Achilles and Alexander hen developing a model to better understand how the use of resources (natural, fabricated, financial, human) can be more sustainable, the complexity of the problem often means that advances are iterative. Faced with the inertia of such change in the face of growing urgency to make our ways more sustainable, this frustratingly slow pace sometimes feels like society is the woeful Achilles to the tortoise of our dirty living in Zeno’s race. But just as the insight of calculus dispensed with that conniving paradox and ushered in the knowhow to winning the race, ongoing developments in systems engineering, economics, cognitive science, and other fields give reason for optimism. This issue sports a coterie of such-minded articles that are looking for the best way to greener and renewable pastures. Three manuscripts consider specific contexts within the larger system of society. Niu et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es902456x) look at how green roofs in Washington, DC bode for the chance of significant drops in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the next decade. Intlekofer (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es9036836) considers whether leasing is a greener alternative to product usage. In a mix of scales, Branham and Gutowski (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es902388b) assess the energy usage of a microelectronics manufacturing (MEMS) fabrication plant. While these three manuscripts are examples of specific urban planning and life cycle assessment (LCA) continually found in Environmental Science & Technology, a related approach considers the methodological improvement of such analyses. Herein Manneh et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es902983b) consider how to incorporate geographical units with risk assessment, specifically for toxic emissions in Canada. In the arena of industrial ecology, Mattila et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es902673m) confront the quantification of LCA for situations where resources and byproducts are shared by co-located firms, known as “industrial symbiosis”. These are all noble pursuits and the results contribute to building an arc to more sustainable living while remaining prosperous. But as international agenda differ, mixed in with speculation and unforeseen events, it is increasingly suggested that changes be in orders of magnitude, not small easy steps. Passing the tortoise requires leaps and bounds. The lead Feature by Xu et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es903306e)
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10.1021/es1014086
2010 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 05/27/2010
speaks of “gigaton” problems that necessitate heavy lifting. At the risk of mixing metaphors with a foot race, if the water is rising, adding a sand bag here or there cannot hope to staunch a flood: preparation and prevention requires a concerted all-hands effort engineered for speed and long-term impact. This sentiment is echoed in a critical review and the other two featured articles in this issue. Kharecha et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es903884a) consider whether a complete shift from coal-generated electricity to alternative low-carbon alternatives can achieve the marked reduction in GHG emissions needed by 2030 to avoid catastrophic climate change. Tsouris et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/ es903626u) seem to agree that a switch to methods, such as wind, solar, and nuclear, would be the most cost-effective approach and might mean that carbon capture and sequestration is unneeded. As these two manuscripts confront the end-fate of the power generation enterprise, Gorissen et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es903036u) implore that the land use change that results from extraction of fossil fuels can have a greater impact by depleting biodiversity and tracts of mature CO2-consuming ecosystems. The idea of iterative steps by a community of individuals adding up to a large group change is a pleasing and hopeful one. Yet local progress often causes disparate recession through a web of trade-offs and asymmetric weightings. Policy decisions coil about each other, further obscuring how best to proceed. What is needed is the will to step back and dispense with the Gordian Knot in a decisive master stroke. This will require the know-how of making a capable sword, the gigatons of resources to back the bearer with a capable support force, and the foresight to innovate for and within the necessary brave new world. We continue to welcome your contributions to show us all that way forward.
Darcy J. Gentleman Managing Editor
[email protected] June 1, 2010 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 4033
