| For children of the
'60s, environmental issues remain high on our list of priorities. We
all took the required earth sciences classes, though some of us did so
to satisfy science coursework requirements while avoiding the more
difficult (and early morning) labs. The environment remains a concern
to baby boomers who now focus on prospects for the future and the kind
of world that they will leave to their children. Today, for instance,
nothing could be more on the minds of parents in lower Manhattan than
the quality of indoor air in the elementary schools near Ground Zero.
Environmental
issues play a huge role in politics, both on the national scale (e.g.,
Ralph Nader's bid for the presidency) and local (e.g., the siting of
incinerators in lower-income communities). This article and its
follow-up will focus on sources of information dealing with the issues
that are most pressing to researchers:
•
What we are doing to our air and water resources
•
Policies that affect our environment: local, national, and global
•
Collecting scientific data to monitor pollution levels
•
Toxins and hazardous materials, including their transport
•
Efforts to improve the management of natural resources through
conservation and preservation
•
Recycling, waste management, and remediation
•
Organizations involved in the "greening" of our planet
•
Environmental laws, regulations, and precedent-setting cases
•
Environmental health and occupational safety, including ergonomics
•
Injuries, fatalities, liabilities, insurance, and workers compensation
This
article began as an outgrowth of two pieces published in Searcher
magazine earlier this year ("The Web as Safety Net: Weather-Related
Catastrophes and Other Natural Disasters," January 2002, pp. 68-83, and
"Weather, Climate, and Global Warming: A Web Review," February 2002,
pp. 28-41). Its organization stems from a presentation given in
November 2000 to a group of lawyers participating in an Environmental
Reinsurance Claims Conference (Manalapan, FL). Sponsored by Mealey's/LexisNexis,
the presentation — "Sources of Environmental and Asbestos Information
on the Internet (and Elsewhere)" — began with two questions: What do we
want or need to know about the environment? Where do we go to obtain
that information?
Writing
an article about environmental information resources can be more
difficult than you might think. Resources may be
consumer/activist-oriented — that's "activist" in the best sense of the
word — or scientific/research-oriented. General resources may touch
upon some aspect of the environment you would like to include. On the
other hand, you can't possibly mention all the resources concentrating
on even one specialized niche in this vast field. Information
professionals sometimes need to consult more general resources and,
other times, require a more thorough analysis that only searches of
more focused databases can achieve. In attempting to highlight all
classes of resources, this article has grown far longer than either the
author or the editor originally anticipated.
The
Web sites highlighted within this article are meant to suggest the
types of resources you'd want to look for and how you might discover
them. It is not intended to be an exhaustive listing of every
Web site dealing with the subject (as if that were even possible). If
you conduct environmental research every day, you should find many of
the resources mentioned very familiar. Hopefully, this article will
serve as a reminder for you to check "What's New" on Web sites you may
not have consulted in a while or to take a more global perspective
about the subject. If you are new to environmental research, we hope
the article will provide a logical path through a multitude of
offerings.
Novices
to the environmental research process might begin as they do all their
Web searches — by choosing search engines to identify Web sites
containing environmental news and information. Everyone has their own
favorites, but some indexes and directories do a better job of
identifying and categorizing unique environmental sites than others.
One of the earliest directories of the Internet, EiNet Galaxy, still
organizes environmental resources in the most logical manner for a
novice to understand and appreciate. The Galaxy [http://www.galaxy.com]
Community section breaks down the
environment into
10 separate categories: Agriculture, Ecosystems, Endangered Species,
Energy, Environmental Activism, Environmental Health, Environmental
Law, Environmental Libraries, Government, and News.
Popular
search directories may also help identify environmental information on
the Internet:
•
While Google began as a search engine, the newer directory
service is an excellent place to begin your search for Web sites
covering the environment [http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Environment/?tc=1/].
Choose from nearly 40 subtopics and five related categories (ecology,
environmental science, environmental law, property rights, and
environmental effects of economic sanctions on Iraq). If you find a
site that meets your research needs, take advantage of Google's
"similar pages" feature to discover more.
• Yahoo!, for instance, classifies environmental
resources covered within its Society and Culture section [http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Environment_and_Nature].
In addition to the directory, Yahoo! Groups [http://groups.yahoo.com]
provides entrée into a number of discussions and chats
concerning specific environmental issues.
•
On the other hand, Lycos categorizes its collection of
environmental resources within its Science section [http://dir.lycos.com/Science/Environment/].
In addition to its Environmental NewsService [http://ens.lycos.com/index.html],
Lycos features an extensive list of categories to help guide users to
the right set of resources. Categories cover resources by type
(conferences, education, employment, journals, organizations, etc.) and
subjects, such as biodiversity, environmental economics, environmental
monitoring, sustainability, and water resources, to name but a few (see
above).
• Environmental Issues are covered in its usual
thorough manner by About.com [http://environment.about.com].
Subject categories range from acid rain and air pollution to
trade/NAFTA/WTO and whales. A word of caution about the environmental
news page [http://environment.about.com/library/weekly/blvoa.htm],
however. When we last checked, it carried some fairly dated material.
For the most current information, you should probably choose another
resource.
•
Science-specific search engines, such as Scirus [http://www.scirus.com/],
may provide better access to environmental information, including links
to policy papers. Basic searching using Scirus covers journals and/or
Web-based sources. Using the advanced search screen, you can limit your
search by information source, information type (e.g., articles,
patents, conferences, etc.), subject (e.g., "environmental sciences"),
and date (an advisable access point if you plan to include papers
available via the Web in your search).
•
While not as good a search engine as Scirus, SciSeek Science Online:
Earth Sciences [http://www.sciseek.com/dir/Earth_Sciences/]
offers links to associations, conferences, data centers, education,
Internet directories, products and services, and publications.
Problems
of dealing with environmental terminology complicates all searching in
this field. The word "environment" is used in a social context,
business, and the field of science. As a stand-alone, it is imprecise,
requiring the browsing of subcategories and the use of advanced
features for linking the term with another to yield truly useful
results (keyword-in-context). For instance, JSTOR's listing of
journals by discipline [http://www.jstor.org/about/field.list.html]
shows an excellent collection of journals covering "ecology," but not
listed as "environment." Choice of search engines and sites becomes
less important than the ability to effectively use each, understanding
the purpose for which they were designed and their content. Another
caveat for searchers of Web sites: Many sites may appear current at
first glance, but further investigation can uncover the fact that some
sections are not maintained as well as others.
For
advice on building a reference collection, there is no better source to
consult than the EPA Core List for an Environmental Reference
Collection [http://www.epa.gov/natlibra/core/coretoc.htm].
First published in 1993, the Core List updates regularly, is impeccably
organized by subject, and includes a section on key environmental
journals and publishers/distributors.
Environmental
News
While
traditional database vendors do an excellent job collecting news from
around the world, some sites specialize in environmental news:
• EnvironmentalMedia Service Facts and Contacts for
Journalists [http://www.ems.org/]
contains articles from major media organizations, grouped by topic
(chemicals and health; climate and air; politics and culture;
international trade and development; land and transportation; oceans
and water; plants and animals). The site has the "look and feel" of a
newspaper, displaying the leading paragraphs of major articles on the
front page (screen), with links to the entire article embedded in the
headlines.
• Planet Ark [http://www.planetark.org/index.cfm]
receives feeds from Reuters Daily World Environment News,
stories archived on an issue-by-issue basis, from acid rain and air
pollution to whaling and zoos.
•
The Earth Times monthlyprint publication is available through
the Web, but the heart of the Web site is the updated Earth Times
Daily Web Edition [http://www.earthtimes.org].
Site contents and links are organized by subject, but remember that
these are reciprocal links.
•
European environmental newsis covered by ENDS Environmental
DataServices [http://www.ends.co.uk/]
in its Environment Daily [http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/].
ENDS also offers Reports on U.K. environmental business and policy [http://www.endsreport.com/issue/index.cfm]
and a searchable database containing comprehensive details on over 550
consultants [http://www.endsdirectory.com/search/].
Environmental
researchers should also consult specialized online news services that
do a good job identifying, collecting, or linking to environmental
stories in the news.
|