Environmental Studies
Miscellaneous Web Sites
Protecting the Environment: 30 Years of U.S. Progress
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0605/ijge/ijge0605.htm
The United States has made remarkable progress over the past 30 years in reducing pollution and protecting the environment within its borders. Statistics help tell the story. During this time, the U.S. economy grew by 187 percent, population grew by 39 percent, and energy consumption increased by 47 percent, yet air pollution decreased by 48 percent. In 2002, 94 percent of Americans were served by community water systems that met all health-based standards, up from 79 percent of the population in 1993.
The United States has taken a leadership role as a global environmental steward in developing a better understanding of environmental options and in shaping a sustainable approach to development. Achieving greater sustainability is a key objective in the provision and management of energy. New technologies offer the possibility of renewable energy sources that do not contaminate the air and the water, or release greenhouse gases and destroy Earth's protective ozone layer. New technologies also promise ways in which we may more efficiently utilize traditional energy resources.
Such technological innovation and development demand participation of the broad reach of society. In the United States, business, industry, and science are increasingly playing critical roles in shaping national strategies for greater energy conservation and wiser resource management and disposal.
Environmental stewardship is critical to the promise of a better life for people around the world, and authors on these pages emphasize that theme as they discuss climate change, alternative energy innovations, air quality, forest and freshwater management, and waste recycling. Included are an extensive bibliography and a collection of Web resources. Two photo stories document environmental progress over the past three decades and the development of "green" technologies, which are preparing our world for a better tomorrow.
eJournal USA: Global Issues,Volume 10, Number 2 June 2005.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
Shared Oceans, Shared Futures
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0404/ijge/ijge0404.htm
Humankind has explored, mapped, developed, or settled all but the most hostile corners of Earth's landmass. But our understanding of the oceans —more than 70 percent of Earth's surface— remains highly limited. We know more about the contours of Mars than those of the oceans' floors.
Though we frolic on the oceans' shores, sail and swim their waters, draw food from their depths, and transport freight across their vast horizons, we know very little about life and conditions below the surface. Recent studies have highlighted the urgent need for more knowledge. Vast as they are, the oceans are not unassailable. They cannot endlessly absorb the wastes that human beings are dumping into their waters. The bounty of the sea, which has nurtured life on Earth for millennia, is not limitless.
Technological and financial resources devoted to research have not been adequate to accomplish all that scientists want to learn about our oceans, but attempts are being made in many quarters in the United States to address the situation. We examine many of them in this edition of Global Issues. The U.S. government's top policy maker in ocean-related programs provides an overview of the initiatives being taken to better understand and preserve the seas. A U.S. State Department official describes the many ways the United States works with the international community on matters relating to the oceans. We offer a preview of a comprehensive report about reshaping U.S. oceans policy. And a prominent U.S. oceanographer shares his sense of wonder and curiosity about all that we have yet to learn.
We hope that these and the other features in this electronic journal will inform readers as well as encourage them to learn more about the oceans and about how we can all work together to preserve this resource so vital to us all.
Global Issues : An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State, Volume 9, Number 1, April 2004.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
EnviroFacts Data Warehouse
http://www.epa.gov/enviro/
Uour one-stop source for environmental information.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
EXTOXNET
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/
Presents objective, science-based information about pesticides - written for the non-expert.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
Information for Action
http://www.informaction.org/
Humans are destroying a beautiful, living resource. Time is running out for the biodiversity of life that inhabits our planet and for our quality of life. We are dependent on the health of our planet and if it continues to decline, as it has done over the past century, then human health and wellbeing will decline as well. The window of opportunity for us to organise globally to create a sustainable society is open - but it is closing. The time to act is now!
The Information for Action website is a powerful tool for internet activism or cyber activism. We invite you to make full use of all our resources to lobby politicians and business leaders. You can make a difference for the environmental issues you are concerned about.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
WWW Virtual Library on the Environment
http://www.earthsystems.org/virtuallibrary/
The WWW Virtual Library - Environment, is a searchable index of over 1,000 carefully screened links arranged alphabetically and by category. We verify each link on a regular basis. However, if you should find a link that does not work, please let us know. You can browse through the entries of the Virtual Library - Environment by either clicking on the Subject icon or All icon. The subject icon will take you to a page where you can choose to browse through the Virtual Library - Environment by category. The All icon will take you to an alphabetical list of all of the entries of the Virtual Library - Environment.
The WWW Virtual Library - Environment is maintained by earthsystems.org.
(Last checked 02/21/08)
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