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Unraveling Environmental Disasters

Unraveling Environmental Disasters provides scientific explanations of the most threatening current and future environmental disasters, including an analysis of ways that the disas… Read more

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Description

Unraveling Environmental Disasters provides scientific explanations of the most threatening current and future environmental disasters, including an analysis of ways that the disaster could have been prevented and how the risk of similar disasters can be minimized in the future.

Key features

  • Named a 2014 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice publication
  • Treats disasters as complex systems
  • Provides predictions based upon sound science, such as what the buildup of certain radiant gases in the troposphere will do, or what will happen if current transoceanic crude oil transport continues
  • Considers the impact of human systems on environmental disasters

Readership

environmental scientists; management in disaster planning, risk assessment, safety training, and emergency planning; environmental engineers; oceanographers; occupational health specialists; political scientists; city planners; state and local government planners; individuals working in homeland security; chemists; military personnel; oil refinery managers; economists; and pharmaceutical researchers and regulators
undergraduate and graduate students studying environmental disasters

Table of contents

Preface

Our Focus

Chapter 1. Failure

Events

Disasters as Failures

Types of Failure

Types of Disasters

Systems Engineering

References and Notes

Chapter 2. Science

Scientific Advancement

Laws of Motion

Laws of Chemistry and Thermodynamics

Science in the Public Eye

References

Chapter 3. Explosions

Dust

Ammonium Nitrate

Picric Acid and TNT

Methyl Isocyanate

Natural Explosions—Volcanoes

References

Chapter 4. Plumes

Nomenclature

Early Air Quality Disasters

Toxic Plumes

Plume Characterization

Nuclear Fallout Plumes

References and Notes

Chapter 5. Leaks

Surreptitious Disasters

Pollutant Transport in Groundwater

Love Canal

Chester

Times Beach

Valley of the Drums

Stringfellow Acid Pits

Tar Creek

The March Continues

References and Notes

Chapter 6. Spills

Disastrous Releases

Oil Spills

Niger River Delta Oil Spills

Other Spills

Partitioning in the Environment

References and Notes

Chapter 7. Fires

Fire Disaster Thermodynamics

Kuwait Oil Fires

Release of Radioactive Material

Indonesian Wildfires

World Trade Center Fire

The Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

Other Major Fires

Tire Fires

Coal Mine Fires

Indirect Effect: Formation of Toxic Substances

Indirect Impact: Transport

References and Notes

Chapter 8. Climate

Global Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases

Consequences of Global Warming

Is It a Disaster?

Responding to Climate Change

Carbon and Climate

Potential Warming Disaster

Geoengineering

Biological Drivers of Climate Change

References and Notes

Chapter 9. Nature

Hurricanes

Floods

Drought

Ecosystem Resilience

References and Notes

Chapter 10. Minerals

Inorganic Substances

Toxic Metals

Asbestos

Cyanide

Surface Mining

Value

References and Notes

Chapter 11. Recalcitrance

The Dirty Dozen

Agent Orange

Lake Apopka

James River

Persistent Wastes

The Arctic Disaster

References and Notes

Chapter 12. Radiation

Electromagnetic Radiation

Nuclear Radiation

Nuclear Plants

Nuclear Power Plant Failure

Is Nuclear Power Worth the Risks?

Meltdown at Chernobyl

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident

Radioisotopes and Radiation Poisoning

Carbon Dating

Nuclear Waste Disposal

References and Notes

Chapter 13. Invasions

The Worst 100

Sensitive Habitats

References and Notes

Chapter 14. Products

Precaution

Endocrine Disruptors and Hormonally Active Agents

Antibiotics: Superbugs and Cross-Resistance

Organophosphates

Scientific Principles at Work

Milk and Terrorism

References and Notes

Chapter 15. Unsustainability

Oil

Phosphates

Helium

Platinum Group Metals

Lithium

Rare Earth Metals

Other Metals

Biomass

Methane

Carbon Dioxide

References and Notes

Chapter 16. Society

Justice

Solid Waste

Food Supply

Vinyl Chloride

Food Versus Fuel

Burning as a Societal Issue

Risk Trade-Offs

References and Notes

Chapter 17. Future

Recommendations

References and Notes

Glossary of Terms

Index

Review quotes

"This important, clearly written, well-organized book addresses a confluence of significant global issues and brings them into focus. Vallero…and Letcher…examine engineering failures within the context of generating environmental disasters…The book addresses related issues of sustainability, anthropogenic global warming, pesticide use and its impact on the food chain, vinyl chloride production, etc…Summing Up: Essential."—CHOICE Reviews Online, January 2014

Product details

About the editors

DV

Daniel A. Vallero

Professor Daniel A. Vallero is a renowned environmental scientist and engineer with four decades of experience. He has advised U.S. government agencies on critical issues like PBTs, climate change, acid rain, and chemical risks. At Duke University, he led the Engineering Ethics program and taught courses on air pollution, sustainable design, and ethics. Vallero has served on the National Academy of Engineering’s Online Ethics Committee and the National Institute of Engineering Ethics. An expert in emerging technologies, he focuses on societal, ethical, and public health challenges related to nanotechnology and environmental biotechnology. His work also encompasses emergency response and homeland security, making him a leading voice in environmental risk and ethics.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor and W.H. Garnder Jr. Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, USA

TL

Trevor Letcher

Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.
Affiliations and expertise
Emeritus Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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