Society News

The Spring/Summer 2005 NRRG Newsletter is now avabiable.  Download it here in .pdf format.

The Fall 2004/Winter 2005 NRRG Newsletter is now available.  Download it here in .pdf format.

Other News

The Environmental Protection Agency has established a mapping site for all counties in the U.S.  Each county is hooked up to hundreds of county-level data series, and, by default, displays data grouped by thirds (the highest third of counties, the middle third, the lowest third) for each data series.  Available data includes air and water quality, crime rates, population, employment, weather, race, unemployment, and many more attributes.  Although the data behind the map consists of previously published data, the comprehensiveness and ease of mapping make this site invaluable for researches.  See  http://www.turboperl.com/dcmaps.html

Rand Releases Report:  The Future of Genetically Modified Crops: Lessons from the Green Revolution

Recently, there has been growing concern about the so-called “Gene Revolution”, in which “genetically modified (GM) crops are tailored to address chronic agricultural problems in certain regions of the world.” Concern over this question has led the RAND organization to sponsor this 116-page monograph that “investigates the circumstances and processes that can induce and sustain this new agricultural revolution." Authored by Felicia Wu and William Butz, this document contains chapters on the 20th century’s “Green Revolution” and “Lessons for the Gene Revolution from the Green Revolution". Throughout the work, the authors also weave a insightful narrative that assesses the agricultural, technological, sociological, and political differences between these two different movements.

Bureau of Land Management Archives Historical Photographs

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been in existence in one form or another for more than a century, and is responsible for managing 262 million surface areas of America's public lands and their natural resources. The BLM recently made an ambitious effort to make some of the agency's vast historical images available to the Web-browsing public, and this nice online archive is the result of those labors. The archive contains close to 3500 images, dating back to the early 1890s all the way up to the 1980s. Visitors are advised to use the search engine, which will allow them the ability to look up images by keyword, state, date, or photographer. 

U.S. Depatment of Energy is looking for Candidates for State Energy Advisory Board

The State Energy Advisory Board develops recommendations for the U.S. Department of Energy and the Congress regarding goals and objectives, including transfer of results of federal energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. In doing so, STEAB serves to integrate and provide consistency between federal and state-and-local activities.

DOE is looking for candidates for consideration who have extensive background in the following areas of professional expertise:

Please send your recommendations to Jim Fischer at DOE (James.Fischer@ee.doe.gov).

New USDA Report on Measuring the Success of Conservation Programs

Due to the influence and interactions of many factors, evaluation of conservation programs is a data-intensive and technically challenging process. This article provides an overview of the steps necessary for evaluating the success of conservation program. These steps must address two questions: 1) How do different farm operators in different circumstances decide what production and conservation practices to implement, in the presence and absence of the conservation program being evaluated, at different levels of incentives provided by that program?; and 2) How do the farm practices attributable to conservation program incentives affect environmental quality?

A Source for GIS Data -- This online resource for GIS and geospatial data has compiled data from a wide range of GIS Web sites located on the Internet. Some of the data is free once you set up a user account to be part of the GeoCommunity, with additional data available for a fee using the Premium option. Downloading may require the user to be proficient in GIS and own relevant software. Download options include: Digital Raster Graphic (DRG) Data, USGS Digital elevation Models (DEM), Digital Orthophotos (DOQ/DOQQ), and FEMA Flood Data. Bundles of data available for purchase include: VECTOR MAP (VMap) Level 1, National Wetlands Inventory, TIGER Data & U.S. Census Resources, data by individual states in the U.S. as well as data on countries around the globe. The majority of the datasets are in ARC/INFO E00, SHP, DLG, TIGER, and DEM formats.

U.S. Department of Commerce website shows flow of U.S. Exports by State

For those who have not yet discovered it, the U.S. Department of Commerce has a Web site that can show what your state exported by specific product, to where those products were shipped, and in what quantity. 

New Study of Biotechnology Economic Indicators in U.S. Industry Released

The Department of Commerce (DOC) has produced a report entitled, A Survey of the Use of Biotechnology in U.S. Industry, which is first in-depth government assessment of the development and adoption of biotechnology in industry. For the study, DOC surveyed more than 3,000 firms engaged in biotech-related activities. The report covers industry economics, economic indicators, research and development expenditures, workforce and competitive issues. 

Free Local Government Environmental Toolkit Available

Looking for resources on Brownfields, smart growth, military base reuse and other environmental issues? The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has produced a toolkit that could help. The Local Government Environmental Toolkit, available on CD-ROM, contains publications, fact sheets, and other resources that ICMA has produced to help local government officials meet their environmental and economic development challenges. Request a free copy of the toolkit by calling (877) 865-4326 or emailing lgean@icma.org with your name mailing address, and phone number. 

ENVIRONMENTAL TRADE SANCTIONS EXAMINED IN ON-LINE COMMENTARY

The Center for Independent Studies offers a fairly detailed commentary by Alex Oxley, Australia’s former Ambassador to the GATT (World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), on the dangers of using trade to bring about global environmental regulatory changes.

New Monitoring and Reporting Resources: Dashboard of Sustainability and Sustainability Reporting Guidelines

One core scientific question for sustainability is: How can today's operational systems for monitoring and reporting environmental and social conditions be integrated or extended to provide more useful guidance for sustainability efforts? Recent additions to the Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainability's resource page for this question include the Dashboard of Sustainability and the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

The Dashboard of Sustainability is a web-based indicator tool developed by IISD's Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (CGSDI), containing more than 60 environmental, social, and economic indicators for most countries in the UN system. The software is available for free download, as are additional indicator sets (e.g., Millennium Development Goals, Ecological Footprint, World Economic Forum Environmental
Sustainability Index).

The Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, prepared by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), are intended to provide a global framework for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social performance of corporations (and eventually for any business, governmental, or non-governmental organization (NGO)) in order to enhance responsible decision-making. 

If NRRG members have any additional resources to suggest in the areas of Monitoring and Reporting (or any of the forum's other core scientific issues: Models and Conceptualizations; Long-Term Trends and Transitions; Vulnerability and Resilience; Scientifically Meaningful Limits or Boundaries; Incentive Structures; and Institutions for Research, Observation, Assessment, and Decision Support), contact the forum at sustscience@ksg.harvard.edu.

The E-Grants Program Management Office, which is managing the Presidential Initiative for E-Grants, has released a new website called Grants.gov at http://www.grants.gov/. This site will be the electronic storefront for Federal grants. After January 2003 this site will feature links to find Federal Financial Assistance, and starting in October 2003 this site will feature E-Apply to submit applications. 

National Science Foundation Advisory Committee on Environmental Research and Education Releases New Report

The report, Complex Environmental Systems: Synthesis for Earth, Life, and Society in the 21st Century, concludes that NSF is uniquely suited to carry out fundamental, complex environmental systems across broad areas because it funds all fields of science and engineering. In addition to science and engineering, that support includes the social sciences, as well as crossing disciplinary and organizational boundaries and integrating new knowledge in education. Environmental programs need to be expanded, according to the report, in the social sciences, cyberinfrastructure, observing systems, and education.

New instrumentation, data-handling, and methodological capabilities have expanded the horizons of what can be studied and understood about the environment, the report states. These advances create the demand for collaborative teams of engineers and natural and social scientists that go beyond current disciplinary research and educational frameworks, advisory committee members believe.

According to the report, research must integrate spatial, temporal, and organizational scales, draw from many disciplines, and facilitate the synergy that results from partnerships among government, academic, and private organizations. This research must use diverse datasets and approaches, and be effectively communicated among researchers, educators, students, resource and industrial managers, policy makers, and the public.

To move ahead in this next decade, continues the report, environmental researchers need clearly articulated programs with sufficient long-term funding horizons so that they can incorporate interdisciplinary approaches and address complex environmental problems. The need for long-term funding is therefore particularly acute for environmental research and education, the report concludes.

To reserve a copy of this report, send an email to ere-info@nsf.gov with your name and address.

The International Association for Society and Natural Resources was established in response to high levels of interest in the International Symposia on Society and Resource Management and its associated journal, Society and Natural Resources.  Membership fees will support the journal, a newsletter, Symposium mailings, and free online access to Society and Natural Resources.  For more information please contact Donald R. Field.

Agriculture and Natural Resource News Forum is electronic newsletter published each month by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additional issues and special alerts are published as events warrant. To subscribe or send news, please contact jdodds@reeusda.gov.  Previous issues are available at their website.  

Last Revised:  Friday, August 05, 2005
Comments to Douglas.Smith@wku.edu