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\"A book about issues in the world and what kids can do to help solve them. Topics include: health, bullying, and the environment\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Increased aerosols can reverse Twomey effect in water clouds through radiative pathway
Aerosols play important roles in modulations of cloud properties and hydrological cycle by decreasing the size of cloud droplets with the increase of aerosols under the condition of fixed liquid water path, which is known as the first aerosol indirect effect or Twomey-effect or microphysical effect. Using high-quality aerosol data from surface observations and statistically decoupling the influence of meteorological factors, we show that highly loaded aerosols can counter this microphysical effect through the radiative effect to result both the decrease and increase of cloud droplet size depending on liquid water path in water clouds. The radiative effect due to increased aerosols reduces the moisture content, but increases the atmospheric stability at higher altitudes, generating conditions favorable for cloud top entrainment and cloud droplet coalescence. Such radiatively driven cloud droplet coalescence process is relatively stronger in thicker clouds to counter relatively weaker microphysical effect, resulting the increase of cloud droplet size with the increase of aerosol loading; and vice-versa in thinner clouds. Overall, the study suggests the prevalence of both negative and positive relationships between cloud droplet size and aerosol loading in highly polluted regions.
Journal Article
Recurrent pattern of extreme fire weather in California
Historical wildfire events in California have shown a tendency to occur every five to seven years with a rapidly increasing tendency in recent decades. This oscillation is evident in multiple historical climate records, some more than a century long, and appears to be continuing. Analysis shows that this 5–7 year oscillation is linked to a sequence of anomalous large-scale climate patterns with an eastward propagation in both the ocean and atmosphere. While warmer temperature emerges from the northern central Pacific to the west coast of California, La Niña pattern develops simultaneously, implying that the lifecycle of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation that takes multiple years to form could be a trigger. The evolving patterns of the Pacific-to-North America atmospheric teleconnection suggest the role of tropical and subtropical forcing embedded in this lifecycle. These results highlight the semi-cyclical hydrological behavior as a climate driver for wildfire variability in California.
Journal Article
Pesticides, a love story : America's enduring embrace of dangerous chemicals
\"A provocative cultural history of pesticides and their controversial use and depiction in the United States. Mart contends that--despite the sharp concerns raised by environmentalists and others since the appearance of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring--Americans have not only never resolved the inherent tension between costs and benefits presented by these chemicals, but have actually grown ever more attached to them with the passage of time\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Studying Air Pollutants Origin and Associated Meteorological Parameters over Seoul from 2000 to 2009
We investigate the temporal characteristics of major air pollutants collected from 44 air quality stations over the city of Seoul, Korea, namely, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particular matter at 10 microns, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) between 2000 and 2009. The corresponding satellite datasets, namely, aerosol optical depth (AODsat), Ångström exponent, and fine mode fraction, collected from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) as well as the Aeronet ground aerosol optical depth (AODaeronet), have been analyzed. Pollutants’ seasonal effect has been inferred from the precipitation and temperature. The four pollutants under study show varying temporal characteristics with different annual mean concentration patterns. The monthly mean of mentioned pollutants all show similar low concentrations during the summer season and high concentrations during the winter season. We found that pollution is strongly linked to temperature and precipitation variability, especially during the fall season. Satellite data analysis provides information on the pollutants origin whether of natural or anthropogenic type. Our results indicate that the anthropogenic aerosol is dominant in the summer season even though the concentration was lower than the other seasons. AODaeronet and Ångström exponent indicated high positive and negative correlation coefficients with PM10, 0.60, and −0.45, respectively. Both small and large sizes of aerosols existed in 2007; however coarse size of aerosols was the primary component in 2002.
Journal Article
Chlordecone exposure and adverse effects in French West Indies populations
Chlordecone (Kepone) is an organochlorine insecticide that has been used as insecticide and fungicide. In the French West Indies, Guadeloupe and Martinique, it was intensively applied to banana fields from 1973 to 1993 to control root borers. This pesticide undergoes no significant biotic or abiotic degradation in the environment and is still present in soils where it was applied. It was only in 1999 that health and environmental authorities became aware of the extent of the chlordecone pollution of environmental media, including soils, waterways, and the food chain. Earlier observations and toxicological studies have demonstrated that chlordecone is a reproductive and developmental toxicant, neurotoxic and carcinogenic in rodents, and is an endocrine-disrupting chemical because of its estrogenic properties both in vitro and in vivo. Several surveys have confirmed that the French West Indian population continues to be exposed to this chemical though consumption of contaminated foodstuffs. Here, we report the findings of various epidemiological studies conducted in the French West Indies to assess the impact of environmental exposure to chlordecone on the health of the population.
Journal Article
How to measure the agroecological performance of farming in order to assist with the transition process
The use of plant protection products enables farmers to maximize economic performance and yields, but in return, the environment and human health can be greatly affected because of their toxicity. There are currently strong calls for farmers to reduce the use of these toxic products for the preservation of the environment and the human health, and it has become urgent to invest in more sustainable models that help reduce these risks. One possible solution is the transition toward agroecological production systems. These new systems must be beneficial economically, socially, and environmentally in terms of human health. There are many tools available, based on a range of indicators, for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems on conventional farm holdings. These methods are little suitable to agroecological farms and do not measure the performance of agroecological transition farms. In this article, we therefore develop a model for the strategic definition, guidance, and assistance for a transition to agroecological practices, capable of assessing performance of this transition and simulating the consequences of possible changes. This model was built by coupling (i) a decision-support tool and a technico-economic simulator with (ii) a conceptual model built from the dynamics of agroecological practices. This tool is currently being tested in the framework of a Compte d’Affectation Spéciale pour le Développement Agricole et Rural (CASDAR) project (CASDAR: project launched in 2013 by the French Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, on the theme “collective mobilisation for agroecology,” http://agriculture.gouv.fr/Appel-a-projets-CASDAR) using data from farms, most of which are engaged in agroenvironmental process and reducing plant protection treatments since 2008.
Journal Article
Natural transformation of chlordecone into 5b-hydrochlordecone in French West Indies soils: statistical evidence for investigating long-term persistence of organic pollutants
Chlordecone (CLD) was an organochlorine insecticide whose previous use resulted in an extensive pollution of the environment with severe health effects and social consequences. A closely related compound, 5b-hydrochlordecone (5b-hydroCLD), has been searched for and often detected in environmental matrices from the geographical area where CLD was applied. The current consensus considered that its presence was not the result of a biotic or abiotic dechlorination of CLD in these matrices but rather the consequence of its presence as impurity (synthesis by-product) in the CLD released into the environment. The aim of the present study was to determine if and to what extent degradation of CLD into 5b-hydroCLD occurred in the field. To test this hypothesis, the ratios of 5b-hydroCLD and CLD concentrations in a dataset of 810 soils collected between 2006 and 2012 in Martinique were compared to the ratios measured in 3 samples of the CLD dust commercial formulations applied in the banana fields of French West Indies (FWI) and 1 sample of the technical-grade CLD corresponding to the active ingredient used in such formulations. Soil data were processed with a hierarchical Bayesian model to account for random measurement errors and data censoring. Any pathway of CLD transformation into 5b-hydroCLD occurring over the long term in FWI soils would indeed change the ratio of 5b-hydroCLD/CLD compared to what it was in the initially applied formulations. Results showed a significant increase of the 5b-hydroCLD/CLD ratio in the soils—25 times greater in soil than in commercial formulations—which suggested that natural CLD transformation into 5b-hydroCLD over the long term occurred in these soils. Results from this study may impact future decisions for the remediation of the polluted areas.
Journal Article
Assessment of the contamination of marine fauna by chlordecone in Guadeloupe and Martinique (Lesser Antilles)
Chlordecone is an organochlorine pesticide, used in the Lesser Antilles from 1972 to 1993 to fight against a banana weevil. That molecule is very persistent in the natural environment and ends up in the sea with runoff waters. From 2003 to 2013, seven campaigns of samplings have been conducted to evaluate the level of contamination of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. The present study is the first assessment and the first comparison of the concentrations of chlordecone between marine areas, taxonomic groups, and ecological factors like trophic groups or preferential habitat of fish species. The four most contaminated marine areas are located downstream the contaminated rivers and banana plantations. Crustaceans seemed to be more sensitive to the contamination than fish or mollusks. Finally, when comparing contamination of fish according to their ecology, we found that fish usually living at the border of mangrove and presenting detritivores-omnivores diets were the most contaminated by chlordecone. These results are particularly useful to protect the health of the local population by controlling the fishing and the commercialization of seafood products, potentially contaminated by chlordecone.
Journal Article