January 1998

Energy, Environment and Resources Center

Jack Barkenbus, Executive Director

Center For Clean Products and Clean Technologies

Gary A. Davis, Director

Office of Communications and Publications

David Brill, Director

Center for Geography and Environmental Education

Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, Director

Oak Ridge Technology Research and Development Program

Sheila Webster, Director

Pellissippi Research Institute

Donald Alvic, Director

Pro-Dialogue

Mary R. English and David L. Feldman, Directors

Water Resources Research Center

Tim Gangaware, Associate Director

For more information call Gail Farris at 865-974-4251 or write to EERC, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134.

Visit our Web site at: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/

Research. The EERC has established a Faculty Associates Program in Sustainable Development, which is designed to engage select UT faculty in multidisciplinary research to advance the principle of sustainable development. Three faculty associates were chosen to serve through calendar year 1998: Michael Berry, department of computer sciences; Thomas Dean, College of Business; and Mary Rogge, College of Social Work. The faculty associates will interact with EERC professional staff to identify research areas of mutual interest and then take a leading role in preparing proposals for externally funded research.

International Travel. In December, EERC Senior Research Scientist Rosalyn McKeown-Ice attended Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability in Thessaloniki, Greece. The international conference, convened by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), highlighted the critical role of education and public awareness in achieving sustainability. McKeown-Ice also served as rapporteur for a pre-conference workshop on teacher education. The workshop focused on the overall scope and state of teacher training in sustainable development and provided some initial recommendations for UNESCO.

Also in December, EERC Senior Research Associate Catherine Wilt participated in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) international workshop titled "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Who Is the Producer?" in Ottawa, Canada. The three-day workshop was part of a series of four EPR workshops sponsored by OECD. The outcomes of the workshops will be compiled into a guidance manual to help governments establish EPR programs.

EERC Research Professor Robert Bohm served as an economic consultant at a workshop titled "China-Japan-United States Collaboration on Practical Strategies for Enhanced International Cooperation on Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Sustainable Development," in Beijing, China. The November workshop preceded a seminar, Technology Transfer for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Sustainable Development, in which a pilot project for pollution levies was presented to Chinese dignitaries for their approval.

Training. Senior Research Associate Melinda Basler presented a discussion of her recent certification as environmental-management auditor at a brown-bag lunch attended by EERC staffers and guests this past month. Basler completed requirements for certification as a lead auditor for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 standard, part of the ISO-14000 family of standards that focuses on waste-management systems and addresses all companies regardless of size or industry. A company can be ISO-14001 certified through self-declaration or third-party audit when it establishes a comprehensive framework for integrating environmental considerations into its business decisions.

Publications. EERC Senior Research Associate Kim Davis, along with Gary Sayler, director of UT's Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB) and Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI), and John Sanseverino, a CEB senior research associate, has edited a volume in the Environmental Science Research series published by Plenum Press. Davis, Sayler, and Sanseverino's book, Biotechnology in the Sustainable Environment, arises from the 1996 symposium of the same name sponsored by WMREI and CEB.