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Integrated environmental management handbook
Environment
Pergamon
International, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 763-765, 1996 Copyright 01996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All tights reserved 0160-4120/96 $15.00+.00
BOOKS
Environmental Politics. Robert Garner. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ; 1996.205 pp. (ISBN 0-13-3538486) softcover. The author of this book attempts to describe changes in the political attitude toward the environmental policies in Great Britain. The author points out that one ofthe dominant environmental problems is the desire of the Third World to replicate the material quality of life in the West. He also states that it is easy to see that motor vehicles have become the symbol of environmental crisis. According to the author, the solution is to reduce the number of cars rather than design cleaner ones. The book combines the philosophical scope of environmental politics with practical political and policy issues. Although the emphasis of the book is Britain, readers in other countries are likely to benefit from it.
Dictionary of Environment and Sustainable Development. Alan Gilpin. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996. 247 pp. (ISBN O-47 l-962 19-8 hardcover; ISBN O-47 l96220-l softcover) $ 14.99 softcover. Dictionary of Environmental Science and Technology. Second Edition. Andrew Porteous. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996. 635 pp. (ISBN o-471-96075-6) softcover. Those who study, evaluate, or manage environmental issues welcome the availability of reference materials. As such, this dictionary is a useful addition to the existing numerous volumes with similar titles. Because environmental science and technology may include essentially every branch of science and technology, every author is faced with a decision on what is to be excluded. Furthermore, because of the contentious nature of many environmental issues, unless a conscious effort is made to separate science from its societal implications, the information included in the dictionary will be suspect. Both volumes suffer from these limitations. The book by Porteous contains a great deal of reliable and useful information. It includes many primary and secondary terms used by environmental scientists. For example, the laws of thermodynamics are described. Conversely, the word cryptosporidium and shigella are not mentioned. The author appears to follow the approach of advocacy groups. For example, he dismisses the usage of cost benefit analysis, a widely used and a powerful tool to compare various safety and environmental options. Similarly, terms such as risk management, risk communication, and sick buildings syndrome are not mentioned. The book by Gilpin relies more on scientific information and less on advocacy.It appears to respond to the needs of environmental managers. However, also in this book, one finds missing primary environmental terms. Clearly, there is a need for a definition of what constitutes environment and the problems encountered by Gilpin demonstrate the urgency for the resolution of this problem.
Integrated Environmental Management Handbook. Paul W. O’Callaghan. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996.368 pp. (ISBN O-471-96342-9) $45.00 hardcover. This book is intended as a practical guide for environmental managers in industry and commerce to manage resources such as energy, water, and materials to protect the environment. The principles and procedures used are those of Integrated Environmental Management, which takes account of compliance with European and UK legislation. This book describes an optimized decision sequence for retrofit conservation options, whereby a list of management decisions, in order of cost effectiveness, is formulated. This list leads to an optimal project plan in which each sequential decision leads to the best action currently available in economic terms. This approach enables environmental managers to adopt an investment policy in which no further action is taken until financial savings arising from previous decisions have been realized. The systematic application of integrated environmental management allows the necessary retrofits and modifications to technical activities to be financially resourced from within the environmental management project itself.
763
Pergamon
International, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 763-765, 1996 Copyright 01996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All tights reserved 0160-4120/96 $15.00+.00
BOOKS
Environmental Politics. Robert Garner. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ; 1996.205 pp. (ISBN 0-13-3538486) softcover. The author of this book attempts to describe changes in the political attitude toward the environmental policies in Great Britain. The author points out that one ofthe dominant environmental problems is the desire of the Third World to replicate the material quality of life in the West. He also states that it is easy to see that motor vehicles have become the symbol of environmental crisis. According to the author, the solution is to reduce the number of cars rather than design cleaner ones. The book combines the philosophical scope of environmental politics with practical political and policy issues. Although the emphasis of the book is Britain, readers in other countries are likely to benefit from it.
Dictionary of Environment and Sustainable Development. Alan Gilpin. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996. 247 pp. (ISBN O-47 l-962 19-8 hardcover; ISBN O-47 l96220-l softcover) $ 14.99 softcover. Dictionary of Environmental Science and Technology. Second Edition. Andrew Porteous. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996. 635 pp. (ISBN o-471-96075-6) softcover. Those who study, evaluate, or manage environmental issues welcome the availability of reference materials. As such, this dictionary is a useful addition to the existing numerous volumes with similar titles. Because environmental science and technology may include essentially every branch of science and technology, every author is faced with a decision on what is to be excluded. Furthermore, because of the contentious nature of many environmental issues, unless a conscious effort is made to separate science from its societal implications, the information included in the dictionary will be suspect. Both volumes suffer from these limitations. The book by Porteous contains a great deal of reliable and useful information. It includes many primary and secondary terms used by environmental scientists. For example, the laws of thermodynamics are described. Conversely, the word cryptosporidium and shigella are not mentioned. The author appears to follow the approach of advocacy groups. For example, he dismisses the usage of cost benefit analysis, a widely used and a powerful tool to compare various safety and environmental options. Similarly, terms such as risk management, risk communication, and sick buildings syndrome are not mentioned. The book by Gilpin relies more on scientific information and less on advocacy.It appears to respond to the needs of environmental managers. However, also in this book, one finds missing primary environmental terms. Clearly, there is a need for a definition of what constitutes environment and the problems encountered by Gilpin demonstrate the urgency for the resolution of this problem.
Integrated Environmental Management Handbook. Paul W. O’Callaghan. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY; 1996.368 pp. (ISBN O-471-96342-9) $45.00 hardcover. This book is intended as a practical guide for environmental managers in industry and commerce to manage resources such as energy, water, and materials to protect the environment. The principles and procedures used are those of Integrated Environmental Management, which takes account of compliance with European and UK legislation. This book describes an optimized decision sequence for retrofit conservation options, whereby a list of management decisions, in order of cost effectiveness, is formulated. This list leads to an optimal project plan in which each sequential decision leads to the best action currently available in economic terms. This approach enables environmental managers to adopt an investment policy in which no further action is taken until financial savings arising from previous decisions have been realized. The systematic application of integrated environmental management allows the necessary retrofits and modifications to technical activities to be financially resourced from within the environmental management project itself.
763