BORACAY: ON THE EDGE OF DISASTER

BORACAY, touted as one of the world’s best beaches, is in danger of turning into an
environmental disaster due to the spotty enforcement of sanitation and wastewater rules – a
problem further compounded by the island’s incomplete sewerage and drainage system.Just a few
weeks ago, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje
expressed alarm over the poor water quality in Boracay. This after the DENR’s
Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) office in Western Visayas reported that coliform
bacteria levels in a drainage outlet that empties into the sea in Bulabog Beach in Boracay
exceeded safety standards, reaching 47,460 most probable number (mpn) per 100 milimeter (ml).

The safe level for swimming and other human contact activities is just 1,000 mpn/100ml.The
dangerously high levels of coliform bacteria suggest that the waters off Bulabog beach are
contaminated by human and animal waste. The findings seems to confirm recent TV news
reports about the unpleasant odor in the Bulabog beach area as well as the algal bloom littering the
island’s sandy beaches.Scientists all agree that a boom in algae growth is conclusive
evidence that Boracay’s waters are becoming polluted by so-called “waste nutrients.” These
nutrients, experts say, “over-fertilize” the waters, causing algae to multiply quickly.Worried about the
negative impact of its report, the DENR-EMB’s Region 6 office quickly clarified that Boracay’s
famous White Beach, which is located on the other side of the island, is “very safe” for swimming.
The 4-kilometer long White Beach is where most resorts and known entertainment spots
are located and is considered the best area in Boracay for swimming and partying.The DENR-EMB
says the White Beach was also tested for coliform bacteria recently and the level was only 58
mpn/ml, way below the danger level. Bulabog Beach (known as the “back beach” of Boracay), on the
other hand, is not the usual swimming area of tourists and caters mostly to water sports enthusiasts
like kite boarders, jet skiers and wind surfers.

The DENR-EMB’s clarification is hardly reassuring. Are they saying it’s okay for Bulabog Beach to be
more polluted because there are less people swimming there? Or that it’s not as alarming because
it’s happening on Boracay’s not-so-posh side?Of course, the responsibility for keeping the waters of
Boracay safe and clean does not lie with DENR-EMB alone. There is a presidential task force
– which includes Paje, (Malay, Aklan) Mayor John Yap and Department of Tourism Secretary
Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr., among others – that should be on top of this situation.Paje points to the
failure of many residential and commercial establishments to connect to the sewerage lines
being operated by Boracay Island Water Company (BIWC). BIWC is a joint venture of the
Ayala-led Manila Water and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza)
that took effect in 2009.But even if these establishments wanted to, some would find it difficult if
not impossible to connect to the sewerage grid because the sewer and drainage lines in the
island have not been finished by BWIC. As a result, untreated wastewater continues to find
their way into the coastal waters.With the onset of
summer and the coming Holy Week holidays, expect the sanitation problems – and water
quality – of Boracay to get from bad to worse.Clearly, the massive influx of tourists is putting
immense pressure on the island’s inadequate sewerage infrastructure.The island’s evolution
from its backpacker roots comes with a price.It’s time for the Paje, Jimenez, Yap and the other
members of the presidential task force on Boracay to get their act together. As a first step, they
should start cracking down on houses or buildings that improperly discharge wastewater to
illegal sewers. If they don’t act quickly, the country’s showcase beach that is Boracay will be
internationally renowned as a tropical wasteland instead of a paradise.
 ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF REFINERY

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is
processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel,
asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas.[Gary et al., 1984, Leffler,
1985] The first oil refineries in the world were built by Ignacy Lukasiewicz near Jaslo, Austrian
Empire (now in Poland) from 1854 to 1856,(Frank, 2005) but they were initially small as there was
no real demand for refined fuel. Petroleum products are usually grouped into three
categories: light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naphtha), middle distillates (kerosene, diesel), heavy
distillates and residuum (heavy fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax, asphalt). This classification is
based on the way crude oil is distilled and separated into fractions (called distillates and
residuum) as in the above drawing (Leffler, 1985). Waste waters from petroleum refining consist of
cooling water, process water, storm water, and sanitary sewagewater.

A large portion of water used in petroleum refining is used for cooling which is recycled over
and over. It typically does not come into direct contact with process oil streams and
therefore contains less contaminant than process wastewater. However, it may contain some oil
contamination due to leaks in the process equipment. Water used in processing operations
accounts for a significant portion of the total wastewater. Process wastewater arises from
desalting crude oil, steam stripping operations; pump gland cooling, product fractionators reflux drum
drains and boiler blowdown (Ravenswaay, 1995). Petroleum waste management has been of
much concern in recent years since pollution from petroleum industries may lead to a variety of
impacts, risks, and liabilities environmental systems. (Huang et al.1999). The process- intensive
petrochemical industry has demanding environmental management challenges to protect water,
soil and atmosphere of the refinery pollution. Oils either used in food processing or those resulted
from petrochemical and petroleumrefining industries considered as serious types of hazardous
pollutants find their way into aquatic environments where, they completely damage the ecology of the
beach areas in addition to their high toxicity on aquatic organisms (Mendiola, et al. 1998).
Microorganisms for treatment and bioremediation purposes affords a very efficient tool for purifying
contaminated effluents and natural water (Gloges, et al. 1995). Physicochemical parameters were
determined in order to characterize the industrial effluent. These parameters included temperature,
pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solid (TSS), total solid (TS), Biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD3 ), chemical oxygen demand (COD). Characterization of the industrial effluent was
carried out before and after the treatment to determine the efficiency of the treatment. To
clean up petroleum contaminated sites, many remediation activities were undertaken in the past
decades. However, the costs for cleaning up waste on site were enormous (Cohen and Mercer,
1993; Wang and McTernan, 2002). The water used and wastewater generation in the oil refineries
in the country are noted to be greatly influenced by the type of cooling system and recirculation
cooling water system adopted. Refineries having once through cooling system due to an
enormous amount of water used because easy availability of sea water, a huge amount of valuable
hydrocarbon is lost along
water and cooling water used in a refinery. Wastewater collection and treating systems consist of
API separators, dissolved air flotation (DAF) units and of further treatment (such as an
activated sludge biotreater) are required to make such water suitable for reuse or for disposal
(Beychok, 1967). The refinery under consideration is situated in western India and is one of the
largest & energy efficient one. Its facilities include five Atmospheric Crude Distillation Units
(ADU). The major secondary units include CRU, FCCU and the first Hydrocracking unit of the
country. The total effluent so generated from these processing, amounting to 5000 m3 /d
approximately is received and after treatment it is disposed to river body. In view of the above,
monitoring and performance evaluation studies were carried out for an effluent treatment plant of a
refinery
 THE MARINE RESOURCES IN THE ARABIAN GULF

The marine ecosystems in the Arabian Gulf are the main source of protein for the
Arab societies living on the southern and western coastal area of the Gulf. For many
years, these societies have recognized the importance of the coastal zones and the
marine environment in the economies of their countries. In the four decades following
the discovery of oil in the 1950s, there have been dramatic and enormous
transformations in all spheres of life, in terms of both social and material advances in the
Gulf Counsel Cooperation (GCC) states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
and the United Arab Emirates. The clustered islands and shallow water of the Arabian
Gulf provide a rich marine habitat of mangrove forests, sea-grass beds, algae mats,
sabkha, khor (harbor), and coral areas. The total world fish harvest, including freshwater
and aquaculture, increased from 21 million tons in 1950 to about 116 million tons in
1996, which also included 23 million tons from aquaculture. However, the total catch
from the ocean has been declining since attaining a plateau at about 90 million tons in
the early 1990s. Most marine fisheries around the world are in danger of severe
depletion. In the recent past, the marine fisheries resources of the Gulf states coastal
waters have been increasingly exploited for commercial purposes. In addition, growing
marine pollution and deterioration of mangrove forests, sea-grass beds, coral reefs and
other marine habitats which serve as nursery grounds for many crustaceans and
fishhave started to cause problems for marine fisheries in the Gulf, which are catching
decreasing amounts of fish despite a rise in the number of boats and fishermen in the
region.
 HYDRAULIC FRACTURING IN WYOMING

Hydraulic fracking has become an increasingly popular method of natural gas

extraction in the United States. The United States has extensive reserves of natural gas
that can be used for commercial purposes. Large quantities of groundwater and surface
water mixed with chemical additives are pressurized and injected into well sites. This
creates cracks in shale formations which releases oil and gas that are gathered at the
surface (EPA, 2015). While this has caused economic benefits for gas drilling
companies, states, and the federal government, it has also resulted in negative
environmental impacts, turning fracking into a major issue of contention. The problem
needs to be addressed in order to satisfy each stakeholder involved in the issue.
Acknowledging the values of each stakeholder involved as well as conducting more
scientific research are the two key challenges that governments are now faced with. In
our case study, we will determine the impacts of hydraulic fracking in the state of
Wyoming, examine current governance methods, and suggest possible solutions for the
future.
 SHALE GAS EXPLORATION
Oil extraction has traditionally been performed from conventional reservoirs. However,
producers have long known shale as “source rock”—rock from which oil and natural gas
slowly migrated into traditional reservoirs over millions of years. Shale gas is natural gas
locked in layers of impermeable hard rock, shale formations. Oil shale deposits can be
considered as an immature oil field.

The development of two technologies has been decisive for the commercial success of
shale gas. One groundbreaking technology in the early 1990s achievement was the
combination of vertical with horizontal drilling, where the drill at depth (typically
≈3000 ​m)​ can be turned 90° to access horizontal shale layers where large amounts of
natural gas and oil that are usually trapped can be released by shattering the shale. The
other key technology to make shale gas economically feasible was the development of
hydraulic fracturing. The dense rock simply had to be broken up in order to reach the
trapped oil in the pores of the rock. The first experiments with hydraulic fracturing took
place in 1947. Fracking will widen the existing cracks by pumping water mixed with
proppants (mostly sand) and chemicals under high pressure. Hydraulic fracturing in
combination with horizontal drilling made the U.S. shale gas ‘revolution’ possible.

Two principal water issues associated with fracking are:

• The use of a large amount of freshwater that becomes contaminated and which can
never again be used by humans, animals or plants for any purpose, and
• ​the necessity of protecting underground water tables and surface water resources from
contamination by fracking fluids and/or migrating gas deposits.

Some 0.5–2% (by volume) of the fracking fluid is composed of a blend of chemicals,
often proprietary, that enhance the fluid's properties. Biocides and certain petroleum
products that are present in fracturing fluid are particularly hazardous chemicals that
may cause health risks that range from rashes to cancer. The chemical composition is
highly variable and consequently the toxicity of the produced water will vary a lot.A lot of
attention has been directed toward the possibility of subsurface migration of fracturing
fluids or hydrocarbons into groundwater aquifers. Low​-​permeability natural gas
resources are in geologic formations located at depths of 450–4500 m below the
surface, with natural gas wells averaging 2000 m. At these depths, the formations may
underlie drinking water aquifers, which are commonly 30–100 m below the surface.
However, there are various risks related to the handling of the fracking fluid related to:

• ​leakages from the drilling;

• ​handling of returned water–spills and accidents.
 The tiny island-nation of Nauru (pronounced NAH-roo) in the western Pacific is
the smallest and most remote republic in the world. It also is a case study in humanity's
ability to plunder its environment. Located on the equator some 500 km west of its
nearest neighbor in the Marshall Islands, Nauru has been inhabited by Polynesian
people for thousands of years. When first visited by European explorers in the
eighteenth century, the island was a lush tropical paradise of swaying coconut palms
and white coral beaches. Sailors called it Pleasant Island, but today the name is a bitter
joke. Compared to its former condition, Nauru is probably the most environmentally
devastated nation on earth. So much land has been devoured by strip-mining that
residents now face the prospect of having to abandon the whole island and move
elsewhere. What the miners sought was guano, a thick phosphate-rich layer of bird
droppings prized by industrialized countries as fertilizer. Billions of dollars worth of this
treasure have been exported, first by colonial powers and then, since independence in
1968, by the Nauruans themselves. After a century of mining, Nauru's 7500 residents
are among the richest people in the world, but their environment has been almost totally
wrecked. Eighty percent of the 21 sq km (8 sq mi) island has been stripped, leaving a
bleak, barren moonscape of jagged coral pinnacles, some as tall as 25 meters. With all
soil washed away, almost nothing lives in this wasteland. Traveling across it is
impossible. To make things even worse, removing the vegetation has changed the
climate. Heat waves rising from the sun-baked rock drive away rain clouds and the
island now is plagued by constant drought. Not only the island is ravaged. Nauruans
may be among the world's most affluent people, but they are also among the most
unhealthy, plagued by cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity brought about by a
lifestyle of idleness and imported junk food. Few islanders live past the age of 60. Since
most mining is done by imported workers, Nauruans generally lack job skills to apply
elsewhere. This case study is a sad example of how easy it is for modern technology
and lack of foresight to degrade both a society and its environment. The guano deposits
are expected to last only a few more years. After that, residents will be left with only a
restore vegetation to the desolate interior, but attempts have been unsuccessful. It may
be too late to reverse the damage. The people may be able to use some of their
accumulated trust fund to buy another island, but will they find one as comfortable and
beautiful as what they once had? One village leader says wistfully, "I wish Nauru could
be like it was before. I remember it was so beautiful and green everywhere. We could
eat coconuts and breadfruit. It makes me cry when I see what has been done. I wish
we'd never discovered the phosphate." Could Nauru's example be a warning for all of
us? Humans have a long history of depleting resources and then moving on. Could we
find ourselves in a similar situation someday, having exhausted our natural resources
but then having an uninhabitable world?
Name: Date:
Section: SR- Code:

RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN

In July 2002 the U.S. Senate voted to designate Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the
permanent resting place for 77,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste, most of it
spent fuel from the nation’s 107 nuclear power plants (see fig. 19.25). Nuclear power
proponents celebrated: After twenty years of research and lobbying, the site was finally
approved. With a repository on the horizon, plans for new nuclear plants could proceed,
and existing plants could look forward to clearing out 50,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel
currently in temporary, sometimes inadequate, storage at reactor sites. The state of
Nevada, meanwhile, immediately filed a lawsuit to stop the plan. Nevada Governor
Kenny Guinn charged that the Department of Energy (DOE) had lowered its scientific
standards for evaluating the geological integrity of the site. Opponents charged that
heavy-handed eastern politics, not sound geology, was behind the decision to put the
entire nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada. The stakes at Yucca Mountain are high. The
DOE and the nuclear power industry have invested more than $4 billion in research,
testing, and promotion of the site. The lack of permanent storage has been an obstacle
to construction of nuclear power plants since the 1980s. Further, cleanup is beginning at
old military installations, such as Hanford, Washington; and Rocky Flats, Colorado.
These are some of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites, and permanent storage is
needed for their radioactive materials. Geology is the central problem in siting a waste
repository of any kind. For high-level radioactive wastes, the DOE needed to find a site
where a labyrinth of deep tunnels could keep extremely dangerous materials isolated
and secure for 10,000 years, more than twice the length of recorded human history.
(The waste will remain highly radioactive for more than 500,000 years, but the DOE
considers itself unlikely to be responsible for the site for that long.) This time span
requires a geologically stable area—no active faults like those in California, no
volcanoes like those in Washington and Oregon. Bedrock needs to be relatively
impermeable, not riddled with underground channels and sinkholes as in Florida or parts
of Texas. There must be no groundwater, which would soak storage casks and mobilize
radioactive materials, possibly allowing tainted water to reach the surface. This rules out
the central Great Plains and most of the eastern United States, where plentiful rainfall
keeps water tables high and aquifers full. Yucca Mountain fits these requirements
better than most places in the United States. But there is conflicting evidence, and
conflicting interpretations of evidence, about whether even Yucca Mountain is good
enough. DOE geologists insist that the only aquifers in the area are
300 m below the site; other geologists say there is evidence in the rocks that aquifers
have risen in the past, suggesting that they might rise again to the level of the repository
tunnels. Revelation in 2005 that some of the hydrologic data were fake cast even more
doubt about the safety of the site. Critics of the site point out that the area has more than
30 known faults. Geologists disagree on how long these faults have been dormant, and
on how long it will be before they shift again. In addition, there are seven dormant
volcanoes in the area. While these are likely to remain dormant for 10,000 years, their
activity in several hundred thousand years is hard to predict. Opponents of the site also
worry about the potential dangers of shipping waste, potentially 28,000 truckloads and
10,000 rail cars over the site’s 30-year lifespan. Defenders point out that high-level
waste is currently stored at more than 130 temporary sites, and those sites are clearly
unsafe for the long term. Do you think Nevada should be the repository for the nation’s
nuclear waste? Should we build more nuclear plants even if Yucca Mountain turns out to
be unacceptable, given that we will have to find something to do with existing waste?
Would our economy be different today if we had waited to build nuclear power plants
until a permanent storage site was available?
 Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, a thick, acrid, gas cloud rolled through
the quiet streets of the industrial city of Bhopal, in central India. In the still night air, the
poisonous fog crept along the ground and quietly seeped into houses where families lay
asleep on mats. People awakened coughing, gasping for air, and rubbing their burning
eyes. As they emerged from their houses, they joined a panicked crowd surging through
the narrow streets trying to escape the toxic vapors. Some never made it beyond their
doorstep. Others collapsed in the street and died where they lay. Hospitals overflowed
with terrified, suffering victims, many of whom were children and older people. The
noxious gas blanketing the city was methylisocyanate (MIC), a component of the
pesticide Temik, which was being made at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Water had
gotten into a tank containing about 40 tons of MIC and set off a chemical reaction that
resulted in an explosive eruption of the toxic cloud. Control panels that should have
detected rising temperatures and pressures had been shut down for repairs. Safety
equipment that was designed to neutralize or incinerate the escaping gas had failed.
Workers blamed management for cutting corners and creating unsafe conditions.
Management blamed the staff, claiming that water must have been put in the tank by a
disgruntled worker. Morning revealed a horrifying sight. Human bodies, along with those
of dogs, cats, cows, and birds, littered the streets. Whole families perished. Hardest hit
was the crowded shantytown of Jayprakash Ngar, which lay just outside the Union
Carbide fence. Exactly how many people were killed by the poison gas will never be
known; many corpses were disposed of in emergency mass burials or cremations
without documentation. Amnesty International estimates that at least 15,000 people died
immediately, while 800,000 suffered medical problems, including chronic
obstructive lung disease, eye injuries, immune system dysfunction, nerve damage,
memory loss, cancer, miscarriages, birth defects, and impaired mental health. Families
needing medical care, but without an adult able to work, were plunged even more
deeply into poverty and misery. More than 20 years after this catastrophe, which was
probably the greatest industrial disaster in history, no one has been punished. Most of
the $470 million in compensation that Union Carbide paid to the Indian government has
yet to be distributed to the victims. The Bhopal tragedy has, however, served to alert us
to the environmental health effects of air pollution and the risks inherent in manufacture,
storage, and use of highly toxic industrial chemicals.
 For several months during the unusually dry El Niño winter of 1997-98, a thick
pall of smoke covered much of Southeast Asia. Generated primarily by thousands of
forest fires on the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sumatra, the smoke
spread over eight countries and 75 million people, covering an area larger than Europe
(fig. 1). The air quality in Singapore and the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, just across
the Strait of Malacca from Indonesia, was worse than any industrial region in the world.
In towns such as Palembang, Sumatra, and Banjarmasin, Kalimantan, in the heart of the
massive conflagration, the air pollution index frequently passed 800, twice the level
classified in the United States as an air quality emergency, hazardous to human health.
An estimated 20 million people were treated for illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis,
emphysema, eye irritation, and cardiovascular diseases, while those who couldn't afford
medical care went uncounted. The number of excess deaths from this months-long
episode is unknown. Unable to see through the thick haze, several boats collided in the
busy Straits of Malacca, and a plane crashed on Sumatra, killing 234 passengers.
Cancelled airline flights, aborted tourist plans, lost workdays, medical bills, and ruined
crops are estimated to have cost countries in the afflicted area several billion dollars.
Wildlife suffered as well. In addition to the loss of habitat destroyed by fires, breathing
the noxious smoke was as hard on wild species as it was on people. At the
Pangkalanbuun Conservation Reserve, weak and disoriented orangutans were found
suffering from respiratory diseases much like those of humans.
in the world, so fires there are of special concern. The dry season in tropical
Southeast Asia has probably always been a time of burning vegetation and smoky skies.
Tinder-dry forests are ignited by lightning or fires set by farmers to clear cropland.
Generally burning only a hectare or two at a time, traditional shifting cultivators often
help preserve plant and animal species by opening up space for early successional
forest stages. Globalization and the advent of large, commercial plantations, however,
have changed everything. Although Indonesian government officials blamed the fires on
small-scale farmers and indigenous people, environmental groups gathered evidence
that most of the burning was caused by large agribusiness conglomerates with close ties
to the government and military. Clear-cutting hardwoods for sale abroad and
burning what's left to make way for huge oil-palm plantations and fast-growing pulpwood
trees, these companies ignore forest protection laws. Altogether, a couple of dozen
businesses owned by wealthy entrepreneurs with friends in high places are thought to
be responsible for burning some 20,000 km2 (8000 mi2) in 1997, or an area about the
size of New Jersey.
 DUST BOWL DAYS

Sunday, April 14, 1935, dawned bright and clear over the city of Amarillo in the
Texas panhandle. That afternoon, however, a huge black cloud of dust appeared on the
northern horizon and quickly swept across the treeless plains. The dust swirled past,
thick as falling snow, as cars stalled in the streets and pedestrians bumped into each
other, unable to see things a few feet away. Terrified families huddled together with wet
towels over their faces and rags stuffed in cracks around windows and doors, but still
the dust seeped in. Tiny dunes formed on windowsills and doorjams and even the food
in the refrigerator was covered with dust. Is this the end of the world, they wondered.
And where did all this dirt come from? This storm became known as Black Sunday and
inspired the term "dust bowl" to describe both the decade of the 1930s and the high
plains area where it occurred. The heart of the dust bowl stretched from Texas to
Manitoba but airborne dirt was often carried as far as the East Coast. Amarillo averaged
nine serious dust storms per month from January to April - the main dust storm season -
- between 1933 and 1938. In April 1934, it had "black blizzards" on twenty-three days.
Homes, barns, tractors, and fields were buried under drifts up to 7 m (25 ft) high. These
dust storms were the worst human-caused environmental disaster the United States has
ever experienced. The social, economic, and ecological costs were immense. The Soil
Conservation Service, founded in 1935 to address this calamity, estimated that 40 billion
tons of topsoil from the heart of the world?s breadbasket had blown away on the wind.
By 1938, farm losses had reached $25 million per day and more than half the rural
families on the Southern Plains were on relief. Thousands of people died of "dust
pneumonia," while millions joined the mass migration described by John Steinbeck in
The Grapes of Wrath (1939). A prolonged drought beginning in 1931 was the immediate
cause of the dust storms, but inappropriate agricultural practices allowed erosion to
occur, exacerbating the situation. Early in the twentieth century, American farmers were
caught up in a specialized, market-driven system that encouraged all-out production and
drove out diversified, subsistence farming. During World War I, rising wheat prices,
speculators to expand cultivation into previously untouched land. Without prairie sod to
protect the soil, the land blew away when drought came back in the 1930s. To combat
wind erosion, the Soil Conservation Service sponsored research and demonstration
projects in alternative farming methods. It also helped finance shelterbelts (rows of trees
planted as windbreaks), strip-cropping, reestablishment of grass on damaged cropland,
and new tillage methods. Although it will take centuries to rebuild topsoil, most of the
visible signs of this terrible erosion have been erased and huge dust storms rarely occur
now. Still, this historic example raises questions for current generations. Have we
learned from our past mistakes? Are our agricultural policies and practices sustainable
today?
Name: Date:
Section: SR- Code:

GOLDEN RICE

Every year more than a million children die and another 350,000 go blind from the
effects of vitamin A deficiency. Can modern science help find a solution to this tragedy?
Swiss researcher Ingo Potrykus thinks so. For the past decade, Potrykus, of the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and his colleague, Peter Beyer of the
University of Freiburg in Germany, have been working on a crop that could improve the
lives of millions of the poorest people in the world. Using genetic engineering
techniques, they moved the genes that make daffodils yellow into Oryza sativa, the rice
species eaten as a staple food by about half the people in the world (fig. 7.1). The
problem is that the poorest people often live on only a bowl or two of rice per day. Rice
is low in beta carotene, the precursor for vitamin A. While rice, like all green plants,
makes light-absorbing carotenes in its leaves, no known member of the Oryza genus
stores these compounds in its seeds. Thus, ordinary techniques of plant breeding don’t
offer a way to enrich the crop. Extracting carotene genes from daffodils, and promoters
(DNA segments that regulate gene expression) from bacteria, Potrykus and Beyer
constructed a plasmid (a naked DNA loop) that was innoculated into the soil bacterium
Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The transgenic agrobacteria were then incubated with rice
embryos in a plant tissue culture medium. As the bacteria infect rice cells, they also
transfer the genes that encode instructions for making beta carotene. When the
embryos grow into mature plants, they make beta carotene in all their tissues—including
the endosperm that fills the golden rice grains. These plants can be crossbred with rice
varieties adapted to a variety of local conditions and made available to poor farmers
around the world. In 2000, after nearly ten years of work and $2.6 million in support from
the Swiss government, the European Union, and the Rockefeller Foundation, Potrykus
and his colleagues had grain ready to distribute for free to developing countries.
To their surprise, however, the researchers found themselves embroiled in heated
controversy. While they felt they had made a scientific breakthrough to save millions of
lives and incalculable suffering, bioengineering opponents regarded their creation as
unholy tinkering with nature and a sinister threat to our diet, traditional farming, and the
health of the world environment. Opponents of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
objected that this rice would be a first step toward making farmers dependent on
multinational seed producers. They also questioned whether there might be unforeseen
ecological consequences of releasing newly created plants around the world. Activists
threatened to destroy experimental crops and to mount protests against companies or
governments attempting to introduce what they considered to be “Frankenfoods,” the
unnatural creations of agricultural biotechnology. Even some who
don’t oppose genetic engineering per se argue that technological solutions aren’t the
answer to poverty and malnutrition. There are better ways, they claim, to provide a
nutritious diet to poor children. Furthermore, the families whose children are the most
likely to suffer vitamin deficiencies often are landless peasants who can’t grow the
golden grain for themselves. Will they be able to buy the new varieties, or will they
continue to subsist on the cheapest, least nutritious foods that barely keep them alive?
This dilemma illustrates the complexity of food security issues, and it raises several
important questions for environmental science. (1) Will there be enough nutritious food
for everyone in the world? (2) Will that food be safe to eat? (3) What will be the
environmental consequences of raising the food we need? Science plays an important
role in answering these questions, but it can’t be separated from controversies about
human society and access to resources. In this chapter, we’ll look at world food
supplies, hunger, nutrition, and agricultural systems that contribute to or help solve
these difficult questions.
Name: Date:
Section: SR- Code:

KILLER SMOG

London was cold and foggy on December 5, 1952. Damp, chilly air from the
English Channel blanketed the city, trapping a dense stagnant layer just above ground
level. As the 8.3 million Londoners stoked coal furnaces that heated most buildings and
fueled most industry in the city, smoke mingled with the fog to form a dark, acrid smog.
By midday, visibility dropped to a few meters. Traffic slowed to a standstill, and
pedestrians, unable to see landmarks, got lost only blocks from home. Hospitals
overflowed with people suffering from respiratory distress and cardiovascular problems.
With all beds occupied, patients on stretchers filled hallways. As the smog lingered for
three more days, visibility dropped until people couldn’t see their own feet as they
walked down the street. Abandoned cars littered the roads. People huddled in their
homes, stuffing wet rags around windows and doors trying to keep out the choking
smog. Prize cows at the Earl’s Court Cattle Show suddenly dropped dead, their lungs
black with coal smoke. Humans, also, began to die in alarming numbers. Undertakers
ran out of coffins. Several temporary morgues were set up to deal with the sudden influx
of corpses. Many of those killed were elderly, or already weak or ill, but young,
apparently healthy people also collapsed and died after only a few hours exposure to
the toxic cloud. By the time winds finally swept away the smog on December 9, more
than 4,700 people had died—three times the number for the same period the previous
year. The first government reports correctly attributed the deaths to air pollution.
Worried, however, that the public might demand costly pollution controls or cleaner-
burning fuel, the government later blamed the deaths on an influenza epidemic, even
though medical records show no increase in flu diagnoses. In a recent study of historic
documents, epidemiologists Devra Davis and Michelle Bell conclude that death rates in
London continued to be abnormally high for at least three months after the 1952
episode. Altogether, they calculate, at least 12,000 early deaths occurred because of
this killer smog, and hundreds of thousands of people suffered from asthma, heart
attacks, and other conditions aggravated by polluted air. This would make London’s
killer smog the greatest air pollution disaster in recorded history. Dirty air wasn’t new to
London. Until the twelfth century, most Londoners burned wood for fuel. As the city grew
and the forests shrank, wood became scarce and expensive. Most people
switched to abundant supplies of low-quality, bituminous coal for fuel. In 1272, Edward I
forbade burning coal in the city and threatened to execute anyone caught breaking his
ban. Lacking affordable firewood, however, most people ignored this royal proclamation
and continued to use coal. In 1578, Queen Elizabeth I complained about the foul air of
London, and in 1661, John Evelyn published Fumifugium or the Inconvenience of the
Air and Smoke of London Dissipated, in which he deplored the “clouds of smoke and
sulfur so full of stink and darkness.” Still, as the population grew, air pollution worsened.
A fog in 1879 lasted from November to March, four long months of sunless gloom.
Residents described the air as “thick as pea soup.” They complained about the bitter
smoke and darkness, but most people assumed that smoky urban air was just an
inconvenience or the cost of progress. The high number of deaths in 1952, however,
changed attitudes toward air pollution. In 1956, Parliament enacted a Clean Air Act
restricting coal use and requiring filters and scrubbers on industrial smokestacks.
Subsequently, most other industrial countries have passed similar legislation, and air
quality in the developed world has increased dramatically. Still, air pollution is probably
responsible for many health problems. In megacities of the developing world, poor air
quality remains a major health threat.
Name: Date:
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Ozone Hole Continues to Grow

December, 1998 The arrival of the Antarctic spring last September produced the
biggest ozone hole yet observed. At some 26 million square km, the ozone "hole," really
a thinning in the concentration of ozone gas in the stratosphere, reached about three
times the size of Australia, according to researchers at the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The ozone hole also lasted longer in 1998.
Developing during each Antarctic spring since the late 1970s, this ozone thinning has
generally disappeared by late November. In 1998 the ozone hole lasted into December.
The region of unusually depleted ozone has grown in size each year since it was
discovered in the early 1980s, but some reports point to hopeful evidence that the loss
of stratospheric ozone may soon start to slow. The antarctic ozone hole is a reduction in
concentration of ozone gas (O3) in the stratosphere (the layer of atmosphere between
about 20 and 40 km above the earth's surface). Ozone is an important component of the
atmosphere because it selectively absorbs the ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths of sunlight,
reducing the amount of UV that reaches the earth's surface. Too much ultraviolet light
can damage living tissues, so decreasing stratospheric ozone threatens both humans
and animals with skin diseases, including cancer. Although ozone may be thinning
worldwide, the ozone hole is especially dramatic near the South Pole for several
reasons. First, strong winds circling Antarctica isolate the atmosphere near the pole the
winter. Second, high-altitude clouds of ice crystals accumulate in the extreme cold of the
polar winter. As the sun returns in the southern spring, solar energy initiates
chemical reactions on the surfaces of these ice crystals, with ozone-depleting chemicals
such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons breaking down ozone (O3) into
molecular oxygen (O2). Toward the middle of the southern summer (November and
December) stratospheric ice clouds melt, reducing the rate of reactions breaking down
the ozone. At the same time, the strong winds circling the pole begin to weaken as the
southern atmosphere warms, and ozone-rich air from warmer latitudes begins to mix
with Antarctic air. For both these reasons, the ozone "Zhole" diminishes in the middle of
the summer. At the same time, however, the ozone-poor polar air drifts north during the
southern summer. The net effect is a gradual reduction of ozone at all latitudes. There is
some ozone thinning at the North Pole, too. However the Arctic lacks the strong, circling
winds of the Antarctic, so northern ozone loss is much less dramatic than the southern
ozone hole. Most of the worrisome ozone-depleting gases are human-made, including
the gases used in refrigerators, air conditioners, and inflating styrofoam. Production of
the most serious culprits has been phased out following an international agreement
known as the Montreal Protocol. However the gases produced and used earlier
continue to collect in the upper atmosphere. And some ozone depleting chemicals
continue to be in use. One important ozone destroyer now targeted for phasing out is
methyl bromide, a fruit fumigant (see methyl bromide link below). On the positive side,
atmospheric scientists have begun to find reduced levels of some ozonedepleting
chemicals in the atmosphere. These reductions are a heartening sign that the Montreal
Protocol may be starting to be effective in slowing the loss of ozone. Atmospheric
scientists hope that concentrations of these chemicals will drop to pre-1970 levels by the
middle of the next century. That is a long time for the ozone hole to continue threatening
the health of humans and wildlife, but it also evidence that progress may be possible
through international accords such as the Montreal Protocol.
 Soft Vinyl Toys and Medical Supplies Are soft vinyl baby toys and medical
products safe or should they be banned?
Rival groups on opposite sides of this question have recently issued numerous
reports denouncing each other and attacking the motives, methods, integrity, and
conclusions of their opponents. How can we know whom to believe or what to do? At
stake in this controversy is a wide range of useful products ranging from medical IV
bags, catheters, disposable gloves, and surgical equipment, to squeezable children’s
toys, baby bottles, rattles, and teething rings. What these things have in common is that
they are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) softened with phthalate (pronounced
“thalate”) plasticizers. There are many phthalates, but the two most common are di (2-
ethyl-hexyl) phthalate (DEHP)—found generally in medical devices—and diisononyl
phthalate (DINP), which is used primarily in baby toys. These compounds can make up
as much as half the weight of some soft vinyls. Because plasticizers don’t bind
chemically to the polymer, they can diffuse out of the final product under the right
conditions. Both DEHP and DINP are known to be toxic at high doses to laboratory
animals, having been linked to a variety of illnesses including reproductive abnormalities
as well as kidney and liver damage and possibly some cancers. In addition, these
phthalates are known to disrupt important endocrine hormone functions in laboratory
animals. The question is whether high enough levels of plasticizers are likely to leech
out of PVC products to be dangerous. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, there is little to fear. “Based on scientific studies currently available,” they
reported, “the staff concludes that few, if any, children are at risk from liver or other
organ toxicity from the release of DINP from these products. This is because the amount
they might ingest does not reach a level that would be harmful.” They also suggested,
however, that we should “continue to work on better estimates of the amount of
phthalate released when products are mouthed by children.”
Consumer pressure and fears of lawsuits have lead many manufacturers to quickly pull
soft PVC products—especially baby toys and teethers—off store shelves. Most soft
plastics in stores today are polyethylene or polypropylene, which do not contain
plasticizers. What do you think of this debate? Are manufacturers caving in to mass
hysteria, or should they have known better than to expose us to soft PVC in the first
place? How would you evaluate the claims of the various sides of this argument? Can
you think of reasons that one side or the other might be trying to mislead you? What
additional information would you need to make an informed judgment about the safety of
soft PVC?
 A plastic sack manufacturer in Bangalore has managed to find the ideal solution
to the ever-increasing problem of accumulating plastic waste. Ahmed Khan, aged 57
years old, has been producing plastic sacks for 20 years. About 8 years ago, he realised
that plastic waste was a real problem. Polyblend, a fine powder of recycled modified
plastic, was developed then by his company. This mixture is mixed with the bitumen that
is used to lay roads. In collaboration with R.V.College of Engineering and the Bangalore
City Corporation, Ahmed Khan proved that blends of Polyblend and bitumen, when used
to lay roads, enhanced the bitumen’s water repellant properties, and helped to increase
road life by a factor of three. The raw material for creating Polyblend is any plastic film
waste. So, against the price of Rs. 0.40 per kg that rag pickers had been getting for
plastic waste, Khan now offers Rs.6. Using Khan’s technique, by the year 2002, more
than 40 kms of road in Bangalore has already been laid. At this rate, Khan will soon be
running short of plastic waste in Bangalore, to produce Polyblend.

Integrated organic farming is a cyclical, zero-waste procedure, where waste products

from one process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes. This allows the
maximum utilisation of resource and increases the efficiency of production. Ramesh
Chandra Dagar, a farmer in Sonipat, Haryana, is doing just this. He includes bee-
keeping, dairy management, water harvesting, composting and agriculture in a chain of
processes, which support each other and allow an extremely economical and
sustainable venture. There is no need to use chemical fertilisers for crops, as cattle
excreta (dung) are used as manure. Crop waste is used to create compost, which can
be used as a natural fertiliser or can be used to generate natural gas for satisfying the
energy needs of the farm. Enthusiastic about spreading information and help on the
practice of integrated organic farming, Dagar has created the Haryana Kisan Welfare
Club, with a current membership of 5000 farmers.
 ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER

When we think of water pollution, we usually visualize sewage or industrial effluents

pouring out of a discharge pipe, but there are natural toxins that threaten us as well.
One of these is arsenic, a common contaminate in drinking water that may be poisoning
millions of people around the world. Arsenic has been known since the fourth century
B.C. to be a potent poison. It has been used for centuries as a rodenticide, insecticide,
and weed killer, as well as a way of assassinating enemies. Because it isn’t metabolized
or excreted from the body, arsenic accumulates in hair and fingernails, where it can be
detected long after death. Napoleon Bonaparte was recently found to have high enough
levels of arsenic in his body to suggest he was poisoned. Perhaps the largest
population to be threatened by naturally occurring groundwater contamination by
arsenic is in West Bengal, India, and adjacent areas of Bangladesh. Arsenic occurs
naturally in the sediments that make up the Ganges River delta (see map). Rapid
population growth, industrialization, and intensification of agricultural irrigation, however,
have put increasing stresses on the limited surface-water supplies. Most surface water
is too contaminated to drink, so groundwater has all but replaced other water sources for
most people in this region.
In the 1960s, thousands of deep tube wells were sunk throughout the region to improve
water supplies. Much of this humanitarian effort was financed by loans from the World
Bank. At first, villagers were suspicious of well water, regarding it as unnatural and
possibly evil. But as surface-water supplies diminished and populations grew, Bengal
and Bangladesh became more and more dependent on this new source of supposedly
fresh, clean water. By the late 1980s, health workers had become aware of widespread
signs of chronic arsenic poisoning among villagers. Symptoms include watery and
inflamed eyes, gastrointestinal cramps, gradual loss of strength, scaly skin and skin
tumors, anemia, confusion, and eventually death.
Name: Date:
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VICTORIA’S SEWAGE PROBLEM

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is currently working through a wicked problem
involving their sewage system which has been dumping raw sewage into the waters off
the coast of Victoria for over 100 years. There are three outfall pipes discharging
preliminary treated sewage into the ocean (Berman, 2015), which means it is simply
screened of large solids and not treated in any way (Pescod, 1992).

This lack of treatment has led to much discontent within Victoria and in other regional
areas, such as Washington State, USA. Many stakeholders believe that a new sewage
treatment plant must be built to treat Victoria’s sewage waste, and others add that this
treatment facility should perform tertiary treatment rather than only secondary treatment
of the sewage discharge (Berman, 2015; Pescod, 1992). Among proponents for the
plant are local citizens, scientists, environmentalists, as well as governments at federal
and provincial levels. Many people disagree on the level of impact that this untreated
sewage discharge has on local waters. Some say the environment is largely unaffected
(e.g. Chapman, 2009), while others point to the excessive sedimentation in the waters
around the discharge outflow pipes (e.g. Skwarok, 2013). The effect that this nutrient
rich discharge may have on the environment is under scientific investigation.
Krepakevich and Pospelova (2010) show that discharge near the two preliminary-
treated sewage outflows (labelled “B” and “C” on the bottom map in Figure 1) are
correlated with elevated levels of species indicative of eutrophication. Where the
wastewater discharge underwent secondary treatment (labelled “A” on the top map in
Figure 1), these species were not prevalent. Toxic species were also present near all
outflows (Krepakevich & Pospelova, 2010).
 A FLOOD OF PIGS:

NC Aquatic Dead zone from floods after Hurricane Floyd Eastern North Carolina North
Carolina, the US' leading hog producing states, is also home to the nation's highest
concentration of hog manure-holding lagoons in a flood plain. In October 1999 those
lagoons washed out in the flooding following Hurricane Floyd. The waste, mixed with the
floating bodies of between 30,000 and 100,000 dead hogs, and with waste from flooded
sewage plants, choked coastal rivers and washed into Pamlico and Core Sounds. There
the waste created a 350-square mile dead zone, devoid of oxygen and of life, in the
nation's second largest estuary. The state's $1 billion fishing industry is expected to
suffer severely as a result of the flooding. No one was surprised when the manure
lagoons washed out. Statistically, North Carolina receives heavy rains and flooding after
hurricanes as often as any other state on the eastern seabord. At the same time, the
state has had explosive growth in the hog producing industry, producing
10 million animals a year by 1999. Many of the hog producers are located on the flat,
flood-prone coastal plains and the river flats of eastern North Carolina. Environmental
regulations on waste management are relatively lenient. Hogs are raised in barns
holding thousands of animals each-many farms produce more waste than a small city.
Each of these farms would warrant a full-scale sewage treatment facility if it were a city.
Because these facilities are agricultural, though, they are overseen by the Department of
Agriculture, which requires little or no processing or purification of waste materials.
Liquid manure is normally spread on fields, where growing vegetation, ideally, takes up
the excess nitrogen before it washes into groundwater or surface waterways. Every year
there are dozens of significant lagoon spills, some of which have resulted in major fish
kills. The floods after Floyd were only the most recent and most serious in a long series
of lagoon spill catastrophes.
 A Vietnamese mangrove draped with polythene, a whale killed after swallowing
waste bags in Thai seas and clouds of underwater trash near Indonesian "paradise"
islands – grim images of the plastic crisis that has gripped Asia. About 8 million tons of
plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans every year, the equivalent of one
garbage truck of plastic being tipped into the sea every minute of every day. More than
half comes from 5 Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and
Vietnam, according to a 2015 Ocean Conservancy report. They are among the fastest
growing economies in Asia, where much of the world's plastic is produced, consumed
and discarded – most of it improperly in countries where waste management is at best
patchy. "We are in a plastic pollution crisis, we can see it everywhere in our rivers, in our
oceans... we need to do something about it," Greenpeace Indonesia campaigner Ahmad
Ashov Birry told Agence France-Presse (AFP). World Environment Day on Tuesday,
June 5, is highlighting the perils of plastic with the tagline "if you can't reuse it, refuse it".
But it is not just an issue of aesthetics, plastics are killing marine life. Last week a whale
died in southern Thailand with 80 plastic bags in its stomach, an increasingly common
sight alongside dead seabirds and turtles gorged on plastic and washed ashore.
Name: Date:
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INVISIBLE THREAT

Experts warn the greatest threat might be invisible. Microplastics – tiny shards
that easily soak up toxins after breaking off from larger plastic pieces – have been found
in tap water, ground water and inside fish that millions of people eat across Asia every
day. Scientists still do not fully understand the health effects of consuming
microplastics. "We're conducting a global experiment with no sense of where we're
heading with this whole thing," Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the global marine and polar
program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told AFP. That worries
Vietnamese fisherwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong, whose sleepy village on the South China
Sea coast in Thanh Hoa province has slowly transformed into a dump site over the
years. "It's unbearable, people discard their garbage here... it's so polluted for the
children, it's not safe," she said in the baking heat thick with the smell of trash and fish.
In the nearby mangrove forest, her neighbors dig through warm, trash-speckled mud for
snails or shrimp. But the tree branches above are blanketed with faded plastic bags left
behind from tidal waters that wash up fresh waste every day. A one-kilometer (half-mile)
stretch of beach is lined with sandals, biscuit wrappers, tubes of Japanese toothpaste,
juice boxes, fishing nets, furniture and heaps of discarded clothing, as piles of trash burn
nearby. "It's hard for us to work here finding shrimp and fish," said fisherman Vu Quoc
Viet, who often finds plastic trash in his nets. Rubbish collection is low in rural Vietnam
as elsewhere in Asia, one of the main reasons why so much plastic ends up in the sea,
according to Joi Danielson, programme director of Oceans Plastics Asia at SYSTEMIQ.
On average only about 40% of garbage is properly collected in the 5 plastic-addled
countries that spit out most of the ocean's trash, with few resources dedicated to proper
waste management especially in mushrooming mega-cities. Plus, plastic consumption –
and waste – continues to balloon along with growing incomes and dependence on
plastic products integral to almost every aspect of daily life. "You're battling against this
constantly growing target," Danielson told AFP.

At the current rate of dumping, the total amount of plastic trash in the world's oceans is
expected to double to 250 million tonnes by 2025, according to Ocean Conservancy.
That means there could be more plastic than fish in the world's seas by 2050 if the
nothing is done to turn the tide.
 In a landmark study, scientists have estimated that millions of tons of plastic
waste go into the sea worldwide every year, with middle-income nations – including the
Philippines – shown to be among the top contributors. Researchers led by Jenna
Jambeck of the University of Georgia calculated that out of the 275 million metric tons
(MMT) of plastic waste coastal countries have produced in 2010, between 4.8 and 12.7
MMT entered the ocean. It would be equivalent to "finding 5 grocery bags full of plastic
on every foot of coastline" around the world, Jambeck said. The figures were calculated
by analyzing waste sources and the amount of garbage churned out by people living
within 50 kilometers from the coasts of 192 countries bordering the sea, and then
factoring in population density and economic status.

China emerged as the top contributor, with an estimated 1.32-3.53 MMT going
into the sea, out of a total 8.82 MMT mismanaged plastic waste a year. Indonesia is
next, with an estimated 0.48-1.29 MMT of plastic marine waste annually, followed by the
Philippines, with around 0.28-0.75 MMT of plastic waste. The researchers estimated that
as of 2010, the Philippines produced a total of 1.88 MMT/year. The top 20 countries
producing plastic waste already produced 83% of the estimated amount of garbage
dumped, the The countries covered by the study all border the Atlantic, Pacific, and
Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean and Black Seas. They also house 93% of the
world's population.

Researchers also found that despite the millions of tons of plastics dumped into
the sea, only between 6,350 to 245,000 metric tons (MT) are found on the ocean
surface – the rest are floating in deeper waters or sitting at the bottom of the sea,
endangering marine life. If the trends the researchers saw in their study hold up in the
next few years, we can expect mismanaged waste to increase further. Researchers also
have a dire warning: the planet will not reach global "peak waste" before 2100.
According to the paper, "our waste will continue to grow with increased population and
increased per capita consumption associated with economic growth, especially in urban
areas and developing African countries."
 THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL, TEN YEARS LATER

March, 1999 Prince William Sound, Alaska It was ten years ago on March 23 that
the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, leaking 11 million gallons of oil
into Alaska's Prince William Sound and creating the most notorious oil spill in US history.
While the spill was a major disaster, it has provided unusual opportunities for scientific
research into the aftermath of a major spill. With the tenth anniversary scientists
and policy makers are reflecting on what we have learned, and what we still don't know,
about responding to oil spills. Although the Exxon Valdez spill was far from the biggest
oil spill in history, and even though it was only one of dozens of major spills that occur
every year, this accident gained notoriety because it was the biggest marine spill in US
history and because it occurred in the spectacularly scenic Prince William Sound. The
area is treasured for its scenic beauty and its wildlife, including sea otters, orcas, and
many species of sea birds. Currents carried the oil 500 miles from the wounded tanker,
staining 1,400 miles of beaches. At least 300,000 birds and 2,600 otters were killed.
Armies of clean-up crews spent over 2 billion dollars blasting beaches with steam
cleaners and scrubbing oil from rocks by hand all under extensive national media
coverage. Most alarming of all was the discovery that the ship ran aground because the
captain was drunk at the helm. The resulting lawsuit dragged out for several years and
is still undergoing appeals. Exxon has still not paid damages to plaintiffs in the lawsuits.
Ten years later, Exxon, the corporation that owned the ship, is trumpeting the success of
cleanup and pointing to once oily beaches that now show no sign of oil. Likewise, cruise
ship operators in the region are very happy with the outcome of a spill. From the deck of
a ship, the shore and waters of the sound look serene and pristine, as though the spill
never occurred. Furthermore, the notoriety of the Valdez spill has multiplied the number
of tourists visiting the region, increasing revenues.

Biologists and sea kayakers, though, have a closer view of the beaches and
estuaries, and they see a very different state of affairs. Just below the surface oil and tar
still saturate the beaches, and many species have failed to recover or return. While
salmon and some birds appear to be recovering, loons, seals, orcas, and some ducks
are showing little or no improvement ten years later. Still more disturbing, ecologists
studying the area say that in some cases the millions of dollars spent on clean up
actually caused more harm than help. Steam-cleaning and pressure washing drove the
oil deep into the rocky beaches and killed natural bacteria that could have helped break
down oil residues. Birds have yet to return to beaches. Scientists studying clean-up
with, they are reconsidering the effectiveness of human efforts in spill remediation. The
$2 billion spent on the Valdez clean up only captured about 15% of the spilled oil.
Natural microorganisms and solar energy were probably more effective overall. It
appears that handcleaning birds and mammals by hand does relatively little good, since
the cleaned animals are likely to die after release. Oil exposure also compromises the
immune system in young fish, an effect that could significantly impact long-range
stability in the salmon fishing industry. Of two dozen species watched by a special
monitoring group, only two have recovered in ten years, the bald eagle and river otter.
On the other hand, no species in the region have gone extinct, and many appear to be
stabilizing. Perhaps the most important lessons are that natural cleanup systems work
and that complex ecosystems can be very resilient.
Name: Date:
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CORAL REEFS SUFFERING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Some of the fishing methods used in today’s small-scale fisheries are causing
more damage to coral reefs than ever, a new UBC study has found. The study,
conducted in the Philippines by the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries’ Project
Seahorse and the Landscape Ecology Group at the University of British Columbia,
tracked changes in the types of fishing methods — such as hand line, traps and nets —
used on coral reefs between 1950 and 2010. Researchers found that from the 1960s
onwards​, t​ he use of relatively sustainable fishing methods like hook and line fishing
remained stable, while there was a marked increase in the use of fishing practices that
were less selective and more destructive, even illegal.

In particular, the study found that about a quarter of the fishers in the region use
destructive fishing methods including explosives and poison, which were both outlawed
by the ​Philippine government ​in 1932. Most other destructive fishing methods were
outlawed by the government in 1998. Despite legislation that banned destructive fishing,
the use of such illegal methods persisted. For example, a growing number of fishers
used crowbars to break apart corals so they could catch valuable but elusive animals
such as abalone. The researchers found that total fishing efforts in the area expanded
by more than 240 per cent between 1960 and 2010 because of an increase in
damaging fishing practices and number of fishers. Previous research by Project
Seahorse and the Landscape Ecology Group found that the increase in fishing effort
was even greater when they considered the locations where people fished, since fishing
tends to be concentrated in popular areas. National fishing policies and development
funding in the Philippines during the 1970s and 1980s promoted higher catches of
marine life and the researchers found this corresponded to an expansion in the tools
and methods used by fishers. Changes in fishing gear use persisted decades after those
same policies were stopped in order to promote sustainable fishing.
Hazardous waste management is a relatively recent phenomenon in developing
countries. Tanzania, which has little advanced technology and is financially constrained,
suffers severe consequences from hazardous waste mismanagement. Furthermore, the
problems are exacerbated by little public awareness about where wastes are generated,
or about their nature and effects. This minimal awareness prevails even among
welleducated people. Beginning in 1996, there have been reports that agricultural
hazardous wastes have been mismanaged, but these do not portray the full gravity of
the problems because poor records are kept and there are deficiencies in relevant
studies. Although a number of reports on the state of hazardous wastes in Tanzania do
exist, they mainly focus on isolated cases. Agrochemical hazardous waste
mismanagement in Tanzania can be traced partly to politically motivated development
efforts. For example, the main strategy used to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural
production was intensive agrochemicals use. Although the strategy paid off in the short-
term by averting famine and reducing external food dependence, it has also polluted
soils and water bodies. It is noteworthy that there are a number of clandestine “import
routes,” known as “rat routes,” which serve as entry points for externally generated
hazardous wastes and goods that are banned in their countries of origin. There have
also been reported cases of imports containing hazardous goods or expired goods that
were repackaged and resold to unsuspecting buyers in Tanzania. Currently, Tanzania
has more than 183 hospitals, 291 health centers and 3286 dispensaries. Almost 58% of
the hospitals, 6.2% of the health centers and 30% of the dispensaries are not
government-owned and managed, and as such they are accorded almost no monitoring
by government authorities. As a result, many health facilities generate hazardous and
infectious wastes that are not dealt with properly. Hazardous substances can
contaminate containers that are resold by scavengers as recyclables to unsuspecting
customers, and other items contaminated with infectious or toxic constituents can find
their way into the environment and cause harm. Filling stations for petrol, diesel and
kerosene have mushroomed in every corner of Tanzania, especially in Dar es Salaam
after the liberalization of the petroleum industry. Apart from potential fire hazards, cases
of hydrocarbon water pollution have been reported, especially in groundwater, which is
an important source of water for many city dwellers.
 The province of Benguet has hosted 14 mining companies since corporate
mining started in 1903. Some of these mines have closed down while others have
continued. Presently operating in Benguet are two large mines using high technology for
large-scale mineral extraction. These are the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company
(operating for 70 years) and the Philex Mining Corporation (operating since 1955).
Benguet Corporation, the oldest mining company in the country, abandoned its
operations in 1997 after mining for almost a century. ​The abandoned open pit mine site,
underground tunnels, waste dump sites, mill, diversion tunnels and tailings dams in
Itogon still remain today. The company ​now has ongoing contract mining arrangements
with small scale miners. Itogon-Suyoc mines closed down in 1997, but is now
negotiating with foreign investors to reopen its mines. In addition, new mining
explorations and applications are now coming into other parts of Benguet with renewed
efforts by the government to invite foreign investments. These applications of various
kinds, numbering 138, are found in all 13 municipalities of the province covering
147,618.9 hectares or 55.7% of the province’s total land area. This figure is aside from
the area already covered by past and existing mines. Thus we have a situation where
most of the total land area of Benguet is covered by past, ongoing and future mining
operations.

Accompanying mining operations is the construction of tailings dams needed to

contain the mine wastes. These tailings dams were built across the river beds in various
parts of Benguet. However, most tailings dams are not leak proof and have not been
strong enough to withstand torrential currents during the typhoon season, and the major
earthquake that rocked Northern Luzon in 1990. Through the years, tailings dams in
Benguet have proved incapable of containing the volume of tailings that came from the
mills. Time and again, these tailings have breached their dams. Benguet Corporation
constructed 5 tailings dams. Lepanto has 5 tailings dams, 2 of which collapsed. Philex
has 3 tailings dams, 2 of which collapsed in 1992 and 1994. In 2001, tailings breached
have a situation where burst, broken, weak and leaking tailings dams dot the major river
systems of the province – the Abra River, Agno River, Antamok River and Bued River.

Another concern is the series of three mega hydroelectric dams built along the
Agno River - the Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque dams – that block the river flow to
generate electricity. The power generated by these dams has gone to supply the power
needs of the mining companies as well as the overall power demand of the Luzon Grid.
However, Ambuklao and Binga dams are dying and no longer fully operational, crippled
by the voluminous silt that has accumulated in the reservoirs, upstream and beyond.
The San Roque dam, which has the generating capacity of 345 megawatts, is now
generating only 18 megawatts.
Name: Date:
Section: SR- Code:

CASE STUDY OF COAL MINING ON SEMIRARA ISLAND

For 36 years, Semirara Mining Corp., the country’s biggest coal producer, has
been mining on .Semirara Island not only extracting raw coal, but also using the islands
limited fresh water supply, as well as mining limestone and clay and slowly privatizing
more and more of the island as part of the 'company town'. While, the company has
arguably brought jobs to the area (while displacing others) and increased the
municipality's revenue, the environmental and social impacts have been grave and it is
not clear that, as the company argues, the benefits have outweighed the costs for
people in Caluya.

Semirara has exceptionally high mangrove biodiversity, host to 28 of the 35

known species of mangroves in the Philippines (Sansait 2010 and forthcoming 2013
survey data). In 2009, a team of scientists from University of the Philippines, PDI, GMA
Ratsada, Bombo Radyo, The Antique Outdoors (TAO) and Green Forum conducted a
rapid assessment of contaminants and siltation being reported by residents from the
coal washing plant releasing used water directly into the mouth of their stream, the
mangrove areas, and the ocean. This assessment found Measurement conducted at the
mouth of the creek shows a moderate toxicity range. This mercury level at Suia Creek
was alarming because it can accumulate and magnified when ingested by basic form of
animals and plants up to the food-chain eventually reaching the people themselves.
Surveys conducted on mangrove trees near the coal washing facility showed
underdeveloped trees, with abnormal leaves and the presence of 'mutant' albino
mangroves brought about by long term contamination. The mangrove areas lost due to
construction of the private airstrip and other company operations is currently being
calculated. There are also areas of the coast that are fenced and guarded by the
company, no longer accessible to people for resource collection. Seaweed aquaculture
is extremely sensitive to pollution and, especially since 1996 when exploitation on the
island ramped up many seaweed farmers were forced to move off the island to continue
planting as their seaweed was smothered with black coal particulate. Others were forced
to relocate due to the privatization of the coast (Arnold 2008). Impacts from the mining
operations on the island are not only environmental. The island is essentially owned by
the company who control large areas of land and often restricts movements of residents
around and on and off the island. They also control much of the water system on the
island; run the only hospital in the municipality accessible only to employees, and
control the power system on the island. A company controlled
'protected area' has been established near the abandoned coal pit and is patrolled by
armed guards cutting off people's access to fishing and other marine resources in the
area. Land grabbing concerns include coerced displacement of whole barrios to make
way for company activity; falsified land surveys and assessments; and encroachments
(work now, ask later). While the company claims to have created many jobs for locals
the contracts for local workers are typically temporary contracts renewed every 6
months with no benefits or job security even after years of work for the company. There
is no union at the mine. Non-residents are often brought in for more skilled jobs and
work security is linked to voting for 'mine-friendly' candidates in elections. Unsafe
working conditions are also commonly reported by workers. In February of 2013, a
landslide in the Panian pit claimed the lives of 10 miners, 7 of whose bodies have yet to
be recovered. Residents and supporting national organizations are currently
documenting the above impacts and reported resident concerns.
 CASE STUDY ON PASIG RIVER

Industrial pollution accounts for 45 per cent of the total pollution in the Pasig
River. About 315 of the 2,000 or more factories situated in the river basin have been
determined as principal polluters of the river, dumping an average of 145 t of
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) per day. This was established by determining the
suspended solids in their treated and untreated waste-waters. According to records, the
textile and food manufacturing industries are the greatest water polluters among those
considered in the study. The pollution rate is expected to decrease by 2 per cent a year
due to the limited commercial land available along the river and the increased
requirements for container transport. Domestic liquid waste contributes another 45 per
cent of the pollution load in the Pasig River. There were approximately 4.4 million people
living in the Pasig River catchment area during the study period and only 0.6 million, or
12 per cent, were serviced by the sewerage system which treats domestic wastewaters
before discharging them into Manila Bay. Untreated waste-waters from the remaining 88
per cent of the population flow through canals and esteros into viaducts leading into the
Pasig River. It is estimated that 148 t d-1 of BOD is added to the Pasig River purely from
the sewage outlets scattered along its banks. The Metropolitan Waterworks and
Sewerage System (MWSS) (the government agency responsible for domestic liquid
waste) has been hampered in its task by a lack of funds. As it is also responsible for
water supply in the metropolis, it has had to give water supply a higher priority than
sewage management. Solid waste contributes only 10 per cent of the pollution in the
Pasig River. Although very visible, rubbish contributes only 30 t of BOD per day.
However, the solid waste deposited on the surface of the water blocks the penetration of
sunlight to underwater plant life and the solid waste that sinks to the river bed suffocates
the existing aquatic life. Rubbish collection by the Metro Manila Authority (MMA) in the
residential areas of the 367 barangays (villages) in the study varied between 70 and 100
per cent per barangay depending on the accessibility of the area to land-based
collection. Inaccessible areas occur mostly along the banks of the river and hence the
rubbish from these was thrown into the water. The estimated 34 t of rubbish
accumulated in these riverside areas in 1990 is expected to increase to 55 t by the year
2005.
 The soil erosion problem in the Philippines is quite pronounced with more than half of the
country's land area having a slope exceeding eight percent (hereby defined as the Philippine
uplands). The problem is aggravated by heavy rainfall, improper land use and management,
excessive and improper logging, shifting cultivation and road construction (PCARRD, 1992).

Eroded areas are estimated to cover more than half of the land area in the following 13
provinces: Batangas; Cebu; Ilocos Sur; La Unión; Batanes; Bohol; Masbate; Abra; Ilo-ilo;
Cavite; Rizal; Capiz; and Marinduque (PCARRD, 1984).

Agricultural activities occur largely at the expense of natural vegetation and are
responsible for much of soil loss taking place everywhere, particularly in areas that are
vulnerable to soil erosion. Under natural conditions, the topsoil that is lost is largely replenished from
the subsoil (Anderson and Thampapillai, 1990). The topsoil is defined as a renewable resource
with a threshold level below which resource use renders it non-renewable. Yield losses from soil
erosion can come not only from soil nutrient losses but also from the reduction in the soil’s water
holding capacity, infiltration rates and loss of other beneficial topsoil characteristics. The loss in crop
productivity caused by reduced water holding capacity or rooting depth may be permanent while
losses from nutrient loss can be offset by increased use of fertilizers. Because of the above
considerations, the valuing soil depreciation in terms of the fertilizer equivalent of the nutrients
contained in the eroded materials has been largely criticized as an inadequate measure. Due to the
absence of basic data, however, this approach has been used extensively in the country as an
indicator of the on-site costs of soil erosion.

The study by Cruz ​et al ​(1988) reported that in the Magat watershed, where sheet
erosion was in the order of 88 tonnes/ha/yr, the fertilizer equivalent of nutrients loss through soil
erosion was PHP 15/ton or PHP 1, 320 /ha/yr. For the Pantabangan watershed, the on site cost of
soil erosion (using 1977 prices) was about PHP 7/ton from the topsoil layers to about PHP
4/ton for the lower soil layers. The study also estimated the off site cost of soil erosion. For Magat,
the loss was estimated at PHP 18/ton of sediment while it was PHP 30/ton for Pantabangan
watershed.

Alternatively, the use of a damage function relating yield to soil loss as the basis of a
depreciation estimate is more popular. Colacicco, et al (1989) cited the study made by Pierce
Crosson (1983) that found out through a yield soil loss regression analysis that yield of corn and
soybeans can be reduced by 1.5 percent and 2.0 percent respectively over a 30 year period of
1950 to 1980. These values may not be substantial but the author cautioned that they could not be
ignored for the following reasons: yield losses are substantial in some regions, and therefore, there
could be large variability in production that then translates to wide fluctuations in farm income,
export supplies and domestic food supplies. In addition, there is the risk posed by the irreversibility
and cumulative nature of soil productivity losses. Crosson estimated the 1983 cost of erosion in the
United States at USD 420 million for crop production losses, USD 105 to168 million for fertilizer
losses and USD 1.2 billion for erosion control.
Section: SR- Code:

Coastal ecosystem is extensively exposed to anthropogenic contamination since

it receives inputs from terrestrial, riverine, marine and atmospheric sources. The
developments of urban areas around coastal areas and consequent increase in the
levels of anthropogenic pollutants from the catchment area cause serious water quality
deterioration problems worldwide, particularly in Asian regions having larger populations
and higher precipitation compared with other regions of the world (Islam and Tanaka,
2004). Eutrophication due to the increase of anthropogenic nutrients loading, mainly
nitrogen and phosphorus, from watersheds has been a central environmental issue
along many marine coastal areas over a decade (Nixon, 1995). It causes an increase of
phytoplankton biomass and turbidity and decrease of submerged grasses, thus inducing
bottom-water hypoxia due to deterioration of excess organic matter (Fisher et al., 2006).
Massive increase of certain phytoplankton genera causing phenomenon like red tides
and changes in physicochemical parameters in coastal ecosystem can have serious
impacts on flora and fauna, consequently modifying the structure and function of coastal
marine food web. Manila bay is semi-closed bay system, and more than 10,000,000
people live in the catchment area of the bay. Its abundant natural resources have been
the primary source of livelihood for people in the areas surrounding the bay. The bay
has suffered from serious water quality deterioration due to the rapid increase in
population and industrialization in the watershed. Substantial increments in organic
loads entering the bay through excessive urban emissions of nutrients (nitrogen and
phosphorus) and heavy metals, increase incidences of hypoxia and anoxia, frequent
blooms of harmful microalgae and persistent red tides caused by dinoflagelalate
(Prudente et al., 1994; Azanza et al., 2004; Furuya et al., 2006; Hayashi et al., 2006;
Jacinto et al., 2006; Reichardt et al., 2006; Urase et al., 2006). Despite the studies that
have concentrated on pollution of the bay especially on water quality and harmful algal
bloom issues, only very few studies are available on the structure and function of
plankton community of the bay and its interactions with environmental pollution. To
examine the spatial and temporal trends of various pollutants within Manila Bay and
their biomagnification through the food chain to human, we have carried out a survey in
Manila Bay focusing on 1) spatial and temporal trends of persistent organic pollutants
and heavy metals, 2) food-web approach by analysis of plankton and fish (community
structure and bioaccumulation of pollutants), and 3) temporal and spatial distribution of
plankton community in relation to the distribution of pollutants and eutrophication. In the
present study, we show brief results of Manila Bay survey in June 2008 with a focus on
the basic physicochemical parameters including nutrients distribution in the bay. We
present here the composition and distribution of phytoplankton and mesozooplankton in
the bay, and discuss the ecological status of Manila Bay.
 URBAN RIVER REHABILITATION: A CASE STUDY IN MARIKINA CITY

Urban rivers are vulnerable to different urban processes and activities that cause
pollution and degradation of the water ecosystem. Restoring the health of rivers poses a
huge challenge to governments and other actors in the public domain. While the
rehabilitation and/or restoration of urban rivers in developed countries offer measures
and pathways to follow for developing countries, the differences in circumstances
between the developed and developing countries including the various local conditions
do not warrant simple replication and immediately transferable fixes. Developed
countries are able to effectively clean up their rivers backed up by adequate resources,
strong public sector capacity and public institutions whereas developing countries
struggle to rehabilitate theirs in the context of limited capacity and resource base and,
often in the absence of appropriate public institutions, legal framework and strong
regulatory enforcement capacity. This is particularly so in many local government units
(World Bank, 2007). The Philippines is no exception. Decentralization resulting from the
Philippine Local Government Code of 1991 had local governments grappling without the
necessary power, authority, resources and training to manage a plethora of urban
resources, facilities and activities (UNESCAP, 2006). The Manila Times (2006) reports
that water quality throughout the country has been deteriorating owing to high
population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization. As early as 1996, monitoring
of the country’s rivers showed that only 51% of the classified rivers still met the
standards for their most beneficial use. The rest were already polluted from domestic,
industrial and agricultural sources (EMB, 2007). The major source of water pollution is
domestic wastewater, accounting for 48% of the total pollution sources. While domestic
wastewater is pinpointed to be the principal cause of organic pollution of water bodies,
only 3% of investments in water supply and sanitation were going to sanitation and
sewage treatment (EMB, 2007). More than 90% of sewage is not treated and disposed
of in an environmentally sound manner. Residents rely on private solutions such as
open drains and poorly constructed septic tanks to dispose of human and liquid wastes
thereby polluting and degrading the surrounding urban areas and water bodies (Manila
Times, 2006). It is no surprise that the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) lists the rehabilitation of
rivers as one of the key challenges faced by the country. The bureau initiated a Sagip
Ilog Program (Save Rivers Program) and selected 19 priority rivers, including Marikina
River for monitoring.
 AIR POLLUTION CONTROL POLICY OPTIONS FOR METRO MANILA

Although air quality monitoring in the Philippines has been sporadic and lacks good
quality assurance, there is no doubt that the air quality of Metro Manila is seriously degraded. Most
obvious is the presence of atmospheric particles that reduce visibility on most days, but there is also
evidence of very high concentrations of fine (invisible) particles, and occasional excessive levels of
some gases associated with motor vehicle emissions.
The Asian Development Bank has supported various initiatives to address Manila’s serious air
quality problems, with studies of vehicular emissions control planning and air quality
improvement. Those preparatory projects led to loans and a technical assistance grant that
together make up the Metro Manila Air Quality Improvement Sector Development Program. The
program commenced in 1999 and was projected to run until 2002.
The primary goal of this program is to research the application of market-based instruments, such as
emissions fees, for managing both stationary and mobile sources of pollution in Metro Manila. There
is general acceptance of the use of marked-based instruments in the Philippines as an adjunct to
command-and-control measures, and this acceptance is longstanding. Such instruments featured
prominently in the first drafts of the Clean Air Bill in the early 1990s, and they are part of the
Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and its subsequent regulatory documents. Emissions fees in
particular have political support in the government, since they can both improve incentives
regarding pollution and raise revenue for the relevant agencies for monitoring and
enforcement. Furthermore, the Philippines already has experience with emissions fees.
The Philippines is a developing country competing with its neighbors for needed investments.
Although environmental regulations may create some disincentive for investment, emissions fees
offer less costly ways of achieving air quality improvements. Moreover, the Philippine people
are already laboring under pollution-caused health conditions that lower productivity; by improving
the health of its labor force, the Philippines may gain a competitiveedge. Even though
many countries in Asia are adopting more stringent environmental policies, Manila may
stand to gain more, if only because it has some of the worst air pollution in Asia.
The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 establishes National Ambient Air Quality Guidelines
for Criteria Pollutants. It is clear that the Metro Manila area is in “nonattainment” status for
particulate concentrations. This status has implications for the introduction of emissions charges to
stationary sources, because the implementing rules and regulations of the act require that in
nonattainment areas, a 50% surcharge be applied to the emissions fees.
The air quality problems in the Philippines arise principally from domestic sources. Given its
geography and meteorology and the absence of emissions from neighbors to the west, the
country does not suffer from the continental problems of long-range transport of particles,
ozone, or acid deposition. Because of its more southerly location, the Philippines is less affected by
emissions of yellow sand (loess) that blow across much of East Asia, especially Korea and Japan.
Similarly, the Philippines is less affected than other Southeast Asia countries by smoke from forest
fires in Indonesia, although the most extreme events of 1997 did have some impact in the southern
provinces. Our geographic focus is the Metro Manila airshed, which stretches from Pampanga and
Bulacan in the north to Batangas in the south, and from Bataan and Cavite in west to Rizal, Laguna
and part of Quezon in the east.
 THE CASE OF MEXICO DF: A SINKING CITY

Mexico City is sinking. In the last hundred years it has sunk more than 10 meters
(Sample, 2004). This poses a grave problem for the megacity and its 21.1 million
inhabitants, most of whom are bereft of vital infrastructure such as water. Unplanned
urban growth is largely the cause of this, and this problem is only aggravated by the
issue of land subsidence, which has caused millions of dollars worth of damage to
infrastructure such as buildings, water pipes and sewer lines, subway tunnels and roads
(CNN, n.d.). This further contributes to the ever-present concern of water management
and supply. Despite a relative abundance of water sources both underneath and in
areas surrounding Mexico City, large swaths of the city suffer from water shortages. In
fact, the abundance of freshwater is even problematic, as evidenced by perpetual threat
of flooding. Furthermore, this problem is not endemic to Mexico City itself, but is
recorded to be affecting the entirety of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA)

Mexico City’s problem is complicated regardless of the angle from which it is

approached. Its consequences extend to the economic, health, political and
environmental domains. Increasing inequity, combined with poor water quality, has put
the life of millions of people at risk. Insufficient enforcement of urban planning and
informal real estate market created a chaotic and nearly anarchic spatial growth
process, making the provision of efficient and equitable water supply a serious
challenge to management and investment (Tortajada, 2008, Jordan et al, 2011). This
makes the issue of subsidence, and managing subsidence, a truly wicked problem.
A PETROCHEMICAL PLANT VIOLATED ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS –DENR

Government environmental regulators said the Achemical plant in Batangas violated

environmental standards, leading to the ​release of foul odor and black smoke that
affected nearby villages."The odor is a violation. They should have mitigating measures.
They don't have control facilities," said Carlos Magno, Calabarzon Regional Director of
the Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) on Wednesday, August 19 2017.

A Petrochemical Corporation, the company that runs the plant, has been ordered
to submit within 10 days an explanation of the violation, Magno quoted."If we see in their
explanation that the violation was due to negligence or was not in good faith, we will fine
them P50,000 ($1,080) per violation," he added.The company would not be fined if the
violation was due to "factors beyond their control."Asked if the lack of control facilities
already qualified the plant as deserving of penalties, Magno said his agency would wait
for JG Summit's explanation.

The facility, which manufactures plastic products, was given the order on
Tuesday, August 18 2017, during a technical conference between company
representatives and environment officials.Village leaders, non-governmental
organizations, and Batangas city officials were also present.But despite government
action, locals say they still notice a smell.The EMB's findings were based on an initial
investigation by personnel who visited the plant on August 14 2017, a day after
complaints by villagers of a nauseating smell made it to news reports.Magno said the
EMB team noticed the odor and saw black smoke rising from one of the plant's
chimneys.

The color of the smoke indicated there was something wrong with the facility's
operations."When the smoke is black, it's bad because anything black is unburnt. The
combustion process was not completed. This means a release of hazardous
compounds that may have a long-term impact on people," Magnoquoted. Aside from
submitting an explanation, Ais ordered to conduct an air quality study to determine if
pollutants are still in the atmosphere. Specifically, they are asked to look for hydrogen
sulfide, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and acid rain.

The study is to be done by an "objective third party," said Magno.DENR-EMB

also requires them to replace "the hydrocarbon canister regularly to regulate the foul
obtained by Rappler.The canister is used during operations to burn hydrocarbons. If the
canisters are not maintained properly, particles can get trapped in the hydrocarbons.
These particles are not completely burned, thus forming solid carbon compounds which
take the form of soot or black smoke. Certain types of soot are known to be cancer-
causing.DENR-EMB also recommended that Ainstall a Continuous Ambient Monitoring
System to that would improve its ability to detect pollutants coming from their plant.

Such a system would monitor the presence of harmful gases like sulfure dioxide,
nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide.Another outcome of the technical conference
was the decision for a multi-partite monitoring team to "review and revise the Manual of
Operation of AHoldings, Inc," reads the disposition.The team is composed of city and
village officials, NGOs, peoples' organizations, and the regional EMB.While awaiting the
explanation of JG Summit, Magno said the community leaders will be conducting an
information campaign among locals to explain the situation and decide their position on
the plant.
 POLLUTION IN ST. LAWRENCE RIVER

The St. Lawrence River is an integral part of North American society. The river
acts as an important waterway for fishing, shipping and receiving, and for the
manufacturing industry situated on or near the river shoreline. It also houses agriculture
and urban populations as well as indigenous populations using it for cultural traditions. It
is a shared geographic border between Canada and the United States of America and
there are currently 15 million and 30 million people from those countries respectively
that live within the river basin. It comprises an area of more than 1,610,000 km2 and
drains 25% of the world’s fresh water. The St.Lawrence also houses a bevy of flora and
fauna in the aquatic and land ecosystems within the river itself and its basin. Its complex
usage and dynamic ecology, as well as its sheer size result in a rather wicked problem
in regards to pollution management. A term coined by Rittel and Webber in 1973, a
wicked problem can be identified as “a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve
because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult
to recognize” (1). The issues surrounding the St. Lawrence are a wicked problem in that
there are many interacting and dynamic systems at work within the basin, numerous
different values placed on river usage, ever changing physical characteristics and social
dependencies that lead to a measure of uncertainty and that there is no concrete, one-
fits-all solution to satisfy all of these aspects at once.
 LOGGING OF ALGONQUIN PROVINCIAL PARK

Algonquin Park, Ontario’s oldest Provincial Park, is located in central

Ontario. Established in 1893, Algonquin Provincial Park is a popular site for an
abundance of outdoor activities and biodiversity (Wilson, 2014). The total area of the
park is 7,635 km​2​. The park is a source of ecological and economic wealth. Since 1830,
more than a half century before the Park was established, the Park has been
commercially logged (Wilson, 2014). As of today, about 45% of the park is open to
logging (AFA, 2012). Many of the stakeholders have opposing opinions on this activity
and community members find this concerning because they believe that, “if the Park is
treated the same as areas outside its boundaries, then the boundaries are meaningless”
(Algonquin Eco Watch, 2010). This case study will gather information to provide
evidence as to why the controversial activity is taking place in the park is considered a
wicked problem. Figure 2 shows our approach to this problem.
 WATER RELATED RISKS IN OIL EXPLORATION
Accidents, leakages and spills are realities in oil drilling, shale gas exploration, pipeline
transportation as well as in oil tanker transportation.
Drilling for Crude Oil
Water is needed for the extraction of oil from underground sources as well as for the
refining of the crude oil. Most new commercial oil and gas wells are initially free flowing,
so that the underground pressures drive the liquid and gas up the well bore to the
surface. To drill wells requires water for preparing drilling fluid: cleaning and cooling of
the drill bit, evacuation of drilled rocks and sediments, and providing pressure to avoid
collapse of the well. Drilling fluid contains potential contaminants.

Oil reservoirs frequently contain large volumes of water. In order to maintain the
reservoir pressure it is common to inject gas, water, or steam into the reservoir. In some
cases, the oil may be too heavy to flow. A second hole is then drilled into the reservoir
and steam is injected under pressure. The heat from the steam thins the oil in the
reservoir, and the pressure helps push it up the well. Today, most oil producers re​-​inject
produced water or reuse it for onshore wells (98%). However, 91% of produced water
from offshore wells is discharged into the ocean.

A typical drilling accident is caused by blowouts of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons

from the well when the operation has encountered zones with abnormally high pressure.
A “blowout” occurs when a mixture of pressurized natural gas, oil, mud, and water
escapes from a well, shoots up the drill pipe to the surface, expands and ignites. There
are mainly two categories of drilling accidents:

• Catastrophic situations involving intense and prolonged hydrocarbon gushing. The

pressure in the drilling zone is very high and the routine methods of well muffling
(devices to reduce vibrations) do not help. This kind of extreme event is quite rare.
• Regular episodes of hydrocarbon spills and blowouts during the drilling operation. This
mishap can be controlled by the help of blowout preventers (a massive stack of shut​-​off
valves and auxiliary equipment that sits on top of the well) and by changing the density
of the drilling fluid. Usually these kinds of accidents do not get a lot of media attention.
Still, there is a considerable ecological risk, primarily due to the regularity of the events.
The logical consequence is a chronic impact on the marine environment.

The environmental consequences of accidental episodes are especially severe,

sometimes dramatic, when they happen near the shore, in shallow waters, or in
sheltered areas with slow water circulation​.
 As a city of over 9 million citizens, New York City (NYC) is no stranger to wicked
problems; with the issue of heating being no exception. The following document will
address the interconnected factors that contribute to the complexity of this issue. Until
2010, most of the energy needed to heat residential homes and commercial buildings in
NYC came from burning No.4 and 6 oil, a thick tar-like substance with biophysical and
social issues surrounding its use (Frost, 2015). In 2010, a report for the Environmental
Disease Fund found that 14% of fine particle matter emissions came from heating fuel,
which contributes more to overall air pollution than traffic and power plants. Additionally,
it was discovered that 1% of houses were contributing to 86% of overall soot (Mayor’s
Office of Sustainability, 2014).

On the surface the solution to the problem seems simple and straightforward;
shift from using No. 6 oil to the cleaner alternatives of natural gas or No. 2 oil. The local
government set the deadline of June 2015 for tenants to make the switch to cleaner
heating. However, there are many buildings that have yet to make the switch.

Moreover, this project will provide a comprehensive outline of the issues

surrounding heating in NYC and the associated social, environmental, economic, and
health impacts. Firstly, it will frame the problem of heating in NYC; secondly, it will
display a mental map of the different stakeholders involved and will categorize the many
tangents of the issue; thirdly, it will provide a detailed account of the global,
international, and regional agreements, the federal, state, and local legislations, and the
non-statutory and cultural traditions involved in the decision making process. Lastly, it
will provide recommendations moving forward in solving the heating problem in NYC
and the associated problems.