VIEWPOINT
Environmental Management in the 21st Century SVEN ERIK JØRGENSEN
The solution of complex environmental problems will require comprehensive system considerations, as well as lthough an enorAn evolving landscape multidisciplinary mous amount of The first green wave of endetailed environ/ironmental consciousness and holistic in the mid- to late 1960s remental knowledge sulted from discussions trigand data has been colapproaches. gered by, among other outstandlected, such information cannot efing works, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. iectiveiy De usea to improve condiSolving known pollution problems was then tions for life on this earth, unless it can be considered together in a comprehensive manner— considered feasible, as apparent problems were taken as a whole. This realization is causing a fun- mostly limited to contaminant releases from point sources, and end-of-pipe technology was available. damental shift in scientific thinking. By the early 1970s, it became clear that a goal of zero Optimal solutions to environmental problems can only be found by a process involving multidisci- discharge would be too expensive to achieve, and replinary effort and cooperation among many scien- liance was also placed on the self-purification ability tists. Traditionally, researchers have worked to dis- of ecosystems. This required development of environcover more and more about less and less, but to solve mental and ecological models to assess ecosystems' selfemerging, complex environmental science prob- purification capacity and the establishment of emislems, what is really necessary is to know more and sion standards that accounted for the relationship between pollutant impacts and effects on ecosysmore about more and more. Selection of the best method (often a combina- tems. Limitations of this approach quickly became evtion of methods) for managing an ecosystem re- ident, and, with this realization, came a recognition that quires profound knowledge of method applicabil- the environmental crisis was much more complex than ity, as well as a thorough understanding of ecosystem previously believed. processes and characteristics. The "optimum" manIn the late 1970s, additional complicating probagement solution—the number of possible solu- lems emerged, such as nonpoint sources of toxic subtions is enormous—is sought from an economic- stances and nutrients, chiefly of agricultural origin. ecological point of view. Unfortunately, no methods Global environmental problems added further comare available that provide, with high certainty, an op- plexities, for example, the greenhouse effect, decomtimum solution to an environmental management position of the ozone layer, and use of upward of problem, although prospects for approaching such 100,000 different chemicals, which threaten the enan optimum are improving, as more knowledge is es- vironment because of their more or less toxic eftablished about each problem and the spectrum of fects on plants, animals, humans, and entire ecopossible solution methods. systems.
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© 1999 American Chemical Society
Industrialized countries reacted by introducing legislation to regulate the wide spectrum of pollution sources. Standards for environmental management in industries and green accounting methods have been introduced, including the ISO 14000 series. Green taxes—a relatively new and often substantial form of taxation— that attempt to charge production for real environmental costs are in:reasingly used to compel industries to find new and more environmentally friendly production methods. Despite these initiatives and trillions of dollars spent on pollution abatement on a global scale, it still seems that for each problem solved, two or more new ones emerge. Our society just does not seem geared to address environmental problems in a satisfactory manner... or is there perhaps another explanation? The challenge About 107-108 products are in use today, all of which emit pollutants to the environment during production, transport from producer to user, application, and final disposal as waste. Proper control of these pollutants is the core environmental management problem, requiring simultaneous use of a wide spectrum of abatement methods. Influencing the management of material and energy flows of a product throughout its history, from raw materials to final disposal as waste, today involves application of environmental technology, ecotechnology, cleaner technology, and environmental legislation (see Figures 1 and 2). Environmental technology, particularly applicable for management of point sources, includes methods for removing pollutants from water, air, and soil. Cleaner technology utilizes environmental risk assessment, life-cycle analysis, and environmental auditing and explores possibilities for recycling byproducts and final waste products. It attempts to change the entire production technology to obtain a reduced emission. Ecotechnology encompasses the use of ecosystems (including erection of artificial ecosystems) to solve pollution problems, as well as the use of technology for recovering deteriorated ecosystems. Comprehending environmental processes and human influences on these processes requires a broad knowledge of natural sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics for analyzing biological-chemicalphysical processes in the environment; geology for studying soil processes and material transport between the hydrosphere SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 3 7 7 A
FIGURE 1
Model intricacy Models used to select the "right" environmental management strategy are complex and incorporate consideration of environmental technology, cleaner technology, and ecotechnology. Global environmental problems, which are increasing the influence on the selection of management strategies, require the use of models as a synthesizing tool.
FIGURE 2
System and problem complexity Flow of material and energy can be complex. Production includes industrial and agricultural operations; the latter is most responsible for nonpoint source pollution. Environmental technology mainly addresses point source pollution; ecotechnology is needed to address most nonpoint pollution problems and can be applied to recover ecosystems. Thick arrows denote mass flows; thin arrows denote management control possibilities; P denotes emission of point pollutants; and NP denotes nonpoint pollution.
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and lithosphere; hydrodynamics for understanding transport processes in the hydrosphere; and meteorology for an explanation of the transport processes in the atmosphere. Treatment of environmental problems also requires inclusion of political science and sociological considerations. The past three decades have seen an unprecedented accumulation of knowledge about the environment and human impacts on it. This information explosion has created problems for those concerned with the application of this material in research and teaching. University courses structured to meet the growing demand for multidisciplinary treatment of environmental problems have become a struggle for both teachers and students. Teachers are inevitably specialists, each only within their own field of expertise and have had to gather needed information from other less familiar disciplines Rational organization of material for meaningful presentation in a comprehensive environmental sciences course has become a massive problem Management requirements Procedures based on application of principles and knowledge of environmental processes must show progress from emissions of mass and energy to a solution of related environmental problems. To find the "right" solution, a problem must be well understood and quantifiable in the form of a model overviewing the entire complex of possible processes, effects, and solutions. Emissions must be translated into imissions—quantities of pollutants per unit of volume of air— and concentrations within the environment. The effect or impact of some concentration of a compound or energy is found by considering all the resulting chemical, physical, and biological processes that take place in the ecosystem. Equations for the most important processes are available and can be used to set up a model to relate emission with effect solutions corre~ spond to an emission level and therefore to an effect. This evaluation ultimately leads to an acceptable ecological (and economic) solution by application
system? The answer is probably many. Modern environmental science must be multidisciplinary. It must provide many different ways to view a problem; system thinking, as well as modeling, must encompass the many possible problem descriptions. These enormous "needs" and their great complexities may explain why we have only solved a few of the many environmental problems that have so far been identified. Our past solutions have not considered all aspects of the problems. We have not found optimum solutions, because we have not attempted to overview the complexity of these problems and the systems they concern. As we enter the next century, we should apply this experience toward making environmental management more multidisciplinary and holistic and develop a broader use of environmental models. However, models should be understood as more than just computer models used to find "optimum" solutions based on a good mathematical description. They should instead be seen as a tool to overview complex systems and problems and to facilitate communication among the various disciplines, which today sometimes hardly understand each other's language.
of ecological engineering, cleaner technology, and environmental technology. Six principal methods used for solving pollution problems are to • reduce the amount (energy or material) discharged by use of cleaner technology; • recycle or reuse waste products; • decompose the waste to harmless components; • remove the waste for harmless deposition at another location; • restore ecosystems by use of ecotechnology; and • avoid the problem by environmental management planning based on ecological principles. A "right" (best) answer to a problem may involve a combination of methods. The complex relationship between environmental issues and the other serious problems human society is facing—shortage of resources, the energy crisis, and ever-increasing population growth—makes it essential to seek novel ways to address environmental problems and be receptive to new and nontraditional solutions. Problem solving It is not surprising that the selection of a solution for an environmental problem is a complex process and that the number of possible solutions is high, because these problems are very complicated and the translation from emission to effect is very intricate—the processes take place in a complex system (an ecosystem). How many descriptions do we need to give a proper coverage of a very complex environmental issue or a complex eco-
Sven Erik Jørgensen is a professor in the Environmental Chemistry Department of the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is an internationally known expert on the integration of ecosystem theories.
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