News Briefs In India, the next 10-15 years offer an "unparalleled opportunity" to shift to cleaner and more resource-efficient technologies, according to a study published in March by the Tata Energy Research Institute. For example, in Directions, Innovations, and Strategies for Harnessing Action, the group estimates with aggressive technological improvements, policy changes, and heightened corporate responsibility, the amount of suspended particulates in India's air could drop to 11 million tons by 2047 down from 17 million tons in 1997 Without such a technological shift India's air would contain 52 million tons of narticulates in savs For more information e-mail Anuradha Vashisht at aniirarlhateri res in Reducing pollution from older automobiles is becoming a major challenge in developing nations, according to Older Gasoline Vehicles, a joint publication of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Environment Programme. The world's vehicle population now exceeds 700 million and will soon reach 1 billion, the report predicts. It examines the pros and cons of various approaches to cutting older cars' emissions, including the use of alternative fuels. To order the $30 publication, e-mail SMI Limited at
[email protected]. Industrial hog farms reduce the health and quality of life of their neighbors, conclude two new studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hog farms tend to be located in areas that are poor and nonWhite, and people living within two miles of hog farms report more headaches, diarrhea, and respiratory problems than people living near cattle farms or crop land according to data from 155 interviews in three rural North Carolina communities. For copies
Unexpected sources of nitrogen reaching the Gulf of Mexico Nitrogen pollution is naturally removed from water more rapidly in small streams than in large rivers, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study. Previously, scientists thought that the amount of nitrogen traveling downstream to the Gulf decreased as the distance increased, but the USGS study finds that areas near large rivers hundreds of miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico deliver higher rates of nitrogen to the Gulf than neighboring areas near small streams. The study, Effect of Stream Channel Size on the Delivery of Nitrogen to the GulfofMexico (NatureWQO, 403,758-761), could dave important implications for nutrient manaaement in the Mississippi River basin.
of Environmental Injustice in North Carolina's Hog Industry, and Intensive Livestock Operations, Health, and Quality of Life Among Eastern North Carolina Residents, e-mail Steve Wing at
[email protected]. The 25 most environmentally threatened areas of the world are home to roughly 20% of the world's population, according to a study by Population Action International, an advocacy group. The report analyzes these socalled biological hotspots, which have significantly higher human population density levels and growth rates than the world as a whole. In the United States alone roughly 90% of endangered plant species are found in California Florida and Hawaii where migration and related population growth have had a major impact on the natural vegetation For a coDV of Nature's Place: Human Populaiion and the Future of Biological www nonulationaction ore/pubs/ hinHivflO/html/prpss htm Up to 80% of the emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides (NOx) from fossil fuel-fired power plants can be reduced by selective catalytic reduction, according to a report by the OntAIRio Campaign, a Canadian environmental group. The report explains the pros and cons of using the technology, which is now routinely installed at new combined-cycle or cogeneration plants worldwide. For a copy of Use of Selective Catalytic Reduction for Control ofNO Emissions From Power Plants in the United States go to www ontairio org The $27 billion worldwide market for environmental consulting services will grow 8 percent over the next three years, according to a new study by U.S.-based BTI Consulting Group. Excerpts from Market Opportunities in International Environmental Consulting, which costs $1400, are available on the Web at www.bticonsulting.com.
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