Books
This book is a guide to valuing the environment and the implications for public investment and policy. It describes how the environment can be valued and how these valuation concepts can be applied to investment decisions. The book provides, first, a general introduction to the key issues and concepts, considering the nature and magnitude of environmental problems, the cost-benefit method of evaluation, and detailed methods for valuing the environment. It then analyses in detail six case-studies, based on actual or proposed major investment projects by the UK Overseas Development Administration or the World Bank. These include: water quality in China, the supply of electricity in Bangladesh, slum improvements in India, mass transit in Nigeria, forest conservation in Kenya, and soil quality in Bolivia.
Toxicology of Aquatic Pollution. Physiological, Molecular and Cellular Approaches. E.W. Taylor, Ed. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY; 1996. 283 pp. $85.00 hardcover. The pollution of the earth’s freshwater habitats is a topic of major concern. This book considers the effects of pollutants on aquatic animals via a series of articles which present experimental evidence of sublethal and lethal effects of a range of toxicants at the physiological, cellular, and subcellular levels, and which explore techniques for detection of pollution damage. Topics covered include routes of uptake of toxicants; the effect of acute and chronic exposure to toxic metal ions, particularly zinc, copper, and aluminium, with emphasis on the mechanisms of toxicity and responses to chronic exposure to sublethal levels; the impact on fish biology of nitrites and polyaromatic hydrocarbons; and in vitro studies of the mechanisms of toxicity at the cellular and subcellular level, including damage of DNA, using cultured fish cells.
Conservative Environmentalism. Reassessing the Means, RedeJining the Ends. James R. Dunn and John E. Kinney. Quorum Books, Westport, CT; 1996.274 pp. $59.95 hardcover. The authors of this book claim that if America’s environmental 1~~s and regulations are left unchanged, they will ultimately contribute to the destruction of the human and natural environments. They argue that the environmelital movement as it now operates is counterproductive; solutions can be found only through
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rational, non-political efforts based on reality, not ideological propaganda. The authors suggest that facts have been distorted to benefit what are often misguided, self-serving political agendas. According to the authors, the greatest environmental gains in human history have occurred in democratic First World nations over the past century - nations that have not only expanded their natural resources but also improved the human condition. These gains have been largely ignored, stressing imperfections and promoting fear through unfounded, unproven theories, deceptions, or specious evidence, instead of using regulations that severely impede technology and efficient productivity - the very things that improve environmental conditions. Rather than supporting the regulation of industrial productivity, the authors argue for its expansion.
The Trophic Cascade in Lakes. Stephen R. Carpenter and James F. Kitchell, Eds. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY; 1996. 385 pp. $69.95 hardcover. $29.95 softcover. Fluctuations in top predator populations in lakes can cascade through food webs to alter nutrient cycling, algal biomass, and primary production. Trophic cascades may interact with nutrients and physical factors to explain most of the variance in lake ecosystem process rates. This book tests this idea by manipulating whole lakes experimentally, and coordi nating this with paleolimnological studies, simulation modeling, and small-scale enclosure experiments. Consequences of predator-prey interactions, behavioral responses of fishes, die1 vertical migration of zooplankton, plankton community change, primary production, nutrient cycling, and microbial processes are described. Paleolimnological techniques enable the reconstruction of trophic interactions from past decades. Prospects for analysing the interaction of food web structure and nutrient input in lakes are explored. This book is of interest to workers in ecology, aquatic ecology, resource management, and limnology.
Sociology Environmentalism Globalization. Steven Yearley. Sage Publications, Inc., Newbury Park, CA; 1996. 161 pp. $69.95 hardcover; $22.95 softcover. This book attempts to bring together the sociologies of globalization and the environment. The author argues that environmental issues have received scant