Concise encyclopaedia of environmental systems

studies were of large, big name, corporations and did not touch on the smaller firms ~ a more balanced set of examples would have been great. Additionally, and rather ironically, the book’s binding fell apart before reading was complete, which in its own way provides an example of planned obsolescence (although a bit underengineered), and for this household, recycling. George

Blumberg

of Geography

School

Oxford,

EL NINO: HISTORICAL PALAEOCLIMATIC SOUTHERN

edited

UK

AND

ASPECTS

OF THE

OSCILLATION

by H F Diaz and V Markgraf

Cambridge Cambridge,

University

Press,

1992, 476pp

This book has its origins in a 1990 US workshop. Five years ~ about one El NiiioiSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle in the days when we still had such things regularly ~ can be a long time in global environmental change research. How does this text stand up’? chapters are The twenty-two grouped under five headings: ENS0 in the modern record, the use of historical records in ENS0 reconstructions, reconstructions of palaeoclimate ENS0 from tree ring records, records from ice cores and corals. and low resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions from marine and terrestrial proxy indicators. As always. it is the modern record section that has the potential to date fastest. While this is true of a chapter by Meehl and Branstator which deals with GCM simulation of ENSO, in others apparently prescient remarks can be found: for example. the very first page of Diaz and Markgrafs introductory chapter expresses concern that either El Nifio’s warm phase or La Niiia’s cold phase might become more frequent in a future climate. Subsequent sections have consistently travelled well, and largely build upon the ‘impact’ side of ENSO: its teleconnections. Indeed, as one reads through the book. the sheer diversity

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of ENS0 teleconnection becomes more and more evident. True, most of those described here relate to the ‘core’ ENS0 areas around the Pacific and in Africa, while we now know that ENSO’s subtle fingers extend even into European flooding (for example); but the phenomena here linked with ENS0 span a very wide range. Of particular note is the classic chapter by Quinn to whom the book is dedicated ~ which reconstructs an ENS0 time series from records of Nile flooding. AD 622 and onward (further analysis of this data in Anderson’s chapter highlights long-term changes in the frequency of El Nifio events, particularly thought provoking in the light of the current ‘stuck’ El Nifio). Drought impacts on Australasian flora and fauna are described in a chapter by Nicholls. and droughts are also the driving force behind the chapters which make use of tree ring dating techniques (which deal almost entirely with the USA). Lack of precipitation also enters into correlations with wildland tire occurrence in the are south-western USA which described by Swetnam and Betancourt. More indirect ENS0 effects are covered in later chapters. ENS0 signals in ice cores in Peru and China are noted by Thompson (J/ rrl. and relationships with the growth rates of Pacific coral by Cole ct al. In the final section of the book. Sharp describes links with both fishery catch records and longer-term links with fish remains in marine sediments; marine sediments are also examined by Anderson cf rrl. The penultimate chapter (by McGlone cf cd) takes an integrated approach. and considers a variety of palaeoenvironmental indicators ~ drought. tire, vegetation change. and soil erosion as evidence of ENS0 effects in Australasia and South America. A concluding chapter summarizes. If you do not already have this excellent and wide-ranging book on your bookshelf, then put it there: even if only to remind yourself of what people studied in the days when ENS0 cycles were still more cyclical. David Environmental University

Favis-Mortlock Change of Oxford,

Unit UK

CONCISE

ENCYCLOPAEDIA

ENVIRONMENTAL edited

by Peter

Pergamon,

OF

SYSTEMS C Young

Oxford,

1993

ISBN o-08-036198-6

Publications occasionally attempt to define an entire field of endeavour by listing all the relevant information in an organized manner. Within the Oxford Dictionary. one could imagine, is all English literature and language one just has to piece it together. Pergamon has undertaken an ambitious project in publishing an encyclopaedia in only one volume for a field that encompasses no less than the entire Earth (and even beyond). The encyclopaedia comprises I84 articles of approximately four pages each by a renowned collection of world experts (whose addresses are thoughtfully included in the Appendix). The basic scope of each article is best described as a survey paper on a particular subject. Some extra detail and figures are included for uniformity and to provide access to readers of a range of levels. Cross referencing is excellent with logical hierarchy of importance. Navigation is further aided by a good index always the benchmark test for a factual publication. Roughly speaking, the Encyclopaedia encompasses topics that make up the environmental system: agricultural, air and water quality and dynamics, ecosystems, geochemistry. soil processes, hydrology, climatology, and fluid dynamics. Additionally. there are tutorial style articles on advanced ~ state of the art ~ subjects of fractals. chaos theory, fuzzy logic and neural networks. More practical instruction can be found in geographic information systems, time-series analysis, sensitivity analysis and computer modelling. Unlike Pergamon’s heroic eight volumes of .S~.sfmzs ur~rl Control, this work does not attempt to be too allencompassing. but rather provide solid background for working scientists and engineers, good references, and some selected bits of future technology. This plan works pretty well as

Book reviews this reviewer quickly discovered active use at almost every work session. As it the Encyclopaedia is should be, marvellously useful when starting a new research topic, struggling with statistical techniques, or simply browsing to increasing technical depth. Some of the articles are extremely interesting, such as the description of tides. Topics central in the field, such as Air Quality Modelling, Geographic Information Systems, and Climatology are given careful treatment with several interrelated articles bundled. These are set at a level that a competent person without any specific experience (but with a solid background) should be able to understand. More abstract subjects, such as FiniteDifference Models would require a bit more background, but this is understandable. Rainfall run-off processes and modelling, the editors field of study, unsurprisingly gets excellent treatment with breadth of subject material worthy of the better part of a textbook. Readers who fear lack of technical depth need not worry for this publication is a vivid example of the skill of modern mathematical methods to investigate. understand, conquer, and teach natural science. Several of the articles included stretch the boundaries of the science somewhat. This reviewer can easily imagine how Trunsport Processes in Heterogeneous Material could be useful, but the article is so theoretical and remote that the associated articles on Fate of Toxic Substances and Agricultural Soils give a much better introduction to the subject. But since the field of environmental science is still in the process of definition the editors apparently felt free to include some technically thick material as well. The closest the encyclopaedia comes to including popular movements, ethics, and environmental activism is the article on Renewable Energy Sources which closes with the admission that the development of these technologies will be driven primarily by perceived political conditions. This and a few small passing admissions to public pressure is all the reader will get on this subject.

Perhaps the best thing that the Encyclopaedia provides is a very heavy volume filled with solutions: some are old hat, well tested and reliable, while others are still awaiting complete methodology and application. But it is the sheer mass of these solutions that is encouraging. It is, after all, high technology detritus that forms most of today’s environmental problems, and it will be applied technology that will clean them up. George Blumberg School of Geography Oxford, UK

INDUSTRIAL GLOBAL

ECOLOGY

AND

CHANGE

edited by R Socolow, C Andrew% Berkhout and V Thomas Cambridge Cambridge, US$49.95

F

University Press, xxix + 477pp, 1994,

ISBN O-521-47197-4

Human dimensions research focuses our attention on vubzerahility of systems much like a camera frames our field of view. Yet. what lies outside the frame of reference may be equally compelling for our understanding of global change: resilience of systems. Our knowledge of the consequences of industrial activity has begun to mature alongside the insults to environments that accompanied modern society’s global hegemony. With it, a new perspective has emerged that holds promise to guide societal problem solving and decision making about technological and policy responses to environmental constraints. This optimistic perspective draws power from its evocative metaphor of industrial ecology. whose goal is ‘the evolution of the world’s industrial activity into a sustainable and environmentally benign system’ (from the front piece). Industrial Ecologj~ and Global Change brings together thinking by fifty participants in the 1992 Global Change Institute, sponsored by the Office of Interdisciplinary Earth Studies and held in Snowmass. Color-

ado USA. The two-week symposium encouraged dialogue between two sides of global change research: natural scientists and the ‘human dimensions’ community. Three workstructured discussions ing groups around grand nutrient cycles, exotic and implementation of intrusions, industrial ecology, respectively. The resulting reports were collected into this excellent and far-reaching volume. It is instructive to consider the six perspectives from industrial ecology that Robert Socolow provides in the opening chapter: long-term habitability; global scope; the overwhelming of natural systems; vulnerability; massflow analysis; and centrality of the firm and the farm. Thirty-five chapters follow to elaborate on these perspectives. Socolow contends that these perspectives add up to a radical ‘new thinking’ in sharp contrast with prevailing models of environmental management: Industrial ecology emphasizes the management of products throughout their useful life and beyond, and calls attention to dispersed sources of pollution, such as agricultural chemicals, household wastes, and the chaff resulting from the expected degradation of products like outdoor paints, roofing materials, and brake linings. The importance of the consumer is unmistakable. Ruxe (tr the industrial produ-

cer recedes in sign(Jran~e a.7 a driver of policy. (p 4; emphasis added)

This last point is significant, as it pushes the burden of environmental degradation (or protection) away from institutions like capitalist industries and the state exclusively, restoring its responsibility to all actors involved in rearranging the Earth: ‘The interrelationships among producers and consumers determine what becomes waste and what is usable, and how the is combined natural’ with the ‘synthetic’ (~3). The point haunts us through the book’s five parts that follow, each of which is introduced in an overview chapter by the editors. Part I. ‘Vulnerability and Adaptation’, builds on the biological metaphor of industrial ecology through an excellent conceptualization of resource flows and processes (Grdedel) and a of industralization ‘waves’ history (Grtibler). Two chapters on vulnerability - including bases for perception

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