Pollutants In A Multimedia Environment

Pollutants released to the environment are distributed among the many environmental media such as air, water, soil, and vegetation, as the result of complex physical, chemical and biological processes. The possible environmental impact associated with chemical pollutants is related to their concentration levels and persistence in the various environmental compartments. Therefore, information regarding the migration of pollutants across environmental phase boundaries (eg., air-water, soil-water) and their accumulation in the environment is essential if we are to assess the potential environmental impact and the associated risks. In recent years it has become apparent that environmental pollution is a multimedia problem. Risk assessment and the design of appropriate pollution control measures require that we carefully consider the transport and accumulation of pollutants in the environment. We are now recognizing that the environment must be considered as a whole, and the scientific and regulatory approaches must consider the interactions of environmental media. It is also becoming apparent that single-medium approaches are partial and often counter-productive. On the other hand any multimedia program must carefully consider the rate of each environmental medium in the overall multimedia scheme.

Environmental Risks and the Media explores the ways in which environmental risks, threats and hazards are represented, transformed and contested by the media. At a time when popular conceptions of the environment as a stable, natural world with which humanity interferes are being increasingly contested, the medias methods of encouraging audiences to think about environmental risks - from the BSE or 'mad cow' crisis to global climate change - are becoming more and more controversial. Examining large-scale disasters, as well as 'everyday' hazards, the contributors consider the tensions between entertainment and information in media coverage of the environment. How do the media frame 'expert', 'counter-expert' and 'lay public' definitions of environmental risk? What role do environmental pressure groups like Greenpeace or 'eco-warriors' and 'green guerrillas' play in shaping what gets covered and how? Does the media emphasis on spectacular events at the expense of issue-sensitive reporting exacerbate the public tendency to overestimate sudden and violent risks and underestimate chronic long-term ones?

Bridges the gaps between regulatory, engineering, and science disciplines in order to comprehensively cover pollutant fate and transport in environmental multimedia This book presents and integrates all aspects of fate and transport: chemistry, modeling, various forms of assessment, and the environmental legal framework. It approaches each of these topics initially from a conceptual perspective before explaining the concepts in terms of the math necessary to model the problem so that students of all levels can learn and eventually contribute to the advancement of water quality science. The first third of Pollutant Fate and Transport in Environmental Multimedia is dedicated to the relevant aspects of chemistry behind the fate and transport processes. It provides relatively simple examples and problems to teach these principles. The second third of the book is based on the conceptual derivation and the use of common models to evaluate the importance of model parameters and sensitivity analysis; complex equation derivations are given in appendices. Computer exercises and available simulators teach and enforce the concepts and logic behind fate and transport modeling. The last third of the book is focused on various aspects of assessment (toxicology, risk, benefit-cost, and life cycle) and environmental legislation in the US, Europe, and China. The book closes with a set of laboratory exercises that illustrate chemical and fate and transport concepts covered in the text, with example results for most experiments. Features more introductory material on past environmental disasters and the continued need to study environmental chemistry and engineering Covers chemical toxicology with various forms of assessment, United States, European, and Chinese regulations, and advanced fate and transport modeling and regulatory implications Provides a conceptual and relatively simple mathematical approach to fate and transport modeling, yet complex derivations of most equations are given in appendices Integrates the use of numerous software packages (pC-pH, EnviroLab Simulators, Water, Wastewater, and Global Issues), and Fate©2016 Contains numerous easy-to-understand examples and problems along with answers for most end-of-the-chapter problems, and simulators for answers to fate and transport questions Includes numerous companion laboratory experiments with EnviroLab Requiring just a basic knowledge of algebra and first-year college chemistry to start, Pollutant Fate and Transport in Environmental Multimedia is an excellent textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate faculty and students studying environmental engineering and science.

While digital media give us the ability to communicate with and know the world, their use comes at the expense of an immense ecological footprint and environmental degradation. In Finite Media Sean Cubitt offers a large-scale rethinking of theories of mediation by examining the environmental and human toll exacted by mining and the manufacture, use, and disposal of millions of phones, computers, and other devices. The way out is through an eco-political media aesthetics, in which people use media to shift their relationship to the environment and where public goods and spaces are available to all. Cubitt demonstrates this through case studies ranging from the 1906 film The Story of the Kelly Gang to an image of Saturn taken during NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission, suggesting that affective responses to images may generate a populist environmental politics that demands better ways of living and being. Only by reorienting our use of media, Cubitt contends, can we overcome the failures of political elites and the ravages of capital.

This book offers a theoretically informed empirical investigation of national media reporting and political discourse on environmental issues in Australia, China and Japan. It illuminates the risks, harms and responsibilities associated with climate change through an analysis of pollution, adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing on both the social sciences and humanities. A particular strength of the work is the detailed analysis of the data using a range of both quantitative and qualitative techniques, enabling the authors to reveal in rich and compelling detail the complex relationship between risk and responsibility in the climate change discourse. The case studies of Australia, China and Japan are set in the current literature as well as in the historical context of climate change in these three countries. The analysis of the media discourse on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia demonstrates how the mining of coal for overseas markets has led to devastating harm to the life of the reef. A critical discussion of the Chinese documentary, Under the Dome, shows how this medium has played a crucial role in building awareness of the harm from atmospheric pollution among the citizens, shaping attitudes and promoting action. The first case study of Japan elucidates how cross-border atmospheric pollution from China forges a chain of responsibility for responding to climate change, running from the state to society. The other case study of Japan demonstrates how ‘smart cities’ have emerged as a way to mitigate the risks and harms of climate change. The Conclusion draws together the similarities and differences in how climate change is addressed in the three countries. In all, Environmental Pollution and the Media: Political Discourses of Risk and Responsibility in Australia, China and Japan uncovers the dynamics of the triadic relationship among risk, harm and climate change in Australia, China and Japan. By so doing, the book makes an original and timely contribution to understanding comparative media, discourse and political debates on climate change.

Managing Hazardous Air Pollutants presents a detailed examination of the state-of-the-art in the management of air pollutants ("air toxics"). This important new volume focuses on the latest research, regulatory perspectives, modeling, environmental and human risk assessments, new control strategies, monitoring programs, risk communication, and risk management. Key chapters in the book are devoted to these timely subjects: