Cultivating Change he Features and Viewpoints (Featured content) of Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) are intended to cover the breadth of our research topics. With a healthy stream of papers and an endless supply of compelling topics, invariably there are articles within each issue that are related to the Featured content. In our ongoing effort to increase our readers’ ability to discover the fascinating research and commentary within, starting with the previous issue (October 15, 2009), I am highlighting papers that mate to the Featured content. As a caveat, I must admit that given the volume of manuscripts and our production schedules, it will not be possible to touch on every related paper in a given issue. It is, however, my hope that this briefing will pique your curiosity as to the subject(s) at hand. I encourage everyone to discover more stemming from the topics and issues in these highlighted articles throughout ES&T and our ACS sister journals using our award-winning website at http://pubs.acs.org/search/ advanced. This issue has two Featured articles that address agricultural methods in a changing climate. Karlen et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/es9011004) respond to an article by Strand and Benford (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/ es8015556) and question whether ocean dumping of crop residues is an effective way to sequester carbon. As climate change forces policy change, many have considered how tried and tested agricultural approaches may be re-utilized to solve modern ills. Recently, ES&T papers have explored the potential of urban “green roofs” to mitigate carbon emissions (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/es901539x) while
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10.1021/es902798t
2009 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 10/01/2009
also cautioning as to the impact of growing biofuels (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/es900529u and DOI 10.1021/es9011433). Brown et al. look to a different connection between climate change and agriculture. Turning their attention to West Africa in Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/es901162d, they find nearly endemic food-insecurity is maintained due to global price fluctuations that may worsen by switches to biofuel and the specter of detrimental weather changes. Food-insecurity is of course hardly limited to West Africa. In many parts of Asia, drilling deep to avoid surface-contaminated waters has plumbed into a geochemical Typhoid Mary, bringing arsenic into rice paddies. Three papers in this issue probe that threat and its effects on the nutritive value delivered by this staple crop: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, DOI 10.1021/es9018755, DOI 10.1021/ es901430n, and DOI 10.1021/es901844q. While economic and infrastructural reform may improve the situation in West Africa, understanding how to adapt methods in light of metals’ diverse chemistries is a complex problem. Look back to this space in the next issue when the risk and regulatory possibilities for metals and metalloids are Featured.
Darcy J. Gentleman Managing Editor
November 1, 2009 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 8001
