Subject: Electronic Green Journal Issue 8 Editors Message-ID:MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R June 1998 Issue 8 ELECTRONIC GREEN JOURNAL ISSN: 1076-7975 Board of Editors General Editor: Maria Jankowska - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID Managing Editor: Mike Pollastro - Neill Public Library, Pullman, WA Book Review Editor: Karen Schlegl - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID Editorial Advisors Terry Abraham - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID P. Gayle Alston - Federal Emergency Management Agency, Atlanta, GA Ronald W. Force - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID Greta de Groat - Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA Czeslaw Jan Grycz - University of California, Oakland, CA, Emeritus Terry Link - Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Rosemary Huskey - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID Flora G. Shrode - University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Frederick W. Stoss - State University of New York, Buffalo, NY Irwin Weintraub - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Brunswick, NJ Nancy Young - University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID Subject: EGJ Poems Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 FOUR SEASONS OF THE YEAR Poems: Spring and Summer Maczarashvili Merabi Translated by Elene Pagava Republic of Georgia Spring Beaches and oaks; Thick roots sticking out of the earth; The worms of the May bug on the leaves of the beech You can see a moving caravan of red ants in two rows there too; A half-destroyed blackened nest and mistletoe; A waterfall between enormous grey boulders; a small deep pool; At the edge of the water three fish, clinging to each other, basking in the sun; On the top of the rock an old whitish-yellow grass-snake; toads on the boulder; Young trees along the river; thick ones on the slopes of the ravine; A blackened eye of an immense hollow in the bare-branched oak; Field mushrooms hidden among dead leaves; Yellow-beaked blackbirds, male and female, fussing around; A wag-tail at the edge of the water, on slippery stones; A quiet cool breeze. Summer Tall green grass along a small brook; A greenish brown lizard quiet on a big stone; A poppy sprinkled with black dots on the sides, glowing red; Yellow and blue tiny flowers scattered in the meadow; Two big flame-coloured butterflies chasing each other; A snail with its head out of its shell, with its horn up; Jumping and flying grass-hoppers, creaking in different voices; Big, shiny flies, dragon-floes, wasps, bees; And the smell, mixed with everything, intoxicating smell. Maczarashvili Merabi is a Republic of Georgia freelance writer. He now lives in Poland. His address is: Os. Piastowskie 23/1, 61-148 Poznan, Poland. TEL: 011-48-61-877-47-18 Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library Subject: EGJ Hot Air Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Editorial : Hot Air on the Web Ron Force rforce@belle.lib.uidaho.edu University of Idaho Library At the time this is written, it appears that the United States Senate will not ratify the Kyoto climate treaty, and several of the European Union countries are expressing their serious reservations despite having signed. Although criticized by environmentalists for compromise, the treaty has been viewed by industry and commerce as akin to the Central Park-sized asteroid, scheduled to devastate Earth in movie theaters this summer. While previous global climate treaties dealt with aerosol propellants and refrigerants, for which substitutes were almost immediately found, the Kyoto treaty attempts to restrain the powerful and wealthy industries at the heart of modern economies and lifestyles: fossil fuels and transportation. Even though the treaty stands almost no chance of becoming law, the affected industries are leaving nothing to chance. As reported by the New York Times (April 26, 1998), industry groups, headed by the American Petroleum Institute, have planned to spend up to five million dollars to call into question the scientific consensus that human activities are contributing to global warming. One of the opening shots in the battle was featured in an article entitled Global Warming: Enjoy It while You Can, authored by John Carlisle, www.nationalcenter.org/NPA194.html, that propounded the view that the warming of the earth in the twentieth century was a natural phenomenon, merely the continued waning of the previous ice age. It further said that the climate had fluctuated naturally from one extreme to another, and would continue to do so, and that environmentalists opposed to economic progress concocted the greenhouse gas scare. A footnote identified the author as being affiliated with the National Center for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C. A search for the group's Web site www.nationalcenter.inter.net revealed a site that had something to say about almost everything; every proposition put forth by liberals, environmentalists, political or legal reformers was met by its mirror, conservative, and contradictory image. Links to related sites, took one to such fascinating places as The Greening Earth Society www.greeningearthsociety.org "carbon dioxide helps plants grow: let's produce more!" and the Junk Science Home Page in News Archives May 1-15,1998 www.junkscience.com "smoking isn't a public health issue!" Trying to find out more about these organizations took me to the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research, who had two revealing articles that cataloged the groups and their corporate benefactors: Wise Use of the Web: The Anti-Environmental Lobby and the Internet www.ewg.org/pub/home/clear/by_clear/webview.htm and Industry Deploys New Anti-Environmental Strategy www.ewg.org/pub/home/clear/by_clear/air_attack.htm They list dozens of additional sites active in the anti-environmental movement. Few, if any, of these sites identify their corporate sponsors or the qualifications of their authors. One of the virtues cited for the World Wide Web is that unlike conventional media the low cost of entry removes the barriers to publishing, so that "anyone can have his voice heard." Clearly, however, money still talks louder, and sheer volume can overwhelm less well-funded viewpoints, whatever the scientific consensus. Because most modern media are based on advertising, they have a vested interest in having their readers take everything presented at face value. Librarians, educators, and information scientists need to encourage a habit of critical reading and evaluation of sources, particularly when using electronic resources whose provenance is unknown. Ron Force, Dean of Library Services, University of Idaho Library, Moscow, ID USA. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library Subject: EGJ Contents Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by harrier.csrv.uidaho.edu id IAA01656 Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 ISSN: 1076-7975 Table of Contents force01.txt Ron Force Hot Air on the Web Does money talk louder on the Internet? sedrez01.txt wpe2.jpg wpe3.jpg Lise F. Sedrez The Use of the Internet as a Source for Environmental History Is the Internet a viable primary source for researchers on environmental history? wishar01.txt woodpeck.jpg Lisa Wishard The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography Comprehensive bibliography on this endangered bird covers primarily citations from journal articles, books, government publications and dissertations for the dates 1980-1997. merabi01.txt Maczarashvili Merabi Spring and Summer Poems by a freelance writer from the Republic of Georgia. stoss01.txt Frederick W. Stoss Congressional Research Service Environmental Reports Online: A Service of the National Library for the Environment The most recent news about the NIE. shrode01.txt Flora Shrode Environmental Resources on the World Wide Web Comprehensive coverage of environmentally-related WWW sites, electronic journals, publications, and other resources. REVIEWS The Next West: Public Lands, Community and Economy in the American West edited by John A. Baden and Donald Snow. Reviewed by Kenneth L. Carriveau File: carriv01.txt Invested in the Common Good by Susan Meeker-Lowry. Reviewed by John R. Ferguson File: fergus01.txt Orion: People & Nature by the Orion Society. Reviewed by John R. Ferguson File: fergus02.txt Technology, Law, and the Working Environment. by Nicholas A. Ashford and Charles C. Caldart. Reviewed by Roger R. Hlavek File: hlavek01.txt The Environment and NAFTA: Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law by Pierre M. Johnson and André Beaulieu, Reviewed by Graham E.L. Holton File: holton01.txt Macmillan Encyclopedia Of The Environment by Stephen R. Kellert. Reviewed by James K. Lewis File: lewis01.txt Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems by Gretchen C. Daily. Reviewed by Sean T. O''Brien File: obrien01.txt Expanding Partnerships in Conservation edited by Jeffrey A. McNeely. Reviewed by Michael Oneka File: oneka01.txt Law and the Environment by Robert Percival and Dorothy C. Alevizatos. Reviewed by Shalendra D. Sharma File: sharma01.txt ISO 14001: An Executive Report by Gordon A. West and Joseph G. Manta. Reviewed by Richard Simon File: simon01.txt Mars: The Living Planet by Barry E. DiGregorio, Gilbert Levin and Patricia Ann Straat. Reviewed by Frederick W. Stoss File: stoss02.txt Love Canal: The Story Continues by Lois Gibbs. Reviewed by Frederick W. Stoss File: stoss03.txt Troubled Waters: Champion International And The Pigeon River Controversy by Richard A. Bartlett. Reviewed by B. Kenton Temple File: temple01.txt Environmental Enhancement Through Agriculture: Proceedings of a Conference edited by William Lockeretz. Reviewed by Daniel L. Tufford File: tuffor01.txt Made for Each Other: A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines by Ronald Lanner. Reviewed by Paula Wolfe File: wolfe01.txt Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 22:42:51 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id WAA17541; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:42:51 +0530 Received: from eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id WAA26989; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:44:02 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA15094 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:20:35 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:20:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ Macmillan Encyclopedia Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Environment Ed. Kellert, Stephen R. Reviewed by James K. Lewis Florida Department of Environmental Protection Kellert, Stephen R., ed. Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Environment. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1997. 6 vol., individually paged, bibliography, indexes. U.S.$300 hardbound ISBN: 0-02-897381-X (set). Ahhh. I DO like encyclopedias. A year or so ago, I reviewed Conservation and Environmentalism: An Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Paheke, a one-volume encyclopedia of the environment, for EGJ <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu:70/docs/egj06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers>. Now, I get to review the even more enjoyable Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Environment. Heaven. This six-volume set is intended for "young readers" (middle school, I assume), but high schoolers, college students, and many "older readers" will find it useful as well if all they need is the basics of an environmental topic presented clearly and concisely. "The (encyclopedia) offers almost 600 useful and informative articles about how the environment works and how people relate to the natural world." (Introduction, pg. ix.) Also included are: brief biographies of environmental thinkers and doers (although one of my favorite thinkers, Edward Abbey, is omitted); an end-of-the set listing of environmental organizations (North American, although some of them operate world wide) and agencies (United States agencies only, although U.N. environmental agencies and activities are covered in the body of the encyclopedia); a so-so bibliography; excellent subject and general indexes; and a detailed chronology of environmental events and legislation in the United States. I make no claim to have read every one of the 600 articles, but I sampled a dozen or so from every volume (on topics I am familiar with and those I am not). While coverage of some was a bit simpler than I might have preferred, I saw none that omitted the basic details. (However, for those who might want to know more on a topic, I could wish for a "Suggestions for Further Reading" section at the end of at least the major entries. Articles were well cross-referenced to other entries in the encyclopedia, but that is not the same.) Unlike Conservation and Environmentalism: An Encyclopedia, which was intended for adult readers, I did not feel that these entries had been heavily edited and squeezed to fit the space. Topics were discussed clearly (if briefly), with smooth transitions from one sub topic to the next. Under the heading "Everglades National Park," (vol.2, p. 86), is a brief description of the park and the Everglades as a whole, followed by an accurate description of the "Threats to the Everglades" (p.87). "Everglades Flora and Fauna" (p. 88), "Agricultural Effects," and "Saving the Everglades" round out a brief, but satisfactory presentation on the plight of Florida's Everglades. (However, many readers, wanting to know more about the fascinating Everglades, might have liked a reference at least to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' River of Grass.) The article (and the encyclopedia as a whole) is well and amply illustrated with photos and maps. A nice touch, scattered through the six volumes, is "The Language of the Environment" -- small boxes with glossary entries defining terms used on those pages (the "Language" entries are all indexed in the excellent general index found at the end of vol. 6). All in all -- from "Abiotic Factors" (should have been "Edward Abbey") to "Zooplankton" -- the Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Environment would be an excellent addition to any school's library (especially in North America), and a good buy for anyone with children who are environmentally curious. James K. Lewis is Director, Environmental Education at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 3900 Commonwealth Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399-3000 USA. TEL: 850-488-9334. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library Subject: EGJ Work Environment Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Technology, Law, and the Working Environment By Nicholas A Ashford,. and Charles C. Caldart Reviewed by Roger R. Hlavek Hughes Technical Services Company - Indianapolis Ashford, Nicholas A. and Charles C. Caldart. Technology, Law, and the Working Environment. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1996. 641 pp. US $ 39.95 paper ISBN: 1- 55963-445-4. Recycled, acid-free paper. "Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made," stated the late German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Ashford and Caldart, associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, illustrate the diverse ingredients involved in legislation. An analogy of a spider web comes to mind, in which strands are pulled in different directions by parties involved (labor, government, management), trying to maintain the integrity of the whole, yet allowing some autonomous movement along legal, scientific, and economic lines. The format of Technology, Law, and the Working Environment is unique in that it uses three types of text style to integrate the authors' own material, selected readings, and authors' notes. The three entities are interspersed, giving the reader the real sensation of the give and take involved as these dynamic issues go through the iterative process necessary to produce a useful product. The book has ten chapters. The reader is initially led through the general legislative process and the two major statutes covered in the text (Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)). The focus then shifts to the workplace to illustrate how economics and labor-management issues blend with the safety, health and environmental regulations, particularly the employee's right to be informed and subsequent avenues of redress. One specific example of the process is illustrated in a section of Chapter 3, which chronicles the development of the asbestos standard, showing how it was reduced from 12 f/cc in 1971 to its current level of 0.1 f/cc. Other instances of limit development showing the interplay of agencies, workers, and management give the reader an appreciation for the difficulty in developing an acceptable regulation. The book is intended for people in business, law, and engineering. The reader with experience in these multiple disciplines would derive the optimum benefit. However, the book is thought provoking for all because it repeatedly shows how seemingly simple issues have many valid interpretations. The index provides the full text of OSHA and TSCA Acts. Environmental issues are not as well covered as might be expected. Perhaps a cursory treatment of water, air, and waste programs would have balanced the focus. Overall, this is a useful resource for both management and technical people. Professionals involved in negotiation issues (labor, standards, interpretations) should appreciate this text. Roger R. Hlavek is a Safety, Health and Environmental Consultant with Hughes Technical Services Company - Indianapolis, 6125 E. 21st Street, Mail Stop 71, Indianapolis, Indiana 46219-2058 USA. TEL: 317-306-7908. FAX: 317-306-7908. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library Subject: EGJ Common Good Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Invested in the Common Good By Susan Meeker-Lowry Reviewed by John R. Ferguson Waterford, Ontario Meeker-Lowry, Susan. Invested in the Common Good. Philadelphia, PA & Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1995. 258 pp. includes resource list and index. US $16.95 paper ISBN: 0- 86571-292-1. Partially recycled, soy based ink. What will it take to turn the tide of a contorted culture of untethered self-interest and consumption? In Invested in the Common Good Meeker-Lowry provides a handsome if compact contribution toward turning that tide. Proceeding from her 1988 Economics as if Earth Really Mattered, Meeker-Lowry provides practical advice on how we can adopt the "Small is Beautiful" aesthetic suggested by E.F. Schumacher in 1973. She begins by providing an inspired intimate vision of our ecological home and why we must alter the epochal forces of our present economic assumptions and practices. Once this foundation is established, she provides a veritable storehouse of informative and motivating instructions and examples of successes in sustainable finance, investment, and social organization. She discusses community development banks, meaningful protest strategies, and practical examples and lessons to be learned from what she calls "economics of community", "place", and "culture". Invested is an attempt to provide practical instructions to realizing Thomas Berry's goal of "civic activities based on a profound sense of meaning inherent in the universe and in the life process". It suggests many ways of "succeeding" at socially responsible investing and ethical business practices. The tone is less entertaining and more sober than Wayne Roberts' comparable Get a Life: How To Dance with the Dinosaurs and Make a Buck (1995) but its focus and grounding are also more radical. After reading this book you will feel empowered by the many examples and successes in sustainable community economics. Meeker-Lowry takes criticisms of some of the programs seriously and examines the pitfalls to be avoided in future applications of similar methods. Invested is required reading for anyone serious about transcending the seductive gravity of the unsustainable economic apparatus that hastily propels us towards the dissolution of real wealth in both its social and ecological senses. It is full of resources that will enable readers to connect to kindred spirits and opportunities and can be read and understood by high school students and up. If "doubt is the biggest enemy" of a new economics, this book puts a firm shoulder into dispelling it. Meeker-Lowry thinks globally and acts locally. John R. Ferguson, Ph.D. , is an author and consultant in Waterford, Ontario (100 Woodley Road, R.R. 4 Waterford, Ontario, N0E 1Y0 CANADA. Tel: 519-443-8571. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library Subject: EGJ Orion Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Orion: People & Nature The Myrin Institute Reviewed by John R. Ferguson Waterford, Ontario Orion: People & Nature. Great Barrington, MA: The Myrin Institute. Quarterly. ISSN: 1058-3130. One year of Orion (four issues) included with $25.00 annual membership fee in the Orion Society. Mail to 195 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230, or fax to 413/528-0676. E-MAIL: Orion@orionsociety.org In a recent book on Canadian environmental policy, Hessing and Howlett argue that "it is not accuracy of knowledge but the lack of political willingness to implement that knowledge in the interests of protecting human lives that allows environmental degradation" (p. 200). If this is true, reverence may precede science in promoting environmental protection and making alternative modes of relating to nature increasingly relevant. Orion helps to fulfil this lacuna by exploring the manifold ways in which nature is essential to our daily lives. Orion is a journal about "people and nature" that has been around since 1982. It documents the strained yet poignant relationship between humans and their ecological context. While its subject matter is as free ranging as the wild itself, it maintains an impressive thematic and coherent presentation. In the four editions (reviewed v.15 #4 - v. 16 #3) there are articles, essays, photo essays, poems, reviews and letters about topics such as ecosophy, catch and release fishing, aspen trees, buffalo, cows, cougars, the seasons, building a local library, environmental justice and racism, national parks, butterflies, orchards, inter-species music, fathers and sons, the Web, language, Mount St. Helens, sustainable logging, neighborhood renewal, African Americans and nature, loggers and tree huggers, and arts and the earth. Writers include bell hooks, David Ehrenfeld, Wendell Barry, David Ferry, John Elder, Barry Lopez, and Bill McKibbon to name a very few. It explores nature as a trail in the woods rather than as a labyrinth of policies, numbers and economic interests. Orion approaches species as creatures and movements as people. It attempts to re-place and repopulate the cognitive horizon with the aspects of nature which will matter long after the remaining species celebrate the passage of our ephemeral pursuit of "wealth". It is direct sustenance to the environmentalist's arduous diurnal rhythmic of hope waking us up and pain tucking us in. Environmentalism has been largely reduced to what entrenched and intransigent institutions are able to express above the cacophony of self-interest and the restlessness of global capital, but this does not stop Orion from approaching nature as intimacy. This makes it both a risky and a necessary approach to promoting a sustainable relationship between people and nature. Orion's alternative approach may be increasingly lost on many in the shuddering juggernaut of modern economic "rationality," but it is also the kind of voice without which reverence for nature will starve and extinction will thrive. Orion provides as palpable a grasp of the worth of "nature" as any journal can provide. The aim of the magazine is "to characterize conceptually and practically our responsibilities to the earth and all forms of life, and to explore the ethic of human stewardship... [through] respect and admiration for the earth... [and to] help us deepen our personal connection with the natural world as a source of enrichment and inner renewal". The journal supports The Orion Society whose aim is "[To] help heal the fractured relationship between people and nature by undertaking environmental education programs...." Whether these lofty objectives will be accomplished cannot be determined by one reader, but based on reading one year of the journal, it progresses toward these goals with the same diversity, profundity, inspiration and engagement that will be required of humans if we are to "succeed" as a species. John R. Ferguson, Ph.D. is an author and consultant in Waterford,100 Woodley Road, R.R. 4 Waterford, Ontario, N0E 1Y0 CANADA. TEL: 519-443-857 Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 22:58:43 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id WAA17618; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:58:43 +0530 Received: from hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id WAA27434; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:59:39 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA09031 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:24:50 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:24:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ Nature's Services Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems By Gretchen C. Daily Reviewed by Sean T. O'Brien Princeton University Daily, Gretchen C. Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997. 392 p. US$24.95 paper ISBN: 1-55963-475-8. Recycled, acid-free paper. Recently, I commented on the response made by the New Jersey chapter of a national conservation group to a state forestry plan. Fortunately, I had just finished reading Nature's Services and had a broadened understanding of the value of natural ecosystems to our state, and human society in general. Edited by Gretchen Daily, the Bing Interdisciplinary Research Scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, Nature's Services includes 20 chapters by well- known scientists on a range of topics organized around the theme of the value of services provided by natural ecosystems to humanity. Understandably, and usefully, contributors to Nature's Services make economic arguments for conservation and tend to downplay moral and aesthetic arguments. In general, the value of ecosystems can be divided into consumptive and nonconsumptive uses. For example, consumptive uses for forests include logging and hunting; nonconsumptive uses include bird watching, appreciation of the existence of an ecosystem, flood control, and soil conservation. While consumptive uses can be valued directly based on market prices, it is harder to assign value to nonconsumptive uses. It is difficult to present nonconsumptive uses objectively in arguments about conservation of ecosystems. It is this difficulty that led to the contributors' "lament [of] the near total lack of public appreciation of societal dependence upon natural ecosystems (p. xv)." Given this, I was surprised that Nature's Services misses the mark, though not too widely, in its self-stated goal "...to characterize the ways in which earth's natural ecosystems confer benefits on humanity, to make a preliminary assessment of their value, and to report this in a manner widely accessible to an educated audience (p. 2)" Although the first two goals are admirably addressed, they are written for a scientifically literate audience. Given the author's lament, a less technical, though scientifically rigorous, coffee-table style book might more effectively influence policy by reaching a larger audience. Overall, Nature's Services raised an important question. Can life on earth truly be valued in dollars? At the extreme perspectives on this question, if one believes that the earth and its inhabitants are God's creation, then we should be shamed and embarrassed into protecting all forms of "Creation." On the other hand, if one believes in a Darwinian origin of life and the interconnectedness of the global ecosystem, we should be terrified of upsetting the delicate balance that allowed life to evolve and to continue to survive on earth (and, as far as we know, no where else in the universe). A third perspective, capitalism, holds that the economic value of nature is paramount, regardless of its origin. For those of us who believe in the need to conserve ecosystems regardless of their (consumptive) services to humanity, our challenge is clear, we must present cogent economic arguments for conservation of ecosystems. It is the economic valuation that will convince policy makers and business leaders, and the one that needs to be made by conservationists, all of whom should read this informative volume to help form their arguments. Sean T. O'Brien is a Research Associate at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA. TEL: 609-258-4684. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 22:59:20 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id WAA17622; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 22:59:20 +0530 Received: from eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27458; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:00:09 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA14276 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:14:23 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:14:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ Next West Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: The Next West: Public Lands, Community, and Economy in the American West Editors: John A. Baden and Donald Snow Reviewed by Kenneth L. Carriveau, Jr. Baylor University Baden, John A. and Snow, Donald, eds. The Next West: Public Lands, Community, and Economy in the American West. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997. 272 p. US $22.95 paper ISBN: 1-55963- 460-X. Recycled, acid-free paper. Intriguing, confusing, exciting, frustrating, Jeffersonian, libertarian, controversial. These terms come to mind as the most appropriate for describing the feel to the discussions and opinions in the essays presented in The Next West. Baden and Snow have compiled, under the auspices of the Gallatin Institute, a collection of eleven essays from a variety of outspoken environmentalists and economists discussing the evolution of the 'Next West' and exploring what may need to be done to find and maintain the delicate balance between the natural environment and the human community sharing the same space. Though there is no pre-stated central theme or common literary style, each, in its own way, is an evocative call to the citizenry of the American West to rethink and reevaluate its stance on environmental sustainability and the solutions used to achieve these goals. The first five essays, grouped together under the section heading "On the Ground", focus their attention on the errors of our ways or, rather, how the idealistic plans and best intentions of the past 25 years have evolved to the point of counterproductivity. Most notably, the authors criticize the Federal and state political machinery for corrupting environmental efforts and disenfranchising the communities these agencies were created to protect. They argue the bureaucratic machinations of these agencies are geared more towards budgetary self-realization than ecological reform and restoration. Worse, the "grand experiments" of the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Reclamation, Forestry Service, et al have grown to the point where the local citizens feel they have no incentive to make a difference since it could mean the loss of jobs and community profits associated with agency operations. In addition, these citizens feel they no longer have to be responsible for the stewardship of the natural resources since the government is already doing it for them. The last section, titled "Old Traditions and New Ideas", takes the issue of the "grand experiment" and expands it further. These essays focus on the theoretical realms of politics and economy by discussing how such factors influence community development and environmental decision making processes. Here, for example, such Western institutions and icons as the Bureau of Land Management, the National Parks Service, and John Wesley Powell come under intense scrutiny and evaluation, with less than favorable conclusions. Traditionalist environmentalists and "wise use" advocates alike will be very upset with this book. Traditionalists will be offended by the suggestions to reduce significantly the power of centralized national regulatory agencies and the legislation supporting these operations, in order to send the regulatory responsibility back to the community level. This would mean the loss of the legislative crutches so dear to many environmental groups. '"Wise users" will be disappointed primarily because the authors refuse to support the whole scale privatization and market based methods proposed by the former. The ultimate element for success in the authors' vision of environmental reform is the empowerment of the individual (or community) to have the authority to decide the how's and why's of the use of the land under his/her (its) stewardship. Federal and State government involvement will be relegated down to advisory responsibility. Strongly recommended for public, college, and university libraries. Environmental studies professors, economists, and natural resources managers would do well to review this book to obtain another perspective on the environmental vs. community growth issues of the American West. Kenneth L. Carriveau, Jr. is Assistant Professor and Science/Engineering Reference Librarian at Baylor University, PO Box 97146, Waco, TX 76798-7146 USA. Tel: 254-710-4607. FAX: 254-752-5332. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 23:02:22 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA17632; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:02:22 +0530 Received: from hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27510; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:02:23 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA06777 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:04:34 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:04:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ CRS Reports Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Editorial Note: tables 1 & 2 require special formatting. They are simple one-column listings of CRS topics covered and the contents of the most recent online update. Congressional Research Service Environmental Reports Online: A Service of the National Library for the Environment Frederick W. Stoss SUNY University at Buffalo Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports provide a major link between the scientific and public policy aspects of critical environmental issues. The Committee for the National Institute for the Environment provides free, full-text, online access to the CRS reports dealing with environmental quality, natural resources, and general environmental issues. The Committee for National Institute for the Environment (CNIE) http://www.cnie.org/o.edu:70/docs/egj06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers began providing, for the first time ever, free online full-text access to technical reports produced by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 1996. The CRS reports were provided from the CNIE's National Library for the Environment (NLE) Web site http://www.cnie.org/nle/u:70/docs/egj06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers It was the desire by CNIE to identify a unique, major environmental information resource that was not readily available to the environmental research and policy communities (nor the public at- large), and provide free, direct access to that resource. Making these CRS environmental reports freely available was the first information component provided through the newly created NLE Web site, and serves as an example of the type of information resource that can be provided by this proposed library gateway. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) http://lcweb.loc.gov/crsinfo/docs/egj06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers is the public policy research program of the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/./crsinfo/docs/egj06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers CRS provides comprehensive and reliable analysis, research, and information services that are timely, objective, nonpartisan, and confidential. CRS was created by an Act of Congress in 1914 as the Legislative Reference Service. It was renamed by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, which expanded CRS's mandate to serve the needs of both Houses of Congress, especially service to its committees. CRS works exclusively and directly for all Members and committees of the Congress. Today CRS provides a full range of analytical and evaluative research and information services to both Members and committees of Congress. CRS reports and documents undergo review for accuracy and objectivity and contain nontechnical information that can be very useful to people interested in environmental and natural resource policy issues. CRS reports provide thorough and concise overview of the scientific and technical aspects of the reports' topics. These overviews are then woven into a more detailed analysis of the public-policy aspects related to the topics, and are used by congressional members and members' and committees' staff. The Environment and Natural Resources Policy Division (ENRPD) carry out the CRS environmental efforts. ENRPD provides support in four core and interrelated areas: environmental protection, oceans and natural resources management, agricultural policy, and energy policy. Subject specialists in each area provide expertise on research results and programs, existing statutes, and legislative proposals. The CRS Science, Technology, and Medicine Division may also deal with environmental issues, such as those related to public and environmental health and global change issues. The division findings are summarized in the CRS reports and provide an assessment with regard to the topic's domestic and international implications. In many cases, CRS reports delve into the more complex and often controversial aspects of environmental, ecological, conservation, and natural resources issues. Despite their potential value to a broad audience, CRS does not itself provide these documents to the general public. CRS provides their reports only to members of Congress and their staff. CRS documents are prepared specifically for Congress and are clearly in the public domain. However, the reports are not distributed to the public at-large upon request. Public access to CRS reports is typically facilitated by individual requests to one's Senator or Representative or by purchase from commercial distributors. CNIE obtains copies of the CRS reports, converts them to an Internet-compatible format, and places them online. Table 1 shows the topical coverage of the CRS environmental reports http://www.cnie.org/nle/crs_main.html06/lewis.htmla.ation/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers provided by CNIE. Subject coverage provided by the NLE initiative is both broad and specific. Examination of the online contents of these categories reveals the level of specificity with which each category is treated. Table 1. Topical Coverage of CRS Environmental Reports Provided in Full-Text Formats by the National Library for the Environment (NLE) A. General and Broadly Defined Environmental Topics Agency Profiles Information Sources International Issues Legislation and Legislative Initiatives Population Public Lands Regulatory Reform Risk Assessment Science and Technology Trade, Taxes, and Economics Transportation B. Natural Resources Agriculture and Grazing Biodiversity Energy Forestry Marine Mining Natural Resources (General Aspects) Wetlands and Aquatic Resources C. Environmental Quality Air Climate Pesticides Pollution (General Aspects) Stratospheric Ozone Waste Management Water Quality As new or updated CRS reports related to environmental or resource issues become available, CNIE adds them to the National Library for the Environment Web site. Table 2 shows the contents of a single "Newly-added" inventory of CRS reports. This typical update demonstrates the wide variety of environmental reports produced by CRS and made publicly available via the Internet by the NLE. Table 2. New and Updated Reports Added to the NLE inventory in April 1998 * Fishery, Aquaculture and Marine Mammal Legislation in the 105th Congress (4/20/98 ~19p.) * Wetlands Issues in the 105th Congress (4/20/98 ~10p.) * The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit (4/17/98 ~11p.) * Global Climate Change (4/17/98 ~13p.) * Federal Regulatory Reform: An Overview (4/16/98 ~15p.) * Maritime Economic Regulation and the 105th Congress (4/16/98 ~9p.) * The Law of the Sea Convention and U.S. Policy (4/15/98 ~12p.) * Superfund: A Brief Comparison of the Chairmen's Bills (4/13/98 ~11p.) * Magnetic Fusion: The DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Program (4/13/98 ~15p.) * Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 105th Congress (4/10/98 ~14p.) * Water Quality: Implementing the Clean Water Act (4/9/98 ~14p.) * Environmental Protection Legislation in the 105th Congress (4/8/98 ~10p.) * The Natural Resources and Environment Function in the FY1999 Budget: A Description of Programs and Funding (4/6/98 ~6p.) * Air Quality and Transportation Enhancement Provisions in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency (4/3/98 ~6p.) * Science, Technology, and Medicine: Issues Facing the 105th Congress, First Session (4/3/98~6p.) * The Budget For Fiscal Year 1998 (4/2/98 ~16p.) * Superfund Reauthorization Issues in the 105th Congress (4/2/98 ~10p.) * Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Issues (4/1/98 ~15p.) * Agricultural Issues in the 105th Congress (3/31/98 ~16p.) * Food Safety Issues in the 105th Congress (3/30/98 ~22p.) * The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (3/30/98 ~11p.) * The Budget for Fiscal Year 1999 (3/27/98 ~14p.) * Cooperative R&D: Federal Efforts to Promote Industrial Competitiveness (3/27/98 ~10p.) * Research and Development: Priority Setting and Consolidation in Science Budgeting (3/27/98 ~7p.) * Forest Health (3/27/98 ~4p.) * Research and Development Funding: Fiscal Year 1999 (3/26/98 ~17p.) * Tobacco-Related Programs and Activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Operation & Cost (3/19/98 ~6 p.) * The Role of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Environmental Protection (3/19/98 ~13p.) * Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: Is CAFE Up to Standards? (3/19/98 ~8p.) * Federalism Legislation in the 105th Congress (3/18/98 ~16p.) * Naturalization Trends, Issues, and Legislation (3/17/98 ~11p.) * Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs (3/9/98 ~13p.) * The 1872 Mining Law: Time for Reform? (3/4/98 ~12p.) * Environmental Reauthorization and Regulatory Reform: from the 104th Congress to the 105th (2/10/98 ~5p.) * Summary & Comparison of the Major Agricultural Provisions of the Tobacco Settlement Policy Proposals (2/5/98 ~3p.) * Global Climate Change Treaty: Negotiations and Related Issues (11/21/97 ~8p.) * Highway Fund Sanctions for Clean Air Act Violations (10/22/97 ~5p.) The Committee for the National Institute for the Environment (CNIE) has proposed the establishment of a National Institute for the Environment (NIE). The mission of the NIE is to improve the scientific basis for making decisions on environmental issues. The proper flow of information links science to decisions. Thus, a major component of the NIE is a National Library for the Environment (NLE). A committee of interested information specialists has worked over the past two years to develop this framework for the NLE. In general, discussions have centered on the need for a library somewhat analogous to the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The NLE will not be a large centralized collection of environmental information, but instead will electronically link users to major collections and centers of expertise in a network that can be accessed through a telephone, fax or computer. The NLE will provide leadership in building and serving the nation's environmental information infrastructure. The Electronic Green Journal has provided several articles about the proposed NLE: The National Library for the Environment - An Update (December 1996, No. 6) http://www.lib.uidaho.edu:70/docs/egj06/stoss01.html#nlen/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers The National Library for the Environment - An Update (April 1995, Vol. 2, no. 1) http://www.lib.uidaho.edu:70/docs/egj03/stoss02.html#nlen/Woodpecker/woodp.htmlers For additional information about the Congressional Research Service contact: Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building 101 Independence Avenue, SE, LM-203 Washington, DC 20540-7000 For additional information about the CNIE and the NLE contact: David Blockstein, Senior Scientist Committee for the National Institute for the Environment 1725 K Street, NW Suite 212 Washington, D.C. 20006-1401 david@cnie.org Phone 202-530-5810. Frederick W. Stoss is the Biological Sciences Librarian, Science and Engineering Library at SUNY Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, USA. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 23:03:32 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA17636; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:03:32 +0530 Received: from hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27565; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:04:37 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA09147 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:25:58 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:25:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ Partnerships Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Expanding Partnerships in Conservation Editor Jeffrey A. McNeely Reviewed by Michael Oneka Wageningen Agricultural University McNeely, A. Jeffrey, editor. Expanding Partnerships in Conservation: Washington, DC & Covelo, CA: Island Press, 1995. 386 p. with figures, tables and index. US $34.95 paper ISBN: 1-55963- 351-4. Recycled, acid-free paper. Expanding Partnerships in Conservation illustrates how individuals and institutions can work together better (in new forms of partnership) to meet conservation needs. The book was compiled from contributions made at the IV World Parks Congress in Caracas in 1992. Much of the books' content is on protected areas, but the issues and cases discussed are relevant to conservation in general. Expanding Partnerships provides a good overview of experiments underway across the world to establish more effective and efficient relationships amongst people and institutions to meet conservation needs. It is primarily targeted at people who intend to get or are involved in protected area development. "Principles of partnership" (part one) discusses in general terms the importance of new forms of partnerships in conservation and examines conceptual models for their creation. The aspects covered include mechanisms to expand public support, corporate ethics, legal instruments in land use planning and management, and insights from the social sciences. In "Partnership with major sectors" (part two) the value of the protected areas is examined in terms of their benefits to fisheries, forestry, tourism, hydrology, and protection against natural hazards. It also examines the links between the protected areas and zoos, botanical gardens, medicinal plants, energy exploitation, investments, gender interests, and national security. In part three, "Partnership with communities," case studies from around the world illustrate possible scope for the private sector, NGOs, and local communities in managing protected areas. Examples include work with North American Aborigines, tribal groups in Southern and Eastern Africa and Nepal, and landowners in the United Kingdom. Protected areas (national parks, biosphere reserves, wildlife reserves) will only survive if supported by the public, the private sector and a full range of government agencies. Expanding Partnerships emphasizes that obtaining this support requires that people appreciate the protected areas, and that the areas are well managed and seen to contribute to the general, local, and/or national welfare. By implication, the protected areas are treated as "the means" to conserve biodiversity. If they fail, biodiversity would not be conserved. The major challenge is to ensure the "protected areas idea" succeeds rather than, for example, to develop capacity for effective popular conservation programs. The title emphasizes conservation but the book's main focus is protected areas and the need for everyone to work together to preserve them. Many of the protected areas' problems are universal. The examples in Expanding Partnerships provide useful conceptual models to deal with these problems. Expanding Partnerships in Conservation would be an important reference for anyone involved with conservation activities. For educators, students, and researchers of natural resources management it brings together examples of prevailing practices. For development agencies, it illustrates new aspects and possible mechanisms for investment, and for work with other stakeholders in conservation programs. Michael Oneka is Protected Areas Designer at Wageningen Agricultural University, Department of Ecological Agriculture, Haarweg 333, NL-6709RZ Wageningen. Tel: +31 317 483522 Fax: +31 317 484995. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 23:08:04 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA17645; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:08:04 +0530 Received: from hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27598; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:06:01 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by hawk.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA09390 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:28:34 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:28:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ ISO 14001 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: ISO 14001: An Executive Report By Gordon A. West and Joseph G. Manta Reviewed by Richard Simon The University of Greenwich West, Gordon A. and Manta, Joseph G. ISO 14001: An Executive Report. Rockville, Maryland: Government Institutes Inc., 1996. 106 p. US $54.00 softcover. ISBN: 0-86587-551-0. Of the many publications now available that deal with the subject of environmental management standards, ISO 14001: An Executive Report stands out in providing a clearly written and comprehensive account of the subject. The report is clearly targeted at the upper echelons of management within organizations of all sizes, although the authors do make the valid point that the ISO 14001 specification is not relevant to organizations having inconsequential impacts on the environment, nor to those with an uncomplicated management structure. The stated purpose of the report is to summarize what the new standard means and how it may benefit an organization; to analyze the legal implications; and to indicate how an organization might follow up any interest in the standard. The Executive Summary (although not really a summary of the report) provide a useful background to the development of the ISO 14000 series, and in particular examines the links to the earlier precursor standards on quality management systems, namely the ISO 9000 series. The ISO 14001 provisions are set out in a clear and well-structured fashion and each is accompanied by telling comments from the authors, as are the benefits to be derived from registration to the specification. Section III provides an in-depth coverage of the legal implications that could arise in terms of the confidentiality of information generated in complying with ISO 14000. Protecting this information from third parties is essential to an organization, and the authors discuss in some detail the legal privileges that can be used in this area. An extensive reference list of case material is included to illustrate the importance of this section. The authors also include a section offering guidance to those organizations that have in place some environmental management system, but are unsure whether registration to ISO 14001 is desirable, or indeed how far their system falls within the ISO 14001 framework. Section V provides an easy to follow guide to an assessment of an organization's environmental management system which will enable it not only to determine what is required to achieve ISO 14001 compliance, but also to make significant improvements in its overall performance. For organizations that are more aware of developments such as the Responsible Care Program (Chemical Manufacturers Association) or the Principles for Environmental Management (International Chamber of Commerce: Business Charter for Sustainable Development), the Appendix provides a tabular summary comparison with the provisions of ISO 14001. The report is very successful in meeting its stated purpose. While the main geographical focus is quite naturally the United States market, there is no reason why, given a revised section on the legal implications, it could not be translated for the European or Far East markets. In my opinion the report is of great value not only to those in environmental management looking to investigate the merits of ISO 140001 registration, but also those with an academic interest in the subject area. I fully recommend this book. Richard Simon is Senior Lecturer at the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, The University of Greenwich, Medway Towns Campus, Pembroke, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB UK. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 23:09:24 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA17649; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:09:24 +0530 Received: from eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27687; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:09:23 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by eagle.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA14886 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:19:05 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:18:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ NAFTA Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: The Environment and NAFTA: Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law By Pierre M. Johnson and Andre Beaulieu Reviewed by Graham E.L. Holton La Trobe University, Melbourne Johnson, Pierre M. and Beaulieu, Andre. The Environment and NAFTA: Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1996. 413pp., index. US $30.00 paper ISBN: 1-55963-468-5. Recycled, acid-free paper. Two international experts examine how the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) makes a groundbreaking attempt to integrate the social agenda of trade with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), thereby transforming the international trade and environment debate. The authors analyze the environmental dispute settlement process through NAAEC, allowing a more significant role for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in international environmental forums. The centerpiece of NAAEC is the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) with its environmental cooperation mandate, which provides windows for increased communication with the public and a broader constituency of NGOs. The provisions of NAFTA that affect environmental policies and their implementation are discussed, with preliminary conclusions on the environmental record of NAFTA/NAAEC. The analysis of NAFTA is covered in five parts, with six appendices covering the consultation and resolution of disputes in the NAFTA agreement. A large bibliography which includes international treaties, government reports and relevant legal cases, extensive footnotes, contents list, and a thoroughly cross-referenced index make this book practical for research. This highly authoritative study will prove invaluable to environmentalists, consultants, development economists, NGOs and students, or to anyone who wants a better understanding of the procedures dealing with environmental dispute resolutions concerning NAFTA. P.M. Johnson, senior counsel with Guy & Gilbert in Montreal and professor of law at McGill University, and A. Beaulieu, a senior policy analyst in the Office of the Privy Council, Ottawa, have written a groundbreaking, readable and concise analysis. Their professionalism is clearly revealed in the quality and depth of analysis of this complex and important subject. They consider the context of the implications brought to the negotiations, and the legal mechanism established to address them. Questions on NAFTA's impact on trade liberalization are raised. They then explain how NAAEC overcomes problems related to national sovereignty, environmental dumping and pollution havens, international environmental harmonization, and the lack of transparency and access. Johnson and Beaulieu support their explanations with an examination of the agreements and related court cases. NAFTA, although primarily an economic agreement, goes further than any previous trade agreement in addressing environmental concerns and promoting environmental protection. The NAAEC provides for the upward harmonization of environmental enforcement levels through panel-sanctioned trade measures. The treaty goes further than other treaties in that the NAAEC's dispute settlement mechanism provides that a party refusing to comply with the panel's determination be subjected to fines or trade sanctions. But the authors also point out the treaty's glaring omissions. These omissions include the lack of a formal provision to compel the Trade Commission to accept recommendations from the CEC. In addition, NAFTA does not improve the access of NGOs, and therefore the NAAEC's specific provisions fall short of realizing `transparency and public participation', while NAFTA Article 1114 covering pollution havens could have been improved by allowing NGO participation (164). For all its shortcomings the NAAEC is the only environmental agreement specifically designed to complement a trade treaty. A must have book for anyone interested in, or concerned by, NAFTA. Graham E.L. Holton is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library From egj-owner@uidaho.edu Tue Jun 30 23:09:45 1998 Received: from iisc.ernet.in by ces.iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA17655; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:09:45 +0530 Received: from harrier.csrv.uidaho.edu by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/SMI-4.1) id XAA27655; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 23:08:08 +0530 (GMT+0530) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by harrier.csrv.uidaho.edu (8.8.6 (PHNE_14041)/8.8.6) id JAA12772 for egj-outgoing; Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:27:30 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.csrv.uidaho.edu: gjournal owned process doing -bs Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 09:27:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Jankowska X-Sender: gjournal@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu To: egj@uidaho.edu Subject: EGJ Law & Environment Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-egj@uidaho.edu Precedence: bulk Status: R Electronic Green Journal June 1998 Issue 8 Review: Law and the Environment: A Multidisciplinary Reader By Robert Percival and Dorothy C. Alevizatos Reviewed by Shalendra D. Sharma University of San Francisco Percival, Robert and Dorothy C. Alevizatos. Law and the Environment: A Multidisciplinary Reader. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 439 p. US $29.95 paper ISBN: 1-56639-524-0. Confronted with growing environmental problems, the world has witnessed a political awakening. Transboundary and international conferences and treaties regarding global warming, ozone depletion and habitat-biodiversity loss are but a few signs that the world has entered a new age of environmental diplomacy. In this new age environmental issues will share center stage with the more traditional economic and security concerns. Paralleling these developments, international environmental law has emerged as a distinct academic discipline, with a growing number of institutions of higher learning concentrating on legal responses to transboundary and global environmental problems. The book under review is an excellent addition to this emerging field. The authors' skillful selection and editing of some of the most important writings on environmental law, science, and policy has resulted in a comprehensive multidisciplinary volume enabling readers to explore environmental issues in all their richness and complexity. The book is divided into four parts, each providing a different focus on the nature and scope of environmental problems and the attempts to use legal instruments to address these concerns. The four chapters in part I introduce alternative perspectives on the nature and sources of environmental problems, including ecological, economic and ethical perspectives and their implications for legal and regulatory policy. Part II examines how society has sought to use legal instruments to protect the environment. Chapter 5 provides a nuance early history of environmental regulation with particular reference to how society responded to environmental problems before the emergence of national regulatory programs. Chapter 6 examines the political forces that generated a burst of federal legislative activity to protect the environment during the 1970s and 1980s. Chapter 7 provides a lucid non- technical overview of the structure of current environmental law and an introduction to the debate over the efficiency and effectiveness of the current regulatory system. Part III explores how law is translated into regulatory policy. Chapter 9 discusses how citizens groups and the public influence regulatory decisions, while chapter 10 provides a balanced examination of the complexity of forces that have made it extremely difficult for regulatory agencies to implement environmental laws. Part IV explores the globalization of environmental policy and other important trends that are likely to shape the future of environmental law. Lynton Cladwell's chapter nicely traces the emergence of international environmental law as well as the difficulty countries face in reconciling domestic development goals with international environmental concerns. Chapters 12 and 13 examine the relationship between trade liberalization and the environment. The article by Gene Grossman and Alan Krueger is a must read because the authors forcefully argue that trade liberalization ultimately will produce environmental benefits by promoting economic growth that will enable citizens in developing countries to demand increased environmental amenities. However, the critical question of how the new World Trade Organization will impact trade and domestic and international environmental legislation is not at all discussed. It is the only gap (and a big one) in an otherwise excellent volume. Shalendra D. Sharma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA. TEL: 415-422-6452. Copyright 1998 University of Idaho Library