As populations continue to increase, society produces more and more waste. Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to build new landfills, and the existing landfills are causing significant environmental damage. Finding solutions is not simple; the problem is enormous in size, vital in terms of its impact on the environment, and complex in scope. This book provides a vast look at solid waste management in North America and seeks solutions to the waste crisis. It describes the magnitude and complexity of the problem, focusing on municipal wastes and placing them in the perspective of other wastes such as hazardous, biochemical, and radioactive debris. It describes the components of an integrated waste management program, including recycling, composting, landfills, and waste incinerators, and it presents in detail the scientific and engineering principles underlying these technologies. To illustrate both the problems and solutions of waste management programs, the authors provide seven case histories, among them the Fresh Kills (Staten Island, New York), the East Carbon Landfill (Utah), and the Lancaster County Municipal Waste Incinerator (Pennsylvania). The Waste Crisis is unique in its attempt to analyze waste management in a broader societal context and to propose solutions based on basic principles. And by doing so, it encourages readers to challenge commonly held perceptions and to seek new and better ways of dealing with waste. As such, this book deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone who deals with or feels the need to confront the growing problems of waste management.
This book takes a measured look at the 'crisis of waste' in modern society and it does so historically, sociologically and critically. It tells stories about past and present ‘crises’ of waste and puts them in their appropriate social and industrial contexts. From Charles Dickens to Don DeLillo, from the internal combustion engine to fish fingers, from kitchen grease to the Tour de France this book digs deep into society’s dust piles and emerges with untold treasures of the imagination.
After fifteen years of reconstruction in a relatively peaceful environment spanning the years 1990 to 2004, Lebanon has experienced successive violent political events resulting from complex entangled internal and external struggles. The Syrian crisis and its political, economic and demographic consequences on Lebanon have increased these tensions. This atlas sheds light on these new challenges and adds new data that complete the analyses already published in the Atlas du Liban. Territoires et société (Atlas of Lebanon. Territories and Society) released in 2007 by the same research team. Some of its components are included in this edition. Beyond the international regional crisis and the population movements, it takes into account Lebanon’s socio-economic dimensions, the environmental issues linked to uncontrolled urbanization and to natural risks, as well as conflicts due to local territorial management. This atlas is the result of a collaborative endeavor between French and Lebanese researchers. It uses a geographical approach that puts in the foreground a spatial analysis of social and natural phenomena. Public sources are scarce in Lebanon, especially at the local scale. They are sometimes less reliable and difficult to access. It is particularly the case for the Lebanese census data, conversely data are abundantly available on the refugees population, which is less known than the population of refugees. International data help compare Lebanon to its neighbors. Thematic data produced by some ministries are helpful to provide a detailed view regarding specific domains. Analyses processed on aerial and satellite images have produced essential data on urbanization and environment. Local thematic fieldwork surveys have provided additional data. The book consists of seven chapters. The first one deals with the territorial state-building seen in the light of regional geopolitics, and emphasizes internal violence and the reemergence of militias and armed groups that fight each other and the state army. Lebanon is once again perceived as a territory divided between multiple allegiances. The second chapter is devoted to the analysis of population dynamics, despite the lack of reliable data whose sources are subject to discussion. It includes analyses of internal population flows, the Lebanese diaspora, and the assessment of Syrian refugees’ influx. The third chapter shows the fragility of the Lebanese economic model. Its dependency on foreign investments and on the remittances of the diaspora, as well as the deadlocks of industry and agriculture, which aggravate social imbalances. The fourth chapter is an assessment of urbanization in the country, which has increased by 80% in surface in twenty years at the expense of natural spaces and agriculture. The shore is highly coveted and widely artificialized and damaged. Multiple signs of environmental degradation are examined in chapter five. They seem to announce the global climate change and its local effects. In addition to that, there is a direct link between massive urbanization and many risks, measured and mapped in an increasingly detailed way. Chapter six tackles the dysfunctional public services that exploit natural resources: water and energy supply, both marked by massive shortages, and the management of solid waste hit by a serious crisis. The seventh and last chapter studies the mutations of the local territorial management, which is marked by the retreat of the state, if not its marginalization, and the rise of other actors, notably municipalities, local powers and also civil society organizations.After fifteen years of reconstruction in a relatively peaceful environment spanning the years 1990 to 2004, Lebanon has experienced successive violent political events resulting from complex entangled internal and external struggles. The Syrian crisis and its political, economic...
At the onset of the Great Recession, as house prices sank and joblessness soared, many commentators concluded that the economic convictions behind the disaster would now be consigned to history. Yet in the harsh light of a new day, attacks against government intervention and the global drive for austerity are as strong as ever. Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste is the definitive account of the wreckage of what passes for economic thought, and how neoliberal ideas were used to solve the very crisis they had created. Now updated with a new afterword, Philip Mirowski’s sharp and witty work provides a roadmap for those looking to escape today’s misguided economic dogma.
The Waste Crisis Explore modern solutions to the most critical issues in waste management policy and design In The Waste Crisis: Roadmap for Sustainable Waste Management in Developing Countries, an accomplished team of sustainability researchers deliver a concise insight of modern waste management practices that acts as a handbook for waste management professionals. Along with flow charts and example problems, the authors offer readers the information necessary to support decision making based on country, city size, population, waste generation volume, type, geographical location, and more. The book begins with an overview of current waste management practices, including waste generation, collection, processing, composting, recycling, and disposal. It moves on to a series of case studies from over ten countries and presentations of sustainable waste management strategies. The Waste Crisis: Roadmap for Sustainable Waste Management in Developing Countries concludes with a series of practical and effective final recommendations for future best practices. It also includes: Practical discussions of material flow, cost-effective material recovery, anaerobic digestion, composting, recycling, disposal, training, and human capacity building Comprehensive explorations of unique and robust decision-making strategies for designers, policy makers, and regulators In-depth treatments of ready-to-implement waste management systems perfect for systems designers The Waste Crisis: Roadmap for Sustainable Waste Management in Developing Countries is an indispensable resource for waste, recycling, and resource management professionals. It???s also perfect for waste management system designers and decision makers seeking a one-stop guide to issues of sustainability in the developing world.
Much of what you’ve heard about plastic pollution may be wrong. Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea—more like a soup than a floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught: less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. And plastic pollution isn’t confined to the open ocean: it’s in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat. In Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis, journalist Erica Cirino brings readers on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists telling the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engine, to the labs doing cutting-edge research on microplastics and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution is threatening wildlife and human health. Thicker Than Water reveals that the plastic crisis is also a tale of environmental injustice, as poorer nations take in a larger share of the world’s trash, and manufacturing chemicals threaten predominantly Black and low-income communities. There is some hope on the horizon, with new laws banning single-use items and technological innovations to replace plastic in our lives. But Cirino shows that we can only fix the problem if we face its full scope and begin to repair our throwaway culture. Thicker Than Water is an eloquent call to reexamine the systems churning out waves of plastic waste.
The problem of where to store waste has grabbed a lot of headlines, but people have been slow to realize that the environmental damage caused by storage sites is an even greater menace. This book makes the danger clear, as Joel Goldsteen offers the first comprehensive look at the selection and environmental impact of municipal and petrochemical waste storage sites along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Goldsteen has distilled a large landfill-worth of data into a highly readable account of the creation and regulation of waste disposal sites, the health issues that surround them, and the human and natural factors that affect how safe or dangerous they become. Chapters that describe industrial development along the Gulf Coast and the concurrent challenges of wastewater treatment, solid waste management, and hazardous waste control are followed by in-depth descriptions of nine Texas and four Louisiana sites, all representative of problems far beyond the Texas-Louisiana coast.
Two-time New York Times bestselling author Jason Chaffetz is back to blow the lid off the Democrats’ attempts to spend unparalleled trillions and rewrite our election laws while never letting us get back to normal. Why did the left think they could solve the pandemic with burning cities, closed beaches, blue state budget bailouts, and mail-in ballots nobody asked for? The coronavirus has been a disaster for America, but it’s been an unprecedented opportunity for the left. In They Never Let a Crisis Goes to Waste, Jason Chaffetz delves into progressive efforts to leverage crises to force their priorities into law. Whether the crisis is legitimate, fabricated, or exaggerated, the solution is always the same: more government, less individual freedom, higher spending, higher taxes. He explores how disaster liberalism subjugates individual freedoms to political expediency in times of crisis, and how Republicans need to be ready for next time. Because when we allow government power to become unlimited in a crisis, the crises will become unlimited. Across the board, Democrat leaders exploited the pandemic to achieve their agenda, invoking disaster liberalism to justify unpopular and unconstitutional power grabs. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a gun control bill on April 10—three weeks into pandemic—because he wouldn’t have to put up with tens of thousands of protestors. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced he was making it a criminal offense to attend church or go to work, only to see his overreach struck down by the state supreme court. Nancy Pelosi rammed through a $3 trillion liberal wish list filled with proposals unrelated to COVID-19, that immediately died in the Senate. If not for the courts and local media, many of the Democrats’ schemes would have successfully been implemented. As it was, many were—and many of the most egregious violations of Americans’ rights were celebrated across the left. In They Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste, Chaffetz uncovers Democrats’ game plan and calls upon all Americans to protect ourselves against future incursions. If we don’t pay attention, the left will use every crisis to implement its radical plan, steadily eroding the freedoms we all hold dear. Only the American people have the power to stop the left’s next power grab, as Chaffetz shows in this powerful, thoroughly-researched call to action.
We would never ask for a crisis. A crisis shakes our foundations, our confidence, and dreams for the future. But when life brings us to our knees, we have a unique opportunity to look up and reach out. This book is a roadmap for navigating life's most difficult journeys, full of wisdom, candor, and guidance. From her original research at Harvard, to over twenty years of coaching leaders around the world, Dr. Anne Harbison shares life-changing strategies for turning heartache to hope. Her compelling personal story of crisis brings deep authenticity to her professional expertise and insights. A must read, inspirational guide for this COVID generation.
