Environmental Encyclopedia

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Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Species

associated with the mature or climax form of community

are called climax species. Fragments of a climax species that

remain after a major disturbance, such as a forest fire, are

referred to as relic species.

Nonnative organisms are called introduced or

exotic

species

. They can wreak havoc when brought deliberately

or by accident into a new area where they have no natural

enemies or where they compete aggressively with other

organisms in the

environment

. A classic example is the

introduction of the

zebra mussel

(Dreissena polymorpha)

into the

Great Lakes

, where it reproduces wildly and has

clogged

water treatment

facilities. In south Florida, the

Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia) has overtaken many

coastal areas because it is extremely tolerant of salt spray

and otherwise poor beach soils. Its thick foliage and quick

rate of multiplication allows the Australian pine to compete

with native species for light, food, and space.

All of the plants and animals found in a particular

area, whether native or introduced, are called resident spe-

cies. Where new species adapt well so that they do not need

special help to perpetuate, they are said to be acclimatized

or naturalized. Invader species are not original to a region

but arrive after an area is disturbed, such as by fire or

over-

grazing

. Native species that are the first to recolonize a

disturbed area are called pioneer species. Several pioneer

species quickly reappeared on and around Mount Saint Hel-

ens after the volcano’s 1980 eruption.

Species that are especially adapted to a highly variable,

unpredictable, or transient environment are called opportu-

nistic species. Within a particular area, dominant species are

those that because of their number, coverage, or size, strongly

influence the conditions of other species in the area. For

example, certain trees in

old-growth forests

in the Pacific

Northwest are vital to the success of other species in the

area. Destruction of the forests by

logging

also causes the

decline of other species, such as the spotted owl (Strix occi-

dentalis). In other areas, plants that are sought after by graz-

ing animals are called ice cream species.

So-called indicator species, or indicator organisms, are

watched for warning signs that their ecosystems are ill. The

decline of migratory songbirds around the world is an indica-

tion that nesting and breeding grounds of the songbirds,

particularly rain forests, are in danger. Other indicator spe-

cies are amphibians. Some scientists believe that the decline

of many frog and toad populations is a result of environmen-

tal

pollution

. Since amphibians have highly

permeable

skins, they are particularly vulnerable to

environmental

degradation

such as

pesticide

pollution. The depletion of

the

ozone

layer, which allows more

ultraviolet radiation

to penetrate the

atmosphere

, has been blamed for the de-

cline in other frog populations. Increased ultraviolet radia-

tion is believed to be responsible for the destruction of frog

1337

eggs, which are deposited in shallow water. When the striped

bass population in

Chesapeake Bay

declined in 1975, it

indicated pollution problems in the water. An indicator spe-

cies also may be used to show the stage of development,

or regeneration, of an

ecosystem

. For example,

land use

managers may watch plant species to assess the level of

grazing use in rangeland.

If the survival of other species depends on the survival

of a single species, that single species is called a

keystone

species

. Where a species plays a role in more than one

ecosystem, it is said to be a mobile link species.

A species population has a dimension in space, called

a range, and a dimension in time. The population extends

backwards in time, merging with other species populations

much like the branches of a tree. The population has the

potential to extend forward in time, but various factors may

prevent the perpetuation of the species. When the continued

existence of a species is in question, it is regarded as an

endangered species

. This causes great concern to conser-

vationists, especially when the species is the only representa-

tive of its genus or family, as is the case with the

giant

panda

(Ailuropoda melanoleuca). A species found in a very

restricted geographic range is endemic or narrowly endemic,

and is at special risk of becoming extinct.

Extinction

results

from an imbalance between a species and the environment

in which it is living.

Many species exist today in name only. On a 1991

United States

Fish and Wildlife Service

report on species,

the following were removed from the endangered species

list because they all became extinct since the 1980 report

was issued: the Amistad gambusia fish (Gambusia amista-

densis), the Tecopa pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis calidae),

Sampson’s pearly mussel (Epioblasma sampsonii), the blue

pike (Stizostedion vitreum), and the dusky seaside sparrow

(Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens).

Species richness varies with the type of region, and it

is especially diverse in areas of warm or wet places, such

as tropical forests. Many biologists are concerned that the

unprecedented destruction of tropical forests is forcing to

extinction species that have not even been discovered. When

a species is lost, it is lost forever, and with it the tremendous

potential, especially in medicine, of that species’ contribu-

tions to the world.

[Linda Rehkopf]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Villee, C., et. al. General Zoology. New York: Saunders College Publish-

ing, 1984.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Speciesism

Species diversity

see

Biodiversity

Speciesism

This term, popularized by author

Peter Singer

in his book

Animal Liberation (1975), refers to a human attitude of supe-

riority over other creatures and a tendency among humans

to place the interests of their own

species

above all others.

As Singer puts it, speciesism “is as indefensible as the most

blatant racism. There is no basis for elevating membership

of one particular species into a morally crucial characteristic.

From an ethical point of view, we all stand on an equal

footing—whether we stand on two feet, or four, or none at

all. That is the crux of the philosophy of the animal liberation

movement...Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly

racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must

now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory

farming, seal hunting...and the destruction of wilderness.”

Opposition to speciesism has become one of the foundations

of the modern

animal rights

movement. See also Environ-

mental ethics

Spectrometry, mass

see

Mass spectrometry

Speyeria zerene hippolyta

see

Oregon silverspot butterfly

Spoil

Normally used to describe

overburden

removed during

strip mining

. These operations leave long rows of intermixed

rock and

soil

, commonly described as spoil banks. Often

composed of loose shale and placed downhill from the final

cut, they block outflow, forming lakes, and in level terrain

store large amounts of

groundwater

. Prior to the 1977

enactment of the

Surface Mining Control and Reclama-

tion Act

, these man-made landforms were often abandoned,

creating a distinctive landscape. Efforts are now made to

reclaim these aptly-named “orphan” lands. However, unless

properly done,

reclamation

may exacerbate

erosion

; in such

cases they are best left undisturbed. Trees often lead the

succession

, perhaps hastening the day when effective recla-

mation might be feasible.

Spotted owl

see

Northern spotted owl

1338

SSOs

see

Sanitary sewer overflows

Stability

The term “stability” refers to the tendency of an individual

organism, a community, a population, or an

ecosystem

maintain a more or less constant structure over relatively

long periods of time. Stability does not suggest that changes

do not occur, but that the net result of those changes is

nearly zero. A healthy human body is an example of a stable

system. Changes are constantly taking place in a body. Cells

die and are replaced by new ones. Chemical compounds are

manufactured in one part of the body and degraded in an-

other part. But, in spite of these changes, the body tends to

look very much the same from day to day, week to week,

and month to month.

The same is true with groups of individuals. A

prairie

grassland may look the same from year to year, even though

the individual plants that make up the community change.

Many ecosystems exhibit mosaic stability. For instance, a

forest with openings caused by windthrow or fire at different

times regrows trees of the same

species

, so that the character

of the forest remains unchanged.

Stability is threatened by various kinds of stress. For

example, lack of food can threaten the stability of an individ-

ual person, and fire can endanger the stability of a grassland

community. Both organisms and communities have a rather

remarkable

resilience

to such threats, however, and are often

able to return to their original structure. Given good food

once again, a person can recover her or his health and struc-

ture, just as a grassland tends to regrow after a fire.

The biotic and abiotic elements of an ecosystem cause

stress on each other which can threaten the stability of each.

An unusually long dry spell, for example, can cause plants

to die and endanger the biotic community’s stability. In turn,

animals may multiply in number and physically degrade the

soil

and water in their

habitat

Because of the magnitude of the stress they place on

other communities, humans are often the most serious threat

to the stability of an ecosystem. An

old-growth forest

that

has been clear-cut may, in theory, restore itself eventually

to its original structure. But the time frame needed for such

a restoration involves hundreds or thousands of years. For

all practical purposes, therefore, the community of organisms

in the region has ceased to exist as such.

One of the important mechanisms by which ecosys-

tems maintain stability is negative feedback. Suppose, for

example, that favorable weather conditions cause an unusu-

ally large growth of plants in a valley. Animals that live on

those plants, then, will also increase in number and reproduce

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Stack emissions

in greater quantity than in less abundant years. The increased

population of animals will place a severe stress on the plant

community if and when weather conditions return to normal.

With decreased food supplies per individual organism, more

animals will die off and the population will return to its

previous size.

The factors that contribute to the stability of an ecosys-

tem are not well-understood. At one time, most scholars

accepted the hypothesis that diversity was an important fac-

tor in maintaining stability. From a common sense perspec-

tive, it is reasonable to assume that the more organisms

and more kinds of organisms in a system, the greater the

distribution of stress and the more stable the system as a

whole will be.

Some early experiments appeared to confirm this view,

but those experiments were often conducted with artificial

or only simplified systems. Ecologists are increasingly begin-

ning to question the relationship between

biodiversity

and

stability, at least partly because of examples from the real

world. Some highly complex systems, such as

tropical rain

forests

, have been less successful in responding to external

stress than have simpler systems, such as

tundra

The term “stability” has a more specialized meaning

in atmospheric studies. There, it also refers to a condition

in which vertical layers of air at different temperatures are

in equilibrium with each other. See also Population biology

[David E. Newton]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Clapham Jr., W. B. Natural Ecosystems. New York: The Macmillan Com-

pany, 1973.

Suthers, R. A., and R. A. Gallant. Biology: The Behavioral View. Lexington,

MA: Xerox College Publishing, 1973.

Stack emissions

Stack emissions are those gases and solids that come out of

the

smoke

stack after the

incineration

process. Incinerators

can be designed to accept wastes of any physical form, includ-

ing gases, liquids, solids, sludges, and slurries. Incineration

is primarily for the treatment of wastes that contain organic

compounds. Wastes with a wide range of chemical and

physical characteristics are considered suitable for burning.

Most of these wastes are by-products of industrial manufac-

turing and chemical production processes, or result from the

clean-up of contaminated sites.

There is a great deal of controversy about the content

of incinerator stack emissions. The

Environmental Protec-

tion Agency

(EPA) supports incineration as a

waste man-

agement

tool and claims that these emissions are not dan-

1339

gerous. In an official publication, the EPA has stated:

“Incinerator

emission

gases are composed primarily of two

harmless inorganic compounds,

carbon dioxide

and water.

The type and quantity of other compounds depends on the

composition of the wastes, the completeness of the

combus-

tion

process, and the

air pollution control

equipment with

which the incinerator is equipped. These compounds include

organic and inorganic compounds contained in the original

waste and organic and inorganic compounds created during

combustion.”

Contrary to the EPA, many environmentalists believe

that burning

hazardous waste

, even in “state-of-the-art”

incinerators, releases far more

heavy metals

, unburned

wastes, dioxins, and new

chemicals

formed during the incin-

eration process (PICs) than is healthy for the

environment

or humans. In a report published in 1990, Playing with Fire,

Greenpeace

disagrees strongly about the toxic materials

emitted from incinerator stacks.

The report argues that metals are not destroyed during

incineration; in fact, they are often released in forms that

are far more dangerous than the original wastes. At least 19

metals have been identified in the air emissions of hazardous

waste incinerators. An average-sized commercial incinerator

burning hazardous waste with an average metals content

emits these metals into the air at the rate of 204 lb (92.6

kg) per year and deposits another 670,000 lb (304,180 kg)

of metals per year in its residual ashes and liquids, which

must be properly disposed of in landfills designed for that

purpose.

The consequences to human health are significant.

Cancer

birth defects

, reproductive dysfunction, neurologi-

cal damage, and other health effects are known to occur at

very low exposures to many of the metals, organochlorines,

and other pollutants released by waste-burning facilities.

Increased cancer rates, respiratory ailments, reproductive ab-

normalities, and other health effects have been noted among

people living near some waste-burning facilities, according

to scientific studies in other countries and surveys conducted

by community groups and local physicians in the United

States.

Hazardous waste incinerators in the United States are

producing at least 324 million lb (147 million kg) per year

of ash residues. These ashes, which are buried in landfills,

are contaminated by PICs, many of which are more toxic

than the original waste. The ashes also contain increased

concentrations of heavy metals, often in more leachable

forms than in the original wastes.

Trial burns are used to determine an incinerator’s de-

struction and removal efficiency (DRE). Under current fed-

eral regulations, an incinerator of general hazardous waste

must, during the trial burn, demonstrate a DRE of 99.99%

with just a few chemicals to be tested—perhaps one or two.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Stakeholder analysis

Many environmentalists consider these standards unsatisfac-

tory. In the unlikely event that this standard could be met

at all times with all wastes burned throughout the lifetime

of an incinerator, a hazardous waste incinerator of average

size (70 million lb [32 million kg] per year) would still be

emitting 7,000 lb (3,178 kg) per year of unburned wastes.

With corrections and accidents, emissions may be as high

as 700,000 lb (317,800 kg) per year. Environmentalists also

argue that DRE addresses only the stack emissions of the

few chemicals selected for the trial burn, and that it does

not reflect other substances that are released. These include

unburned chemicals other than those selected for the trial

burn, heavy metals, or newly formed PICs. In addition, the

present method for determining DREs does not account for

the retention within the combustion system of the chemicals

selected for the trial burn and their continued release for

hours, or even days, after stack gas sampling has ceased. See

also Hazardous waste site remediation; Hazardous waste

siting; Heavy metals precipitation; NIMBY (Not In My

Backyard); Toxic use reduction legislation

[Liane Clorfene Casten]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Costner, P., and J. Thornton. “Playing With Fire: Hazardous Waste Incin-

eration.” 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Greenpeace, 1993.

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholder analysis is an approach to making policy deci-

sions, primarily in business, which is based on identifying

and prioritizing the interests different groups have in an

institution. A stakeholder analysis examines the stakes which

shareholders, suppliers, customers, employees, or communi-

ties may have in a particular issue.

A stakeholder analysis is often used to develop generic

strategies; these are meant to be broad descriptions of what

the corporation stands for and how it intends to mediate

between competing stakeholder concerns. Many firms have

made public statements concerning these strategies. Hew-

lett-Packard has said that it is dedicated to the dignity and

worth of its individual employees. Aetna Life and Casualty

claims that tending to the broader needs of society is essential

to fulfilling its economic role. Perhaps the most famous

example of a stakeholder strategy is Johnson and Johnson’s:

“We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses

and patients, to mothers and all others who use our products

and services.”

People both inside and outside the business world

consider the stakeholder analysis an effective method for

uniting business strategy with social responsibility. This ap-

1340

proach can be used to provide a variety of business goals

with an ethical basis, and it has played a role in developing

the marketing of environmentally safe products, known as

green marketing

. While many environmentalists consider

this kind of analysis a step in the right direction, some have

argued that public statements of strategies can be misleading,

and that companies can be more concerned with their image

and their relationship with the media than they are with

social responsibility. See also Green advertising and mar-

keting

[Alfred A. Marcus and Douglas Smith]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Marcus, A. A. Business and Society. Homewood, IL: Irwin Press, 1992.

Statistics

Statistics is the mathematical science of collecting, organiz-

ing, summarizing, and interpreting information in a numeri-

cal form. There are two main branches of statistics. Descrip-

tive statistics summarizes particular data about a given

situation through the collection, organization, and presenta-

tion of those data. Inferential statistics is used to test hypoth-

eses, to make predictions, and to draw conclusions, often

about larger groups than the one from which the data have

been collected.

Statistics enables the discernment of patterns and

trends, and causes and effects in a world that may otherwise

seem made up of random events and phenomena. Much of

the current debate over issues like global warming, the effects

of industrial

pollution

, and

conservation

endangered

species

rests on statistics. Arguments for and against the

human impact on the

environment

can be made or broken

based on the quality of statistics supporting the argument,

the interpretation of those data, or both. Providing accurate

statistics to help researchers and policy-makers come to the

most sound environmental conclusions is the domain of

statistical

ecology

in particular, and

environmental sci-

ence

in general.

Basic concepts

Statistical analysis begins with the collection of data—

the values and measurements describing an event or phe-

nomenon. Researchers collect two types of data: qualitative

and quantitative. Qualitative data refers to information that

cannot be ascribed a numerical value but that can be counted.

For example, suppose a city wants to gauge the success

of its curbside

recycling

program. Researchers might survey

residents to better understand their attitudes toward recycl-

ing. The survey might ask whether or not people actually

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Statistics

recycle, or whether they feel the program is adequate. The

results of that survey—the number of people in the city

who recycle, the number who think the program could be

improved, and so on—would provide quantitative data on

the city’s program. Quantitative data, then, refers to informa-

tion that can be ascribed numeric values—for example, a

study of how many tons each of glass and paper get recycled

over a certain period of time. A more detailed breakdown

might include data on the recycling habits of individual

residents by measuring the amount of recycled materials

people place in curbside bins.

Sorting through and weighing the contents of every

recycling bin in a town would be not only time consuming

but expensive. When researchers are unable to collect data

on every member of a population or group under consider-

ation, they collect data from a sample, or subset, of that

population. In this case, the population would be everyone

who recycles in the city.

To bring the scope of the study to a manageable size,

the researchers might study the recycling habits of a particu-

lar neighborhood as a sample of all recyclers. A certain

neighborhood’s habits may not reflect the behavior of an

entire city, however. To avoid this type of potential bias,

researchers try to take random samples. That is, researchers

collect data in such a way that each member of the population

stands an equal chance of being selected for the sample. In

this case, investigators might collect data on the contents of

one bin from every block in the city.

Researchers must also define the particular characteris-

tics of a population they intend to study. A measurement

on a population that characterizes one of its features is called

a parameter. A statistic is a characteristic of or fact about a

sample. Researchers often use statistics from a sample to

estimate the values of an entire population’s parameters when

it is impossible or impractical to collect data on every member

of the population. The aim of random sampling is to help

make that estimate as accurate as possible.

Descriptive statistics

Once the data have been collected, they must be orga-

nized into a readily understandable form. Organizing data

according to groups in a table is called a frequency distribu-

tion. Graphic representations of data include bar charts,

histograms, frequency polygons (line graphs), and pie charts.

Measures of central tendency, or the average, provide

an idea of what the “typical” value is for a group of data.

There are three measures of central tendency: the mean, the

median, and the mode. The mean, which is what most

people refer to when they use the term “average,” is derived

by adding all the values in a data set and then dividing the

resulting sum by the number of values. The median is the

middle value in a data set when all the numbers are arranged

in ascending or descending order. When there is an even

1341

number of values, the median is derived by calculating the

mean of the two middle values. The mode is the value that

most often occurs in a set of data.

Although averages describe a “typical” member of a

group or set of data, it can also be helpful to know about

the exceptions. Statisticians have therefore devised several

measures of variability—the extent to which data fluctuate

between different measures. The range of data set is the

difference between the highest and lowest values. Deviation

is the difference between any one measure and the mean.

Range and deviation provide information on the vari-

ability of the individual members of a group, but there are

also ways to describe the variability of the group as a whole

if, for example, a statistician wants to compare the variability

of two sets of data. Variance is derived from squaring the

deviations of a set of measures and then calculating the mean

of those squares. Standard deviation is the most common

statistic used to describe a data sets variability because it can

be expressed in the same units as the original data. Standard

deviation is derived by calculating the square root of the

variance.

Inferential statistics

Inferential statistics is largely concerned with pre-

dicting the probability—the likelihood (or not)—of certain

outcomes, and establishing relationships or links between

different variables. Variables are the changing factors or

measurements that can affect the outcome of a study or

experiment.

Inferential statistics is particularly important in fields

such as ecological and environmental studies. For example,

there are

chemicals

contained in

cigarette smoke

that are

considered to be carcinogenic. Researchers rely in no small

part on the methods of inferential statistics to justify such

a conclusion.

The process begins by establishing a statistical link.

To use a common example, health experts begin noticing

an elevated incidence of lung

cancer

among cigarette smok-

ers. The experts may suspect that the cause of the cancer is

a particular chemical (if there are 40 suspected chemical

carcinogens in the

smoke

, each chemical must be evaluated

separately) in the cigarette smoke. Thus, there is a suspected

association, or possible relationship, between a chemical in

the smoke and lung cancer.

The next step is to examine the type of correlation

that exists, if any. Correlation is the statistical measure of

association, that is, the extent or degree to which two or

more variables (a potential chemical

carcinogen

in cigarette

smoke and lung cancer, in this case) are related. If statistical

evidence shows that lung cancer rates consistently rise among

a group of smokers who smoke cigarettes containing the

suspected chemical compared with a group of nonsmokers

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Steady-state economy

(who are similar in other ways, such as age and general

health), then researchers may say that a correlation exists.

Correlation does not prove a cause and effect relation-

ship, however. The reason, in part, is the possible presence

of confounders—other variables that might cause or contrib-

ute to the observed effect. Therefore, before proposing a

cause-effect relationship between a chemical in cigarette

smoke and lung cancer, researchers would have to consider

whether other contributing factors (confounders)—such as

diet, exposure to environmental

toxins

, stress, or genetics —

may have contributed to onset of lung cancer in the study

population. For example, do some smokers also live in homes

containing

asbestos

? Are there high levels of naturally oc-

curring carcinogens such as

radon

in the work or home

environment?

Teasing out the many possible confounders in the real

world can be extremely difficult, so although statistics based

on such observations are useful in establishing correlation,

researchers must find a way to limit confounders to better

determine whether a cause-effect relationship exists. Much

of the available information on environmentally related

causes and effects is verified with data from lab experiments;

in a lab setting, variables can be better controlled than in

the field.

Statistically and scientifically, cause and effect can

never be proved or disproved 100%. Researchers test hypoth-

eses, or explanations for observed phenomena, with an ap-

proach that may at first appear backwards. They begin by

positing a null hypothesis, which states that the effects of

the experiment will be opposite of what is expected. For

example, researchers testing a chemical (called, for example,

chemical x) in cigarette smoke might start with a null hy-

pothesis such as: “exposure to chemical x does not produce

cancer in lab mice.” If the results of the experiment disprove

the null hypothesis, then researchers are justified in advanc-

ing an alternative hypothesis. To establish that there is an

effect, an experiment of this nature would rely on comparing

an experimental group (mice exposed to chemical x, in this

case) with a control group—an unexposed group used as a

standard for comparison.

The next step is to determine whether the results

are statistically significant. Researchers establish a test or

experiments P value, the likelihood that the observed results

are due to chance. Frequently, the results of an experiment

or test are deemed statistically significant if the P value is

equal to or less than 0.05. A P value of 0.05 means there

are five or fewer chances in 100 that the observed results

were due to random processes or statistical variability. In

other words, researchers are 95% sure they have documented

a real cause and effect.

Other important considerations include whether the

results can be confirmed and are reliable. Findings are con-

1342

sidered confirmed if another person running the same test

or experiment can produce the same results. Reliability

means that the same results can be reproduced in similar

studies.

[Darrin Gunkel]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Cohn, Victor. News and Numbers. Ames, IA: Iowa State University

Press, 1989.

Graham, Alan. Statistics. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC/Contemporary Publish-

ing, 1999.

Jaisingh, Lloyd R. Statistics for the Utterly Confused. New York: McGraw-

Hill, 2000.

Slavin, Stephen. Chances Are: The Only Statistics Book You’ll Ever Need.

Lanham, MD: Madison Books, 1998.

THER

Elementary Concepts in Statistics. 1984–2002 [cited July 6, 2002]. <http://

www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.htm>.

Introduction to Statistics. 1997–2002 [cited July 6, 2002]. <http://writing.col-

ostate.edu/references/research/stats/pop2a.cfm>.

Steady-state economy

Steady-state economics is a branch of economic thinking

which applies the perspectives of steady-state systems devel-

oped in thermodynamic physics to economic analysis. This

direction in economics is largely associated with the work

of Herman Daly, who has written the classic work in the

field, Steady-State Economics (1977). While its impact has

been relatively minor within the discipline of economics

itself, the concept of steady-state economics has gathered a

significant audience among life scientists and within the

larger environmental movement.

Steady-state economics is closely related to

sustain-

able development

, and many consider it as but one compo-

nent of the larger issue of sustainability. The constraints

imposed by the laws of physics determine, in Daly’s termi-

nology, the “ultimate means” or the “ultimate supply limit”

beyond which no measure of human development can make

better use of resources and energy. One of the fundamental

criticisms of traditional economic thinking made by steady-

state economics is founded on this concept of absolute limits:

Standard economics implicitly assumes that it is always pos-

sible to cope with

population growth

and resource short-

ages by technical advances and the substitution of one re-

source for another. This is an assumption which steady-

state economics views as not only wrong, but dangerously

misleading.

For Daly, the greater danger of this perspective is that

it is ultimately a form of hubris, of acting as though we can

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Wallace Stegner

surpass the limitations of the physical world and attain the

freedom of the divine. This is the classic sin of pride, and Daly

sees its corrective as the corresponding virtue of humility. Sci-

ence, he claims, “sees man as a potentially infallible creator

whose hope lies in his marvelous scientific creativity.” He con-

trasts this with the view of steady-state economics, which

“conceives of man as a fallen creature whose hope lies in the

benevolence of his Creator not in the excellence of his own

creations.” In Daly’s view, it is only when we are humble that

we are able to see human life and the entire evolutionary pro-

cess in which it is embedded as a gift bestowed upon us by

God, not something we have made. For Daly, this gift of the

evolution

of life is a minimum definition of the “Ultimate

End,” whose preservation and further development must be

the goal of all our actions. The “Ultimate End” is fostering

the continuance of the evolutionary process, and the “ultimate

means” is determined by the laws of physics; they both define

boundaries only within which is it possible to have a steady-

state economy and a sustainable society.

Daly offers three large-scale social institutions for the

United States to help make a steady-state economy a reality.

The first of these is a socially determined limit on the national

population, with licenses issued to each person allocating ex-

actly the number of births required to maintain

zero popula-

tion growth

(approximately 2.1 births per female). These li-

censes could be purchased or otherwise transferred between

individuals, so that those wanting no children could transfer

their licenses to those wishing more than their allotment. The

second institution would stabilize the stock of human artifacts

and would maintain the resources needed to maintain and

replace this stock at levels which do not exceed the physical

limits of the

environment

. A set of marketable quotas for

each resource would be the primary mechanism to attain this

goal. The third institution would be a set of minimum and

maximum limits on personal income and a maximum cap on

personal wealth. The first two institutions are designed to

structure population and economic production within the

fundamental thermodynamic limits or “ultimate means.” The

third is the extension into human society of the moral bound-

aries set by the goal of preserving and fostering life—in this

case to ensure that all people in the steady-state economy have

access to society’s resources. See also Bioregionalism; Carrying

capacity; Deep ecology; Family planning; Growth limiting

factors; Sustainable agriculture

[Eugene R. Wahl]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Boulding, K. “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth.” In Envi-

ronmental Quality in a Growing Economy, edited by H. Jarrett. Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966.

1343

Daly, H. Steady-State Economics. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Island Press,

1991.

Wallace Stegner (1909 – 1993)

American writer

Wallace Stegner was an American novelist, historian, biogra-

pher, and teacher. Widely regarded as the dean of western

writers, Stegner evoked a vivid sense of the western United

States as a place and of the intimate relationship of the

people with that place. Among his best known novels are

Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943), Angle of Repose (1971),

The Spectator Bird (1976), and Crossing to Safety (1987). His

works of nonfiction include Beyond the Hundredth Meridian

(1954), Wolf Willow (1963), The Sound of Mountain Water

(1969), and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs:

Living and Writing in the West (1992).

Stegner was born on February 18, 1909, on a farm

outside Lake Mills, Iowa, the second son of George and

Hilda Paulson Stegner. His father, a restless and rootless

risk-taker, moved the family to North Dakota, then to

Washington state, and then to Saskatchewan, Montana, and

Utah. His family was so poor that he was sent for a time

to an orphanage. Stegner’s early education was spotty at best.

He was an avid hunter and outdoorsman who enjoyed the

company of Native Americans, cowboys, miners, Mormons,

and others who eked out a precarious living in the west. In

these hardscrabble early years, Stegner met the people and

endured the experiences that were later to reappear in fic-

tional form in his novels and short stories.

At age sixteen, Stegner enrolled at the University of

Utah, where he majored in English. In 1930, he began

graduate work at the University of Iowa, where he earned

a master’s degree. Two years later, he returned to the Univer-

sity of Utah, where he received his Ph.D. in 1935. He

went on to teach at several universities, including Harvard,

Wisconsin, and Stanford, where he founded the creative

writing program that he directed until 1971. Among his

students and the recipients of Stanford’s Wallace Stegner

Writing Fellowship were

Wendell Berry

and

Edward Ab-

bey

. An ardent outdoorsman and conservationist, Stegner

was active in the

Sierra Club

and fought successfully to save

Echo Park from being dammed. In later years he said that

his greatest regret was not having worked harder to prevent

the damming of Glen Canyon.

Stegner was a pioneer in the

environmental educa-

tion

of American citizens and their elected representatives.

His new medium was the large coffee-table book featuring

photographs of stunning seldom-seen places that were under

threat from mining,

logging

, or development interests. In-

terspersed among pictures by photographers such as

Ansel

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Stochastic change

Adams

were short essays by Stegner and others about the

fragility and beauty of these wild places and the threats they

faced. Published by the Sierra Club and distributed free to

Senators and Congressmen, these books proved to be power-

ful weapons in the ongoing effort to protect the natural

environment

from the predations of developers.

Many of Stegner’s works of fiction also deal with envi-

ronmental themes and problems—the rush to develop the

West, the desire to get rich by riding roughshod over fragile

environments and ecosystems, the wanton indifference to the

peoples and the history of a place, and the ravages wrought by

this onslaught. Arrayed against these forces are the quieter

forces of history and memory, of respect for a region and

its past, and the desire to preserve and pass these on to

future generations

Wallace Stegner died on April 12, 1993, from a heart

attack resulting from a serious

automobile

accident two

days earlier. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were

scattered on the western slope of Baker Hill in Vermont.

[Terence Ball]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Benson, J. J. Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work. New York: Viking

Press, 1996.

Rankin, C. E., ed. Wallace Stegner: Man and Writer. Albuquerque: University

of New Mexico Press, 1996.

Stochastic change

Any change that involves random behavior. The term “sto-

chastic” is derived from the Greek stokhiastikos, meaning

to guess at random. Stochastic changes obey the laws of

probability

. A familiar example of such a change is a series

of card games. The way that cards fall in each hand is a

random event, but well-known mathematical laws can de-

scribe the likelihood of various possibilities. For instance, if

a traffic engineer wants to study traffic patterns at a busy

downtown intersection, the engineer can use stochastic prin-

ciples to analyze the traffic flow, since the movement of

vehicles through that intersection is likely to occur at ran-

dom. Some natural processes, such as genetic drift, also can

best be characterized as the result of a series of stochastic

changes.

Storage and transport of hazardous

material

Hazardous materials consist of numerous types of explosive,

corrosive, and poisonous substances. The materials might

1344

be used as a reactant in an industrial process, as an additive

water treatment

(acids and bases, for example), or as a

source of fuel or energy (

gasoline

and nuclear materials).

These materials might also be produced, wasted, or contami-

nated and thus require management as a

hazardous waste

In all cases, it is necessary to understand the characteristics

of the chemical so that appropriate containers and labels for

storage and

transportation

are used.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and

the

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) have issued

regulation on how hazardous materials are to be stored,

labeled, and transported. The DOT was actually the first to

address these issues; the EPA simply adopted many of their

regulations, and the agency continues to work closely with

the DOT to minimize confusion, conflicts, and redundancy.

The DOT was originally given authority to regulate the

transportation of hazardous materials in 1966, but it was

not until 1975 that the

Hazardous Materials Transporta-

tion Act

(HMTA) was passed, giving the DOT broad au-

thority over all aspects of transporting hazardous materials.

In 1980, the EPA adopted the DOT regulations, and the

DOT amended their policies to make them more appropriate

for hazardous wastes. The

Nuclear Regulatory Commis-

sion

(NRC) is also involved in overseeing the transportation

of nuclear materials.

In 1976, the EPA promulgated the

Resource Conser-

vation and Recovery Act

(RCRA), which dealt with many

hazardous

waste management

issues, including storage

and transportation. RCRA stipulated that the EPA was to

adopt transportation regulations that were consistent with

the HMTA, but hazardous waste storage and transportation

posed some additional problems. For example, it was neces-

sary to define the term “hazardous waste” and to develop a

rigorous system to track the waste from generation ("cradle")

to ultimate disposal ("grave"). The RCRA and later amend-

ments (Hazardous and

Solid Waste

Amendments of 1984)

distinguished between small and large quantity generators

and established different regulations for them. Large quan-

tity generators (LQG) are prohibited from storing hazardous

wastes for more than 90 days. Small quantity generators

(SQG) can store wastes for 180 or 270 days, depending

upon how far they have to ship the wastes for disposal.

Transportation of hazardous wastes to disposal sites

is carefully monitored; this is done by using a form known

as a manifest. The manifest contains the name and EPA

identification number of the generator, the transporter, and

the treatment disposal facility (TSD facility). The manifest

also provides a description of the waste and documents each

step in the transportation network; generators that have TSD

facilities on-site need not prepare a manifest.

The storage and transportation of hazardous materials

is closely regulated. Despite these regulations, however, acci-

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

dents do occur, and research is continuing in the develop-

ment of better shipping and storage containers, more reliable

means and routes for shipments, more accurate risk assess-

ments, and improved systems for accident prevention and

remediation

of spills. See also Hazardous Substances Act;

Hazardous waste siting; NIMBY (Not In My Backyard);

Toxic substance; Toxic Substances Control Act; Toxic use

reduction legislation

[Gregory D. Boardman]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Freeman, H. M. Standard Handbook of Hazardous Waste Treatment and

Disposal. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1989.

Martin, E. J., and J. H. Johnson. Hazardous Waste Management Engineering.

New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987.

Wentz, C. A. Hazardous Waste Management. New York: McGraw-Hill,

1989.

Storm King Mountain

One of the most important cases in

environmental law

involved the proposed construction in 1963 of a huge hydro-

electric plant by Consolidated Edison on the shores of the

Hudson River

at the foot of Storm King Mountain. The

plant was designed to generate electricity for New York

City during its periods of peak demands. Objections to the

planned construction were raised by the Scenic Hudson

Preservation Conference, which claimed that the plant

would seriously damage the area’s natural beauty. After

nearly a decade of hearings and court cases, Consolidated

Edison received permission to build the plant. In the process,

however, the right of citizen groups to argue the value of

aesthetic considerations in such cases was affirmed. See also

Electric utilities

Storm runoff

The amount of water that flows into streams and rivers soon

after a rainfall, causing the stream to rise above its stable

condition. Sometimes called stormflow, quickflow, or direct

runoff

, this flow of water occurs relatively quickly to chan-

nels and causes water levels to rise, peak, and then recede

as the storm water drains from the

watershed

following

the storm. Storm runoff is the sum of precipitation falling

directly on the channel, overland flow, and subsurface flow.

Groundwater

generally takes a long period of time to con-

tribute to streamflow and does not appreciably affect stream-

flow rise immediately after the storm; therefore, it is not

considered a part of stormflow. When water levels rise above

the banks of a stream or river, storm runoff is considered

1345

to cause a flood. In technical

hydrology

terms, stormflow

is the portion of the hydrograph that is above base flow.

Storm sewer

Modern stormwater management consists of two compo-

nents: the major

drainage

system comprising overland flow

and retention facilities including ponds, playing fields, park-

ing lots, underground reservoirs, and similar devices; and

the minor drainage system consisting of storm sewers. The

major system is designed to handle major regional storms

which have an infrequent

probability

of occurrence. The

minor system uses storm sewers to quickly drain the rainfall

from yards, sidewalks, and streets after a rainfall event or

during snow melt. Storm sewers are the single largest cost in

servicing land for housing. Storm sewers typically

discharge

into surface waters such as creeks, rivers, or lakes without

treatment. See also Storm runoff

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public

Participation

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP

suits) are lawsuits initiated by interested parties, most often

businesses, that seek to counteract criticism from individuals,

businesses, and nonprofit organizations that the litigant be-

lieves to be harmful to their operations—often those in the

past, present, and future possible detrimental events. The

lawsuits often have arisen in response to environmental activ-

ists who have protested against those they deem as polluters,

or otherwise harmful to the

environment

and human health.

Primarily these lawsuits are designed to discourage pubic

activism simply by threatening to financially impair those

engaging in such activities.

According to the

Environmental Law

and Policy

Center, (ELPC) serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minne-

sota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, in its January 2001 ELPC News

“SLAPP suits, unfortunately, are becoming a popular

weapon among industry lawyers and conservative ideologues,

who tend to be hostile to environmental activism. Often the

claims embodied in SLAPP suits are legally tenuous and

ultimately collapse under judicial scrutiny; but that doesn’t

mean they’re not successful. Even without obtaining a favor-

able ruling, the business plaintiffs who file SLAPP suits can

deter grassroots activists by subjecting them to the financial

and emotional harassment of a potentially punitive court

ruling.” Often, such suits discourage any future challenges

to environmental and

pollution

law violations. It should

be noted that ELPC provides assistance to environmental

organizations in matters of litigation.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Strategic minerals

During the late 1990s, one of the most famous SLAPP

suits involved television personality, Oprah Winfrey. The

uproar followed a guest appearance on her show by Howard

Lyman of the

Humane Society of the United States

during

which he said that, “mad cow disease would make

AIDS

look like the common cold.” The show aired on April 16,

1996, only a month after the British government admitted

that the disease was a problem in England. After hearing

the evidence presented, Winfrey added her own remark dur-

ing that same show saying that, “It has just stopped me

cold from eating another burger.” The broadcast seemed to

directly affect a dramatic reduction in cattle futures on the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The meat industry, repre-

sented in the lead by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Associa-

tion (NCBA) were outraged enough to file a $2 million

lawsuit against Lyman, and Winfrey, despite her offer to do

an interview with the NCBA’s policy director. It was Paul

Engler, a beef feed-lot operator who filed the suit. This

particular form of lawsuit instituted by members of the food

and agriculture industry came to be known as a food dispar-

agement suit—one category of SLAPP. Winfrey took her

television production to Texas during the court proceedings,

airing her show daily from a local auditorium, and was

ultimately successful in winning the case.

The first food disparagement law was passed in Colo-

rado in 1991 at the behest of apple growers using

Alar

chemical sprayed on apples while still on the tree to allow

them to ripen longer. Due to a public campaign with vocal

celebrities airing their complaints against the carcinogenic

dangers of Alar, the industry stopped using the chemical

but proceeded to sue the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

and others for their negative publicity regarding the indus-

try’s practice. The American Civil Liberties Union at-

tempted to challenge a similar law passed in Georgia, but

the state court upheld it on a technicality in 1995. As of

1998, 13 states had already adopted food disparagement

laws, and 14 other states were considering them.

In 1999 the Oregon House of Representatives over-

whelmingly passed a bill that would stop SLAPP suits. Ac-

cording to a 1998 article from New Jersey Land Use Law a

law school study of 228 SLAPP suits found that the SLAPP

targets prevailed in approximately 77% of all cases; but those

that targeted smaller, less-affluent groups were significantly

more successful.

[Jane E. Spear]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Meadows, Donella H. “A SLAPP in the Face.” Valley Advocate. Easthamp-

ton, MA: 1998.

1346

ERIODICALS

Ivins, Molly. “SLAPP Lawsuits Bruise the Face of Free Speech.” The Seattle

Times (January 24, 2000).

Tanner, Linda. “When Citizens SLAPP Back!” National Wildlife 4, no. 4

(June/July 1994): 12.

THER

American Civil Liberties Union Massachusetts. SLAPPing Back at SLAPP

Suits. August 13, 2001 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.aclu-mass.org>

Community Lawyer. Citizens Win SLAPP Suit. (June 2002). <http://

www.communitylawyer.org>

Counter Punch Organization. SLAPP Suits in California Forests. January

2001 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.counterpunch.org/pipermail/count-

erpunch-list>.

Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Guarding Against SLAPP Law-

suits.” ELPC News January 2001 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.elpc.org>.

Environmental News Network. Greenpeace Takes on Oil Companies over

Spill Cleanup in Alaska. May 13, 2000 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.enn.-

com/news>.

Environmental News Network. Greens Slap USFWS with Lawsuits in Flor-

ida. December 21, 2000 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.enn.com/news>.

Environmental News Network. Mad Cowboy: The Beef Industry Strikes Back.

February 25, 1998 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.enn.com/news>.

Environmental News Network. Mexico’s Fledgling Ecotourism Industry

Struggles to Survive. April 26, 2002 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.enn.-

com/news>.

Hudson, David. Anti-SLAPP Measure Easily Clears Oregon House. May 17,

1999 [cited July 2002]. <http://www.casp.net/or-1999html>.

New Jersey Land Use Law. SLAPP Suits. March 2, 1998 [cited July 2002].

<http://www.nj-laanduselaw.com>.

RGANIZATIONS

Environmental Law & Policy Center, 35 East Wacker Drive, #1300,

Chicago, IL USA 60601, (312) 673-6500, Fax: (312) 795-3730, <http://

www.elpc.org>

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. USA 20460, (202) 260-2090, <http://www.epa.gov>

Strategic minerals

American industry has a voracious appetite for minerals.

The manufacture of a typical

automobile

, for example,

requires not only such familiar metals as iron,

copper

lead

and

aluminum

, but also such less-familiar metals as manga-

nese, platinum, molybdenum, and vanadium. For the time

being, the United States has an abundant supply of many

critical minerals. The country as of 2002 is essentially self-

sufficient in such major metals as iron, copper, lead, and

aluminum. In each case, we import less than a quarter of

the metals used in industrial production.

There are some minerals, however, that do not occur

naturally to any considerable extent in the United States.

For example, the United States has essentially no reserves

of columbium (niobium), strontium, manganese, tantalum,

or cobalt; sheet mica; or bauxite ore. To the extent that

these minerals are important in various industrial processes,

they are regarded as critical or strategic minerals. Some