Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Notes
Megacities (over 10 million population) in rank order (2005): Tokyo, Mexico City, New York-Newark,
São Paulo, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai, Kolkata, Buenos Aires, Dhaka, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Karachi,
Rio de Janeiro, Osaka-Kobe, Cairo, Beijing, Manila, Moscow, Istanbul. By 2020 it is expected that there
will be 9 metacities (over 20 million population): Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Mexico City, New York-Newark,
Dhaka, Jakarta and Lagos.
2
In 1898 the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius warned that CO2 emissions could lead to global warming.
3
DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is one of the most well-known synthetic pesticides. DDT was
used with 'great success' in the second half of World War II to control malaria and typhus, and after the
war as a widespread agricultural insecticide. Rachel Carson described the environmental impacts of
indiscriminate DDT use in the United States and questioned the release of large amounts of chemicals
without understanding their effects on the environment or human health. Use of DDT was subsequently
banned in the US (1972), and internationally, but with some limited continued use.
4
In 1990, the US was responsible for 36 per cent of CO2 emitted by the thirty-seven Annex 1 countries.
5
Stern also uses the CO2e metric (equivalent CO2), which is an estimate of the concentration of CO2
using the six greenhouse gases considered under the Kyoto Protocol, hence involves higher numbers than
CO2. As a guide, 379 ppm CO2 approximates to 455 ppm CO2e (Kyoto).
6
Eocene: derived from Greek ἠώς (eos, dawn) and καινός (kainos, new) and refers to the 'dawn' or
appearance of new mammals. The end of the Eocene is associated with a major extinction event called
the
Grande Coupure
(the 'Great Break' in continuity), which may be related to the impact of one or
more large bodies in Siberia, in what is now Chesapeake Bay. Hence the temperature changes being
contemplated, and in effect risked, are extremely concerning.
7
'I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for
the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired,
after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man
making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of
pleasure in God's great open spaces' (Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, 1922).
8
Unconventional oil is petroleum produced or extracted using techniques other than the conventional oil
well method. The main sources are in oil sands and shale. The two most important deposits are the
Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada and the Orinoco deposit in Venezuela. Unconventional oil
production has greater environmental impacts than that of conventional oil production - extraction involves
much landtake, requires large volumes of water and energy, and the mining process releases additional
CO2.
9
Further details are found in the
Annex
.
The derivation of 'auto' is in itself instructive - taken from the Greek 'αὐτο' (auto-), and meaning 'self,
one's own'. It is used with reference to the private car, one's own mobility.
Social construct: the concept or practice (artefact) of a particular group. The practice is dependent on the
contingent variables of the social self (the individuals) rather than the particular inherent quality that it
possesses in itself (the car) (Berger and Luckman, 1966).
12
The numbers are uncertain, but the estimates are that traffic accidents result, worldwide, in up to 1.2
million deaths each year, and 50 million injuries each year. The majority of victims are poor, and
pedestrians or cyclists (Mohan, 2002).
A Trip to the Moon was also used as the inspiration for the well-known music video to 'Tonight, Tonight',
a single by the Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1996. The storyline in the video shows a trip to the moon
by Zeppelin: the central characters are attacked by aliens, but manage to escape, vaporising the aliens
with their umbrellas. They are then rescued by a ship - the S.S. Méliès.
The argument here is for a form of social capitalism that moderates the primary concern over profits and
returns to shareholders, with objectives to also enhance social and environmental capital, through giving
much greater value to the protection of resources and environmental assets, as well as promoting social
well being - this is at the heart of sustainable mobility.
The auto-industrial complex is seen as comprising the private sector highway lobby (oil companies, the
auto industry, road freight and road construction companies), the development industry, many private
sector consultancies, and the public sector professionals and bureaucrats. Taken together these interests
have conventionally dominated the formulation of transport policies at the governmental level.
16
Meaningful participation is not easy to achieve. The desirable goal of 'diverse voices contributing to
decision-making' may be very difficult to attain. Participation may in effect not be an attractive device
