or transmission line) of the overall project design presented as an alternative (Macroalternative) in the EIS. Similar scenarios might include decisions among possible layouts for a parking lot to avoid or minimize encroachment into forest or archaeological sites, decisions among pond layouts to retain sediment carried in runoff, or decisions among manufacturing technologies to reduce emissions or noise. In many cases, these numerous little decision points are never formally documented as “alternatives” in the EIS, which instead typically focuses on a formal decision among overall project-design alternatives made by a senior decision-maker at the conclusion of the environmental review process. But it is the multitude of earlier little decision points where the greatest potential lies for actually avoiding or mitigating environmental impacts. This article describes the potential importance of Microalternatives in the effective implementation of NEPA. It emphasizes the importance of documenting a consideration of Microalternatives in the alternatives analysis of an EIS or EA (at least to the extent ","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"109 1","pages":"136 - 141"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79600231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Children as drivers of change: The operational support of young generations to conservation practices","authors":"C. Battisti, B. Frank, G. Fanelli","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2018.1541679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2018.1541679","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Children are the target of educational actions, both as passive subjects to whom conservation strategies are directed, and as active participants able to support operational management actions. Conservation actions driven by children can play an important role in critical social contexts where external (anthropogenic threats) and internal (organizational weaknesses) conditioning factors hinder effective protected areas management. In this article, we propose a case study where children involved in conservation practices offer operational support to overcome internal weaknesses of a park agency, motivate parks, staff and mitigate a series of anthropogenic threats. We used the “threat analysis” approach, derived by the Theory of Change, to define a causal chain linking ecosystem targets, human-induced threats, and conservation measures in a framework. We believe that conservation driven by children can be an innovative way to implement protected areas management in socially-degraded landscapes to the point of fostering local support for conservation.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":"129 - 135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89339793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genetic tagging is an effective way to monitor survival of released hatchery saugers: Conservation efforts in the Wind River, Wyoming","authors":"Daniel M. Bingham, Paul C. Gerrity, S. Painter","doi":"10.1080/14660466.2018.1531667","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660466.2018.1531667","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Released hatchery-origin fish must survive and reproduce for supplementation to recover collapsed native populations, yet monitoring fitness is challenging, because physical tags are not passed from parent to offspring. Parentage-based tagging (PBT) is a method in which all captive-bred parents are genotyped (i.e., given a molecular tag), and their wild-caught hatchery offspring are identified via genetic pedigree analysis. The sauger (Sander canadensis) is a highly migratory, freshwater percid (perch species), native to central and eastern North America. In the Wind River basin, Wyoming the species’ abundance has declined considerably since 2002, and in 2013 stakeholders initiated a hatchery program to recover the population. We estimated the statistical sensitivity and accuracy of PBT using 17 microsatellites to identify hatchery-origin saugers captured in the wild. We completed in vitro and in silico experiments that demonstrated 98% sensitivity and 99% accuracy of PBT in distinguishing hatchery- and natural-origin saugers. Moreover, our experiments showed that accuracy is robust to factors expected to decrease assignment accuracy, including highly related parents (i.e., full siblings) and differing proportions of true parents included in the analysis. This research highlights that our ability to assign parentage and estimate fitness is high, and that PBT is an effective way to monitor recovery of saugers in the Wind River, basin Wyoming.","PeriodicalId":45250,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Practice","volume":"20 1","pages":"103 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80259857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}