Search

Staff Issue Papers for the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, Sweden, are summarized in this compendium. Papers developed by the various sub-committees are included for: (1) institutional arrangements; (2) development and the environment; (3) human settlements; (4) educational, social, and cultural aspects of environmental problems; (5) control of pollutants and muisances of broad international significance; and (6) environmental aspects of natural resources management. The reports represent an effort to suggest the scope and depth of discussions anticipated at the Conference. Topical areas and major issues are reviewed to provide insight for developing and implementing action recommendations. (BL)

An anthology of papers for consideration by delegates to the 14th and 15th conferences of the United States National Commission for UNESCO are presented in this book. As a wide-ranging collection of ideas, it is intended to serve as background materials for the conference theme - our responsibility for preserving and defending a human environment that permits the full growth of man, physical, cultural, and social. Thirty-four essays are contributed by prominent authors, educators, historians, ecologists, biologists, anthropologists, architects, editors, and others. Subjects deal with the many facets of ecology and the environment; causes, effects, and interactions with man which have led to the crises of today. They look at what is happening to man's "inside environment" in contrast to the physical or outside environment as it pertains to pollution of the air, water, and land. For the common good of preserving the only means for man's survival, the need for world cooperation and understanding is emphatically expressed. (BL)

The purpose of the symposium, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, was to outline and clarify the difficulties of interchanging information in the myriad forms now available, to present the user of environmental information with a review of the services available, their location, accessibility, and cost, and to describe some of the solutions already being formulated. All general sessions addresses, most working session papers, and forum session reports are contained here. Working sessions were structured in four categories: scientific and technical; legal, legislative and regulatory; management and planning; and socioeconomic. Information services covered in each of the categories includes information and data centers, publications, and document services and referral activities. (BL)

Recognizing that the need to exchange information has been one of the critical influences in urban design, the Twenty-First Colston Research Society (CRS) Conference explored a variety of topics in the area of communications, transportation, and the environment. These subjects were pursued from the British experience and most all the papers have specific relevance to either Greater London or Great Britain. Primarily the conference scrutinized the current concept of "city" by means of a theoretical systems analysis that was based on information flow. Also discussed were the future of urban planning, telecommunication, public transportation, and human interaction. A simulation model for use as a design tool by planners was presented. (MC)

Presented is a summary of a national seminar convened to propose guidelines for schools to follow in instituting K-12 environmental studies. Included is the outline of the entire K-12 program, Strand IV - Environmental and Community Health, developed for the Niskayuna School District, New York. In addition to comments by guest speakers there are sections on how to institute change in the schools, cartoons as elementary teaching aids, the major provisions of the Environmental Quality Act and related issues. The following resources are also provided: a brief annotated film list containing 16 films which deal with ecology and pollution, including information for ordering; and a list of books concerned with ecology. (PR)

This is a collection of twenty speeches presented at the American Medical Association's Air Pollution Medical Conference, October 5-7, 1970. Speeches included: Air Pollution Control: The Physician's Role; Air Pollution Problems in Nuclear Power Development; Airway Resistance and Collateral Ventilation; Asbestos Air Pollution in Urban Areas; Byssinosis: Airway Responses Caused by Inhalation of Textile Dusts; Chronic Effects of the Inhalation of Insoluble Uranium Compounds in Animals; Chronic Nonspecific Respiratory Disease; Effects of Cigarette Smoking on the Metabolism of Carcinogens by Human Placenta and Rat Lung; Experimental Studies on Sulphur Dioxide Toxicity; Experimental Studies Relating to the Pathogenesis of Emphysema; Influence of Nitrogen Dioxide on Some Physiologic Activities of Alveolar Macrophages; Relationship of SO2 Levels to Morbidity and Mortality in "High Risk" Populations; Respiratory Hazards of Enzyme Detergent Manufacture; Response of Cats to Inhaled Mixtures of SO2 and SO2 - NaCl Aerosol in Air; Rubber Plant Studies; Silicosis; The Effect of Carbon Monoxide on Experimentally Induced Atherosclerosis in the Squirrel Monkey; The Environment as a Social Cause: 1845 and 1970; and The Study of Bronchial Caliber in Exercised Dog Lobes. (BL)

Doubts about the accuracy of measured concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) in ambient air have led the Environmental Protection Agency to reassess both the analytical technique and the extent to which nitrogen oxides (NO equals x) control will need to satisfy federal laws. (BL)

This is an experimental study which was undertaken to determine if a gas chromatographic technique could be used to measure paperboard odor levels. Because there are many variations to odor testing using a panel of judges - which is the generally accepted method - the author states that, obviously, an objective method for ascertaining odor levels would be a valuable tool. Paperboard odor levels were evaluated by gas chromatography using head space sampling techniques. Samples were rated according to relative response factors of the odoriferous components. A good correlation was obtained between this gas chromatographic method and an odor judging panel. Standard techniques were used in selecting, training, and using the panel. One conclusion reached was that this method has practical applications, and can be used in finding odor sources. (LK)

A look at some of the misconceptions about the problem of environmental pollution and its elimination. (CP)