TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - James Merchant A2 - Christine Coussens A2 - Dalia Gilbert TI - Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment in Rural America: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/11596 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11596/rebuilding-the-unity-of-health-and-the-environment-in-rural-america PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Health and Medicine AB - Throughout much of its history, the United States was predominantly a rural society. The need to provide sustenance resulted in many people settling in areas where food could be raised for their families. Over the past century, however, a quiet shift from a rural to an urban society occurred, such that by 1920, for the first time, more members of our society lived in urban regions than in rural ones. This was made possible by changing agricultural practices. No longer must individuals raise their own food, and the number of person-hours and acreage required to produce food has steadily been decreasing because of technological advances, according to Roundtable member James Merchant of the University of Iowa. The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Science, Research, and Medicine held a regional workshop at the University of Iowa on November 29 and 30, 2004, to look at rural environmental health issues. Iowa, with its expanse of rural land area, growing agribusiness, aging population, and increasing immigrant population, provided an opportunity to explore environmental health in a region of the country that is not as densely populated. As many workshop participants agreed, the shifting agricultural practices as the country progresses from family operations to large-scale corporate farms will have impacts on environmental health. This report describes and summarizes the participants' presentations to the Roundtable members and the discussions that the members had with the presenters and participants at the workshop. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Review of International Technologies for Destruction of Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel SN - DO - 10.17226/11777 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11777/review-of-international-technologies-for-destruction-of-recovered-chemical-warfare-materiel PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Engineering and Technology KW - Environment and Environmental Studies ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Managing Construction and Infrastructure in the 21st Century Bureau of Reclamation SN - DO - 10.17226/11519 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11519/managing-construction-and-infrastructure-in-the-21st-century-bureau-of-reclamation PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - In the more than 100 years since its formation, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of Interior (DOI), through its construction program, has brought water, electric power, and recreation facilities to millions of people in the Western United States. With major water and power systems in place, the Bureau's attention has now turned to operation, maintenance, repair, and modernization of those facilities in an environmentally and economically sound manner. To help with this effort, DOI asked the NRC to advise the Bureau on "appropriate organizational, management, and resource configurations to meet its construction, maintenance, and infrastructure requirements for its missions of the 21st century." This report presents an assessment of the requirements facing the Bureau in the 21st century, an analysis of good practices and techniques for addressing those challenges, and a review of workforce and human resource needs. The report also provides alternative scenarios that describe possible future organizations for infrastructure management. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - State and Federal Standards for Mobile-Source Emissions SN - DO - 10.17226/11586 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11586/state-and-federal-standards-for-mobile-source-emissions PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Emissions from mobile sources contribute significantly to air pollution in the United States. Such sources include cars and light- and heavy-duty trucks; diesel-powered cranes, bulldozers, and tractors; and equipment such as lawnmowers that run on small gasoline engines. The role of state versus federal government in establishing mobile-source emissions standards is an important environmental management issue. With this in mind, Congress called on EPA to arrange an independent study of the practices and procedures by which California develops separate emissions standards from the federal government and other states choose to adopt the California standards. The report provides an assessment of the scientific and technical procedures used by states to develop or adopt different emissions standards and a comparison of those policies and practices with those used by EPA. It also considers the impacts of state emissions standards on various factors including compliance costs and emissions. The report concludes that, despite the substantial progress in reducing emissions from mobile sources nationwide, more needs to be done to attain federal air-quality standards in many parts of the country. Additionally, California should continue its pioneering role in setting emissions standards for cars, trucks, and off-road equipment. ER -