International Journal of Environmental Studies

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Book reviews Joao Gomes; Mervyn Richardson; David Bridgeman-Sutton Online Publication Date: 01 December 2006 To cite this Article: Gomes, Joao, Richardson, Mervyn and Bridgeman-Sutton, David (2006) 'Book reviews', International Journal of Environmental Studies, 63:6, 883 — 886 To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/00207230600772424 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207230600772424

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International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 63, No. 6, December 2006, 883–886

Book reviews Polymers, the Environment and Sustainable Development, by A. Azapagic, A. Emsley and I. Hamerton, Wiley, Chichester, 2005, 219 pp., £32.50, pbk (ISBN 0-471-87741-7). International 10.1080/00207230600772424 GENV_A_177198.sgm 0020-7233 Book 0Taylor 00 [email protected] JoaoGomes 2006 00000 Review andFrancis & (print)/1029-0400 Francis JournalLtd of Environmental (online) Studies

This book is a very useful and up-to-date account of the role of polymers in modern society, considering relevant implications of their use, production and disposal throughout their life cycle. The book is clear and well organized following a logical evolution according to the life cycle of polymers. The remarkable characteristic of this book is that it is almost written as a tale, concise and precise, without lacking detail and providing reliable scientific data. The book could be of use both to undergraduate and postgraduate students and scientists as well. In regard to use by students, the facts referred to in the text are reinforced by windows describing key facts, and each chapter is supplemented with revision exercises and indications for further reading. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the life cycle of polymers. Chapter 2 discusses polymer properties, showing how they influence the ‘after life’ of polymers. Chapter 3 is a review of polymer production, consumption and derived waste streams. Chapter 4 examines different recycling options and technologies available for polymers. Chapter 5 discusses the main reasons for recycling and the existing barriers, and how they may be overcome. Chapter 6 is on the design of polymers in conjunction with a sustainable environment. Chapter 7 is the comparison between the different recycling options, in terms of environmental implications, and also the identification of optimal environmental friendly routes. Finally, Chapter 8 is the conclusion, where several perspectives for further development are presented. The whole text is supported by annexes, presenting the current situation in the UK, and the definition of environmental impacts. Joao Gomes

Environmental Catalysis, edited by Vicki H. Grassian, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2005, pp. xix + 701, £97.00, hbk (ISBN 1–57444–462–X). This timely work was compiled by 44 authors, from Canada (3), Ireland (1), the UK (1) and the USA (39). It reflects in the main North American policies. It is divided into three sections and 25 chapters. There is an excellent index of 35 pages. This volume provides a comprehensive mélange of theory, computation, analysis, and synthesis to support the latest applications in biocatalysis, ‘green chemistry’, environmental remediation. It therefore enlarges one’s understanding of the interaction of pollutants with natural systems. International Journal of Environmental Studies ISSN 0020-7233 print: ISSN 1029-0400 online © 2006 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/00207230600772424

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A Focus on areas recognized by the US National Science Foundation, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy as critical to our understanding of all aspects of air pollution. Presentation of progressive techniques for studying the chemistry of all environmental interfaces, e.g. non-linear optical techniques including sum frequency generation, and second harmonic generation and mass spectrometry of small oxide clusters. Excellent descriptions of the organic chemistry and degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons by photocatalysis. Demonstrations of how state-of-the-art theory and computational modelling can be used to recognize factors for controlling NOx remediation. Useful information on the effectiveness of titanium dioxide, oxide nano-particles, and zeolites in treating volatile organic compounds including aromatic hydrocarbons.

It is extremely well referenced with ∼2800 references, a very large number of very clear figures, tables and equations (both chemical and mathematical). Against all this, unfortunately, there is scant mention of the many excellent Reports from the United Nations Specialist Agencies. Have the US agencies a policy to exclude such material? Further, in common with far too many multi-author works there is no concluding chapter. Thus, while the research is reported and the scope is broad it is not apparent what one should do about it. Why should 44 contributors have no ideas on that head? Environmental catalysis science encompasses the study of catalysts and catalytic reactions that affect the environment. The general area of understanding environmental phenomena at a microscopic level is one of increasing scientific interest; none more so than the aspects of nano-technology which is included in this work; but, as a means of offering a new perspective in detoxification and remediation. Several of the chapters in this book focus on environmental molecular surface science because adsorption, surface reactions, and desorption play very key roles in many environmental catalytic reactions. This very interesting book should inspire readers to rise to the challenges to which we are all being increasingly exposed, especially with the development of new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology and its possible adverse effects on all environment matrices. This means that the 44 authors should make definite recommendations on the subject of reducing pollution to air, soil and water. This is particularly important for the emerging EU states. Mervyn Richardson

From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security: Exploring New Limits to Growth, edited by Dennis Pirages and Ken Cousins, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005, pp. 268, £15.95, pbk (ISBN 0262661896). In 1980, the book entitled The Global 2000 Report to the President, was published. Commissioned by President Jimmy Carter, this synopsis was a landmark both for scientists and for policy-makers. The current book, From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security, is, in a way, a revision of the 1980 report. The book is edited by Dennis Pirages who is Harrison


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Professor of International Environmental Politics at the University of Maryland, and Ken Cousins, who is a PhD student in the same university. There are several, valuable contributions from other American scientists in various subjects related to global economic growth and its consequences for the Earth. One could say that the main motivation for writing this book is to demonstrate that The Future is Not What It Used to Be, which is the name of chapter 2, by Kali-Ahset Amen. In fact, the rapid changes affecting this world affect also its population, so that all economic activities have a profound effect on the surrounding environment and on the maintenance of life itself. Therefore, it is almost obligatory for scientists, and even for policymakers and government officials, to be aware of those changes so that there may be wiser decision-making for the future of the planet. This book is invaluable. It presents accurately the trends in what concerns population (numbers and aging), global water resources, food availability, energy (fossil and also renewables), forest degradation, biodiversity and the very important issue of global climate change as well. It seems appropriate to insert here a citation from the foreword of this book that neatly summarizes the importance of this book: A new recognition of profound interconnections between social and natural systems is challenging conventional constructs and the policy predispositions informed by them. Our current intellectual challenge is to develop the analytical and theoretical underpinnings of an understanding of the relationship between the social and the natural systems. Joao Gomes

Paths To A Greener World - the Political Environment of the Global Environment, by Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and London, 2005, pp. 327 + xxi, pbk (ISBN 262532719), hbk (ISBN 0262033291). Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne are Canadian academics in the fields of Environmental Studies and Political Science respectively. They open their work by stating the two extreme and opposite views on the probable effects of environmental change. ‘… We as a species are beyond the earth’s carrying capacity … the future is one of peril’, contrasted with ‘there is no looming crisis … to think so is to misread the history of human progress’. This is followed by consideration of a number of factors bearing on these and similar arguments. The approach is broad, relying ‘on the tools of political science, economics, development studies, political; geography and sociology.’ Readers are not expected to have expertise in these fields: the book is, in effect, a survey. Where necessary, concepts and principles are explained, often in boxes within the text that make for easy reference and equally easy ‘skipping’, according to readers’ needs. Thus ISO environmental standards, trade advantages, GNP, HDI (Human Development Index), GATT and other mechanisms and measures are covered. Some illuminating facts are well-presented graphically. World population approximately doubled between AD 1 and AD 1500, doubled again in the next 300 years and has increased exponentially since 1800. Global trade, investment and indebtedness have increased similarly, distorting and often destroying traditional patterns of life, values and environments. Conflicting objectives and desires, such as increasing living standards, industrial efficiency and high returns on capital are set against such limitations as undesirable and unsus-


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tainable impacts on the environment and the problems of finite resources. These chapters should bring home complexities that the Green lobby sometimes over-simplifies. The first seven chapters are devoted to consideration of these matters, under such heads as ‘The Ecological Consequences of Globalization’, and ‘Global Trade … Investment … Financing … and the Environment’. Chapter 8, which gives its title to the book, considers various approaches to environmental problems, often as advocated by (largely non-green) pressure groups. Perhaps there is too great a belief in the willingness and ability of industries and markets to govern themselves wisely. Views like those of market liberals who … ‘warn against premature actions to correct what might well be fictitious environmental problems’ surely need greater analysis. A number of scientific findings – some published since the book was written – suggest that many problems are far from fictitious, as does the revelation that oil reserves have been systematically overstated by global enterprises. History records many disasters that have overtaken those assessing ‘possibly fictitious’ dangers. The line between realism and optimism is a fine one that the authors might have contemplated more extensively. Yet this is a useful introduction to aspects of a problem that are frequently over-simplified and it should provide useful insights to serious students. Clear print and diagrams, a good index and a comprehensive bibliography increase its value, though this last might with advantage have been sub-divided by subject area. David Bridgeman-Sutton