Author(s): Daniel A. Vallero PhD (Editor), Trevor Letcher
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication Date: December 11, 2012
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 530 pages
ISBN-10: 0123970261
ISBN-13: 9780123970268
Book Description
Unraveling Environmental Disasters provides scientific explanations of the most threatening current and future environmental disasters, including an analysis of ways that the disaster could have been prevented and how the risk of similar disasters can be minimized in the future.
Named a 2014 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association’s Choice publication
Treats disasters as complex systems
Provides predictions based upon sound science, such as what the buildup of certain radiant gases in the troposphere will do, or what will happen if current transoceanic crude oil transport continues
Considers the impact of human systems on environmental disasters
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This important, clearly written, well-organized book addresses a confluence of significant global issues and brings them into focus. Vallero…and Letcher…examine engineering failures within the context of generating environmental disasters…The book addresses related issues of sustainability, anthropogenic global warming, pesticide use and its impact on the food chain, vinyl chloride production, etc…Summing Up: Essential.” —CHOICE Reviews Online, January 2014
Review
Named a 2014 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association’s Choice publication
From the Back Cover
Unraveling Environmental Disasters covers the major environmental threats facing our world, focusing on rigorous scientific investigations to better understand why the disasters occurred. Two prominent scientists, physical chemist Trevor Letcher and environmental engineer Daniel Vallero, look at natural and human-induced disasters to analyze ways that they could have been prevented and offer predictions on possible future disasters based upon scientific evidence.
This book:
Considers the societal impact on environmental disasters
Describes concisely why these disasters occurred, with understandable explanations of the underlying scientific principles
Applies “failure analysis” to recent environmental catastrophes, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Explains how to minimize the risk of potential disasters similar to those of the past
About the Author
Professor Daniel A. Vallero is a renowned environmental scientist and engineer with four decades of experience. He has advised U.S. government agencies on critical issues like PBTs, climate change, acid rain, and chemical risks. At Duke University, he led the Engineering Ethics program and taught courses on air pollution, sustainable design, and ethics. Vallero has served on the National Academy of Engineering’s Online Ethics Committee and the National Institute of Engineering Ethics. An expert in emerging technologies, he focuses on societal, ethical, and public health challenges related to nanotechnology and environmental biotechnology. His work also encompasses emergency response and homeland security, making him a leading voice in environmental risk and ethics.
Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.
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