Environmental Policy and Sustainability - New Masters Program at UCSD

The Master of Advanced Studies in International Affairs program at the University of California San Diego has designed an Environmental Policy and Sustainability track for working professionals.

The track is designed to provide advanced knowledge in environmental policy, regulatory economics, sustainable development, energy policy, green technology, and international environmental agreements.  Student take 12 courses, which can be completed by full-time students over a nine-month academic year or 18 months with part-time enrollment.

Learn more at the UCSD School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, irps.ucsd.edu/programs/master-of-advanced-studies-in-international-affairs-masia/.

Update to Envision™Rating System

An updated version of Envision™, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure rating system, is now available. 

The new version of Envision™ includes significant alterations as the result of public comments submitted since July 2011 and the merging of the ISI rating tool with a similar tool developed by the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard University.

Details associated with the individual credentialing process, including training schedules, fees, application procedures, and guidelines for individual infrastructure project submissions for ISI accreditation, are also available.

For questions or additional information, please contact Bill Bertera, ISI Executive Director, at 202-218-6725.

EPA Releases Formerly Confidential Chemical Information

In November of this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made available the results of hundreds of studies of chemicals that had formerly been kept secret on the basis that they represented confidential business information for the manufacturers who used them.  The information is available via the EPA’s Chemical Data Access Tool, which some are calling a rather unwieldy search engine, undoubtedly created without the public as end-user in mind.

More on the topic here.

Using Bioluminescent Bacteria to Screen Sediment Pollution

Erik Olsen, New York Times, December 19, 2011

In Dr. Edith Widder's laboratory, sediment samples are mixed with a bioluminescent bacterium called Vibrio fischeri. Using a photometer to measure the light given off by the bacteria, Dr. Widder can quickly determine the concentration of toxic chemicals in the sediment by seeing how much and how quickly the light dims as the contaminants kill the bacteria.  She is using this technique to detect heavy metals and nutrients, like phosphorus and nitrogen, in the Indian River Lagoon, a 156-mile estuary that scientists say is one of Florida’s most precious and threatened ecosystems.

Other organizations monitor the waters there, but Dr. Widder’s use of bioluminescent bacteria as a pollution marker and her system’s ability to do real-time monitoring are singular.  Another homegrown project of Dr. Widder’s design is opening a new perspective on deep-sea life.

She draws animals to a special camera that is armed with a spinning dial of LED lights resembling the distress call of a species of bioluminescent jellyfish, Atolla wyvillei, that appears to use light as a kind of burglar alarm, luring predators to go after whatever is attacking it. In December 2009, her Eye-in-the-Sea camera was placed in 3,000 feet of water in the Monterey Canyon, a submarine canyon off the coast of California, where it remained for a year. The resulting videos, spanning about 5,300 hours, are being studied by researchers and graduate students at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who have discovered numerous new behaviors of deep-sea animals.

Read the complete story, with photos and links to more information, in the NY Times.

Making Decisions On Complex Environmental Issues

Decision Analysis for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society (DASEES) is an open-source, web-based decision analysis framework, being developed by an integrated trans-disciplinary research team of EPA, university, and private company researchers. DASEES focuses on sustainable systems and communities. Referred to in technical circles as "multi-attribute decision analysis", DASEES is flexible but rigorous, transparent and auditable, and adapts to new information.  Benefits of this approach is that it is inclusive and incorporates input from many stakeholders that are affected by decisions on environmental issues, and considers many of the physical, chemical, and biological aspects of ecosystems.

Visit the EPA website for more information.