Environmental Encyclopedia

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Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Brackish

Kenneth Boulding. (Photograph by Ken Abbott. Uni-

versity of Colorado at Boulder. Reproduced by per-

mission.)

Pfaff, M., ed. Frontiers in Social Thought: Essays in Honor of K. E. Boulding.

Amsterdam and New York: North-Holland, 1976.

Silk, L. “K. E. Boulding: The Economics of Peace and Love.” In The

Economists. New York: Basic Books, 1976.

Wright, R. “Kenneth Boulding.” In Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking

for Meaning in an Age of Information. New York: Times Books, 1988.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), a federally

designated

wilderness

area in northern Minnesota, includes

approximately one million acres (410,000 ha) stretching

some 200 mi (322 km) along the United States-Canadian

border. The BWCA contains more than 1,200 mi (1,932

km) of canoe routes and portages. The second largest expanse

in the National Wilderness Preservation system, the BWCA

is administered by the United States

Forest Service

. Consti-

tuting about one-third of the Superior

National Forest

(established in 1909), the BWCA was set apart as wilderness

by an act of Congress in 1958. The 1964

Wilderness Act

allowed limited

logging

in some parts of the BWCA and

the use of motorboats on 60% of the water area. Under

pressure from environmental groups—and over objections

by developers, logging interests, and many local residents—

the Congress finally passed the BWCA Wilderness Act of

177

1978, which outlawed all logging and limited motorboats

to 33% of the water surface area (due to drop to 24% by

1999), and added 45,000 acres (18,450 ha), bringing the

total area to 1,075,000 acres (440,750 ha).

Many area residents and resort owners continue to

resent and resist efforts to reduce the areas open to motorized

watercraft and snowmobile traffic. They have pressed unsuc-

cessfully for federal legislation to that effect. At the urging

of Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), a mediation panel was

convened in 1996 to consider the future of the BWCA.

Environmentalists, resort owners, local residents, and repre-

sentatives of other groups met for several months to try to

reconcile competing interests in the area. Unable to reach

agreement and arrive at a compromise, the panel disbanded

in 1997. The fierce and continuing political quarrels over

the future of the BWCA contrast markedly with the silence

and serenity of this land of sky-blue waters and green forests.

[Terence Ball]

URTHER

EADING

Beymer R. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, vol. 1: “The Western Region”

and vol. 2: “The Eastern Region.” Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 1978.

Box turtle

see

American box turtle

BPT

see

Best Practical Technology

Brackish

The

salinity

of brackish water is intermediate between sea-

water and fresh waters. Brackish water contains too much

salt to be drinkable, but not enough salt to be considered

seawater. The ocean has an average salinity of 35 parts per

thousand (ppt), whereas freshwater contains 0.065–0.30 ppt

of salts, primarily chloride, sodium, sulfate, magnesium, cal-

cium, and potassium ions. The salt content of brackish water

ranges between approximately 0.50 and 17 ppt. Brackish

water occurs where freshwater flows into the ocean, or where

salts are dissolved from subsoils and percolate into freshwater

basins. The gradient between salt and fresh water in estuaries

and deltas varies from sharp distinction to gradual mixing,

and different levels of vertical and horizontal mixing depend

on the influence of tide, current, and rate of freshwater

inflow.

Image Rights Not Available

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Bromine

BRDs

see

Bycatch Reduction Devices

Broad spectrum pesticide

see

Pesticide

Bromine

Bromine is an element that belongs to Group 17 on the

periodic table of elements, the group that contains substances

called halogens. Other halogens include fluorine,

chlorine

and iodine. Halogens are important elements that are used

in heavily in industry. Bromine is used in the manufacture

of dyes, fumigants, fire-retardant materials, medicines, pesti-

cides, and photographic emulsions. Bromine is also used for

water purification. While bromine and bromine-containing

products are very useful, some concern surrounds the use of

some bromine compounds because of their impact on the

environment

, particularly the

ozone

layer.

The many uses of bromine are due to its chemical

properties. The halogens are the most reactive non-metal

elements in the periodic table. Halogens characteristically

react very rapidly and readily with almost all metals to form

salts. The high reactivity of the halogens is due to the pres-

ence of seven (rather than the stable noble-gas configuration

of eight) electrons in their outer shell. Thus, they have

an unpaired electron that is readily available for chemical

bonding and reactions with other elements. Unlike chlorine

and iodine, bromine is a liquid at room temperature. It is

the only liquid nonmetallic element.

Bromine is a fairly heavy inorganic element. First iso-

lated in 1826, the atomic number of bromine is 35, which

means it has 35 electrons and 35 protons. Bromine also

contains 45 neutrons in its nucleus, making its average

atomic mass 79.9 atomic mass units. At room temperature,

it is a reddish-brown liquid that emits pungent, noxious

fumes that irritate the eyes. Appropriately, the word bromine

is derived from the Greek word bromos, which means

“stench.” Bromine readily dissolves in water and

carbon

disulfide. It has a boiling point of 138.6°F(59.2°C) and is

more reactive than iodine, but less reactive than chlorine.

When bromine chemically reacts with other elements or

compounds, it has a bleaching effect. It is a fairly strong

oxidizing agent

. Relative to the other halogens, bromine

is a stronger oxidizing agent than iodine, but a weaker oxi-

dizer than both chlorine and fluorine. Even so, liquid bro-

178

mine is very caustic and can seriously damage skin on contact.

Bromine, like the other halogens, has a very high affinity

for itself, and therefore forms diatomic molecules, which are

molecules that contain only two atoms. Molecular bromine

exists as two bromine atoms bonded together.

Bromine is obtained from natural salt deposits. Two

areas within the United States that have historically been

associated with bromine extraction are Arkansas and Michi-

gan. Bromine may also be extracted from seawater. Aqueous

bromine may also be produced from the oxidation of bro-

mides during

chlorination

of water, especially when seawa-

ter is used as a coolant. Since it contains a very slight concen-

tration of bromine salts (about 85

parts per million

seawater is not a major source of industrial bromine. The

most common form of mineralized bromine is silver bromide

(bromargyrite), found chiefly in Mexico and Chile. Most of

the supply of bromine used for industrial purposes, however,

comes from the United States and Israel, with smaller

amounts produced in France, Japan, and Russia.

Bromine-containing substanceshave been used for cen-

turies. The first use of a material containing bromine was in

ancient Rome. During the Roman Empire, a highly prized

purple dye was painstakingly extracted from marine mussels.

The dye, a bromine compound, was very expensive because it

wasso difficult toobtain and only thevery wealthy couldafford

clothing dyed with the hue of this dye, which resulted in the

term “royal purple.” Nowadays, bromine is used not only the

production of dyes, but also in the production of

chemicals

that improve safety, agriculture, and

sanitation

Bromine is a very effective agent in controlling the

growth of aquatic

microorganisms

. As such, and like chlo-

rine, it is used for

water treatment

because it can kill

microorganisms and keep water clear and free from foul

odors. For example, bromine salts, like sodium bromide, are

used to control the growth of algae and bacteria in recre-

ational spaces like hot tubs and swimming pools. Another

common bromine aquatic biocide is bromochlorodimethyl-

hydantoin. Occasionally, bromine is used by municipalities

to control disease-causing

microbes

in drinking water be-

cause some of these microorganisms are more susceptible to

bromine than chlorine.

Bromine compounds are also used as pesticides. Like

other halogenated

hydrocarbons

such as DDT, some bro-

minated hydrocarbons are powerful insecticides. A very ef-

fective and important bromine-containing hydrocarbon

pes-

ticide

is methyl bromide. This agent, also known as

bromomethane, is used to fumigate stored grain and produce

to free them from

pest

infestations. Methyl bromide is also

used to fumigate

soil

for valuable crops like strawberries,

peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and

tobacco

. Since the 1940s,

methyl bromide has been used as a soil pretreatment to

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Bronchitis

kill insect, roundworm, and weed

species

that decrease the

productivity of economically important crops. In 1992, ap-

proximately 73,000 tons of methyl bromide were used. How-

ever it was discovered that methyl bromide, like

chlorofluo-

rocarbons

, also contributes to the depletion of the ozone

layer. As a result, the

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) made recommendations that its use be phased-out

based upon the expert assessments of atmospheric scientists

from the World Meteorological Organization and the

Na-

tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

. Under

the

Clean Air Act

, the EPA is enforcing reductions in the

use of methyl bromide. A mandatory reduction of 25% was

achieved in 1999. By 2001, 50% reduction had been en-

forced. By the year 2003, a 70% reduction in the use of

methyl bromide must be attained with a goal for a complete

ban of the compound scheduled for the year 2005.

Despite the ban on methyl bromide, bromine will

continue to be a valued chemical. The pharmaceutical indus-

try relies heavily on bromine both in the manufacturing

process and as constituent substance in pharmaceutical

agents. The general anesthetic, halothane, contains bromine.

The production of naproxen sodium, an over-the-counter

non-steroidal analgesic, uses bromine in intermediate reac-

tions. Brompheniramine, the widely available antihistamine

cold and allergy medication, contains bromine. The synthetic

addition of bromine, or other halogens, to medications such

as these facilitates their uptake into tissues. Other drugs use

bromine to create easily absorbed dosage forms. For example,

dextromethorphan hydrobromide, a cough medication, is a

soluble bromine salt form of the poorly soluble active drug

dextromethorphan, and dissolves easily as a clear solution.

Bromine is also used to create fire-resistant

plastics

Plastic is made of very flammable hydrocarbon polymers.

The addition of bromine compounds creates fire-retardant

plastic products. Brominated flame-retardants are used in

televisions, stereos, computers, and electrical wiring to re-

duce fire hazard when these common electronic appliances

generate excessive heat. Brommine-containing fire-retardant

chemicals are also used in carpeting, draperies, and furniture

foam padding. While bromine compounds make products

more fire-resistant, they do not make them fire-proof.

Rather, they reduce the likelihood that a plastic item will

ignite and delay the spread of fire. As bromine-treated plastic

products burn, they release brominated hydrocarbons that

threaten the ozone layer not unlike chorofluorocarbons

(CFCs). For this reason, research is now directed at finding

alternatives to bromine flame-retardant chemicals. For ex-

ample, promising new fire-resistant compounds use silicon.

Aside from its use in dyes, pesticides, water treatment,

pharmaceuticals, and fire retardants, bromine compounds

are also used in photographic film and print paper emulsions,

hydraulic fluids, refrigeration fluids, inks, and hair products.

179

As useful as bromine is, however, concern for the ozone

layer has resulted in heightened vigilance concerning the

overuse of bromine-containing chemicals.

[Terry Watkins]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Nilsson, Annika. Ultraviolet Reflections: Life Under a Thinning Ozone Layer.

New York: John Wiley & Son Ltd, 1996.

Price, D. et al. Bromine Compounds: Chemistry and Applications. New York:

Elsevier Science Ltd., 1988.

ERIODICALS

Alaee, M. and Wenning, R. J. “The significance of brominated flame

retardants in the environment: current understanding, issues and chal-

lenges.” Chemosphere. 46, no. 5 (February, 2000): 579-582.

Anbar, A.D. et al. “Methyl bromide: ocean sources, ocean sinks, and climate

sensitivity.” Global Biogeochemistry Cycles 10, no. 1 (March, 1996): 175-190.

Rhew, R. C. et al. “Natural methyl bromide and methyl chloride emissions

from coastal salt marshes.” Nature 403, no. 6767 (January, 2000): 292-295.

THER

Winter, Mark. Bromine. WebElements Periodic Table. <http://www.webe-

lements.com/webelements/scholar/index.html>

Bronchial constriction

see

Asthma

Bronchitis

Chronic bronchitis is a persistent inflammation of the bron-

chial tubes, airways leading to the lungs. The disease is

characterized by a daily cough that produces sputum for at

least three months each year for two consecutive years, when

no other disease can account for these symptoms. The diag-

nosis of chronic bronchitis is made by this history, rather

than by any abnormalities found on a chest x-ray or through

a pulmonary function test.

When a person breathes in, air,

smoke

, germs, aller-

gens, and pollutants pass from the nose and mouth into a

large central duct called the trachea. The trachea branches

into smaller ducts, the bronchi and bronchioles, which lead

to the alveoli. These are the tiny, balloonlike, air sacs, com-

posed of capillaries, supported by connecting tissue, and

enclosed in a thin membrane. Bronchitis can permanently

damage the alveoli.

Bronchitis is usually caused by

cigarette smoke

exposure to other irritants or air pollutants. The lungs re-

spond to the irritation in one of two ways. They may become

permanently inflamed with fluid, which swells the tissue

that lines the airways, narrowing them and making them

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

David Ross Brower

resist airflow. Or, the mucus cells of the bronchial tree may

produce excessive mucus.

The first sign of excessive mucus production is usually

a morning cough. As smoking or exposure to air pollutants

continues, the irritation increases and is complicated by in-

fection, as excess mucus provides food for bacteria growth.

The mucus changes from clear to yellow, and the infection

becomes deep enough to cause actual destruction of the

bronchial wall. Scar tissue replaces the fine cells, or cilia,

lining the bronchial tree, and some bronchioles are com-

pletely destroyed. Paralysis of the cilia permits mucus to

accumulate in smaller airways, and air can no longer rush

out of these airways fast enough to create a powerful cough.

With each pulmonary infection, excess mucus creeps

into the alveoli, and on its way, totally blocking portions of

the bronchial tree. Little or no gas exchange occurs in the

alveoli, and the ventilation-blood flow imbalance signifi-

cantly reduces oxygen levels in the blood and raises

carbon

dioxide

levels. Chronic bronchitis eventually results in air-

way or air sac damage; the air sacs become permanently

hyperinflated because mucus obstructing the bronchioles

prevents the air sacs from fully emptying.

Chronic bronchitis usually goes hand-in-hand with

the development of

emphysema

, another chronic lung dis-

ease. These progressive diseases cannot be cured, but can

be treated. Treatment includes avoiding the inhalation of

harmful substances such as polluted air or cigarette smoke.

[Linda Rehkopf]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Haas, Francois, et. al. The Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema Handbook.

New York: Wiley Science Editions, 1990.

David Ross Brower (1912 – 2000)

American environmentalist and conservationist

David R. Brower, the founder of both

Friends of the Earth

and the

Earth Island Institute

, has long been widely consid-

ered to be one of the most radical and effective environmen-

talists in the United States.

Joining the

Sierra Club

in 1933, Brower became a

member of its Board of Directors in 1941 and then its

first executive director, serving from 1952 to 1969. In this

position, Brower helped transform the group from a regional

to a national force, seeing the club’s membership expand

from 2,000 to 77,000 and playing a key role in the formation

of the Sierra Club Foundation. Under Brower’s leadership

the Sierra Club, among other achievements, successfully op-

posed the Bureau of Reclamation’s plans to build

dams

180

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado as well

as in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, but lost the fight to preserve

Utah’s Glen Canyon. The loss of Glen Canyon became a

kind of turning point for Brower, indicating to him the need

to take uncompromising and sometimes militant stands in

defense of the natural

environment

. This militancy occa-

sionally caused friction both between the groups he has led

and the private corporations and governmental agencies with

which they interact and also within the increasingly broad-

based groups themselves. In 1969 Brower was asked to resign

as executive director of the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors,

which disagreed with Brower’s opposition to a nuclear reac-

tor in California’s Diablo Canyon, among other differences.

Eventually reelected to the Sierra Club’s Board in 1983 and

1986, Brower is now an honorary vice-president of the club

and was the recipient, in 1977, of the

John Muir

Award,

the organization’s highest honor.

After leaving the Sierra Club in 1969, Brower founded

Friends of the Earth with the intention of creating an envi-

ronmental organization that would be more international in

scope and concern and more political in its orientation than

the Sierra Club. Friends of the Earth, which now is operating

in some 50 countries, was intended to pursue a more global

vision of

environmentalism

and to take more controversial

stands on issues—including opposition to nuclear weap-

ons—than could the larger, generally more conservative or-

ganization. But in the early 1980s, Brower again had a falling

out with his associates over policy, eventually resigning from

Friends of the Earth in 1986 to devote more of his time

and energy to the Earth Island Institute, a San Francisco-

based organization he founded in 1982 and of which he is

presently chairman.

Over the years, Brower played a key role in preserving

wilderness

in the United States, helping to create national

park’s and national seashores in Kings Canyon, the North

Cascades, the

Redwoods

, Cape Cod, Fire Island, and Point

Reyes. He also was instrumental in protecting primeval for-

ests in the Olympic

National Park

and wilderness on San

Gorgonio Mountain in California and in establishing the

National Wilderness Preservation System and the Outdoor

Recreation

Resources Review, which resulted in the Land

and

Water Conservation

Fund.

In his youth, Brower was one of this country’s foremost

rock climbers, leading the historic first ascent of New Mexi-

co’s Shiprock in 1939 and making 70 other first ascents in

Yosemite National Park

and the High Sierra as well as

joining expeditions to the Himalayas and the Canadian

Rockies. A proficient skier and guide as well as a mountain-

eer, Brower served with the United States Mountain Troops

from 1942–45, training soldiers to scale cliffs and navigate

in Alpine areas and serving as a combat-intelligence officer in

Italy. For his service, Brower was awarded both the Combat

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Lester R. Brown

David Ross Brower. (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced

by permission.)

Infantryman’s Badge and the Bronze Star, and rose in rank

from private to captain before he left active duty. As a

civilian, Brower employed many of the same talents and

abilities to show people what he has fought so long and

so hard to preserve: he initiated the knapsack, river, and

wilderness threshold trips for the Sierra Club’s Wilderness

Outings Program, and between 1939 and 1956 led some

4,000 people into remote wilderness.

Excluding his military service, Brower was an editor

at the University of California Press from 1941 to 1952.

Appointed to the Sierra Club Bulletin’s Editorial Board in

1935, Brower eventually became the Bulletin’s editor, serving

in this capacity for eight years. He had been involved with

the publication of more than 50 environmentally oriented

books each for the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth,

several of which earned him prestigious publishing industry

awards. He wrote a two-volume autobiography, For Earth’s

Sake and Work in Progress. Brower also made several Sierra

Club films, including a documentary of raft trips on the

Yampa and Green Rivers designed to show people the stark

beauty of Dinosaur National Monument, which at the time

was threatened with

flooding

by a proposed dam.

Brower was the recipient of numerous awards and

honorary degrees and serves on several boards and councils,

including the Foundation on Economic Trends, the Council

181

on National Strategy, the Council on Economic Priorities,

the North Cascades

Conservation

Council, the Fate and

Hope of the Earth Conferences,

Zero Population Growth

the Committee on National Security, and

Earth Day

.He

had twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Brower

has promoted environmental causes around the globe, giving

dozens of lectures in 17 different countries and organizing

several international conferences. In 1990, Brower’s life was

the subject of a PBS Video Documentary entitled For Earth’s

Sake. He also was featured in the TV documentary Green

for Life, which focused on the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio

de Janeiro.

Before his death on November 5, 2000, after battling

bladder

cancer

, Brower was still actively promoting environ-

mental causes. He devoted much of his time to his duties

at the Earth Island Institute, and in promoting the activities

of the International Green Circle. In 1990 and 1991, he led

Green Circle delegations to Siberia’s

Lake Baikal

to aid

in its protection and restoration. Brower also lectured to

companies and schools throughout the U.S. on Planetary

Conservation Preservation and Restoration (CPR). His top-

ics included land conservation, the economics of sustainabil-

ity and the meaning of wilderness to science. Brower’s book,

Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run, includes a credo

for the earth, which reflects what Brower had hoped to

accomplish with his lectures and publications: “We urge that

all people now determine that an untrammeled wilderness

shall remain here to testify that this generation had love for

the next.”

[Lawrence J. Biskowski]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Brower, D. For Earth’s Sake. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 1990.

———. Work in Progress. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 1991.

ERIODICALS

Foster, C. “A Longtime Gadfly Still Stings.” Christian Science Monitor (8

April 1991): 14.

McKibben, B. “David Brower: Interview.” Rolling Stone (28 June 1990):

59–62, 87.

Russell, D. “Nicaraguan Journey: The Archdruid at 76.” Amicus Journal 11

(Summer 1989): 32–37.

Lester R. Brown (1934 – )

American founder, president and senior researcher, Earth

Policy Institute

Lester Brown is a highly respected and influential authority

on global environmental issues. He founded the

Worldwatch Institute

in 1974 and served as its president

until 2000. In 2001 he launched a new initiative, the Earth

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Lester R. Brown

Lester R. Brown. (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by

permission.)

Policy Institute Brown is an award-winning author of many

books and articles on environmentally sustainable economic

development and on environmental, agricultural, and eco-

nomic problems and trends.

Brown was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and during

high school and college, he grew tomatoes with his younger

brother. At this time he developed his appreciation for na-

ture’s ability, if properly treated, to supply us with food on

a regular and sustainable basis. After earning a degree in

agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, he

spent six months in rural India studying and working on

agricultural projects. In 1959, he joined the U.S. Department

of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service as an interna-

tional agricultural analyst. After receiving an M.S. in agricul-

tural economics from the University of Maryland and a

master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, he

went to work for Orville Freeman, the Secretary of Agricul-

ture, as an advisor on foreign agricultural policy in 1964. In

1969, Brown helped establish the Overseas Development

Council and in 1974, with the support of the Rockefeller

Fund, he founded the Worldwatch Institute to analyze world

conditions and problems such as

famine

, overpopulation,

and

scarcity

natural resources

182

In 1984, Brown launched Worldwatch’s annual State

of the World report, a comprehensive and authoritative ac-

count of worldwide environmental and agricultural trends

and problems. Eventually published in over 30 languages,

State of the World is considered one of the most influential

and widely read reports on public policy issues. Other

Worldwatch publications initiated and overseen by Brown

included Worldwatch, a bimonthly magazine, the Environ-

mental Alert book series, and the annual Vital Signs: The

Trends That Are Shaping Our Future. Brown has written

or co-authored over a dozen books and some two dozen

Worldwatch papers on various economic, agricultural, and

environmental topics. Among his many awards, Brown has

received a $250,000 “genius award” from the MacArthur

Foundation, as well as the United Nation’s 1987 environ-

mental prize. The Washington Post has described him as “one

of the world’s most influential thinkers.”

Brown has long warned that unless the United States

and other nations adopt policies that are ecologically and

agriculturally sustainable, the world faces a disaster of

unprecedented proportions. In Worldwatch’s yearly State

of the World report, Brown tracked the impact of human

activity on the

environment

, listing things like the percent-

age of bird

species

that were endangered, the number

of days China’s Yellow River was too depleted to irrigate

fields in its lower reaches, the number of females being

educated worldwide, and the number of cigarettes smoked

per person. His reports made the ecological dimension of

global economics clear and concrete. Often these reports

were dire. The 1998 report, for example, discussed so-

called demographic fatigue. This referred to places where

population was falling, not because of a birthrate held in

check by

family planning

but because many people were

dying through famine,

drought

, and infectious disease.

Conventional economics paid little heed to the environ-

mental cost of development, leading to what a reviewer

for the Financial Times called “a kind of cosy belief that

the Earth’s resources are unlimited....” Brown struggled

to unseat that belief. He also wrote about a way out of

the doom his work often foresaw. His 2001 Eco-Economy:

Building an Economy for the Earth argued that creation

of a new, ecologically aware economy, with emphasis on

renewable energy

, tax reform, redesign of cities and

transportation

, better agricultural methods and global

cooperation, could alleviate much of the world’s ills.

Through the Earth Policy Institute’s Earth Policy Alerts,

Brown continued to add to the themes of his book. The

mission of Brown’s new organization was to reach policy

makers and the public with information about building

an environmentally sustainable economy.

[Lewis Regenstein]

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Brown tree snake

ESOURCES

OOKS

Brown, Lester. Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth. New York:

W.W. Norton, 2001.

ERIODICALS

Hager, Mary. “How ’Demographic Fatigue’ Will Defuse the Population

Bomb”Newsweek (November 2, 1998): 12.

“Lester Brown’s Eco-Economy”Mother Earth News (February/March

2002): 1.

McWilliam, Fiona. “Sign of the Times”Geographical Magazine 70, no. 7.

(July 1998): 25.

Tickell, Christian. “The Hidden Costs of Life on Earth”Financial Times

(February 16, 2002): 4.

RGANIZATIONS

Earth Policy Institute, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC USA

20036 (202) 496-9290, Fax: (202) 496-9325, Email: epi@earth-policy.org,

http://www.earth-policy.org

Brown pelican

The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a large water

bird of the family Pelicanidae that is found along both coasts

of the United States, chiefly in saltwater habitats. It weighs

up to 8 lb (3.5 kg) and has a wingspan of up to 7 ft (2 m).

This pelican has a light brown body and a white head and

neck often tinged with yellow. Its distinctive, long, flat bill

and large throat pouch are adaptations for catching its pri-

mary food, schools of mid-water fishes. The brown pelican

hunts while flying a dozen or more feet above the surface

of the water, dropping or diving straight down into the

water, and using its expandable pouch as a scoop or net to

engulf its catch.

Both east and west coast populations, which are con-

sidered to be different subspecies, have shown various levels

of decline over the later part of the twentieth century. It is

estimated that there were 50,000 pairs of nesting brown

pelicans along the Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana in the

early part of the twentieth century, but by the early 1960s,

most of the Texas and all of the Louisiana populations were

depleted. The main reason for the drastic decline was the

use of organic pesticides, including DDT and endrin. These

pesticides poisoned pelicans directly and also caused thinning

of their eggshells. This eggshell thinning led to reproductive

failure, because the egg were crushed during incubation.

Louisiana has the distinction of being the only state to have

its state bird become extinct within its borders. In 1970 the

brown pelican was listed as endangered throughout its U.S.

range.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, brown pelicans

from Florida were reintroduced to Louisiana, but many of

these birds were doomed. Throughout the 1970s these trans-

planted birds were poisoned at their nesting sites at the

183

outflow of the Mississippi River by endrin, which was used

extensively upriver. In 1972 the use of DDT was banned

in the U.S., and the use of endrin was sharply curtailed.

Continued reintroduction of the brown pelican from Florida

to Louisiana subsequently met with greater success, and the

Louisiana population had grown to more than 1,000 pairs

by 1989. Although the Texas, Louisiana, and California

populations are still listed as endangered, the Alabama and

Florida populations of the brown pelican have been removed

from the federal list due to recent increases in fledgling

success. In 2002, taking the Louisiana populations off of the

endangered listing is being considered. There are currently

16,4000 nesting pairs and 35,000 young in that state. The

Texas population has only 2,400 pairs.

Other problems that face the brown pelican include

habitat

loss, encroachment by humans, and disturbance

by humans. Disturbances have included mass visitation of

nesting colonies. This practice has been stopped on federally

owned lands and access to nesting colonies is restricted.

Other human impacts on brown pelican populations have

had a more malicious intent. On the California coast in

the 1980s there were cases of pelicans’ bills being broken

purposefully, so that these birds could not feed and would

ultimately starve to death. It is thought that disgruntled

commercial fishermen faced with dwindling catches were

responsible for at least some of these attacks. The brown

pelican was a scapegoat for conditions that were due to

weather,

pollution

, or, most likely,

overfishing

Recovery for the brown pelican has been slow, but

progress is being made on both coasts. The banning of DDT

in the early 1970s was probably the turning point for this

species

, and the delisting of the Alabama and Florida popu-

lations is a hopeful sign for the future.

[Eugene C. Beckham]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Ehrlich, P., D. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. Birds in Jeopardy. Stanford, CA:

Stanford University Press, 1992.

ERIODICALS

Schreiber, R. W. “The Brown Pelican: An Endangered Species?” BioScience

30 (November 1980): 742–747.

Tompkins, Shannon. “Brown Pelicans Reappearance Proves Lessons can

be Learned.” Houston Chronicle (February 14, 2002) [cited May 2002].

<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/outdoors/tompkins/

1256525>.

Brown tree snake

The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) has caused major

ecological and economic damage in Guam, the largest of

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Carol Browner

the Mariana Islands. The snake is native to New Guinea

and northern

Australia

. It has also been introduced to some

Pacific islands in addition to Guam.

Brown tree snakes in their natural

habitat

range from

3–6 ft (0.9–1.8 m) in length. Some snakes in Guam are

more than 10 ft (3 m) long. The snake’s head is bigger than

its neck, and its coloring varies with its habitat. In Guam,

the snake’s brown-and-olive-green pattern blends in with

foliage.

The tree snake was accidentally brought to Guam by

cargo ships during the years between the end of World War

II (1945) through 1952. On Guam, there were no population

controls such as predators that eat snakes. As a result, the

snake population boomed. During the late 1990s, there were

close to 13,000 snakes per square mile in some areas.

The snake’s diet includes birds, and the United States

Geographical Survey (USGS) said that the brown tree snake

“virtually wiped out” 12 of Guam’s native forest birds (three

of which are now extinct). Furthermore, snakes crawling on

electrical lines caused more than 1,200 power outages from

1978 through 1998.

The USGS and other agencies were working to con-

tain snakes on Guam and stop their spread to Hawaii and

other islands.

[Liz Swain]

Carol Browner (1955 – )

American former administrator of the Environmental Pro-

tection Agency

Carol Browner headed the

Environmental Protection

Agency

(EPA) under the Clinton administration. She

served from 1993 until 2001, making her the longest-serving

director the agency had ever had.

Browner was born in Florida on December 17, 1955.

Her father taught English and her mother social science at

Miami Dade Community College. Browner grew up hiking

in the

Everglades

, where her lifelong love for the natural

world began. She was educated at the University of Florida

in Gainesville, receiving both a BA in English and her law

degree there. Her political career began in 1980 as an aide

in the Florida House of Representatives. Browner moved to

Washington, D.C. a few years later to join the national office

of Citizen Action, a grassroots organization that lobbies for

a variety of issues, including the

environment

. She left

Citizen Action to work with Florida Senator Lawton Chiles,

and in 1989 she joined Senator Al Gore’s staff as a senior

legislative aide. From 1991 to 1993, Browner headed the

Department of Environmental Regulation in Florida, the

third-largest environmental agency in the country. She

184

streamlined the process the department used to review per-

mits for expanding manufacturing plants and developing

wetlands

, thus reducing the amount of money and time

that process was costing businesses as well as the department.

Activists had argued that this kind of streamlining interfered

with the ability of government to supervise industries and

assess their impact on the environment. But in Florida’s

business community, Browner built a reputation as a formi-

dable negotiator on behalf of the environment. When the

Walt Disney Company filed for state and federal permits

to fill in 400 acres of wetlands, she negotiated an agreement

which allowed the company to proceed with its development

plans in return for a commitment to buy and restore an

8,500-acre ranch near Orlando. She was also the chief nego-

tiator in the settlement of a lawsuit the government had

brought against Florida for environmental damage done to

Everglades

National Park

. The result was the largest eco-

logical restoration project ever attempted in the United

States, a plan to purify and restore the natural flow of water

to the Everglades with the cost shared by the state and

the federal government, as well as Florida’s sugar farmers.

Browner was often called “a new type of environmentalist”

because of her belief that environmental protection is com-

patible with economic development and her strong convic-

tion that the stewardship of the environment requires accom-

modations with industry. “I’ve found that business leaders

don’t oppose strong environmental programs,” she said in a

1992 interview with the New York Times. “What drives them

crazy is a lack of certainty.”

As director of the EPA, she was determined to protect

the environment and public health while not alienating busi-

ness interests. By many accounts, she was a remarkably suc-

cessful administrator. She took the job at a time of relatively

high environmental fervor, with a Vice President (Al Gore)

who had particularly championed the environment, and

Democrats in control of both houses of Congress. But a

conservative backlash led by Representative Newt Gingrich

brought Republican control to the House and Senate in

1994. The political

climate

for environmental reform then

became much more embattled. Many conservatives wished

to downsize government and cut back the regulatory power

of the EPA and other federal agencies. The EPA was shut

down twice during Browner’s tenure, temporary victim of

congressional budgetary squabbles. And appropriations bills

for EPA programs were frequently hit with amendments

that countermanded the agency’s ability to carry out some

policies. Despite the hostility of Congress, Browner had

several legislative victories. In 1996 Browner led a campaign

to have Congress reauthorize the

Safe Drinking Water Act

That same year she spearheaded the Food Quality Protection

Act, which modernized standards that govern

pesticide

use.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Brownfields

Carol Browner. (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by per-

mission.)

This landmark legislation was one of the first environmental

laws to specifically protect children’s health. The law re-

quired scientists to determine what levels of pesticides were

safe for children. Browner was also signally successful in

getting so-called Superfund sites cleaned up. These were

sites that were listed as being particularly polluted. Only 12

Superfund sites had been cleaned up when Browner took

over the EPA in 1993. By the time she left the agency, over

700 sites had been cleaned up or were in the process of

being cleaned up. After she left the EPA in 2001, Browner

continued to work for the environment by becoming a board

member of the Audobon Society.

[Douglas Smith]

ESOURCES

ERIODICALS

Adler, Jonathan H. “EPA Can’t Win for Losing”Business Journal (Central

New York) (March 24, 2000): 27.

“Babbitt, Browner Take Interior, EPA Posts. National Parks 67 (March-

April 1993): 9.

“Browner on Board” Audubon (July-August 2001): 95.

Grier, Peter, and Sappenfield, Mark. “How a Pesticide Got Banned”Chris-

tian Science Monitor (August 4, 1999): 1.

Hogue, Cheryl. “Browner Leaves Her Stamp on EPA”Chemical and Engi-

neering News (January 15, 2001): 34-37.

185

Brownfields

By some estimates, as many as 450,000 urban brownfield

sites may exist nationwide. These former commercial or

industrial properties can be found in nearly every community

where, because of real or perceived contamination, the land

sits idle or under-used. Brownfield sites can be as small as

a gas station with a

leaking underground storage tank

as large as a 100-acre (40.5-ha) abandoned factory containing

dumped waste on the site. The sites are not remarketed or

reused because owners or operators fear that, if the properties

are contaminated, the regulatory requirements to clean them

up could be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive.

Furthermore, even if such properties were put on the market,

developers, and financial credit sources would shun them in

part from concerns that dealing with contamination cleanup

could raise the costs and slow the pace of reusing the prop-

erties.

But the brownfields situation has been changing as

local, state, and federal government officials recognize the

dire need to begin cleaning up and returning these contami-

nated properties to productive use. These officials point out

that reusing the brownfield sites not only would reduce

the phenomenon of “urban sprawl” but would also furnish

communities with the chance to renew the economic vitality

of abandoned urban centers. In many metropolitan areas

urban sprawl

has been recognized as a serious problem,

with developers turning to rural greenfields for their projects

and thereby reducing

habitat

for

wildlife

and contributing

air pollution

as commuters drive longer distances to

outlying greenfield locations. Moreover, environmental jus-

tice advocates point to the need for cleaning up contaminated

urban sites to reduce exposure to hazardous contaminants

faced by residents in these areas. Together, these factors

have created momentum for a national brownfields redevel-

opment initiative. The promise some see in brownfields

redevelopment led the Environmental Manager of Portland,

Oregon, to state that “Brownfields renewal is one of the

most important environmental and economic challenges fac-

ing our nation’s communities, calling for partnership among

our federal and local governments, business and community

and environmental leaders.”

Although

land use

decisions are made by local author-

ities, the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA)

plays a critical role in the brownfields

reuse

initiative. On

the one hand, the EPA’s rules governing contaminated site

cleanups, based on federal statutes, have played a significant

part in deterring brownfields redevelopment; on the other,

the Agency has been a major source of funding for

brownfields pilots. In particular, the

Comprehensive Envi-

ronmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

(CERCLA)—commonly known as Superfund—has made

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Brownfields

brownfield sites into expensive liabilities, causing businesses

to avoid them because stringent cleanup standards and re-

lated costs often exceed the property’s value. Under CER-

CLA, new property owners can be held liable for contamina-

tion created by previous owners. The

Clean Air Act

also

drives businesses away from urban brownfield sites because

it burdens companies in areas not attaining national

air

quality

standards, making it more attractive for them to

locate in rural regions where meeting clean air standards

may be easier than in the city.

The EPA began its brownfields pilot program in 1993

by supporting pilot projects—each funded up to $200,000

over two years—at eight separate locations. The goal was

to learn about brownfields, which the Agency saw as a new

and complex territory in which it had little experience. The

EPA awarded its first pilot in November 1993 to Cuyahoga

County, Ohio, where the county planning commission had

formed a broad effort to involve stakeholders in addressing

brownfields reuse. The EPA described Cuyahoga County’s

report on its brownfields initiative as the most complete

known to the Agency on the problems urban areas faced in

reusing brownfields. Two additional pilots were awarded in

1994 to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Richmond, Virginia.

By October 1996 the EPA had funded 76 brownfields pilots,

39 under its “National Pilots” selected by the EPA Head-

quarters in Washington, D.C., and 37 under its “Regional

Pilots” selected by the EPA’s regional offices. An additional

25 National Pilots were scheduled for selection by March

1997.

In addition to funding pilot projects, the EPA took

other actions to underscore its commitment to a Brownfields

Economic Redevelopment Initiative, intended to help com-

munities revitalize brownfields properties both environmen-

tally and economically. In January 1995, the EPA Adminis-

trator

Carol Browner

announced a Brownfields Action

Agenda, stating, “We at EPA firmly believe that environ-

mental cleanup is a building block to economic development,

not a stumbling block--that identifying and cleaning up

contaminated property must go hand-in-hand with bringing

life and vitality back to a community.” The Brownfields

Action Agenda included the Agency’s pilots; joint efforts

by EPA, states, and local governments to develop guidance

documents to clarify burning liability issues; partnership and

outreach endeavors with states, cities, and communities; and

job training and development activities, including funding

towards an

environmental education

program at Cuya-

hoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

(NEJAC), chartered in September 1993 as a federal advisory

committee to the EPA, in a December 1996 report expressed

hope that the Agency’s brownfields initiative would stem

the “ecologically untenable” and “racially divisive” phenome-

186

non of urban sprawl, in which urban areas were left to

stagnate while greenfields were subjected to increasing devel-

opment. NEJAC also emphasized that the brownfields prob-

lem is “inextricably linked to environmental justice” through,

for instance, the deterioration of the nation’s urban areas.

NEJAC reached its hopeful evaluation of the prospects for

the brownfields initiative despite misgiving by some NEJAC

members that the initiative might be a “smoke screen” for

gutting cleanup standards and liability safeguards.

The liability issues addressed under the EPA’s

Brownfields Action Agenda are among the most important

factors affecting these sites. According to the Agency, the

fear of inheriting cleanup liabilities for contamination they

did not create affects communities, lenders, property owners,

municipalities, and others. To help assuage liability concerns,

in February 1995 the EPA removed 24,000 of the 40,000

sites listed in its Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation and Liability Information System

(CERCLIS), a Superfund tracking system. These sites had

been screened out of the “Active Investigations” category

and designated “No Further Remedial Action Planned,”

either because they were found to be clean or were being

addressed by state cleanup programs. By taking the sites off

the CERCLIS list, the EPA hoped to remove any stigma

resulting from federal involvement at the sites and thereby

to overcome obstacles to their cleanup and reuse.

In May 1995 the EPA issued guidance on

“Agreements with Prospective Purchaser of Contaminated

Property.” The guidance indicated the situations under

which the Agency may enter into an agreement to not file

a lawsuit against a prospective contaminated property buyer

for contamination present at the site before the purchase.

Also in May 1995 the EPA issued guidance regarding “Land

Use in the CERCLA Remedy Selection Process” to ensure

that the Agency considers land use during Superfund clean-

ups. Land designated for reuse as an industrial site would

require less strict cleanup than land designated for a park

or school, a recognition that not all contaminated sites should

be regarded as equally befouled. In September 1995 the

EPA issued guidance that, among other things, released

from CERCLA liability governmental units such as munici-

palities that involuntarily take ownership of property under

federal, state, or local law. The EPA hoped this guidance

would encourage municipalities to start cleaning up sites

without fear of the Superfund liability predicament. These

and other guidance documents issued under the Brownfields

Action Agenda helped to clarify liabilities facing prospective

new owners of private and federally owned contaminated

sites.

But the EPA’s guidance documents are regarded as

only partial solutions to the brownfields problem. A report

released February 1997 by the National Association of Local