Your garbage is going places you'd never imagine. What used to be sent to the local dump now may move hundreds of miles by truck and barge to its final resting place. Virtually all forms of pollution migrate, subjected to natural forces such as wind and water currents. The movement of garbage, however, is under human control. Its patterns of migration reveal much about power sharing among state, local, and national institutions, about the Constitution's protection of trash transport as a commercial activity, and about competing notions of social fairness. In Garbage In, Garbage Out, Vivian Thomson looks at Virginia's status as the second-largest importer of trash in the United States and uses it as a touchstone for exploring the many controversies around trash generation and disposal. Political conflicts over waste management have been felt at all levels of government. Local governments who want to manage their own trash have fought other local governments hosting huge landfills that depend on trash generated hundreds of miles away. State governments have tried to avoid becoming the dumping grounds for cities hundreds of miles away. The constitutional questions raised in these battles have kept interstate trash transport on Congress's agenda since the early 1990s. Whether the resulting legislative proposals actually address our most critical garbage-related problems, however, remains in question. Thomson sheds much-needed light on these problems. Within the context of increased interstate trash transport and the trend toward privatization of waste management, she examines the garbage issue from a number of perspectives--including the links between environmental justice and trash management, a critical evaluation of the theoretical and empirical relationship between economic growth and environmental improvement, and highlighting the ways in which waste management practices in the US differ from those in the European Union and Japan. Thomson then provides specific, substantive recommendations for our own policymakers. Everything eventually becomes trash. As we explore the long, often surprising, routes our garbage takes, we begin to understand that it is something more than a mere nuisance that regularly "disappears" from our curbside. Rather, trash generation and management reflect patterns of consumption, political choices over whether garbage is primarily pollution or commerce, the social distribution of environmental risk, and how our daily lives compare with those of our counterparts in other industrialized nations.

Contaminated sediments represent an ongoing threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems. The assessment of sediment quality is, therefore, an important concern for environmental regulators. Sediment quality guidelines are now well established in regulatory frameworks worldwide; however, practical guidance that covers all of the key aspects of sediment quality assessment is not readily available. In 2005, CSIRO published its highly cited Handbook for Sediment Quality Assessment. In the ensuing period, the science has advanced considerably. This practical guide is a revised and much expanded second edition, which will be a valuable tool for environmental practitioners. Written by experts in the field, it provides coverage of: sediment sampling; sample preparation; chemical analysis; ecotoxicology; bioaccumulation; biomarkers; and ecological assessment. In addition, detailed appendices describe protocols for many of the tests to be used.

This important volume-the product of a meeting of a select group of scientists-provides the most recent research results from the world's leaders in the study of toxic pollutants in sediments. It gives practical information on measuring and mapping distributions of concentrations of pollutants and their toxic effects in sediments. Also covered are the use and relative advantages and disadvantages of benthic chambers, sedimentation traps, box corers, "peepers" and other sampling techniques in sediment research and assessment. Important topics covered include: bioassay, elemental speciation, diffuse source problems, nutrient flux, biomethylation, bioavailability, and toxicity assessment. Will help in assessment and monitoring of chemistry, dynamics, bioavailability, and toxicity of pollutants, as well helping to chart courses for remedial action. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in the processes controlling the chemistry and movement of pollutants in sediments, especially: limnologists aquatic toxicologists engineers lake managers ecologists biologists environmental chemists