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The Co-Development of Environmental Justice and Children’s Environmental Health at the EPA
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null (Ed.)Over 300 species of naturally occurring-organoarsenicals have been identified with the development of modern analytical techniques. Why there so many environmental organoarsenicals exist is a real enigma. Are they protective or harmful? Or are they simply by-products of existing pathways for non-arsenical compounds? Fundamental unanswered questions exist about their occurrence, prevalence and fate in the environment, metabolisms, toxicology and biological functions. This review focuses on possible answers. As a beginning, we classified them into two categories: water-soluble and lipid-soluble organoarsenicals (arsenolipids). Continual improvements in analytical techniques will lead to identification of additional organoarsenicals. In this review, we enumerate identified environmental organoarsenicals and speculate about their pathways of synthesis and degradation based on structural data and previous studies. Organoarsenicals are frequently considered to be nontoxic, yet trivalent methylarsenicals, synthetic aromatic arsenicals and some pentavalent arsenic-containing compounds have been shown to be highly toxic. The biological functions of some organoarsenicals have been defined. For example, arsenobetaine acts as an osmolyte, and membrane arsenolipids have a phosphate-sparing role under phosphate-limited conditions. However, the toxicological properties and biological functions of most organoarsenicals are largely unknown. The objective of this review is to summarize the toxicological and physiological properties and to provide novel insights into future studies.more » « less
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Abstract This article describes a new fact, then analyzes its causes and consequences: in most countries, import tariffs and nontariff barriers are substantially lower on dirty than on clean industries, where an industry’s “dirtiness” is defined as its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per dollar of output. This difference in trade policy creates a global implicit subsidy to CO2 emissions in internationally traded goods and contributes to climate change. This global implicit subsidy to CO2 emissions totals several hundred billion dollars annually. The greater protection of downstream industries, which are relatively clean, substantially accounts for this pattern. The downstream pattern can be explained by theories where industries lobby for low tariffs on their inputs but final consumers are poorly organized. A quantitative general equilibrium model suggests that if countries applied similar trade policies to clean and dirty goods, global CO2 emissions would decrease and global real income would change little.more » « less
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Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an ideal way of researching aquatic environments and determining whatspecies are present in an area the biodiversity of an area, and if any invasive or endangered species arepresent. Traditional sampling of eDNA consists of manually filtering water, which is labor and cost-intensive for remote locations. Furthermore, commercialized solutions are either expensive or require a field operator to function. We have built a battery-powered eDNA sampler capable of autonomous multi-sampling for a greatly reduced price compared to existing technologies. Environmental DNA collection contains 3 main components: environmental DNA must be preserved, the filtered volume must be accurate, and there must be no cross-contamination between samples. The sampler operates in this way separating eDNA via filters, preserving DNA, and recording the filtered volume per sample. Our PolyWAG eDNA sampler system is a water sampling device that collects DNA samples via 47mm filter and provides a non-invasive, safe and autonomous means of eDNA collection. The sampler can hold 24 filters and is designed to be easily replaced and reusable. A browser application is used for real-time monitoring, scheduling tasks, and data logging for time, pressure, flow, and filtered volume. Additionally, the sampler design is openly published, modular and is constantly being tested to help us optimize our software and hardware to give us the best results. The 13-step sampling sequence helps reduce cross contamination significantly. Our machine can be deployed for an extended period. It is completely autonomous and costs around $3800 for components or $6000 including labor.more » « less
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Abstract Digitally enabled technologies are increasingly cyber-physical systems (CPSs). They are networked in nature and made up of geographically dispersed components that manage and control data received from humans, equipment, and the environment. Researchers evaluating such technologies are thus challenged to include CPS subsystems and dynamics that might not be obvious components of a product system. Although analysts might assume CPS have negligible or purely beneficial impact on environmental outcomes, such assumptions require justification. As the physical environmental impacts of digital processes (e.g. cryptocurrency mining) gain attention, the need for explicit attention to CPS in environmental assessment becomes more salient. This review investigates how the peer-reviewed environmental assessment literature treats environmental implications of CPS, with a focus on journal articles published in English between 2010 and 2020. We identify nine CPS subsystems and dynamics addressed in this literature: energy system, digital equipment, non-digital equipment, automation and management, network infrastructure, direct costs, social and health effects, feedbacks, and cybersecurity. Based on these categories, we develop a ‘cyber-consciousness score’ reflecting the extent to which the 115 studies that met our evaluation criteria address CPS, then summarize analytical methods and modeling techniques drawn from reviewed literature to facilitate routine inclusion of CPS in environmental assessment. We find that, given challenges in establishing system boundaries, limited standardization of how to evaluate CPS dynamics, and failure to recognize the role of CPS in a product system under evaluation, the extant environmental assessment literature in peer-reviewed journals largely ignores CPS subsystems and dynamics when evaluating digital or digitally-enabled technologies.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2023.0053
