COMMENT pubs.acs.org/est
An Environment for Management s articulated in the January 1, 2011 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, environmental management is a corollary of environmental research (and often a catalyst thereof). This issue, a few months on, is another reminder of the wide range of issues that concern environmental managers. The cover Feature by Moldan and Hak reviews the lessons learned in Central Europe to bring countries such as the Czech Republic into the new reality of European Union environmental management (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es1037436). Their article shows how far the region has come from vistas of acid-rain-affected forests due to industrial policies within the ominously dubbed “Black Triangle”. The Feature notes that three principles are vital to environmental management: tracking of material (and energy) flows through society; consideration of economic and geopolitical factors that influence environmental conditions; and consideration of all stakeholders. These concepts are underscored by at least three other articles in this issue. Gaustad et al. consider economic models of material flows through society to manage recycling programs (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es103508u). Their model gives guidance on how to recognize barriers that may limit the implementation of recycling programs, an underpinning of green or sustainable practices. Du and Graedel take a close look at a particular type of materials in cataloguing the in-use stocks of rare earth elements (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/es102836s). As more technologies rely on elements such as neodymium (Nd) or cerium (Ce) for everything from electromagnetic components to novel catalytic materials, the availability of these resources will directly affect their cost of use and potential for recycling. The authors note that given these elements’ increasing vitality to greener technologies coupled with their heterogeneous geographic availability makes these an important global resource to track. While these three articles set wide boundaries, environmental management can of course be a local concern. Lienert et al. describe how multicriteria decision analysis can aid the control of pointsource waste streams (Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI 10.1021/ es1031294). They specifically consider the discharge of wastewater from hospitals, where pharmaceutical agents and medical imagining compounds can have high concentrations in the building’s effluent. The analysis gives technology selection clues that aim to render the best results despite a dizzying number of variables including cost, ease, effectiveness, and system scale.
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Darcy J. Gentleman Managing Editor
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
[email protected].
Published: April 28, 2011 r 2011 American Chemical Society
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/es2010732 | Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 3821–3821
