SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH STRATEGY
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
DRAFT: MAY 4, 2006
PREPARED FOR REVIEW BY THE
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
FOREWORD
The Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) is a framework to tie together the many ORD
Multi-Year Plans (MYP) that contribute to advancing science in support of Sustainability.
It highlights the elements of the revised Pollution Prevention MYP, now entitled
"Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will better focus pollution prevention
and innovative technology on Sustainability.
This SRS supports new EPA efforts to advance environmental stewardship and
collaborative problem solving as means to achieve measurable, sustainable outcomes.
Preparation of this Strategy is timely, for it coincides with the development of EPA's
2006-2011 Strategic Plan.
In presenting this draft of the Strategy we acknowledge and thank the drafting team of
Gordon Evans, Douglas Young, Heriberto Cabezas, Michael Gonzalez, Frank Princiotta,
Cynthia Gage, and Tim Johnson (National Risk Management Research Laboratory);
Diana Bauer and Julie Zimmerman (National Center for Environmental Research); Anita
Street (Office of Science Policy): and Donna Perla, Richard lovanna, and Edward Fallen
(Office of the Assistant Administrator).
Gary Foley Sally Gutierrez Alan D. Hecht
Director, NCER Director, NRMRL Director, Sustainable Development
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary 6
Chapter 1 Introduction and Purpose 11
Describes the Strategy's organization and its national benefits
Chapter 2. Rationale and Problem Definition 16
Assesses the impact of selected future stressors and
justifies the need for sustainable use of resources
Chapter 3 The Scope of EPA's Sustainability Effort 22
Defines an EPA context for Sustainability
Chapter 4. The Six Challenges of Environmental Sustainability 25
Defines six Sustainability research themes
Chapter 5. Research Objectives 49
Describes how ORD will organize its research activities
Chapter 6 Strategy Implementation 61
Describes ORD's roadmap for implementing the
Sustainability research program
Appendix
Acronyms 80
End Notes 81
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
[This page is deliberately left blank.]
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The mission of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is to conduct leading-
edge research and foster the sound use of science and technology to fulfill the Agency's
mission of protecting human health and the environment. ORD research is often
characterized as a mix of core research that seeks to advance fundamental understanding
and problem-driven or customer-focused research that focuses on specific environmental
problems. Sustainability research encompasses both core and problem-oriented research:
it aims both to understand biochemical, physical, and chemical interactions and to
develop effective models and tools that enable decision-makers to achieve sustainable
outcomes.
The Sustainability Research Strategy has many roots. The Strategy reflects the new roles
and responsibilities recognized by Congress in 1998:
While acknowledging the continuing need for science and engineering in
national security, health and the economy, the challenges we face today
cause us to propose that the scientific and engineering enterprise ought to
move toward center stage in a fourth role; that of helping society make
good decisions (emphasis added). We believe this role for science will
take on increasing importance, particularly as we face difficult decisions
related to the environment.
Building on this central thesis of supporting effective decisions and recognizing the
emerging importance of achieving sustainable outcomes, ORD management has
identified two objectives for this Research Strategy: (1) developing a cross-cutting
Sustainability research plan to tie together the many ORD Multi-Year Plans (MYP) that
are component parts of Sustainability; and (2) developing a revised MYP for Pollution
Prevention (P2), entitled "Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will identify
new annual and long-term goals to better focus pollution prevention and innovative
technology on Sustainability, with associated annual performance outcome measures.
The SRS identifies Sustainability research in six areas:
• Renewable Resource Systems
• Non-Renewable Resource Systems
• Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts
• Human-Built Systems and Land Use
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Economics and Human Behavior
• Information and Decision-Making.
The development of this Strategy supports EPA's recent initiative to advance stewardship
at all levels of society. In Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental
Stewardship, a report prepared at the request of the EPA Administrator, senior EPA
managers identified proposed sustainable outcomes in the six natural resource systems in
the table below. To further support this EPA-wide goal of promoting stewardship, ORD
Assistant Administrator and EPA Science Advisor George Gray has made the goal of
"identifying research to inform stewardship solutions" one of his priority objectives.
Several existing ORD programs-Economics and Decision Sciences (EDS), Climate
Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Global Earth Observing Systems of Systems
(GEOSS)—support the stewardship objectives. The new Sustainability Research Strategy
builds on these existing programs.
Sustainability Outcome Measures Proposed by EPA Innovation Action Council
Natural Resource
Systems
Energy
Air
Water
Materials
Land
Ecosystems
Sustainable Outcomes
Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
Sustain clean and healthy air.
Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses.
Use materials carefully and shift to environmental preferable
materials.
Support ecologically sensitive land management and development.
Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods and services.
Input to the design of this Strategy has been derived from both internal and external
activities:
• Consultation with Regional and Program Offices on the types of research that
are of greatest benefit to their programs,
• Recommendations of the EPA Innovation Action Council on stewardship and
achieving sustainable outcomes,
• NCER and NRMRL reviews of the state of Sustainability science and
identification of the best opportunities for advancing research at EPA,
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Recommendations of the EPA Science Advisory Board and the Board of
Scientific Counselors,
• Review of the research literature on sustainability and determination of key
research areas and questions,
• Consultations with other Federal agencies to assess how ORD and EPA can
make the best contribution relative to other research institutions working in
the area;
• Consultation with outside experts, including EPA-sponsored workshops, and
• Review and consultation with other national governments and the European
Commission.
The Strategy identifies how ORD will organize itself to identify research to inform
stewardship solutions in several ways:
• Improve Systems Understanding. Better understand the interconnections,
resilience, and vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems,
the built environment, and human society.
• Develop Decision-Support Tools: Design and develop scientific tools and
models to assist decision-makers.
• Advance Technologies: Identify and develop inherently benign and less
resource-intensive materials, energy sources, processes, products, and
systems, particularly for emerging technologies.
• Promote Collaborative Decision-Making: Develop an understanding of
motivations for decision-making and develop approaches to collaborative
problem solving.
• Develop Metrics and Indicators: Develop instruments to measure and track
progress toward sustainability goals, send early warning of potential problems
to decision-makers, and highlight opportunities for improvement.
In organizing this new research focus, ORD begins with a solid foundation for
sustainability research. Existing research plans all contain elements of programs and
activities that could address the research questions defined in the Strategy. A key goal of
the Strategy is to provide guidance for the future direction of these research programs so
that they can be more supportive of a sustainability approach. Achieving this goal will
require criteria for setting priorities and achieving a delicate balance between traditional
risk-based approaches and sustainability approaches, as well as between immediate
Program Office research needs and complex longer-term issues.
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
The ORD management roadmap to implement this Sustainability Research Strategy
includes several steps:
• Transitioning the current pollution prevention and new technologies research
program (including both research and new applied programs) into a Science
and Technology for Sustainability Research Program. ORD has begun
preparing a new multi-year plan with clearly defined objectives, budgets, and
outcome measures.
• Coordinating with other multi-year plans. ORD will review how the goals of
Sustainability can be met through existing MYPs and national strategies as
well as how these MYPs can evolve to align more directly with Sustainability
goals and objectives.
• Collaborating and partnering with EPA Program and Regional Offices as well
as other government organizations, communities, nonprofit organizations,
universities, and businesses. ORD will work with Program and Regional
Offices to support implementation of their respective Sustainability strategies
and will coordinate research with other Federal agencies.
• Identifying and pursuing future research opportunities. ORD will work with
Program and Regional Offices, other government agencies, and the
international community to organize workshops and research partnerships.
Measuring the success of this Strategy and the companion research plan emphasizes the
application and use of ORD scientific data for decision-making, as outlined in Goal V of
the EPA Draft 2006-2011 Strategic Plan,1.Objective 5.4 of Goal V ("Enhance Society's
Capacity for Sustainability through Science and Research") mandates the new emphasis
for ORD research: ...
Conduct leading-edge, sound scientific research on pollution prevention,
new technology development, socioeconomic, sustainable systems, and
decision-making tools. By 2011, the products of this research will be
independently recognized as providing critical and key evidence in
informing Agency polices and decisions and solving problems for the
Agency and its partners and stakeholders.
This success of this Strategy will be measured by the degree to which it meets these
goals:
• The research and educational community will apply ORD research results,
products, and services to enhance the scientific and technology base and
catalyze innovation of alternative processes, tools, technologies and systems
for advanced environmental protection.
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• The regulated community will apply ORD research products and services to
implement more efficient and sustainable practices, materials and
technologies in improved environmental performance.
• Decision- and policy-makers will use ORD products and services to
implement improved and scientifically sound management decisions and
policies and practices for sustainable resource management.
Finally, the potential long-term national benefits from pursuing the lines of research
identified in the Sustainability Research Strategy are clear and compelling:
• It will enable communities to envision, plan, develop, manage, and restore
their infrastructure and space so that community health, quality of life, and air
and water quality are protected and materials and energy are conserved, while
economic and social objectives are met.
• It will enable industry and consumers to benefit from advances in scientific
understanding and technology by supporting the design and manufacture of
materials and products over multiple life cycles so that the environment and
public health are protected and resources are conserved while economic and
social objectives are met.
• It will give EPA and the nation, informed by an improved understanding of
systems in the natural and built environment, more options for protecting
human health and the environment for future generations.
10
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
As noted by EPA Administrator Steve Johnson, EPA's 35-year history shows steady
progression of programs and policies from "pollution control to pollution prevention to
sustainability."2 Underlying this evolution in policy and programs is the recognition that
it is safer and more cost-effective to prevent rather than clean up pollution, and that
natural resources are the very capital on which an economy grows. The future health and
well-being of all societies depend on the wise and sustainable use of natural resources.
Decisions affecting how finite and renewable resources are used, how urban
environments are planned and developed and how industrial products are produced are
shared by all levels of government, the private sector, and across all elements and levels
of society. Achieving sustainable outcomes is thus a shared responsibility.
The mission of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is to conduct cutting-
edge research and foster the use of sound science and technology to fulfill the Agency's
mission to protect human health and the environment. ORD research is often
characterized as a mix of core research that seeks to advance fundamental understanding
of key biological, chemical and physical processes that underlie environmental systems
and problem-driven research that focuses on specific environmental problems or
customer needs. Sustainability research encompasses both core and problem-oriented
research aiming first at understanding biochemical, physical and chemical interactions
through a systems approach and second at developing effective models, tools, and metrics
that enable decision-makers to achieve sustainable outcomes.3
The philosophy underlying the Sustainability Research Strategy has many roots. The
Strategy recognizes new Federal roles and responsibilities identified by Congress in the
1998 House Committee on Science report, Unlocking Our Future:
While acknowledging the continuing need for science and engineering in
national security, health and the economy, the challenges we face today
cause us to propose that the scientific and engineering enterprise ought to
move toward center stage in a fourth role; that of helping society make good
decisions. We believe this role for science will take on increasing
importance, particularly as we face difficult decisions related to the
environment.4
These functions have been incorporated into many existing ORD strategies and programs.
In 2005 ORD's Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) in reviewing both the Ecological
Research Program and Global Change Research has emphasized need for activities that
lead to "wise decision-making" and that are "demand-driven and participatory." 5
11
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Building on this central thesis of supporting effective decisions and recognizing the
emerging importance of achieving sustainable outcomes, ORD management identified
two objectives for this Research Strategy: (1) to develop a cross-cutting sustainability
research plan that will tie together the many ORD Multi-Year Plans (MYP) that are
component parts of sustainability; and (2) to develop a revised MYP for Pollution
Prevention (P2), entitled "Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will identify
new annual and long-term goals to better focus pollution prevention and innovative
technology on sustainability, with associated annual performance outcome measures.
The development of this Strategy supports the stewardship and sustainable goals defined
in a recent report prepared by EPA senior managers at the request of the EPA
Administrator. As discussed in the next chapter, this report for the first time identifies a
set of sustainable outcomes for key areas of EPA's mission responsibility. ORD faces the
challenges of how best to organize a program to identify research that can inform
stewardship solutions at multiple scales.
The SRS identifies sustainability research themes in six areas:
• Renewable Resource Systems
• Non-Renewable Resource Systems
• Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts
• Human-Built Systems and Land Use
• Economics and Human Behavior
• Information and Decision-Making.
The Strategy describes a potential future integration among existing ORD research areas
and outlines a process for setting priorities among National Program Directors and within
ORD research strategies. It stresses an integrated approach to research and application
that will address potential future environmental problems.
Input to the Strategy was derived from a number of internal and external activities:
• Consultation with Regional and Program Offices on the type of research that
is of greatest benefit to their programs,
• Recommendations of the EPA Innovation Action Council on stewardship and
achieving sustainable outcomes,
• NCER and NRMRL review of the state of sustainability science and
identification of the best opportunities for advancing research at EPA,
12
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Past recommendations of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Board
of Scientific Counselors (BOSC).
• Review of the sustainability research literature and determination of key
research areas and questions,
• Consultations with other Federal agencies and assessment of where ORD and
EPA can make the best contribution relative to other research institutions
doing work in the area,
• Consultation with outside experts, including EPA-sponsored workshops, and
• Review and consultation with other national governments, the European
Commission, and multilateral organizations.
A new Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS) Multi-Year Plan accompanies
the SRS as a proposed replacement to the existing Pollution Prevention and New
Technology (P2NT) research program. As described in the STS research plan, this new
program builds on a strong foundation and successes of the P2NT effort.
Criteria for measuring the success of this Strategy and the companion ORD MYPs are
outlined in Goal V of the Draft 2006-11 EPA Strategic Plan. (See box: "Goal V ...")
Goal V of the Draft EPA Strategic Plan for 2006-2011
Objective 5.4: Enhance Society's Capacity for Sustainability through Science and
Research. Conduct leading edge, sound scientific research on pollution prevention, new
technology development, socioeconomic, sustainable systems, and decision-making tools. By
2011, the products of this research will be independently recognized as providing critical and key
evidence in informing Agency polices and decisions and solving problems for the Agency and its
partners and stakeholders
Sub-objective 5.4.2: Conducting Research. Through 2011, conduct leading-edge sound
scientific research on pollution prevention, new technology development, socioeconomic,
sustainable systems and decision-making tools. The products of this research will provide critical
and key evidence in informing Agency policies and decisions affecting the Agency program in
Goal 5, as well as EPA partners and stakeholders.
This Strategy recognizes that achieving sustainable outcomes is fundamentally about
making wise decision-making. The success of this Strategy can be measured by degree to
which:
• The research and educational community will apply ORD research, products,
and services to enhance the scientific and technology base and catalyze
13
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
innovation of alternative processes, tools, technologies and systems for
advanced environmental protection.
• The regulated community will apply ORD research products and services to
implement more efficient and sustainable practices, materials and
technologies in improved environmental performance.
• Decision and policy-makers will use ORD products and services to implement
improved and scientifically sound management decisions and policies and
practices for sustainable resource management.
This SRS document begins by forecasting the needs of future generations for clean air
and water, energy, materials and land use, and then considers those future needs in light
of population increases and current trends in consumption of natural resources and
degradation of natural systems (Chapter 2.) A discussion of the likely impact of future
trends on these six systems argues cogently that a systems approach offers the best
strategy for understanding environmental impacts and for designing cost-effective and
sustainable policy responses. This proposed research complements the traditional EPA
risk assessment/risk management (RA/RM) paradigm by extending those concepts to
minimizing risks for future generations.
Chapter 3 proposes a framework of Sustainability for EPA and identifies six integrating
research themes. Chapter 4 reviews these research themes and relates them to EPA's
proposed Sustainability outcome goals. Chapter 5 discusses the approaches needed to
address the research questions. One of the most important items to be utilized will be the
development of metrics or indicators that can be used to track progress towards
sustainable outcomes. This important work will complement EPA's Draft Report on the
Environment6 Developing a set of appropriate metrics to gauge our society's progress
towards Sustainability is an important and necessary research challenge. This chapter also
presents a discussion of other scientific approaches and the importance of collaborative
efforts that will be used to address the research questions.
The roadmap for implementing this SRS is presented in Chapter 6. This chapter describes
how the research programs within EPA need to evolve in order to meet the future needs
of environmental protection and to achieve sustainable environmental protection.
What are the long-term national benefits of pursuing this line of research? Successful
implementation of this Strategy will allow decision-makers inside and outside of
government to advance these goals:
• Improve understanding of earth systems to better protect human health, better
manage natural resources, and design cost-effective and sustainable policies;
• Enable EPA, states, and communities to more successfully envision, plan,
develop, manage, and restore their infrastructure and spaces so that
14
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
community health, quality of life, and air, water, and land quality are
protected for the future;
Design, manufacture, and manage chemicals and materials so that the
environment and public health are protected and resources are conserved
while advancing global competitiveness and societal objectives; and
Determine whether these objectives are being efficiently and effectively
achieved by measuring and monitoring the identified indicators.
15
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 2. RATIONALE AND PROBLEM DEFINITION
Economic growth is essential for maintaining social well-being. How this growth is
achieved determines a society's quality of life. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 show both projected
world population and economic growth expanding rapidly during the coming decades.
Global population is expected to increase by over 50 percent by 2050.
Figure 2.1 World Population Projections
• North America
D Oceania
Q Europe
• Latin America
DChina & India
• Other Asia
D Africa
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
From "World Population Prospects", United Nations secretariat, http://esa.un.org/unpp
16
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Figure 2.2. World Relative GDP Growth
o
o
o
CM
2.5 -
0-
a
o
01
Is
3
3
o
1.5 -
0.5 -
2000
-Africa
-Other Asia
China & India
-Latin America
Europe
-Oceania
-North America
2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
From "World Energy Outlook 2002", International Energy Agency, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org
When EPA was founded in 1970, the U.S. population was just over 203 million; in 2006
it is 281 million, reflecting a 35-year increase approaching 40 percent. This growth
however has not been distributed evenly. According to the U.S. Census, about one-third
or 91.5 million of the 281 million people in the U.S. reside in the 17 Western states,
which include seven of the nation's 10 fastest growing states. Through 2030 the
population of the Southwest is also projected to increase as a proportion of the U.S.
population. The population increase has greatly affected the allocation and use of
resources as approximately one acre of land currently becomes urbanized or otherwise
developed for each additional U.S. inhabitant. Many Western and Southwestern states
with rapidly expanding population are also experiencing urban expansion, increased
energy demand, and diminishing water resources.7 The U.S. population is also aging,
thereby creating new needs for health and human services. These changes impel a
heightened awareness of potential future problems, especially demand for water and
energy in much of the nation.
The global challenge of growth is also becoming apparent. Over the next 30 years, while
the U.S. GDP is expected to double, the GDP in China and India is projected to
quadruple. Economic growth in the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
will without doubt significantly impact future global and trans-boundary environmental
issues.8 Together these changes will place considerable stress on the earth's resources and
on humanity's ability to maintain or improve environmental quality. Unless steps are
taken to address the consequences of growing populations and economies, the resilience
17
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
of the global ecosystem will be undermined. The challenge is to prevent or minimize the
potential negative consequences.
This challenge requires that achieving sustainable environmental outcomes become a
long-term national environmental goal. In Everyday Choices: Opportunities for
Environmental Stewardship, senior EPA managers identified sustainable outcomes in six
resources areas relevant to the Agency's mission; this report is the first explicit statement
of EPA senior leadership focused on recommendations for sustainability outcomes that
the nation should seek. The initial proposed sustainability outcomes provide an important
starting point for EPA discussion of exactly what can and should be measurable
sustainable outcomes. For example, the goal related to ecosystems refers to "functions,
goods and services," but not necessarily to ecosystem protection in general. While much
more discussion and debate will be needed to refine these goals, the Everyday Choices
report's linkage of stewardship with sustainable outcomes is important in setting a
direction for future policy development and research.
Table 2.1. Proposed Sustainable Outcome Measures
Natural Resource
Systems
Energy
Air
Water
Materials
Land
Ecosystems
Sustainable Outcomes
Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
Sustain clean and healthy air.
Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses.
Use materials carefully and shift to environmentally preferable
materials.
Support ecologically sensitive land management and development.
Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods and services.
Source Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship, Innovation Action Council Report
to the Administrator, November 2005. www.epa.gov/innovation
Achieving these outcomes will also be greatly affected by the trends presented in Table
2.2. For example, the stressors of growing population and GDP will significantly impact
these six resource areas. Population increases will affect how and where land is
developed and thus the viability of ecosystems. Population growth has historically led to
increased use of energy, water, and materials—and the production of more waste, leading
to more pollution of air, water, and land, with associated negative consequences for
human health and ecosystems. Economic growth has usually required greater quantities
of energy, materials, and water from expanded agriculture and industry, leading to more
waste, toxics, and air pollution of air and water. The land and thus ecosystems change as
materials are extracted, goods produced, infrastructure built, and wastes disposed of.
18
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
EP'A's Draft Report on the Environment, released in 2003, outlined past U.S. successes in
environmental protection and identified many of the remaining challenges and data gaps.
Table 2.2 lists a few examples of trends identified in this report for each of the six
resource areas, revealing a few of the many potential stresses to the resource areas from
expected U.S. population and economic growth. Other future potential impacts of
stressors on the environment have been assembled through a survey of EPA senior
Program Officers and from external future studies.
Table 2.2. Potential Consequences of Growing U.S. Population and GDP
Resource
Current Trends1
Consequences Projected over 20 Years
Energy
In the last 30 years energy
consumption has increased by
42%.
Between 1982 and 2001, NOx
emissions rose by 9%,
primarily from increased
diesel fuel use.
Demand for petroleum, natural gas, and coal
each will increase by 25-40%
Passenger miles driven and number of road
vehicles will increase by 30-40%. CO2
emissions will grow by 28%.2
Air
133 million people live in
areas with air quality not
meeting NAAQ standards
(indoor air pollution is
associated with asthma in
children).
Increased transportation demand will increase
NAAQS exceedances.3
Between 23 and 33 million additional housing
units will be needed.3
Water
408 billion gallons of water per
day are withdrawn.
Excess nitrogen and
phosphorus have degraded
aquatic life in 2.5 million acres
of lakes and 84,000 miles of
rivers and streams.
In some areas, existing water supplies will be
inadequate to meet demands for people,
cities, farms and the natural systems an
biota.4
Reduced water availability is projected to
impede electric power plant growth.5
Materials
Per-capita MSW over the last
decade has leveled at 4.5
Ibs/person/day.
Waste systems are managing
growing quantities of toxic
chemicals.
Under business as usual scenario, a 24%
projected increase in population will result in a
comparable increase in total waste
generation.3
Land
The pace of land development
between 1992 and 1997 was
more than 1.5 times the rate
of the previous 10 years.
About 10% of forested land is expected to be
converted to urban and developed use.6
Ecosystems
Coastal wetland area has
decreased by 8% since the
1950s.
One third of native species
are at risk.
Worldwide, flux of nitrogen to coastal
ecosystems will increase by 10-20%; species
extinction rates are projected to be ten times
higher than current rate.7
19
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
1 Extracted from the 2003 Draft Report on the Environment Technical Document. 2 Department of Energy
Annual Energy Outlook, 2004.3 Extrapolated from trends.4 Department of the Interior, Water 2025.5 Electric
Power Research Institute, 2001.
Ecosystem Assessment, 2005.
Climate Change Science Program, 2003. United Nations, Millennium
Even as population and GDP impact a particular resource area, that area in turn interacts
with other areas. For example, since 1971 each 1% increase in worldwide GDP has
resulted in a 0.64% increase in use of energy usage. Most of the energy has been
produced from fossil fuels, so the increased energy use has led to greater emissions of air
pollutants from the combustion of these fuels. Nearly half of U.S. water withdrawals are
used for cooling power plants and water is also used to "scrub" air pollutants from flue
gas; so increased energy use increases both demand for and pollution of water. The
extraction of fossil fuels from the earth requires more use of materials, changes the
surrounding land, and produces more wastes (i.e. unwanted "materials"). Finally,
increased energy use impacts ecosystems through, for example, silt run-off from energy
extraction activities and diminished water quality caused by runoff from mining facilities.
Such "response" impacts are shown in the first row of Table 2.3. Interactions like these
demonstrate forcefully that a systems approach offers the best strategy for understanding
environmental impacts and for designing cost-effective and sustainable policy responses.
Table 2.3. Linkages among Resource Areas
Resources
under Stress
Energy
(increased
use)
Air
(increased
pollutants)
Water
(increased
pollutants)
Material
(increased
use)
Land
(increased
development)
Ecosystems
(decreased
availability)
Potential Response to the Stressed Resource Area
Energy
Increased
energy for
clean-up
Increased
energy for
clean-up
Increased
demand
(processing
energy)
Increased
demand
Increased
energy for
restoration
Air
Increased
pollutants
Transfer of
pollutants
from water
Increased
pollutants
Increased
pollutants
Reduced
natural
processing
capacity
Water
Increased
demand
Pollutant
deposition
from air
Increased
demand,
Increased
pollutants
Increased
pollutants,
Run-off
Reduced
natural
processing
capacity
Materials
Increased
extraction
Increased
demand,
Degradation
Increased
demand,
Degradation
Reduction
of resources
Reduced
renewable
resources
Land
Extraction
impacts
Waste
disposal
Waste
disposal
Extraction
impacts,
Waste
disposal
Erosion
Ecosystems
Extraction
impacts
Increased
negative
Impacts
Increased
negative
impacts
Increased
negative
impacts
Reduction of
resource
20
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Sewerage provides another example of interaction among resource areas. As shown in
Table 2.3, polluted sewer water requires energy for cleanup; air pollutants of methane
and nitrogen compounds are produced, and solid waste is generated and typically sent to
landfills. Finally, sewerage overflows can impact ecosystems. These examples illustrate
how a change in one resource area can negatively reverberate through other areas.
Ensuring continued improvement in environmental quality and in protection of human
health under these increasing stresses requires a changed approach. In the early years of
environmental protection, end-of-pipe control strategies targeted pollutant emissions. As
these strategies matured, new problems were recognized and met by new approaches,
such as waste minimization and pollution prevention, which have in effect pushed the
"control" upstream. As additional environmental stressors became recognized, the
evaluation and choice among mitigation options required an understanding of the context
of the problem and thus life cycle assessments were undertaken. As we have learned that
environmental problems are rarely contained within a single resource area or within a
single product's lifecycle, but rather extend across areas and timeframes, it has become
clear that a more integrated approach to environmental protection is called for.
Issues of environmental protection have become more complex as we have moved from
the earlier point-source pollution control associated with particular industries to larger
problems of regional emissions, such as those associated with agricultural operations and
urban transportation and emerging contaminants. Successfully meeting all of these
challenges—significant increases in stressors, impacts across resource areas, emissions
from diffuse sources, and emerging contaminants—will require an evolution in how
environmental protection approaches Sustainability.
Is the problem of Sustainability urgent? Does it address national interest? There is no
doubt that improving the health and well-being of people today and in the future while
growing the economy and protecting natural resources is a national priority. Prudent
scientific management would suggest launching a program aimed at better understanding
of the linkages among the six resource areas defined above, and aimed at developing
effective means to disseminate and apply the research results.
21
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 3. THE SCOPE OF EPA's SUSTAINABILITY EFFORT
This chapter proposes a framing of Sustainability for EPA and summarizes from the
literature a set of broad research themes.
Since the World Commission on Environment and Development issued its 1987 report,
Our Common Future, the term "sustainability" has managed to become both a rallying
point and a source of controversy.9 This document, better known as the Brundtland
Report, specified that development is considered sustainable when it "meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs." By the time of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (the "Rio Earth Summit"), there was a growing consensus that the concept
of sustainability encompasses interrelated ideas drawn from economic, social and
environmental realms. These areas are commonly referred to as the "three pillars of
sustainability."
The concept of sustainability acknowledges humanity's material needs while recognizing
that earth's natural systems are increasingly stressed to meet those needs. Sustainability
thus fundamentally involves creating options and making decisions that will support both
today's society and future generations with increased prosperity. The path to
sustainability necessarily involves the adoption of a long-term, system-wide view of the
environment. For EPA, the question becomes: "How can EPA best use its scientific,
technical and policy resources to support options and decisions that are economically
sound, benefit society, and strengthen rather than stress natural systems?"
The concept of sustainability is by no means new to U.S. policy and the EPA. The
National Environmental Protection Act—drafted in 1969 before EPA was established—
provides that the Federal government, in partnership with the states, should "use all
practicable means and measures ... to create and maintain conditions under which man
and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other
requirements of present and future generations of Americans." Beginning before the 1992
Rio Earth Summit, EPA Program Offices and external advisory boards issued a series of
reports encouraging Agency managers to move toward a longer-term focus and a more
integrated approach to environmental management. 10 EPA's Science Advisory Board
(SAB) has also been consistent in making recommendations that are reflected in three
principle themes of this Strategy: science for decision-making, integration of programs,
and long-term view. A review of SAB repots relevant to the Strategy is given in
Appendix 1.
Together, these reports begin to specify the basic elements of a Sustainability Research
Strategy that will enhance the Agency's efforts to achieve future environmental outcomes
22
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
while growing the economy and improving quality of life. These enhancements can come
about in five principle ways:
• Promoting a longer-term view of environmental and human health protection:
Environmental and human health protection will be strengthened by a clearer
vision of the future, including potential environmental problems and human
health risks, potential solutions, and effective roles for EPA and its partners.
• Measuring outcomes: Tracking results will inform improvement over time
and ensure that financial resources are being expended effectively.
• Integrating environmental and human health protection with natural
resources issues: A more holistic view of natural resource management
recognizes the important links between resource use, environmental
protection, and human exposure.
• Collaborative problem solving: Collaborative problem solving and
cooperative conservation are central to promoting better solutions to problems
at the interface between the environment and society.
• Stimulating innovation: The goal of sustainable development can be a
stimulus for science and technology innovation.
Successful Sustainability research will ultimately inform environmental and human health
protection. From a programmatic perspective, EPA's most important contribution may be
to provide resources to help make Sustainability operational at all levels of decision-
making (individual, local, industrial, state, national, etc.) This approach is consistent with
the Everyday Choices report and with C.S. Rollings' definition:
[S]ustainability is the capacity to create, test, and maintain adaptive
capability. Development is the process of creating, testing, and
maintaining opportunity. The phase that combines the two, "sustainable
development," thus refers to the goal of fostering adaptive capabilities and
creating opportunities.
Making Sustainability operational is also consistent with the research recommendations of
the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC). In its review of the Global Change Research
Program (GCRP), the Board emphasized that the contribution of the program "now and
for the future should be on decision support—improving the ability of those who control
actions to make wiser choices in the face of global change through provision of useful
research and others activities ..." u
This objective of Sustainability is also coherent with EPA's goal of accelerating progress
on environmental and human health protection, while enhancing economic opportunity.12
In its role as a regulatory agency, EPA focuses on meeting today's environmental and
human health needs in the most scientifically sound and cost-effective manner possible.
23
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Effective regulatory decisions must be based on actions that integrate decisions across
social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Sustainability research contributes to
regulatory development by adding to the scientific understanding of the interaction
among environmental stressors, human exposure, and the six media areas identified in
Chapter 2.
The concept of environmental Sustainability builds upon the foundation of environmental
and human health protection that EPA has advanced since its inception. The Agency's
traditional mission of protecting the environment and human health appropriately calls
for meeting its legislative mandates through programs that regulate the sources of
particular environmental problems. Expanding the discussion to environmental
Sustainability not only enhances ongoing protection efforts, but adds a new dimension to
the Agency's approach. It demands that we consider new challenges and innovative
solutions, rethinking current and anticipated problems in their relationship to the
changing human and environmental systems
So, how should EPA approach environmental Sustainability? How should EPA organize
research on environmental Sustainability and address the goals of achieving the
sustainable outcomes identified in the Everyday Choices report? From an extensive
review of relevant literature and experience, six broad themes of environmental
Sustainability research emerge:
• Renewable Resource Systems
• Non-Renewable Resource Systems
• Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts
• Human-Built Systems and Land Use
• Economics and Human Behavior
• Information and Decision-Making.
These six research themes relate to, and impact directly on, EPA's ability to achieve
sustainable environmental outcomes related to the media or resource areas identified in
Chapter 2 (energy, air, water, materials, land, and ecosystems). For example, achieving
sustainable clean air will depend upon research that enhances our understanding in
several of these six themes, such as more efficient use of non-renewable resources (e.g.,
clean technology for coal extraction and use), adoption of renewable resources (e.g.,
biotechnology), and improved understanding of economics and human behavior (e.g.,
market incentives and consumer preferences). Thus the study of a given media or
resource area must involve several areas of research. A more general discussion of the six
research themes is presented in the following chapter.
24
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH THEMES
This chapter describes the six research themes that are foundations for achieving the
Sustainability outcomes identified in Chapter 2. The first four themes concern the earth as
a natural system; the last two concern human motivation and behavior. The chapter
demonstrates how the Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) can contribute to
addressing each of these research themes. For each theme, the link to Sustainability
outcomes is described, a broad problem statement is given, and existing and proposed
ORD research questions are identified.
The six research themes will be implemented in two ways: (1) research identified in the
Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS) MYP; and (2) research carried out
through coordination of existing research programs. ORD can address only a small part
of the overall research required to advance Sustainability, but it can partner with the
Program and Regional Offices and other Federal and state agencies and can use its
research results, methods, and tools to assist clients both inside and outside EPA in
pursuing sustainable outcomes. ORD Assistant Administrator George Gray has set a clear
long-term focus for ORD: to identify research to inform stewardship solutions that can
be implemented from the individual to the national scale.
1. Natural Resource Protection (Air, Water, Ecosystems)
Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The protection of renewable natural resource systems poses challenges and opportunities
for Sustainability. This applies to both types of the biosphere's natural resource systems
that provide products and services to industrial and societal systems. Renewable resource
stocks (e.g., fisheries, forests) are replenished over time provided that the rate of
exploitation does not exhaust the existing stock. Non-renewable environmental media,
including air, water, and land, are finite and cannot ordinarily be depleted, but their
quality is subject to degradation. For example, land area may be left unexploited, used for
agriculture, degraded through soil erosion, or rendered sterile by commercial or industrial
use.13
Natural resource systems influence each of the six Sustainability outcomes (Chapter 2,
table 2.1) While natural resources are linked most strongly to ecosystem services, habitat
protection, water availability and use, and natural land management, they are also linked
to the provision of renewable materials and the generation of alternative forms of energy,
including bio-based fuels and wind power (see the following section on non-renewable
resources).
25
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
General Problem Statement and Needs
Chapter 2 discussed the stress from development and population growth affecting natural
resources as changes in land use and in the extent and distribution of ecological systems
impact ecological processes within and among geographic areas. For example,
urbanization is undermining the ecological integrity of ecosystems by bringing about
declines in biological diversity, degradation of water quality, and loss of other ecological
services. Dispersion of pollutants and fragmentation of natural landscapes resulting from
population growth and economic development are similarly threatening ecosystems and
ecosystem services.
Increased demands on aging economic infrastructure, population shifts, and agricultural
practices, and possibly changing climate regimes, are affecting U.S. water quality and
availability. The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) has recently concluded for the western
states that: "The challenge today is to sustain water availability perpetually, not only for
human use, but to sustain ecosystems and critical habitats for flora and fauna."14 ORD
and EPA's Office of Water have initiated new efforts to address aging water
infrastructure. Research to define future strategies for sustainable water use needs to be
developed.
Natural resource systems provide the ecosystem services that sustain and protect life,
provide animal habitat, and afford aesthetic beauty and recreational opportunities. The
quality and value of these services directly depend on how society manages its natural
and manmade systems, but according to the limited available data, the biosphere's
carrying capacity is under decline. The United Nations-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment., drawing on data gathered between 2001 and 2005 by more than 2000 authors
and reviewers worldwide, focused on the linkages between ecosystems and human well-
being and in particular on ecosystem services:
[There is] established but incomplete evidence that changes being made in
ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear changes in
ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt and potentially irreversible
changes) that have important consequences for human well-being.
Examples of such changes include disease emergence, abrupt alteration in
water quality, the creation of dead zones in coastal waters, the collapse of
fisheries, and shifts in regional climates.
... approximately 60% of the ecosystem services examined are being
degraded or used unsustainably, including fresh water, captured fisheries,
air and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local climate,
natural hazards and pests.15
Human activities that aim to control natural systems often yield unintended
consequences. Lessons learned over the years on different approaches and techniques for
managing natural resources systems, at both small and large scales, demonstrate the need
to better understand natural processes and more effectively use natural systems for
economic and social wellbeing. The impacts of Hurricane Katrina underscore the need
26
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
for a systems approach to ecosystem management. Gulf Coast reconstruction has already
been identified as a major opportunity to restore natural resources and benefit from
natural processes to restore renewable natural resources and add to the level of protection
for the built environment.16
EPA and ORD Work to Build On
Many existing activities of ORD and EPA Program and Regional Offices are focused on
addressing problems that affect natural resource protection. ORD's Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), for example, is advancing science needed
to describe the condition of our nation's ecological resources. Research to better enable
productive stewardship of ecosystems is a new long-term goal within ORD's Ecological
Research Program. This research is based on the premise that individuals and society are
better equipped to practice stewardship when they understand the ecological implications
of their actions, have the ability to envision alternative futures, and have reliable
information to make informed decisions. A key recommendation of the recent BOSC
Review of the Ecosystem Research Program was its call for "quantifying and
demonstrating future scenarios with varying levels of ecosystem services (that) will
provide the scientific foundation needed to make informed decisions."17
ORD efforts to provide scientifically sound indicators in the 2003 Draft Report on the
Environment (RoE) focused on establishing clear trend data across all natural and man-
made systems. The draft RoE for 2007 greatly expands the number of proposed
indicators, covering many aspects of renewable and non-renewal systems. An assessment
in the 2007 draft RoE of the extent of indicators related to renewable resources notes that
a "major limitation of the environmental indicators presented here is that they provide
very little insight into ecological processes across the nation." Primary production, one of
the most basic processes, is captured to some degree in the Regional Indicator for the
southeast U.S. but is only indirectly reflected in the indicator of carbon storage.
Environmental indicators are lacking for primary production in aquatic systems, nutrient
cycling, secondary production, and reproduction and growth rate of populations. "This is
a key gap in understanding trends in ecological processes." 18
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
The Sustainability Research Strategy sharpens the focus on achieving sustainable
management of renewable resources by aiming at three goals: (1) defining clear measures
of sustainable renewable systems, (2) improving understanding of ecosystem processes,
and (3) developing and applying advanced systems models to assist decision-makers.
Efforts to achieve the first goal above must be tied to building consensus within EPA on
definitions and terms. Hence ORD is proposing to lead an EPA-wide effort to define
clear outcome goals and measures. Efforts to achieve the second goal depend on greater
coordination of existing efforts across ORD and Program and Regional Offices. Efforts to
achieve goal three depend on expanded in-house ORD research and on collaboration with
ORD customers and stakeholders.
27
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
In a step toward developing a definition of sustainable natural systems, EPA sponsored a
2005 workshop bringing together economists and other social scientists with physical
scientists.19 Participants in this workshop debated the definitions of sustainability related
to renewable resources and discussed how sustainability could be achieved. For example,
economist Herman Daly argued that the biosphere or natural capital sustains the
economy, which in turn supports quality of life (e.g. health, security, and the "pursuit of
happiness"). He further explained that the biosphere is the total natural system of
biogeochemical cycles powered by the sun. The economy, on the other hand, is the
subsystem dominated by transformations of matter and energy to a higher value state to
serve human purposes.
This vision of sustaining the biosphere or natural capital is a common thread in many
definitions of sustainability. The problem is that the current scale and quality of these
transformations interfere significantly with the biosphere, reducing its capacity to sustain
the economy and potentially limiting the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. This raises difficult questions, including the meaning of "sustaining the human
economy." Should sustaining imply a given level of throughput of matter and energy,
GDP, utility or welfare, total capital stock, or natural capital stock? Or does it mean
sustaining a given rate of growth of any one of these indicators? While workshop
participants generally recognized the need to sustain the biosphere, humans historically
have not always done well in this regard—as attested in Tared Diamond's compelling
review of ancient and modern societies whose depletion of natural resources have led to
their own destruction.20
An example of modeling work aimed at the second and third goals defined above—
improving the understanding of ecosystem processes and developing and applying
advanced systems models to assist decision-makers—is under development at ORD's
Corvallis Laboratory. This strongly customer-driven.research is seeking to develop a
method for determining the implications of alternative future scenarios, including
environmental effects such as changes in urbanization, agriculture, forestry, and physical
regimes. In Washington, Oregon and Idaho, local communities, state officials, and the
office of EPA Region 10 have identified sustainability as a key long-term objective. The
current population of 15 million in this region is expected to rise to 35 million by 2050
and to 65 million by 2100, bringing increases in the stressors on regional water supplies
and ecosystems.21 Many stakeholders in this region are seeking the best scientific
guidance to help plan future development. This is a clear case in which an ORD support
tool can help decision-makers achieve sustainable development.
Specific Research Questions to Address:
The UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and other reports on the health of natural
systems22, as well as previous BOSC and SAB recommendations, suggest the need for
research supporting a better understanding of several topics related to natural resource
protection:
• Specific sustainability outcome goals and measures for natural resource
systems,23
28
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Interactions between natural resource systems that may lead to unrecognized
side effects of management initiatives (e.g., loss of soil resilience due to
biomass over-harvesting),
• Improved understanding and quantification of natural carrying capacity under
various environmental conditions and human activity patterns,
• Dynamic modeling of linkages among anthropogenic and natural resource
systems in terms of material and energy flows,
• Trends that have been affecting and are likely to continue to affect the
ecological processes that sustain ecosystems,
• Future regional scenarios and integrated (land, water ecosystem) models to
assess impact on ecosystems and ecosystem services,
• Long-term chemical and biological interactions and cycles between air, land,
and water resources and their impact on biodiversity,
• The resilience and adaptability of ecosystems to change,
• Early warning signs of critical system overloads beyond natural variability,
and
• Demonstration and quantification of the value of ecosystem services.
Longer-term and shared questions
In addition and in the longer term, ORD can work with Program and Regional Offices
and other agencies to address a broader set of questions:
• What is the optimal rate and spatial scale of resource extraction and ecosystem
service utilization to ensure a natural system's capacity for renewal?
Conversely, what rates of resource extraction and service utilization are likely
to undermine a natural system's regenerative capability? What conditions
underlie the resilience of a natural system to different stressors?
• What management strategies can enhance a natural system's capacity for
renewal? How can a growing economy and a growing population coexist with
a natural system's capacity for renewal? What management strategies can
restore a degraded natural system's regenerative capabilities?
• How does the use of a renewable natural resource good or service impact a
surrounding ecosystem? What policies, laws, and economic incentives can
help to keep the use of such natural resource goods and services within
optimal rates while maintaining or enhancing the surrounding environment?
29
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Renewable Natural Resource Systems: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The United Nations-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), which was carried
out between 2001 and 2005, represents the scientific assessments of more than 2000 authors
and reviewers worldwide. The Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem
changes for human well-being and established a scientific basis for actions needed to enhance
the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. The MEA focused on the linkages (see
figure below) between ecosystems and human well-being and in particular on ecosystem
services. Experts engaged in this assessment concluded that "approximately 60% of the
ecosystem services examined are being degraded or used unsustainably, including fresh
water, captured fisheries, air and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local
climate, natural hazards and pests. Experts also noted that there is "established but incomplete
evidence that changes being made in ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of non-linear
changes in ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt and potentially irreversible changes)
that have important consequences for human well-being. Examples of such changes include
disease emergence, abrupt alteration in water quality, the creation of dead zones in coastal
waters, the collapse of fisheries and shifts in regional climates." MEA conclusions reinforce the
focus adopted in this ORD strategy (Chapter 5) on systems research and improving
understanding of the resilience of ecosystems.
Figure 4.1. Ecosystems Services and Weil-Being
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Provisioning
FOOD
FRESH WATER
WOOD AND FIBER
FUEL
Supporting
NUTRIENT CYCLING
SOIL FORMATION
PRIMARY PRODUCTION
Regulating
CLIMATE REGULATION
FLOOD REGULATION
DISEASE REGULATION
WATER PURIFICATION
Cultural
AESTHETIC
SPIRITUAL
EDUCATIONAL
RECREATIONAL
LIFE ON EARTH - BIODIVERSITY
CONSTITUENTS OFWELL-BEING
Security
PERSONAL SAFETY
SECURE RESOURCE ACCESS
SECURITY FROM DISASTERS
Basic material
for good life
ADEQUATE LIVELIHOODS
SUFFICIENT NUTRITIOUS FOOD
SHELTER
ACCESS TO GOODS
Health
STRENGTH
FEELING WELL
ACCESS TO CLEAN AJ R
AND WATER
Freedom
of choice
and action
OPPORTUNITY TO BE
ABLE TO ACHIEVE
WHAT AN INDIVIDUAL
VALUES DOING
AND BEING
Good social relations
SOCIAL COHESION
MUTUAL RESPECT
ABILITY TO HELP OTHERS
Scu rce: Mllennium Ecosystem Assessmenl
COLOR
Potential for mediation by
socioeconomic factors
Lew
^^B Medium
WIDTH
Intensity of linkages between ecosystem
services and human well-being
. Weak
Medium
&1rong
30
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
2. Non-renewable Resource Conservation (Energy and Materials)
Link to Sustainability Outcomes
Non-renewable resource stocks (e.g., petroleum) are finite; once they are exhausted they
cannot be replenished rapidly, and need to be replaced by other forms of natural capital.
This creates a tension between use of non-renewable resources and harvesting of the
renewable resources discussed in the previous section.
Non-renewable natural resource conservation relates most strongly to energy and
materials outcomes; however, during the life cycles of energy and material use there are
impacts upon human health and other Sustainability outcomes. Each phase of non-
renewable energy production (exploration, extraction, refining, transporting, and storing)
and consumption affects the quality of air, the quality and availability of water, global
climate, short- and long-term use of land, resiliency of ecosystems, and future availability
of non-renewable energy and materials. Similarly, the product life cycles for non-
renewable material extraction and waste disposal relate to land. Other stages of material
lifecycles (material and product manufacturing, use, and recycling or disposal) affect air,
water, land, and ecosystem Sustainability. Issues related to green chemistry and toxicity
and health impacts are discussed in the next section on Chemical and Biological Impacts.
General Problem Statement and Needs
There are a number of Sustainability challenges associated with the use of non-renewable
resources. First, society could entirely deplete the supply of resources that are currently
scarce; or the cost and/or environmental impact of extracting the relatively inaccessible
resources could become prohibitive. Second, overall lifecycle emissions into the air,
water, and land of particular resources and/or their waste byproducts could lead to long-
term environmental stressors. Both of these cases apply to the problem of global warming
caused by emissions from fossil fuel combustion—which has been called the "capstone
environmental issue" of our generation. Climate change has implications for ecosystem
services and human health as it affects economic activity and many important underlying
environmental conditions (e.g., air quality, adequate water supplies, and biodiversity).
Any effort to cope with these implications must be closely aligned with society's goals
with regard to Sustainability.
Sustainable use of non-renewable resources can be addressed by applying new
technologies, achieving greater efficiencies in energy production and use, more
efficiently safely using materials, reducing waste, recycling non-renewable resources,
substituting renewable resources for non-renewable resources (e.g., biomass to energy),
or dematerialization.
Numerous policy directives and reports have recommended research in these fields. In
Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001), the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS) recommended "developing] a quantitative understanding of the global budget of
materials widely used by humanity and how the life cycles of these materials ... may be
modified." In Materials Count: The Case for Material Flows Analysis (2004), the NAS
called for research in recommended material flows that "explores tools and analytical
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
approaches to studying stocks and flows that vary over space and time, that treats
multiple organizational levels, and that explores the complexities of cycles linked by
nature, by technology, or by a combination of the two." In a review of industrial ecology,
EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) identified the need for research supporting a better
understanding in several vital areas:
• The potential for and limitations of dematerialization,
• Substitution of scarce or hazardous materials with those that are plentiful and
benign,
• Recycling and reuse, and
• Substitution of services for products.24
EPA and ORD Work to Build On
This research supports a greater emphasis on material management and life cycle
assessment by EPA's Program and Regional Offices. The Resource Conservation
Challenge (RCC) developed by EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER) embraces the concepts of conserving and recovering waste, thus prolonging
and expanding the use of finite non-renewable resources.25 RCC has emphasized
preventing and minimizing waste through changes in processes and human behavior, as
well as optimizing waste as a material resource through recycling, reuse, and, as a last
resort, waste-to-energy conversion. Research related to the technical feasibility, cost, and
environmental assessments of such technologies would be critical for these technologies
to take hold. Improving industrial processes and encouraging green design that moves
away from using non-renewable resources will also be important to achieving sustainable
outcomes.
In its review of the ORD's proposed 2007 budget, the SAB (March 30, 2006) specifically
commented on the RCC and its links to sustainability: "The Board believes that it is
possible to articulate Sustainability-RCC research, budgets, strategies and plans in a way
that shows their relationships, and their individual focus, e.g., the RCC might provide the
basis for the kinds of research needed as drawn from connections with EPA's partners,
and the Sustainability Research might focus on using the best and most appropriate
research tools."
The breadth of energy, material, and biomass issues impacts many existing ORD, EPA
and interagency programs. For example, EPA's Global Change Research Program
(GCRP) contributes to assessing the potential consequences of climate change for air and
water quality, ecosystems, and human health. This program seeks to improve the
scientific basis for evaluating the risks and opportunities presented by global change in
the context of other stressors. Using the results of these evaluations, EPA is investigating
options for enhancing resiliency in order to change and improve society's ability to
respond to these risks and opportunities.
32
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Current ORD efforts under the Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS) research
program (formerly the Pollution Prevention Program) are focusing on life cycle methods
and material flow analysis which contribute to a more effective understanding of resource
and energy accounting, innovative technologies for conversions from biomass to energy,
and modeling of energy options and impacts on regional air emissions. The P3 (People,
Planet, Prosperity) student design competition (described in Chapter 6) is aimed at
stimulating new technology and innovation on college campuses.
The Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE) extramural grant program—
operated jointly by EPA and NSF for a decade—supported innovative academic research
that developed alternative energy and materials from renewable feedstocks,
manufacturing processes using less energy and material input, and innovative uses of
waste and recycled materials as substitutes for virgin non-renewable materials.
ORD is also supporting research addressing the implications of the wide-scale use of
non-renewable materials. For example, ORD's MARKAL (MARKet Allocation) model
has been adopted and used by the New England states to provide analyses needed to
make energy/technology decisions to assess current and future energy technology (see
box).
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
The Sustainability Research Strategy supports a new focus on energy-materials-
environment research and connections with other ORD research strategies and MYPs.
This element of the ORD Research Strategy has a clear focus in the new STS MYP.
Other research elements will be pursed through partnerships with EPA Program and
Regional Offices and with other Federal agencies.
The Long-Term Goals identified in the STS MYP will provide a core framework for
achieving sustainable outcomes in non-renewable resources. This will include focused
research on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to
evaluate environmental releases from industrial systems; application of numerous energy-
related models that will assess the regional impacts on air emissions of many fuel-mix
energy options; and new industrial methods and alternate chemicals and industrial
practices (as described for Green Chemistry and Engineering in the next section),
particularly the substitution of renewable for non-renewable energy and materials.
Specifically, this work will focus on the following research questions:
• What innovative technologies can be developed to improve the efficiency of
non-renewable resource consumption (e.g., closed-loop recycling)?
• What are suitable metrics for capturing the broad, life cycle impacts and
benefits of non-renewable resource conservation?
• For different sectors, what re-engineering processes can be designed to
manage production and supply chains in a more sustainable manner?
33
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• What opportunities exist to replace non-renewable with renewable feedstocks
and materials in an environmentally beneficial manner? Conversely, how can
we ensure that societal shifts in material use—such as from petroleum to
renewable feedstocks for energy and materials—do not lead to unforeseen and
unsustainable consequences?
• How can life cycle assessment be made more efficient, reliable, and
comprehensive so that it will more effectively inform design decisions that
lead to sustainable products?
• How can organizations access leverage points in materials, energy-use cycles
so that the environmental benefits of such practices as pollution prevention,
green chemistry, green engineering, environmental management accounting,
and life cycle management are experienced on a regional or larger scale?
Long-Term and Shared Questions
ORD will also work with partners in other agencies towards addressing broader and long-
term questions. These questions specifically focus on a broader understanding of the
Sustainability implications and opportunities of economy-wide patterns and evolution in
non-renewable resource use, as well as opportunities and challenges posed by emerging
technologies and other societal transformations.
For example, USDA and DOE are pursuing an expanded role for biomass as a source of
energy to displace 30 percent or more to the country's present petroleum consumption.26
EPA is collaborating with these partners to ensure that resulting agricultural intensity and
other shifts in the economy do not lead to diminished water quality or other unintended
environmental consequences.
EPA also plans to work in a multi-agency group (including NSF, DOE, and DOI/USGS)
that is pursuing the development of material flow tools and analyses to inform
environmental, natural resource, economic, and security policies.
• What are the patterns and driving forces of societal use of non-renewable
resources?
• How can global scenarios of future industrial development and associated
environmental implications be developed?
• In what materials, products, places, and time scales can we expect significant
change in material and energy use or their impacts?
• How can resource availability or depletion be characterized in a way that takes
into account the potential for substitution and technological change?
• What tools are needed to develop, test, and measure the life cycle of a full
suite of technologies for biomass-to-energy conversion?
34
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
How can materials flow analysis and related methods provide better insights
into opportunities for sustainability improvement?
What tools can be used to operationalize the concept of industrial ecology,
enabling a systems understanding of energy and material flows?
The Transition from Non-Renewable Energy:
Application of the MARKAL Model to Evaluate Energy Sustainability
In cooperation with several stakeholders, EPA has adopted the MARKAL (for MARKet
Allocation) model to assess current and future energy technology options. This
comprehensive energy/economic model simulates a national, regional, or state-level energy
system by representing the interactions between resource supply, conversion processes (e.g.,
refineries and power plants), end-use technologies (e.g., classes of light-duty personal vehicles
or heat pumps), and demand for energy services (e.g., projected vehicle miles traveled or
space heating). An extensive international research community has used MARKAL to develop
strategies for addressing acid rain, climate change, and other environmental challenges. The
EPA's national MARKAL model determines the least-cost pattern of technology investment and
utilization required to meet specified demands while satisfying model constraints (e.g.,
emissions caps), and calculates the resulting criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions
through approximately 2050.
ORD is using its MARKAL model to help the Air Quality Assessment segment of EPA's Global
Change Research Program develop and analyze scenarios of technological change in the
transportation and electric power sectors. The research aims to understand how technology
evolution could impact future air emissions and to develop and provide an in-house
energy/technology assessment capacity.
New England MARKAL Project
Recognizing that states and regional entities need tools to assess the energy-technology
nexus and related environmental policies, EPA has also sponsored development of a New
England version of its national MARKAL model. This experience has provided an example of
how the MARKAL model can provide useful analyses and tools to states and regions that need
to make energy/technology decisions.
Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) is
developing, hosting, and running the model. Each of the six New
England states is each modeled as its own region, with a focus on
air quality and climate issues. EPA has sponsored the NESCAUM
model development, but not analysis of the model results.
NESCAUM is currently adding New York, New Jersey and
Delaware to its geographic scope, and will later add Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
The MARKAL model lends itself to the assessment of sustainable energy use. The model, for
instance, can be used to identify potential orderly transitions to sustainability energy pathways
between now and mid-century. The resulting energy technology scenarios can assist in
examining metrics such as these:
• Emission trajectories;
• The rate of growth in end-use energy consumption;
• The extent of non-renewable energy depletion;
35
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Socio-economic impacts (e.g., the cost of energy);
• Component technology readiness, performance, and costs, as well as the
magnitude of uncertainty in each; and
• Research, development, and deployment needs.
When combined with analyses from General Equilibrium Models of the U.S. and global
economies, the MARKAL results can provide valuable insights about possible energy supply
trajectories that meet different sustainability goals.
3. Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts (Sustainable Use of Non-Toxic
Material and Protecting Human Health)
Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The combined goals of achieving sustainable outcomes in material use, shifting to
environmentally preferable materials, and protecting human health all relate to assessing
and eliminating harmful chemical and biological materials. Nationally and
internationally, research on nanomaterials, green chemistry, and genomics are at the
frontiers of science. It is well known that variations in toxicity, reactivity, flammability,
environmental fate, bioaccumulation, and persistence will alter the ultimate impact of
different substances on the environment. In addition, the geographic location, flow rate,
and medium of discharge can introduce significant uncertainties with regard to the
environmental impact of such releases. Continuing research is needed to understand the
long-term chemical and biological impacts of the releases.
General Problem Statement and Needs
This theme of long-term chemical and biological impacts (which complements research
on resource conservation) focuses on two major areas: assessing chemical and biological
impacts and substituting benign chemicals for toxic chemicals through green chemistry
and new technologies, including nanotechnology.
Chemical toxicity has long been central to EPA's mission. The inability of the
environment to assimilate certain chemical compounds over time has serious implications
for sustainability. A chemical pollutant released to the environment at a rate greater than
the environment's ability to recycle, absorb, or render it harmless is considered to be
persistent. Other chemical compounds have a tendency to concentrate in the tissues of
living organisms in the process of bioaccumulation. Chemicals that are either persistent
or bioaccumulative increase the potential for adverse effects to human health and/or the
environment because they can result in high levels of exposure. Chemicals that are both
persistent and bioaccumulative result in the highest levels of exposure and thus present
the greatest challenge to sustainability. To achieve a sustainable outcome, release of
persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals to the environment must be stopped.
The scope and magnitude of the challenge for sustainable management of chemicals is
illustrated by data from EPA's High Volume Production Program: "Of the 3,000
chemicals that the U.S. imports or produces at more than 1 million Ibs/yr, a new EPA
analysis finds that 43% of these high-production-volume chemicals have no testing data
36
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
on basic toxicity and only seven percent have a full set of basic test data. This lack of test
data compromises the public's right to know about the chemicals that are found in their
environment, their homes, their workplaces, and the products that they buy. Industry must
do more to ensure that basic information is available on every high-production chemical
they manufacture."27
The fields of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering are central to reducing chemical
impacts and achieving more sustainable alternatives for non-renewable resource systems
(see previous section). These fields address the design of molecules, products, processes,
and systems that use safer chemicals and materials; use materials, water, and energy
efficiently; and/or reduce the generation of waste at the source. Green Engineering and
Green Chemistry are generally played out on a product-by-product or a process-by-
process basis. Materials flow-based tools such as Life Cycle Assessment and Materials
Flow Analysis can link the use and processing of materials to potential implications for
resource Sustainability and can inform improvements in the use of materials and design of
products.
In Sustainability in the Chemical Industry (2006), the National Academy of Sciences
outlined numerous relevant research challenges for chemistry and chemical engineering
"that will help achieve the broader goals of Sustainability." Many of their
recommendations relate to issues discussed above and in the section on non-renewable
resources (biomass conversions).
EPA and ORD Work to Build On
ORD has extensive efforts on chemical and biological risk, green chemistry and
industrial ecology. In partnership with NSF, ORD managed a decade-long program on
Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE). TSE supported fundamental and
applied research leading to the discovery, development, and evaluation of advanced and
novel environmentally preferable chemicals, materials, processes, and systems. While
new grants are no longer being funded, the program is continuing to synthesize and
measure results, preparing for the next generation program.
Specific goals related to reducing chemical and pesticide risks are given in the Draft
2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan Architecture document.28 Significant efforts are under
way to reduce uncertainty regarding the effects, exposure, assessment and management
of endocrine disrupters, to identify priority health hazards, and to screen new chemicals
for potential toxicity.
ORD's new efforts in Computational Toxicology bring the latest advances in
mathematical and computer modeling and biological sciences to prioritize, screen and
evaluate chemicals by enhancing the ability to predict chemical toxicities. ORD's
computation toxicology work is at the frontier of genomic research and offers great
potential for more sustainable products in the future. 29
Similarly, ORD and EPA efforts to assess the application of nanotechnology to
developing more efficient and sustainable products are also substantial. In a recent Draft
37
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Nanotechnology White Paper, EPA scientists assessed the risks and benefits associated
with nanotechnology. One key recommendation of the White Paper is that: EPA should
engage resources and expertise to encourage, support, and develop approaches that
promote pollution prevention, sustainable resource use, and good product stewardship in
the production and use of nanomaterials." 30
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
What can the sustainability research focus add to these and other existing programs? As
discussed in the section on non-renewables the new SRS serves to partner with the
regulated community as they seek to implement more efficient, sustainable, and
protective practices, materials, and technologies that result in improved environmental
stewardship. A new era of research, often with industrial partners, is focused on new
industrial methods, alternate chemicals and industrial practices, and on Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to evaluate environmental
releases from industrial systems. Important new research efforts in existing ORD and
EPA Program and Regional Offices are also underway to evaluate the green production
of nanomaterials, including a life cycle assessment of nanomaterial production, and in
developing decision support tools for bench chemists to evaluate the environmental
dimensions of new chemicals and production pathways. Examples of potential research
areas include:
• Develop and apply innovative chemical transformations utilizing green and
sustainable chemistry and engineering.
• Improve the yield, safety, and specificity of chemical processes by identifying
appropriate solvents, controlling thermal conditions and purity, and recovering
process catalysts or byproducts
• Formulate products that reduce waste and that are environmentally benign.
• Develop life cycle tools to compare the total environmental impacts of
products generated from different processing routes and conditions.
• Develop improved or accelerated methods for understanding the toxicology,
kinetics, fate, and persistence of chemical substances.
• Develop and implement models for the efficient application of LCA methods
to new products and technologies including nanomaterials, green chemistry
and engineering
• Develop and implement systems level methodologies and technologies for
applying material flow analysis to complex industrial networks.
• Develop improved methods for systems analysis of material flows that reflect
the differences in health and environmental impacts of different substances.
38
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
4. Human-built Systems and Land Use (Sustainable Land Use and the Built
Environment)
Link to Stewardship Sustainability Outcomes
Research related to the Built Environment and Land Use, while primarily directed toward
sustainable land management, also serves to integrate nearly all of the Sustainability goals
discussed in chapter 2. The operation of numerous and diverse human-built systems (e.g.,
buildings, cities, water distribution, energy, agriculture, and transportation) is
fundamentally dependent on the health of the natural systems that provide humanity with
critical ecosystem services. While broad in content, this theme will focus on land renewal
and restoration, decision-support tools for urban land development, and life cycle
assessments for land use and building design. Research under this theme complements
research described previously under Natural Resource Protection.
General Problem Statement and Needs
In the past, little or no concern was given to the ability of human-built systems to
seriously impair or destroy the natural infrastructure. However, with the growth of urban
populations over the last century, the evidence demonstrates that can human-built
systems can cause significant harm to ecosystems and to ecosystems' ability to provide
critical services. As human-built systems continue to grow at rapid rates, they can
threaten the ability of the planet's entire ecosystem to function at the highest, most
resilient level.
Direct environmental impacts of current development patterns include habitat loss and
fragmentation and also degradation of water resources and water quality. Building on
undeveloped land destroys and fragments habitat and thus displaces or eliminates wildlife
communities. The construction of impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops leads to
the degradation of water quality by increasing runoff volume, altering regular stream
flow and watershed hydrology, reducing groundwater recharge, and increasing stream
sedimentation and water acidity. A one-acre parking lot produces a runoff volume almost
16 times as large as that produced by an undeveloped meadow of the same size.
Development claimed more than half of the wetlands in the lower 48 states between the
late 1700s and the mid-1980s. It is clear that achieving urban Sustainability is a challenge
that crosses many EPA and Federal agency programs.
Yet our understanding of these system-wide impacts remains limited. As a result, it has
become increasingly important to gain new knowledge of the relationship between
human-built systems and natural systems at all spatial scales.31 Ultimately, a sustainable
outcome is one that seeks to develop and maintain human-built systems so that they
operate in close harmony with the natural systems on which they depend. A key goal is to
develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between human and natural systems.
This concern was posed in the National Research Council's 2001 report, Grand
Challenges in Environmental Sciences,32 which identified three issues as particularly
relevant to Sustainability: management of biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem functioning,
and the dynamics of land use.
39
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
EPA AND ORD Work to Build On
Sustainable land use is a cross-cutting EPA issue. Land restoration and preservation are
key elements of an existing ORD research strategy that emphasizes restoring
contaminated sites, protecting existing land uses and responding to "short-term problem
driven research areas" (BOSC, January 2006).33 The current research emphasis clearly
reflects existing pressures to restore contaminated sites and address urgent agricultural
and land pollution issues. Many current EPA-wide efforts on contaminated sites are
however being significantly reduced. While recognizing that "elimination of mature
programs that can be assumed by the private sector or other agencies is justified" (SAB
Draft Review of FY 07 Proposed Budget (March 30, 2006), the SAB expressed concern
about possible loss of knowledge and skills associated with these programs. In a recent
review of the ORD land restoration and preservation research program, BOSC identified
areas where "the relevance of the land research program can be enhanced, including
"more strategic, forward-looking research on emerging issues in anticipating of future
issues and concerns." These combined reviews suggest that a transition period in land
preservation program is timely. Elements of this transformation to a forward-looking
vision are already emerging.
ORD research supports OSWER's Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC) through
assessing performance of waste minimization projects, multimedia modeling, and
evaluation of beneficial reuse of materials. As the principal client of this research,
OSWER is increasing its emphasis to land restoration (and protection) aiming toward
Sustainability outcomes. Since its inception in 1995, EPA's Brownfields Program has
addressed how to restore to productive use the more than 450,000 contaminated
brownfield properties in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties
promotes Sustainability by boosting local tax bases, facilitating job growth, utilizing
existing infrastructure, lessening development pressure on undeveloped land, and
improving and protecting the environment.
Land revitalization is one area where extensive community outreach and partnership is
necessary. ORD's current research is attempting to create decision-support tools to
promote sustainable land development. The Sustainable Management Approaches and
Revitalization Tools (SMARTe) program, which is now in Beta testing, is an open-
source, web-based decision-support system for developing and evaluating future reuse
scenarios for potentially contaminated land.34 SMARTe includes guidance and analysis
tools for all aspects of the revitalization process including planning and environmental,
economic, and social concerns. Since 1990, ORD has been working with the German
Federal Ministry for Education and Research on models of land restoration and
development. Work under this bilateral agreement is now moving toward development of
Sustainability criteria for revitalization activities.
Significant efforts by EPA and other Federal agencies are also underway to promote
green building design, land revitalization, and smart growth policies. An online inventory
of many EPA programs in these areas is available at www.epa.gov/sustainabillity.
Executive Orders related to Federal management of buildings can be found at
40
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
www.ofee.gov/eo/eo.httn). ORD research on life cycle assessment has led to
development of an assessment model that the U.S. Green Building Council has adapted
(see box below). A significant focus on urban-health issues also exists in many ORD
research strategies. Other important ORD and OSWER efforts are also underway on
brownfield redevelopment and urban renewal to sustainable redevelopment.
Tool for the Reduction and Assessment
of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI)
TRACI is an impact assessment tool that quantifies the potential for environmental impacts in
several categories: stratospheric ozone depletion, global warming, acidification, eutrophication,
smog formation, human health-cancer, human health-non-cancer, criteria pollutants, ecotoxicity,
and fossil fuel depletion.
The U.S. Green Building Council, the "nation's leading coalition of corporations, builders,
universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations working together to promote
buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work,"
has selected TRACI as the basis of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
certification. LEED certification is encouraged or required for certain public construction projects
in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and
Washington.
Many Federal agencies and local governments mandate LEED certification for public
construction. LEED certification currently affects over 213 million gross square feet of new
construction. By using TRACI in its LEED certification process, decision-makers can take into
account scientifically-based environmental impacts associated with building renovation and
construction projects. The result will be a more sustainable built environment. (See
www.epa.qov/ORD/NRMRL/std/sab/traci/index.html')
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
How can the focus on sustainability research add to ongoing ORD work? Many decisions
with respect to urban development, land use, and provision of public services are made at
state and local levels and in tribal communities. What happens at these levels is thus an
important yardstick for measuring progress on sustainability.
The growing enthusiasm for sustainability at state and local levels is encouraging and
presents new challenges for research by ORD, which has the technical, monitoring, and
analytic capability to help decision-makers at all levels of government choose courses of
action that will lead to achieving sustainable outcomes.35 The sustainability focus and this
Research Strategy are directed to key customers and stakeholders who can most benefit
from ORD research capabilities. In many ways, ORD's ability to identify research to
inform stewardship solutions is intimately tied to partnering and collaborating with state,
local, and tribal decision-makers. An example is the Sustainable Environment for Quality
of Life Program (SEQL) program, in which ORD is a key player, developing scientific
models such as REVA to support sustainable land development. ORD's research supports
quantification of potential and actual impacts, including cross-sectoral and cross-
jurisdictional analyses and analyses of "what-if scenarios.
41
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Sustainable Environment for Quality Of Life (SEQL)
Projected 2020 Land Cover, Scenario 2
SUSlAIHABLt
fiVV7#OA'M£jVr
fir QUALITY
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Key elements of the implementing Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS)
MYP will focus on environmental impact modeling, including development of new
impact models to characterize land use and smog formation and on collaborative
partnerships with many government and non-government partners to directly apply
innovative systems-based approaches to urban and tribal planning. Direct ORD supported
research can address the following immediate research questions.
• What tools can decision-makers use to assess the potential impacts of land
use, landscaping, and building design decisions on community well-being and
environmental quality?
• What levels and types of human activities can be conducted within a given
spatial area (such as a watershed or ecosystem) without critically and
adversely altering biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning?
• What Sustainability criteria should be developed to guide urban land
development and future revitalization efforts?
• What core set of principles can best be used to guide the design, construction,
and management of human systems (such as land use, buildings, and
transportation systems) in a manner that protects natural systems (such as
habitats) and their properties (such as biodiversity) and functions?
• How do systems of land use, transportation, trade, and commerce contribute to
the spread of invasive species and exotic pathogens? What actions can EPA
take to manage this process?
• What applications of new and emerging technologies can enhance building
design efficiencies and restoration of contaminated sites?
• What are the tradeoffs between resilience of the built environment (e.g.,
capacity to survive natural disasters) and ecological resilience?
5. Economics and Human Behavior (Advancing Stewardship, Education, and
Informed Decision-Making)
Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The sustainable management of natural and man-made systems is in part a question of
choice and behavior. For this reason, economics and the behavioral sciences are key
elements in EPA's overall approach to implementing the goals of Everyday Choices and
achieving sustainable outcomes.
General Problem Statement and Needs
OMB and Congress are increasingly requiring more and better economic analyses as
necessary components of the policy process used in EPA Program and Regional Offices
43
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
and in other Federal regulatory agencies. The pressure to improve the economic
efficiency of environmental regulations is driven not only by efforts to downsize
government, but also by increased global competition. Recognition of the need for a
diversified policy portfolio, including the use of voluntary and information disclosure
programs and market mechanisms (especially trading) in place of traditional regulations,
has also been increasing. At the same time, more research is necessary to understand the
motivations of individuals and firms with respect to preserving environmental quality.
Such an understanding can greatly increase the efficiency and efficacy of next-generation
environmental policies. Economics and Decision Science (EDS) research is essential to
this enterprise.
Economists are beginning to deal with the question of environmental Sustainability and
human carrying capacity as a central premise for economic development.37 Economists
and conservationists are also exploring ways to value ecosystem services and develop
economic incentives. This is an important area for research since "markets" for
ecosystem services do not generally exist. Owners of ecologically valuable land can
generate more revenue from traditional land development than from generating
ecological services. ORD funded extramural research is underway in EDS to understand
why individuals, firms, and institutions behave as they do, what motivates them to change
their behavior, and how government regulations, public information, corporate reporting,
and public pressures interact to generate public policy (see box on follow ing page).
EPA and ORD Work to Build On
Much of EPA's economic and social research has been the subject of review and
assessment by the SAB and National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The SAB routinely
comments on specific analyses and suggests needs for research that are incorporated into
research planning. EPA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) also commissioned
the NAS report Decision-Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science
Research Priorities. The ensuing recommendations have been incorporated into ORD's
Environmental Economics Research Strategy (EERS), which was published in 2005. The
EERS has five basic research areas:38
• Health Benefit Evaluation,
• Ecosystem Benefit Evaluation,
• Environmental Behavior and Decision-Making,
• Market Mechanisms and Incentives, and
• Benefits of Environmental Information Disclosure.
Implementation of this research program is coordinated closely with economists
throughout EPA, including researchers in OPEI's National Center for Environmental
Economics, who conduct most of the Agency's internal economics research. Because of
the broad need for better economic analyses, this research has clients in virtually every
44
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
EPA office, including OAR, OW, OSWER, OPPTS, OPEI, OECA, OEI, and the Office
of Children's Health Protection, as well as many Regions. Other Federal, state and local
government agencies, as well as private organizations, also use the results of EDS
research.
Next Steps for ORD through this Strategy
The SRS and EERS research strategies are complementary in approach and significantly
contribute to EPA's focus on stewardship and sustainability. The SRS presents a
framework that highlights research areas of importance to support a forward-looking,
integrated, and preventive approach to environmental protection. It guides the integration
of relevant research across ORD, as well as connections inside and outside EPA. On the
other hand, the EERS presents a focused analysis of agency research priorities in
Economics and Decision Sciences. EERS research priorities dovetail nicely with the SRS
framework (see Chapter 6). Collectively, the strategies will address a set of important
questions:
• What factors increase or reduce motivation for sustainable behavior among
individuals, firms, and organizations? How can we better integrate economic
and ecological models to inform environmentally sustainable decisions? What
is the relationship between environmental sustainability indicators and
measures of economic value?
• What are non-market ecosystem services, what is their value, and what
ongoing factors are affecting their supply? To what extent can human-
produced capital substitute for natural capital?
• How can economic instruments (e.g., trading schemes, auctions, and taxes) be
devised which incorporate as fully as possible society's concerns for
sustainability into resource allocation decisions?
• What should be the role of intergenerational discounting in benefit-cost
analysis?
• How can ecological resilience and the potential for "surprise" be incorporated
in the selection and assessment of policy interventions?
The Stability of Values for Ecosystem Services:
Tools for Evaluating the Potential for Benefits Transfers
This research, funded by an EPA STAR grant at Michigan State University for 2004-200739.
develops empirical procedures for understanding how people in different U.S. regions value
wetland ecosystem services. These procedures are used to test hypotheses about the
possibility of successful benefit transfers. The research builds on extensive stated-preference
research, conducted in Michigan with partial EPA STAR grant funding. The research used
cognitive group and individual interviews to identify highly valued wetland ecosystem services,
developed a web-based stated preference questionnaire, and tested how changes in
45
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
ecosystem quality influenced respondents' choices and values. Similar methods were used to
complete a mail survey in Michigan with the same ecosystem choices. The current project
leverages the previous Michigan research by testing its transferability and developing cost-
effective tools for timely assessments of the potential for benefit transfer.
This research will yield novel tools for evaluating the prospects of benefits transfer. Focus
groups are being tested for their ability to identify highly valued ecosystem concepts. Cognitive
interviews will be explored as a tool for assessing the interregional transferability of stated-
choice instruments. The quantitative research will yield wetland ecosystem values for four U.S.
regions, with the potential to yield a national benefit transfer function
6. Information and Decision-Making (Monitoring and Measuring for Sustainable
Outcomes)
Link to Sustainability Outcome
Everyday Choices recognizes that our nation's natural resources are the common property
of all Americans of this and future generations, and that collective action is needed to
ensure that these resources are adequately protected. Decision-makers and the general
public need to know how key environmental indicators are changing and how critical
thresholds can be avoided, as well as the likely consequences of proposed actions and
possible alternative actions. Land-based and satellite monitoring systems and derived
environmental information address the first need; scenario development and a variety of
models and tools address the second.
Key to promoting Sustainability is a clear understanding of proposed outcomes. In the
Everyday Choices report, EPA senior managers identified sustainable outcomes in six
resources areas relevant to EPA's mission (see Chapter 2, Table 2.1}—the first explicit
statement of EPA senior leadership focused on Sustainability outcomes for the nation.
The Sustainability goals in energy, water, air, land, ecosystems and materials provide an
important starting point for discussion of appropriate Sustainability goals and how they
should be measured. A clear next step is to define these goals and metrics in sharper
detail.
General Problem Statement and Needs
This last research theme integrates many of the ideas discussed for the previous five
themes. Achieving the sustainable outcomes defined in this Research Strategy is critically
dependent on a comprehensive information infrastructure including these features:
Systematic monitoring, collecting, and assimilation of data into user-friendly information
systems to serve the needs of decision-makers, as outlined in the Millennium Ecosystem
Report and the evolving international Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems
(GEOSS) program.40 GEOSS' vision is to realize a future in which decisions and actions
are informed by coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained Earth observations and
information. GEOSS will "take the pulse of the planet" by compiling a system of all
databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing our understanding of how Earth works. Over
time, GEOSS will contribute greatly to Sustainability by providing important scientific
46
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
information for sound policy and decision-making in every sector of society. EPA is
contributing to GEOSS though its leadership in both the international Group on Earth
Observations (GEO) and the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (US GEO) and has
launched a new FY 2006 Advanced Monitoring Initiative (AMI).
Developing decision-support tools designed to help policy-makers, corporate officials,
engineers, and local and regional planners to identify and implement Sustainability
options, such as those identifies in this and other ORD Strategies. ORD has a long history
of developing and applying models and tools to support decision-making; many of these
tools (such as ReVA) have been discussed in previous sections. The Environmental
Science Connector (ESC)—a new ORD gateway to environmental science models, data,
publications and library resources and other tools—is being developed. The Connector is
designed for all EPA users to share information with EPA scientists and with external
stakeholders. The ESC can support ORD's stewardship plans by streamlining
communications and providing access to a variety of resources and tools. The portal is
now being tested for launch in June 2006. Future milestones include additional
collaboration tools, including discussion forums, project announcements, and unified
science information search providing the ability to access and store resources from
ORD's Environmental Information Management System (EIMS) and with Northern
Light (the new Agency search engine). .
Developing clear Sustainability outcome goals and metrics and indicators, which are
necessary in order to establish benchmark values and measure progress. As sustainable
choices are made; the metrics and indicators must be unambiguous and robust, and
should utilize cost-effective data sources.
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
EPA's focus on environmental stewardship toward sustainable outcomes is a unifying
theme for ORD. Several ORD programs—Sustainability, Economics and Decision
Sciences (EDS), Climate Change Sciences Program (CCSP) and GEOSS/AMI—with the
partnerships and innovation within them are building an ORD and EPA foundation for
advancing stewardship. The strategic plans and implementation plans for these programs
all have a focus on "enabling better decisions," which is the heart of stewardship. Each of
these is progressing toward building significant advancements into decision-making:
EDS, a behavioral science foundation; Sustainability, a system-oriented approach to
complex environmental issues; CCSP, advancing scientific understanding of the Earth's
systems and GEOSS/AMI, real-time observations of the Earth systems. Thus the
integrated potential for these programs is to form a substantial decision-support base for
EPA as it makes use of stewardship to augment its other programs and move toward
Sustainability over the next decade.
ORD has a sound foundation of available models and tools for supporting sound
decision-making. Many of these models are elements of a more comprehensive systems
approach to environmental management. The ability to link biochemical, water, and land
models into comprehensive integrated models and applying them to different future
scenarios is a major research challenge.41 ORD has begun to systematically review all its
47
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
models and tools and to assess their application for advancing sustainability. The next
steps clearly involve developing integrated biogeochemical land and air models tied
closely to user applications.
Building on the support base for the Draft Report on the Environment (RoE), the
sustainability focus of EPA goals enables it to identify a new set of sustainability
indicators. ORD plays a significant role in identifying and ensuring quality control of
indicators in the RoE. An extensive inter-Office network and process exists to identify
potential indicators and ensure their reliability. Currently the RoE provides snapshots of
the existing environmental state. Metrics are defined in relation to clearly stated questions
such as, "What are the conditions and current trends of surface waters?" and "What are
the trends in the ecological processes that sustain the nation's ecological systems?" As
EPA moves toward identifying a set of clearly articulated questions related to sustainable
outcomes—such as "How sustainable are the nation's water supplies?"—then research
can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and ensuring their quality.
The research foundation and inter-Office support necessary to identify sustainability
indicators is substantial, and will accordingly require substantial human and budgetary
resources. Work on defining sustainability metrics, to establish the foundation for the
creation and development of new science-based sustainability metrics and indicators,
with an emphasis on the role of applied decision theory, is just beginning. Several major
questions must be addressed:
• What are appropriate sustainability goals for energy, water, air, land,
materials, and ecosystems?
• What are the most appropriate trends, indicators, and metrics to measure
society's progress towards reaching sustainable outcomes?
• What data are needed to construct sustainability indicators and metrics and
how can the data be effectively and efficiently collected?
This chapter has identified six system-oriented research themes that are foundations for
achieving sustainable outcomes in energy, water, air, land, materials, and ecosystem
resources. The chapter has identified how the Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS)
builds on existing ORD programs. The STS MYP builds a substantial decision-support
base for EPA as it uses stewardship to move toward sustainability over the next decade.
The next two chapters identify objectives of the implementation road map for the SRS.
48
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The key goal of this Strategy is to promote sustainability research that generates a wider
array of options for decision-makers, enhancing their ability to choose courses of action
that will lead to sustainable outcomes. This chapter described five objectives to be sought
in advancing the sustainability research that was outlined in Chapter 4, including
effectively transferring research findings to decision-makers.
The five objectives represent areas of strong ORD competence, enable synthesis of a
holistic knowledge foundation for sustainability, and complement one another in
informing programs and decisions within and outside EPA. These are the five objectives:
• Systems Understanding. Understand the interconnections, resilience, and
vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built
environment, and human society.
• Decision-Support Tools. Design and develop scientific tools and models to
assist decision-makers.
• Technologies. Identify and develop inherently benign and less resource-
intensive materials, energy sources, processes, products, and systems,
particularly for emerging technologies.
• Collaborative Decision-Making. Develop an understanding of motivations for
decision-making and develop approaches to collaborative problem solving.
• Metrics and Indicators. Develop metrics and indicators to measure and track
progress toward sustainability goals, send early warning of potential problems
to decision-makers, and highlight opportunities for improvement.
Figure 5.1 is a logic diagram that illustrates the role of these research objectives (shaded
in green). The objectives are interrelated but are not parallel. A systems understanding
informs the development of research in decision-support tools, technologies, and
collaborative decision-making, which in turn inform policies and programs implemented
by customers and collaborators (shaded in yellow), including business and industry,
communities, government, and individuals. At a smaller scale, metrics and indicators
enable customers and collaborators to measure progress. At a larger scale, metrics and
indicators can be used to assess and measure overall progress in resource areas and
environmental and human health (shaded in blue). These metrics and indicators also feed
back to enable adaptive understanding of systems, decisions, technologies, and
collaborative decision-making. This logic diagram is consistent with a logic diagram
developed by the Innovation Action Council (IAC) for environmental stewardship.42
49
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Figure 5.1. Logic Diagram Illustrating Research Approaches
Systems
Understanding
Resilience
Vulnerabilities
Interconnectedness
Scale
Trends 8
Transformations
Links between Natural
8 Built Environment
Uncertainty
Resource
Sustainability
Outcomes
Water
Land
Air
Energy
Materials
Ecosystems
Table 5.1 provides illustrative examples within the research approaches that address the
Sustainability theme areas identified in Chapter 4. For example, Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) can inform understanding of a product's consumption of renewable and non-
renewable resources and associated emissions over the product's life cycle. Material
Flow Analysis (MFA) and Integrated Systems Analysis (ISA) can be used to explore the
possible implications of economy-wide patterns of consumption of renewable or non-
renewable resources. ISA can also be used as a communication tool to enable
collaborative decision-making in the context of Human-Built Systems. There are many
relevant metrics and indicators in the theme areas, ranging from indicators of ecosystem
resilience to Sustainability indicators used by industry. The following sections further
describe the various research objectives.
50
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Table 5.1. Research Objectives Addressing Sustainability Challenge Areas
Renewable
Natural
Resource
Systems
Non-
Renewable
Natural
Resource
Systems
Long-term
chemical
and
biological
impacts
Human-
Built
Systems
Economics
and Human
Behavior
Information
and
Decision-
Making
System
Understanding
Ecosystem
resilience;
Limits on
resource
extraction rates
Understanding
interactions
between
human-built
systems and
natural cycles
Limits;
Measures of
Resilience
Technologies
Green
Engineering
Green
Engineering
Green
Chemistry
Green
buildings;
Emerging
technologies
LCA
Decision-
Support
Tools
LCA;
MFA;
IS As
LCA;
MFA;
IS As
Chemistry
design
tools;
Transport
models
Design
principles
Agent-
based
models
Collaborative
Decision-
Making
ISA,
Risk
assessment
models
Incentives and
trading
schemes
Understanding
value of
information
Metrics and
Indicators
Ecosystem
resilience;
Resource
extraction
rates
Material
intensity
Environmental
accumulation
of chemicals
Industrial
Sustainability
indicators
Systems Understanding
An underlying understanding of complex environmental-societal systems and the
attributes and conditions that make them sustainable is the foundation of Sustainability
research. Today's understanding informs the development of today's technologies,
decision-support tools, collaborative decision-making approaches, and metrics and
indicators. As our understanding of Sustainability improves, the enhanced knowledge will
inform the next generation of technologies, tools, and indicators. Describing,
representing, and/or designing sustainable systems encompasses several important
aspects:
• addressing scale in time and space,
51
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• capturing the dynamics of the system and of society's points of leverage or
control over those dynamics,
• representing an appropriate level of complexity,
• managing variability and uncertainty,
• capturing the various perspectives and desired sustainability outcomes in
important domains (e.g. ecological, economic, technological, legal, and
organizational), and
• understanding the vulnerability or resilience of the system relative to both
foreseen and unforeseen stressors and change.
A systems view can also strategically inform both research and implementation. It can
identify barriers, point out gaps or redundancy in activity, and inform prioritization of
existing or potential research and implementation in technology, decision-support tools,
and collaborative decision-making.
Technologies
Technology and technological systems are central for achieving sustainable use of renewable and
non-renewable natural resources, as well as for developing alternative materials, chemicals,
processes, and products that minimize or eliminate long-term chemical and biological impacts.
The underlying scientific research, development of designs and applications, technology
demonstration, and technology verification form a 10-year continuum as illustrated in Figure 5.2.
Various advisory bodies have argued that commercialization and deployment of sustainable
technologies requires the entire continuum to be supported over time. For example, EPA's
National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology Policy
(NACEPT) has strongly endorsed EPA's current technology and verification program
and recommended that EPA "should devote more attention and resources to those
Agency programs that incorporate and encourage sustainability as one of the goals or
criteria for technology development or implementation assistance."43 The NACEPT
committee has been further charged by the EPA Administrator to look at the issue of
sustainability in more detail (in 2006-2007) and to make additional recommendations.
52
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Figure 5.2 Technology Continuum
Several areas of technology research are particularly important. The fields of Green
Chemistry and Green Engineering address the design of molecules, products, processes,
and systems that use safer chemicals and materials; use materials, water, and energy
efficiently; and/or reduce the generation of waste at the source. Green Engineering and
Green Chemistry are generally played out on a product-by-product or a process-by-
process basis. While some of this work is supported by industry, EPA has an important
role in supporting research that underpins general methodologies or addresses specific
environmental problems or emerging issues of concern.
More traditional technologies can also support progress towards Sustainability. For
example, technology plays an integral role in supporting water Sustainability by providing
safe drinking water and treating wastewater and storm water. The demands of aging
water and wastewater infrastructure and a growing population require that new
technologies be developed to provide cost-effective conveyance and treatment of
drinking, waste, and storm water. With the tightening of water supplies in parts of the
U.S. and elsewhere in the world, water conservation and reuse technologies are needed to
provide water of adequate quantity and quality for human consumption and the
environment. Current and new technologies should be examined using a systems
approach to assess their multi-media impacts over the long term to insure that they are
compatible with environmental Sustainability.
Technology and technological systems can also be looked at more broadly in time and
space. An economy-wide understanding materials flow systems can inform prioritization
of opportunities for efficient pollution prevention and materials use, particularly for
materials that are potentially deleterious to the environment and/or used at high volumes.
Understanding other factors (economic, informational, cultural and security-related, etc.)
that can influence the development and adoption of new designs and technologies can
inform research and development. In some cases these factors also relate to industrial
organizational approaches, such as Total Quality Management, the adoption of
Environmental Management Systems, or supply-chain management.
53
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Future scenarios are helpful for envisioning potential implications of emerging or
transforming technological systems. Technology and technological systems and
production patterns are evolving in terms of emerging technologies (such as
nanotechnology), potential societal industrial transformations (such as distributed
manufacturing), evolving consumption patterns, and evolving production locations.
Understanding and working with these trends and transformations can inform research
that can enable future developments in emerging technology to support a move towards
sustainability.
Decision-Making Tools
Many types of tools and analytical models can inform decisions that contribute to
environmental sustainability. In general, these tools and models assist businesses,
communities, government, and individuals to understand the potential implications of
their decisions. Models can be descriptive (describing knowledge about specific
phenomena) or prescriptive (informing a design or identifying a course of action). The
models are dependent on data and information relating to such human activities as
transportation, industry, agriculture, construction; protection and consumption of
resources (water, energy, materials, ecosystems, land, and air), economics and
characteristics of human behavior; natural phenomena such as weather patterns; and
environmental conditions. Important areas for research include the collection and
synthesis of required data and information and the incorporation into generalized models.
ORD will also assist other collaborators and stakeholders in using models.
Several types of tools and analytical models are relevant to sustainability decision-
making:
Scenario modeling enables an understanding of environmental conditions over
time through integrated systems analysis. The models allow users to explore in a dynamic
fashion the connection between today's societal choices over which they may have some
control (such as types of transportation, energy, agriculture, and industry) with societal
trends (such as population and economic growth) and potential future environmental
conditions. These types of tools and models can help users understand critical thresholds
and explore system response to abrupt change. They can also help diverse groups to
communicate about the future that they may desire and to develop means and strategies to
achieve this future.
Geographic-based analytical models such as landscape simulators and urban
growth simulators enable an understanding of environmental stressors and conditions in
space. These models are particularly useful for understanding the implications of land-
use decisions, such as transportation planning, placement of buildings, and agricultural
practices. When integrated with economic models, geographic-based analytical models
can be powerful tools to inform development.
54
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Materials flow-based tools such as Life Cycle Assessment and Materials Flow
Analysis can link the use and processing of materials to potential implications for human
health, environmental condition, and resource Sustainability. They can inform
improvements in the use of materials and design of products and also highlight
opportunities for focused policy initiatives. In this regard, new methods that connect
environmental impact analyses to Material Flow Analysis would be especially useful.
These tools can also be tied to Life Cycle Cost or Economic Input-Output analyses so
that environmental issues and costs can be seen in one view.44
Agent-based models enable insight into the implications of how the actions of
individuals add up to organizational or multi-organizational behavior. As the overall
organizational behavior may contribute to or detract from resource Sustainability, the
models may illuminate policy opportunities to further motivate stewardship behaviors in
the context of business and industry, communities, and government.
The above models can be used in combination to develop tools, and all of the models can
also be used in the context of uncertainty, such as through Monte Carlo simulations.
Collaborative Decision-Making
Developing effective innovative polices that promote Sustainability depends on having an
understanding of the motivation for decision-making by business and industry,
communities, government, and individuals. Such innovative policy approaches include
combinations of incentives, market mechanisms, information and education, regulation,
and collaborative approaches. In an industrial context, effective innovative policies
depend on an understanding of the circumstances that encourage or discourage green
product design and green supply chain management, and also on an understanding of
industrial supply-chain leverage points that underlie potential improvements in
Sustainability outcomes. Effective policies targeting individuals and households depend
on an understanding of the circumstances (including cost, information, convenience, peer
pressure, regulation, etc.) encouraging "green" consumption. Effective policies
supporting sustainable decision-making for communities and local governments depend
on an understanding of drivers and hurdles relating to the layout of buildings, as well as
design and selection of more sustainable transportation and energy systems. In all cases,
policies and approaches can be informed by an understanding of how innovative and
effective decisions are made in diverse groups.
Because Sustainability necessarily involves moving towards a shared desired future,
collaborative approaches are particularly important (See box: "Collaborative Problem
Solving"). The related concepts of collaborative problem solving, cooperative
conservation, and stewardship encourage stakeholders to come together to address
common environmental issues.45 Scientists and scientific research can enhance and
strengthen these collaborative approaches in two ways: (1) social science research can
add to an understanding of the conditions under which collaborative approaches are
effective; (2) scientists and engineers can participate with policy- and other decision-
55
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
makers in collaborative processes. These processes can also influence scientific direction
by helping scientists to tune the scientific questions they ask and answer and can help
scientists to more effectively communicate their research results.
EPA supports several programs designed to encourage environmental stewardship through
collaboration at the community and regional levels. ORD's Collaborative Science and
Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) is one of several programs that focus on
collaboration and sustainability-related issues. (See box: "Collaborative Problem Solving"
and Table 5.2.)
Collaborative Problem Solving:
Industrial Ecology and Pollution Prevention in the New York-New Jersey Harbor
A collaborative project in the New York/New Jersey Harbor funded under the Collaborative
Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) draws on scientific analysis, data, and
information to paint an overall systems picture of materials flows in the industrial economy and in
the environment that can highlight opportunities for more effective decision-making. Overseeing
and interacting with this analysis is a Harbor Consortium of industrial representatives, local policy-
makers, and scientists who help to refine the analysis and identify opportunities and leverage
points for watershed-wide pollution prevention of high-priority contaminants, including mercury,
cadmium, PCBs, dioxin, and PAHs. This combination of a decision-making tool and a
collaborative approach has demonstrated success in bringing about principled compromise and
development of less obvious pollution prevention options among a wide range of stakeholders,
ranging from dentists to automobile recyclers to state regulators.
For example, the analysis of mercury flows into the Harbor highlighted the importance of dental
offices as a mercury source, in part due to the high density of dentists in the New York
metropolitan area. The dentists participating in the Harbor Consortium developed pollution-
prevention course materials for continuing-education offerings by dental schools. The Harbor
Consortium also discovered that by far the highest total cadmium waste in the watershed was
disposed batteries, as the recycling rate for these batteries was quite low; and use of these
batteries is rapidly increasing. However, because much of the solid waste from New York City is
disposed of elsewhere, the cadmium in solid waste was posing a low local risk. Despite the low
current risk, the Harbor Consortium decided to apply a precautionary, neighborly approach and
improve battery-recycling programs in the watershed.
The approach and methodologies developed through the Harbor project are currently being
synthesized so they can be shared with and transferred to other watersheds in regions
throughout the country.
56
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Figure 5.2. The Economy, Waste, and the Environment
The Environment
Waste Output
Production
(Ind./Comm.
Services)
57
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Table 5.2. Collaboration and Stewardship: Five EPA Programs
Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE). EPA's CARE program, which began
in 2005, helps to build broad-based local partnerships that reduce risks to communities from
environmental toxics. With the 2006 CARE solicitation, EPA will award two levels of cooperative
agreements. Level I cooperative agreements will help establish community-based partnerships
and set priorities for reducing toxic risks in a given community. Level II cooperative agreements
will involve communities that already have broad-based collaborative partnerships, have identified
risk reduction priorities, and are ready to implement risk-reduction strategies.46
Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (EJSG). EJSG promotes the use of
collaborative partnerships in addressing local environmental and/or public health issues. EJSG
will fund projects at the beginning phases of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-
Solving Model (EJCPS Model). EPA developed the EJCPS Model to assist disproportionately
affected communities in developing proactive, strategic, and visionary approaches to address
their environmental justice issues and achieve community health and sustainability. EJSG will
fund projects whose primary purposes are: (1) building a collaborative partnership, (2) identifying
the local environmental and/or public health issues to be addressed, and (3) envisioning solutions
and empowering the community through education, training, and outreach.47
Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
(EJCPS). Applicants to this program are required to have built a foundation with the first three
elements of the EJCPS Model. Building on this foundation, applicants are expected to develop
other model elements (e.g., Consensus Building and Dispute Resolution, Constructive
Engagement with Other Stakeholders). EJCPS will only fund projects whose primary purpose is
to address an existing local environmental and/or public health issue; a project's primary focus
cannot be education or training.48
Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CMS). The CMS program
encourages innovative thinking about the practical applications of science and engineering in
pursuit of sustainability. Grantees bring together diverse sets of partners to explore and learn
about new approaches to environmental protection at a regional scale that are systems-oriented,
forward-looking, and preventive, with links to economic and social dimensions. The collection of
projects informs practical learning on analytical tools, collaborative approaches, and decision-
making to support progress towards sustainability.49
Tribal Science Program. Tribal and subsistence populations may be at especially high risk for
environmentally caused diseases and health outcomes as a result of their lifestyles, occupations
and customs, and/or environmental releases that impact tribal lands. Through this program, EPA
is supporting scientific research paired with a community-based approach to build scientific and
practical understanding of the connection of tribal-specific factors to health risks from toxic
substances in the environment. The community-based approach aims to help build Tribal
capacity for risk assessment and management.50
Metrics and Indicators
Metrics and indicators enable EPA, businesses, communities, other government
organizations, and individuals to understand the nature and degree of progress being
made towards environmental sustainability. Metrics and indicators enable us to measure
and track progress toward societal sustainability goals, send early warning of potential
problems to decision-makers, and highlight opportunities for improvement at the local,
regional, and global scale. To have effective metrics and indicators, it is important to
58
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
effectively collect, synthesize, and communicate the appropriate data and information—
which requires understanding both what to measure and how to measure it.
Understanding what to measure draws on an understanding on the flows, stressors, and
changes over which decision-makers have control. These flows, stressors, and changes
can also be linked to resilience, vulnerability, warning signals, and limits to resource
Sustainability. Understanding how to measure can require research in sensors and sensor
systems, statistical approaches to guide data collection and preliminary analysis, and data
mining and other information technology approaches.
Metrics and indicators are applicable at different scales. At the smallest scale are
indicators with a feedback rate that can enable real-time adjustment of consumption, such
as of electricity, gasoline, or water for a household or industrial facility. At the largest
scale, indicators describe the condition of the national or global environment. A system
of connected indicators that collectively describe the condition of the overall system at a
local, regional, or global scale can inform effective decisions and strategies for moving
towards Sustainability.
To begin to develop this multi-scaled system of connected indicators, this Research
Strategy tentatively adopts the six proposed resource Sustainability outcomes identified
and defined by a cross-Office EPA committee in Everyday Choices: Opportunities for
Environmental Stewardship.51 These six outcomes are those listed in Chapter 2 of this
document:
• Air: Sustain clean and healthy air.
• Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystems functions, goods and services.
• Energy: Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
• Land: Support ecological sensitive land management and development.
• Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to environmental preferable
materials.
• Water: Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired use.
These outcomes are a starting point for discussing and refining a set of Sustainability
outcomes and organizing Sustainability indicators. ORD plans to lead a cross-Agency
process to refine and sharpen these desired outcomes at multiple scales and assess
whether currently available data and indicators are scientifically valid, useful, and
sufficient. The indicators will build on and connect to the Draft Report on the
Environment, which employed indicators that are fundamental measures of
environmental condition. The indicators developed here aim to go beyond those Draft
indicators in four ways:
59
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
An expansion from media and ecosystems to include resources such as
materials and energy contributes to an increased understanding of the
interactions between society and the environment.
An increased focus on causal connections and correlations among indicators
will enable a better systems insight and highlight opportunities for
improvement.
A significant focus will be on indicators that can inform decision-making,
particularly at local and regional scales.
The developed indicators may expand beyond the environment to social and
economic dimensions.
60
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
CHAPTER 6. STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
This chapter describes ORD's plan of implementation in response to ORD's management
objectives to develop (1) a cross-cutting sustainability research plan that will tie together
the ORD MYPs which are components for achieving sustainability and (2) a revised P2
MYP—"Science and Technology for Sustainability" (STS)—that will identify new long-
term and annual goals which, with associated annual performance measures, can better
focus pollution prevention and innovative technology outcomes on sustainability.
The design of this road map recognizes that while EPA and ORD can provide leadership,
they cannot alone address the full spectrum of sustainability issues. Therefore a key
element of this Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) involves connection and
cooperation with other research organizations, as well as connection between research
and its application.
There are four basic implementation steps for implementing this SRS:
• Transition the current pollution prevention and new technologies research
program (both research and new applied programs) into a Science and
Technology for Sustainability (STS) Research Program (2006-2007). Toward
this end, ORD has begun preparing a new MYP with clearly defined
objectives, budgets, and outcome measures.
• Coordinate with other multi-year plans (2006-2007). Toward this end, ORD
will review how the goals of sustainability can be met through existing MYPs
and national strategies as well as how these MYPs can evolve to more directly
align with sustainability goals and objectives. The first formal coordination
will be with the Economics and Decision Sciences (EDS) program in 2006.
• Collaborate and partner with EPA Program and Regional Offices and other
government organizations, communities, nonprofit organizations, universities,
and industry (2005-2010). Toward this end, ORD will work with Program
and Regional Offices to support implementation of their respective
sustainability programs and activities, and will coordinate research with other
Federal agencies.
• Identify and pursue future research opportunities (2006-2010). Toward this
end, ORD will work with Program and Regional Offices, other government
agencies, and the international community to organize workshops and
research partnerships.
61
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
ORD begins with a solid foundation for developing sustainability research. Existing
research strategies and MYPs all contain elements of programs and activities that could
address the research questions outlined in Chapter 4. A key goal of this Research Strategy
is to provide guidance for the future direction of these research programs so that they can
be more supportive of a sustainability approach. Achieving this goal will require
identifying priorities and negotiating a delicate balance between both traditional risk-
based approaches and sustainability approaches, and also between immediate Program
and Regional Office research needs and complex longer-term issues. Current and future
National Program Directors will collectively identify the priorities and negotiate the
overall balance of the Agency's sustainability research.
Setting Priorities
Addressing research prioritization within a broad subject area such as sustainability is
challenging. Because this Strategy lays out a new approach to research for ORD,
prioritization is especially difficult. In order to give ORD research planners in the various
MYPs some flexibility and autonomy in selecting priority areas, this Strategy identifies
guiding factors for selection of research priorities, rather than directly identifying the
priority areas. The individual MYPs and their National Program Directors (NPDs) will
more specifically identify their priority sustainability research areas. Several factors can
guide selection of topics and design of programs:
• High impact. The MYPs must address issues relevant to achieving sustainable
outcomes. The development of knowledge in the theme areas discussed in
Chapters 3 and 4 must enable the long-term sustainability outcomes of
resource systems discussed in Chapter 2 at a sufficiently large scale.
• True to EPA 's research capabilities (extramural as well as intramural). ORD
intramural research capabilities serve a dual purpose of (1) directly meeting
Program and Regional Office research needs and (2) building capability for
solving longer-term problems. Intramural programs can also serve as focal
points for science and technical assistance centers to assist a variety of
government and non-government stakeholders. ORD extramural research
programs, such as the Science To Achieve Results (STAR) research grant
program, can be used to explore new topical areas or research approaches and
also to catalyze change in the broader national research communities. All of
these capabilities can and should be drawn upon in an effective MYP.
• True to EPA 's role. ORD should focus sustainability research in areas that are
central to EPA's mission, while collaborating with other agencies and
organizations in areas where missions intersect. For example, EPA has a
central research role of informing the long-term protection of water quality in
watersheds, and EPA can collaborate with the Department of Energy on
understanding the environmental implications of emerging energy
technologies. An effective MYP will address both types of research.
62
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
• Leveraging results. Research that ultimately influences design, decision-
making, or policies leading to resource sustainability on a sufficiently large
scale is preferred. Leverage can occur through partnering in initial research or
through transfer and diffusion of knowledge, methodologies, and approaches.
• In a systems context. Research should be within a systems context. This is true
for research leading to systems understanding but also for research leading,
for example, to a decision-making tool that considers multimedia interactions
within a geographic area or to a technology that enables life cycle energy use
reduction for a class of products (See Figure 5.7).
Balancing Research Needs
In nearly all areas, research needs far exceed available resources. Declining Federal
budgets for research and development require ORD to address conflicting needs and
priorities and to establish a balance across research portfolios. It is up to each MYP to
consider each of the following criteria in its respective research portfolio:
• As frequently emphasized by EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB), there
should be a balance between known and emerging issues and problems. For
example, because it is well known that energy and the environment will
continue to be interconnected and linked to sustainability, it is important that
ORD continue to support research at the nexus of energy and the environment.
An example of an issue that was correctly identified as emerging several years
ago is nanotechnology and its environmental implications and applications.
Identifying and exploring the next emerging issues will be challenging but
important.
• A balance among short- and long-term projects is also necessary. Investing in
shorter-term projects permits more immediate demonstration of results, while
wisely selected longer-term projects can represent valuable investments for
the future.
• A balance is required between projects that are central to EPA's domain (such
as watershed protection) and those that reside at the boundaries, such as the
interplay between agriculture and the health of aquatic ecosystems. In the case
of issues near the boundaries of EPA's responsibilities, collaboration with
other government agencies or private-sector organizations is particularly
important.
• A balance is needed between research that supports decision-making within
EPA Program and Regional Offices and research that supports decision-
making in other local, state, or Federal government organizations and in
industry.
63
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
And finally, there should be a balance between projects that directly solve
problems and those that aim to stimulate others by catalyzing or leading them.
An example of the latter is investing in new branches of academic disciplines,
such as investing in green chemistry through an extramural research program.
The Road Map: The Transition from Pollution Prevention to Sustainability
In order to support ORD's move towards Sustainability, the Pollution Prevention and
New Technology (P2NT) MYP is transitioning to a Science and Technology for
Sustainability (STS) MYP. This transition draws on a strong historical foundation. For
example, ORD has supported both intramural and extramural research for more than a
decade in green chemistry and green engineering. This research underlies sustainable
technology. In addition, under the P2NT MYP, ORD has supported both intramural and
extramural research in Life Cycle Assessment and Design for the Environment decision-
making tools.
Several years ago, ORD's P2NT research expanded to include Sustainable Environmental
Systems (SES)—an interdisciplinary research plan drawing on economics, ecology, law,
and engineering, among other disciplines. The Environmental Technology Verification
(ETV) Program, long a part of P2NT, has recently expanded to include an
Environmentally Sustainable Technologies Evaluation (ESTE) program. In addition, two
new applied and educational programs have been introduced in the past two years that
speak directly to Sustainability:
The Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) CNS
enables grantees and EPA to collaborate on regional projects that explore and provide
learning opportunities for new approaches to environmental protection that are systems-
oriented, forward-looking, preventive, and collaborative. Grantees in this program draw
on decision-making tools derived from analytical models and also on collaborative
approaches to practical problem solving that support progress at a regional scale towards
the Sustainability outcomes identified in Chapter 2.
Figure 6.1 shows the collection of projects funded through CNS. This collection of
projects will enable learning about innovative proactive approaches to environmental
protection—with consideration for economic and social factors—that can then be shared
with regions and communities that work with EPA through other programs, such as
Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE), Environmental Justice
Collaborative Grants, Targeted Watershed Grants, and Brownfields Technical Assistance.
64
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Figure 6.1 Projects Funded for the First Year of the CNS Program
Sustaining Multiple
Benefits in Large
River Floodplains
Using Market
Forces to
Implement
Sustainable
Watershed
Management
Decision Model
for Urban
Water Reuse
Cuyahoga
Sustainability
Network \
Integrating Water
Supply Management
and Ecological
Flow Requirements
\
Efficient Materials
and Energy Use:
Understanding
Economic Benefits
Transforming
Office Parks
into Transit
Villages
Bringing Global
Thinking to Local
Sustainability
Efforts for the
Boston Region
P2 and the
NY/ NJ Harbor
Ecological Sustainability
in Rapidly Developing
Watersheds
Sustainable Sandhills:
A Plan for Regional
Sustainability
People, Prosperity, and Planet (P3) This student Sustainability design competition
inspires and educates the next generation to research, develop, and design solutions to
Sustainability challenges in topical areas including agriculture, materials and chemicals,
energy, information technology, water, and the built environment. P3 students and their
faculty advisors quantify the benefits of their project in the environmental, economic, and
social dimensions and integrate the P3 projects into their educational curricula. Through
the program, students learn to work in a multi-disciplinary environment and to make
collaborative, interdisciplinary decisions. By integrating Sustainability concepts into
fundamental education, P3 is helping to create a future workforce with an awareness of
the impact of its work on the environment, economy, and society.
In addition to CNS and P3, the SRS MYP is also supporting a project that aims to
catalyze change within the academic research and educational communities. The
engineering curriculum benchmarking project identifies curricula development activities
relating to Sustainability, campus centers or institutes for Sustainability, university-hosted
Sustainability conferences, institutional support for research relating to Sustainability,
opportunities to pursue concentrations or joint degrees relating to Sustainability,
designated faculty focusing their research and/or teaching on Sustainability, and campus
lectures on Sustainability. Identifying and highlighting these activities will inspire others
to learn from and improve upon them.
Specific research activities and additional new programs that derive from the
Sustainability Research Strategy will be addressed in the new Science and Technology
for Sustainability (STS) MYP. The STS MYP focuses more on critical and emerging
65
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
sustainability challenges, particularly those that can be addressed in partnership with
Program and Regional Offices. For example:
• Green Chemistry and Engineering are supported in the MYP with research
that underpins general methodologies or specific sustainability challenges of
concern, such as preventing long-term chemical and biological impacts.
• The MYP includes research that supports information and decision-making
tools, such as Integrated Systems Analysis (ISA), Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) and Materials Flow Analysis (MFA), and the application of these tools
to emerging issues.
• The MYP supports basic systems research that underlies a more general
dynamic multi-scale systems understanding, including the relationships
among Renewable Resources, Non-Renewable Resources, and Human-Built
Systems, as well as an understanding of vulnerability and resilience. This
research also feeds into the development of future scenarios and decision-
making tools.
• The MYP supports development multi-scaled sustainability metrics and
indicators that assess and measure progress and inform decision-making.
• The MYP will include verification of technologies that can contribute to the
sustainability outcomes identified in Table 2.1.
• The MYP will be more focused on integrated approaches that build from the
development of knowledge through to implementation and application.
The research portfolio described in the STS MYP is balanced according to the guidelines
offered above. Further details can be found in the MYP.
Coordination among Existing Multi-Year Plans
In the long term, understanding systems and developing the required solutions for
sustainability necessitate reaching across traditionally distinct areas of research, i.e.,
creating additional connections across ORD's 16 or more multi-year plans and special
initiatives. Consultations with National Program Directors (NPDs) and others responsible
for the direction of EPA research programs that began in summer 2005 have been
enhancing these connections and continue to prioritize and balance research areas and
research questions that meet both the long-term objectives of the individual research
programs and the goals and objectives of sustainability. Table 6.1 illustrates NPD and
MYP topical areas, along with some of their possible roles in addressing sustainability
challenges. This table should be seen as a landscape of opportunities for collaboration
across traditionally separate programs, rather than an identification of priority areas.
Individual MYPs will identify their own priorities consistent with the direction offered by
66
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
their corresponding Research Strategies as well as the prioritization factors and portfolio
balancing guidelines offered in this chapter. Strong roles in sustainability will also be
played by certain special initiatives, such as Environmental Applications and
Implications of Nanotechnology and the Aging Initiative.
The first formal collaboration with the STS MYP has been initiated by the Economics
and Decision Sciences (EDS) program. The SRS and the Environmental Economics
Research Strategy (EERS) are complementary in approach. The EERS presents a focused
analysis of Agency research priorities in EDS. The identified EERS research priorities
dovetail nicely with the SRS integrated framework as outlined in Figure 6.2 below. The
general intersection of behavioral science research and sustainability gives rise to the last
two of the six SRS themes described in Chapter 4: Economics and Human Behavior, and
Information and Decision-Making—under which fall five priority EDS research topics
presented in the EERS consultation process: Health Benefits Valuation, Ecological
Benefits Valuation, Market Mechanisms and Incentives, Environmental Behavior and
Decision-Making, and Benefits of Information Disclosure. The five EERS topics in turn
will provide critical input into the SRS Research Objectives described in Chapter 5. The
penultimate goal of this research collaboration is to provide the behavioral science
research necessary for developing environmental policies that support sustainability
outcomes and are cost-efficient over the long term.
Figure 6.2. Integration of EERS and SRS
SRS-
Behavioral Sciences Research and Sustainability
How individual, firm and institutional behavior enables/prevents sustainable outcomes
Chemes
II II
t \
Economics & Human Behavior j Information & Decision-Making
EERS topics
• Health Benefits Valuation: value of
mortality & morbidity risks associated with
pollution
• Ecological benefits valuation: eco-
system services value
• Market Mechanisms & Incentives:
effectiveness & potential of trading programs
L
IT
• Environmental Behavior and Decision-
making: how consumers & producers meet
their environmental obligations under
mandatory/voluntary initiatives
• Benefits of environmental information
disclosure: how information disclosure
improves efficiency of decision-making
SRS
Objectives
1. Economic Instruments: trading schemes
& taxes
2. Systems understanding through
Integrated ecological-economic models
3. Economic sustainability metrics for
individuals, business, policy makers to:
> Make sustainable consumption
decisions
> Determine the business case for
sustainability
> Regulatory analysis (cost-benefit,
cost-effectiveness analyses)
1. Decision-support tools to help
policy makers, corporate
officials, engineers,
local/regional planners identify
and implement sustainable
options
2. Collaborative decision-making
Cost efficient environmental policies & outcomes for US business and consumers
67
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
ORD-Wide Efforts
As National Program Directors (NPDs) identify the ORD's priority research areas, ORD
is gathering data and information to create and cultivate an interactive directory and data
repository for active Sustainability researchers and research activities. This information
clearinghouse will identify sustainability-related research activities and products that are
accessible to Federal, state, and local decision-makers seeking more options for
advancing Sustainability. More importantly, it will facilitate dialog and collaboration
among the Agency and the nation's community of Sustainability practitioners and
researchers through periodic scientific conferences and other means, leading to the
interactions and exchange required to develop more multidisciplinary and practical
approaches to addressing the nation's environmental challenges. The discussions will
further touch on new skills and expertise that may be required in ORD's intramural or
extramural programs to address Sustainability issues.
ORD is also joining with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and other stakeholders
in the Foresight and the Future of Environmental Quality program. This program
identifies major emerging technological, sociological, demographic, and environmental
trends, transformations, and disruptions and examines how awareness of these changes
can inform strategies for dealing with long-term issues. It will serve several additional
purposes:
• Building organizational capability and raising awareness of ORD's futures
efforts,
• Enhancing understanding by ORD managers and staff of emerging issues and
future risks and benefits,
• Increasing inter- and intra-agency collaboration among customers,
stakeholders, and partners; and
• Communicating any key findings and recommendations.
To align with the Sustainability Research Strategy, the Foresight and the Future of
Environmental Quality program is evolving to further emphasize connection and
integration across futures activities in ORD and to encourage more scientists and
programs to draw on futures methods. As a first step, a handbook of futures techniques,
scenarios, and sample applications prepared by ORD will describe the value of futures
thinking and explain specific types of applied futures methods. The handbook will be
provided to NPDs and later distributed to ORD scientists and engineers.
68
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Table 6.1. Potential Sustainability Challenge Areas Addressed by Multi-Year Plans
X - some association XX - strong association
NPD Area
Air
Global Change &
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Risk
Pesticides, Toxics,
and ECDs
Contaminated Sites/
Resource
Conservation
MYP
Air Toxics
Particulate Matter
Tropospheric Ozone
Global Change
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Research
Endocrine Disrupters
Safe Pesticides
Toxics
Contaminated Sites
Hazardous Waste
Economics and
Decision Sciences
Renewable
Resources
X
XX
XX
Non-renewable
Resources
X
X
X
X
X
Chemical &
Bio. Impacts
XX
X
XX
X
XX
XX
XX
XX
Human-built
Environment
X
X
X
XX
XX
Economics &
Behavior
X
XX
Information &
Decisions
X
X
X
X
XX
Collaboration and Partnership
Given the relatively low level of resources and the small number of decisions that ORD
directly controls, it is clear that pursuing research in support of Sustainability will be
impossible without strong partnerships in many areas. This section describes ORD's
strategy for cooperation with partners and stakeholders to implement the Sustainability
strategy.
With EPA Program and Regional Offices
EPA is slowly evolving its governance approaches and research programs to better meet
current program and regional needs and to anticipate future problems. New programs are
emerging that reflect a broadening of the Agency's focus from environmental protection
69
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
to sustainability. Numerous EPA programs are preventive, anticipate future problems,
take a multimedia perspective, and/or draw on non-regulatory policy mechanisms.
• Internal efforts in the Office of Solid Waste are shifting its emphasis from
handling waste to managing materials—supported by research on material
flows analysis and life cycle assessment and linked to cross-office efforts in
Multi-Media Materials Management (M4) and product stewardship.
• The Office of Water's Low Impact Development (LID) program addresses
low-impact storm-water management; its National Estuaries program
addresses protection and restoration of estuaries and aquatic ecosystems.
• Several OPPT programs—such as Design for the Environment, Green
Chemistry, Green Engineering, Pollution Prevention, and the Green Suppliers
Network—are encouraging conservation of materials, water, and energy and
the move from toxic to safer chemicals.
A key element of the ORD implementation strategy is to work with Program and
Regional Offices to assess future research needs that can best support the move towards
sustainability. ORD intends to set up a series of Program Office Sustainability Dialogues
to explore how the mission needs of Program and Regional Office can be met more
proactively through application of technologies, decision-making tools, and collaborative
problem solving aimed at sustainability outcomes.
With States and EPA Regions
Many of the critical decisions on sustainability are made at state and local levels. A key
element of the ORD Research Strategy is to support EPA Regional Offices and state
partners in ensuring that the best decision support tools are available and used in critical
management decisions. A second key element is to ensure that ORD staff is available to
work with state and regional officials in building collaborative partnerships. The
Sustainable Sandhills project in North Carolina, funded through the CNS program
described earlier in this chapter, is a model of such collaboration. In this case, a non-
profit institution, Sustainable Sandhills, is serving as a convener for the U.S. Army, the
state of North Carolina, and dozens of local and state communities. The larger group is
helping decision-makers plan for the regional population and economic growth by
applying a set of analytical decision-support models. The goal is an effective regional
plan that is cost-effective, environmentally sound, and sustainable.
The Sandhills example reflects a general strategy of integrating and synthesizing
knowledge generated across various ORD research programs to more effectively address
sustainability-related questions and support decision-making at the regional level. Figure
6.3 depicts how the STS, EDS, GEOSS, Global Change, and Ecosystems research
programs will collaborate to support regional projects that apply scientific and
engineering data, methods, tools, and technologies to solve problems and support
decision-making. The regional projects are an integrating mechanism across the plans and
strategies. Methods, tools, and approaches developed can be transferred and applied
70
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
elsewhere, in some cases through other EPA programs (such as CARE and Targeted
Watersheds). The communication between the regional projects and the more
fundamental and disciplinary research supported by the plans and strategies will be bi-
directional. Through these regional projects, ORD will potentially be able to identify
additional important core research questions and prioritize needs in fundamental methods
development.
Figure 6.3. Research Integration to Support Sustainable Regional Decision-Making
STS
EDS
GEOSS/AMI
Global Change
Ecosystems
Integration through
S&T for Sustainability
MYP
Application of
New Approaches
^^
Regional
Approaches
to Sustainability:
CMS, SES
Thr
New Integrated
Approaches
Dugh Other Progrj
CARE,
EJ CPS,
Targeted
Watersheds,
Regions, States
With Industry
A large proportion of all research in technology and technology systems will produce real
benefits only if its findings are implemented by industry. In some instances this means
working with industry on applied chemistry or engineering problems. It may mean
working with industry to develop tools and approaches to help firms better understand the
long-term environmental, economic, and social costs and benefits of their decisions. EPA
has long-standing cooperative agreements with industry organizations such as the
American Chemistry Council, and is currently negotiating a new partnership with the
biotechnology industry. It will expand partnerships with business associations such as the
Business Roundtable and the Conference Board. It is exploring application of existing
and new Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to facilitate
work with industry on key sustainability-related problems.
With Federal Agencies
Because EPA's overall and environmental research budgets are small relative to the rest
of the Federal government, it is important to collaborate with other agencies in
developing Sustainability research priorities and programs. Table 6.2 illustrates some
opportunities for collaborating on research and/or programs with other Federal Agencies,
categorized by Sustainability resource area. For example, USDA and DOI (USGS) each
support research that relates to land management and development, and DOD
(particularly the Army) is increasingly focusing on its stewardship of land on and around
military bases. NSF supports research on new materials and chemicals, some of which
71
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
are environmentally preferable over a product life cycle, and DOT (USGS) collects and
publicly shares data on the use of materials in the economy.
Table 6.2. Opportunities for Research or Program Collaboration across Agencies,
by Sustainability Resource Area
X - some opportunity
XX - strong opportunity
DOD
DOE
DOI
EPA
NASA
NOAA
NSF
USDA
Air
X
XX
XX
XX
X
Ecosystems
X
XX
XX
XX
Energy
X
XX
X
X
Land
XX
XX
XX
X
XX
Materials
X
XX
X
XX
X
Water
XX
XX
XX
XX
X
ORD is also working with other Federal agencies through the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP)'s Council on the Environment and Natural Resources
(CENR). Activities for this multi-agency Council include creating an inventory of
sustainability-related scientific and technical tools; reviewing research related to effective
use of materials and energy and to development of benign materials; reviewing research
relating to sustainable ecosystems; identifying relevant societal trends and emerging
issues; and identifying potential multi-agency pilot projects. It will be important for
CENR to collaborate on Sustainability research issues with such other OSTP working
groups and committees as the Surface Water Availability and Quality subcommittee, the
Ecosystem Research Working Group, the Working Group on Earth Observations, the
Metabolic Engineering Working Group, the Social and Behavioral Science Working
Group, and the Critical Infrastructure Working Group.
There are additional sustainability-related programmatic activities across the Federal
government. A 2004 Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) and EPA
Sustainability workshop revealed a wealth of Federal activities, but as paucity of
coordination and policy coherence. Results of this workshop contributed to the creation
of the OFEE-led Stewardship and Sustainability Council and of the CENR Sustainability
working group mentioned above. ORD intends to continue to work with OFEE on
coordinating and integrating Sustainability research efforts with other Federal agencies.
72
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
With Academia
Sustainability research is a focal point in many university research and engineering
programs, laboratories, and centers. ORD interacts with the university community
primarily through its extramural STAR research grants (including CNS) and fellowship
programs. The P3 student Sustainability design competition and the engineering
curriculum benchmarking project described earlier in this chapter are catalyzing
leadership within academia.
University researchers are more than just grantees of EPA or other agencies. Universities
develop and possess specific Sustainability knowledge in engineering, natural sciences,
social sciences, business, and law. Universities can make strategic contributions to
Sustainability through research and education that promotes social justice and
environmental stewardship. By interacting with universities and investing in research and
education, EPA can help to catalyze the development and refinement of academic fields
that can contribute to Sustainability.
Taking these factors into account, a key objective of the Sustainability Research Strategy
is to foster closer ties among universities, ORD laboratories, and other EPA Program and
Regional Offices to catalyze research on current environmental problems, potential future
problems, and sustainable solutions. ORD began in 2006 to conduct visits to major
university Sustainability research centers to discuss coordination and collaboration on
emerging frontier research issues.
With International Partners
EPA has been collaborating on Sustainability issues with other industrial nations: with the
Austrian government, EPA hosted a 2004 international workshop on systems analysis and
modeling; in 2005 the Agency hosted an international workshop on Sustainability
research. EPA consults closely with the EC, its member countries, Canada, and Japan,
which have each been developing sustainable research strategies.52 These countries have
proposed several areas for research cooperation with EPA, including joint work on
assessing implications of new technologies, green chemistry and chemical screening,
environmental monitoring, implications and applications of nanotechnology, assessment
and informatics, systems analysis, and human health impacts. Through partnerships with
international governmental and academic research centers, EPA intends use this
emerging international focus on Sustainability research to leverage its resources for
achieving its mission.
These new research partnerships complement the ongoing agreements and other
cooperation on science and technology within the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and within the G8's 2003 Science and
Technology for Sustainable Development Action Plan. The G8 plan focuses on areas that
are also central to EPA: coordination of global observation systems through the Global
Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS); cleaner, more efficient and sustainable
energy use; agricultural productivity and Sustainability; and biodiversity conservation.
73
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Identification of Future Research Opportunities
As ORD identifies and integrates a collection of sustainability research efforts that are
currently underway and/or strongly related to Multi-Year Plans, it will be important to
identify gaps that suggest future research needs and potential demonstration projects.
This process will be ongoing and will proceed from the prioritization factors discussed
earlier in this chapter.
To begin to identify gaps and research needs, ORD is hosting a series of workshops on
topics relating to the six sustainability themes, the stewardship/sustainability resource
areas, and integrated systems. The first in the series was the May 2005 international
workshop mentioned above—"Meeting the Future: A Research Agenda for
Sustainability"—which introduced a broad array of topics from the implications of
emerging technologies through ecological vulnerabilities to analyzing the business case
for sustainability.53 ORD expects to follow up on the European Commission proposal
growing out of this workshop for cooperation in a several sustainability research areas.
ORD hosted a workshop examining economic aspects of sustainability in December
2005. And a multi-agency Federal Sustainability Research Summit is planned in
collaboration with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) for the fall
of 2006.
Achieving Success
Advances in science and technology form a foundation that can lead to a wide array of
opportunities to move towards a sustainable future.
• Technological advance, such as through green chemistry and engineering, can
enable society to prevent or avoid pollution and associated health and
ecological risks and to use resources more efficiently.
• Science and technology can enable communities, nations, and industries to
measure, monitor, and characterize pollutants and environmental conditions.
• Models and data analysis techniques (ranging from chemical design tools
based on computational toxicology to materials flow analysis) can enable us
to better understand over time health effects, environmental conditions, and
underlying societal causes.
• Future analysis can enable us to better anticipate and prepare for potential
societal transformations (such as the predicted industrial transformation
growing out of the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and
information technology) and resulting environmental changes.
• Finally, science and technology can help to develop tools that support
decision-making that advances the protection of human health and the natural
environment now and for future generations.
74
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
In short, this Sustainability Research Strategy serves our national environmental needs in
ways that also support our economy and our society. The potential long-term national
benefits from pursuing the lines of research identified in the Sustainability Research
Strategy are clear and compelling:
• It will enable communities and regions to envision, plan, develop, manage,
and restore their infrastructure and spaces such that materials and energy are
conserved and the quality of air and water, community health, and the quality
of human life are protected for the future while economic and social needs are
met,
• It will enable industry and consumers to benefit from advances in scientific
understanding and technology to support the design and manufacture of
materials and products over multiple life cycles such that the environment and
public health are protected and resources are conserved while economic and
social objectives are met, and
• It will give EPA and the nation more options to protect human health and the
environment for future generations, informed by an improved understanding
of systems in the natural and built environment.
75
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
APPENDIX 1. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD REPORTS
RELEVANT TO THE ORD SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH STRATEGY
1988 Future Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990's, EPA-SAB-EC-88-040
SAB recommends that EPA increase attention to ecological matters and calls for a
program to determine and analyze the status and trends of the nation's ecosystems.
1990 Reducing Risk: Setting Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection,
EPA-SAB-EC-90-021
SAB makes recommendations to EPA on strategies for reducing risk and fostering a
more integrated and targeted national environmental policy, including setting risk-based
priorities; reducing ecological risk, focusing on pollution prevention but also including
tools such as market incentives; increasing efforts to integrate environmental
considerations into broader aspects of public policy; improving public understanding of
environmental risks; and developing methods to value natural resources and account
for long-term environmental effects in economic analyses.
1992 Review of Draft Pollution Prevention Research Strategic Plan, EPA-SAB-EEC-
LTR-92-007
1993 Review of Draft Stimulating Environmental Progress: A Social Science Research
Agenda, EPA-SAB-RSAC-LTR-93-00
1995 Beyond the Horizon: Using Foresight to Protect the Environmental Future
(FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-EC-95-007
SAB recommends that EPA work with other organizations to develop a "futures"
capability, a capability to anticipate future environmental conditions and analyze the
actions needed to improve them. SAB specifically recommends that EPA (1) give as
much attention to avoiding future environmental problems as controlling current ones;
(2) establish an early-warning system to identify potential future environmental risks; (3)
stimulate coordinated national efforts to anticipate and respond to environmental
change; and (5) recognize that global environmental quality is a matter of strategic
national interest.
1995 Ecosystem Management: Imperative for a Dynamic World Ecosystem
Management (FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-EPEC-95-003
SAB recommends the routine and systematic use of futures analysis to establish a
comprehensive perspective on future ecological risks; stresses the need to consider
ecosystem products and services, and the integration of ecological and societal goals;
and reaffirms the conclusions in Reducing Risk (1990) that national ecological risks are
dominated by larger-scale and longer-time issues.
76
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
1995 Human Exposure Assessment: A Guide to Risk Reduction and Research
Planning (FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-IAQC-95-005
SAB recognizes the importance of exposure assessment in preventing the occurrence
of adverse effects to human health and the environment, and encourages the
establishment of an early-warning system, development of more integrated research
programs, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
1995 Futures Methods and Issues, Technical Annex, EPA-SAB-EC-95-007A
1995 Future Issues in Environmental Engineering (FUTURES project), EPA-EEC-95-004
SAB suggests that EPA establish "lookout" panels to regularly scan the horizon for
future technology-related issues and recommend near-term actions based on projected
futures. Some possible future technological concerns SAB identified include fossil fuel
depletion, industrial accidents and/or terrorist activities, and deterioration of urban
infrastructure.
1997 Environmental Goals for America, EPA-SAB-EEC-97-007
SAB makes recommendations for improving the Environmental Goals for America
document, including the following: link individual goals and their associated strategies
to each other; promote pollution prevention as the major path to long-term
sustainability; develop monetary and non-monetary incentives for waste
reduction/pollution prevention activities; establish sound science to lead to wiser
decision-making; and include a specific goal for environmental education to improve the
nation's scientific understanding and ability to make future environmental decisions.
1997 First Report from the SAB Lookout Panel: Focus on Water Issues, EPA-SAB-EC-
LTR-97-003
In a brief, non-comprehensive look beyond the horizon, SAB offers three water-related
issues that could have significant implications for the EPA and the country: (1) the
quantity of available high-quality water; (2) the growth of high water use industries; and
(3) the status of water infrastructure.
1997 Second Report from SAB Lookout Panel: Meeting with OPP Managers, EPA-SAB-
EC-LTR-97-006
SAB suggests that EPA develop scenarios to evaluate ecological risk and mechanisms
that allow for cross-agency sharing of information in order to more holistically assess
environmental needs.
1998 An SAB Advisory on Economic Research Topics and Priorities, EPA-SAB-EEAC-
ADV-98-005
SAB ranks research on methods of valuing ecosystem services as a top economic
research priority at EPA.
2000 Toward Integrated Environmental Decision-Making, EPA-SAB-EC-00-011
SAB proposes a Framework for Integrated Environmental Decision-making that
describes how a broader array of considerations and participants should affect
environmental decision-making in the future. At the core of the framework is integrated
thinking about complex environmental problems, resources, and analyses to address
the problems as they occur in the real world, and integrated input from the public and
interested and affected parties.
77
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
2000 Commentary on the Role of Science in New Approaches to Environmental
Decision-Making that Focus on Stakeholder Involvement, EPA-SAB-EC-COM-00-
002
SAB supports EPA efforts to involve stakeholders in the decision-making process and
urges EPA to ensure that broad public interest is served by effectively using science in
decision processes.
2001 Commentary Resulting from a Workshop on the Diffusion and Adoption of
Innovations in Environmental Protection, EPA-SAB-EEC-COM-01-001
SAB recommends that EPA would benefit substantially from a modest research and
demonstration effort aimed at utilizing current knowledge in the social sciences
concerning strategies and techniques of diffusing innovations.
2002 The Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Water and Watersheds Grants Program:
An EPA Science Advisory Board Review, EPA-SAB-EPEC-02-001
SAB recommends that EPA continue to fund the Water and Watersheds component of
the STAR grants program and suggests that ORD produce "State of the Science"
reports that review and analyze collective findings of STAR-funded research, and
develop a process to systematically distill and communicate research findings to
Program and Regional Offices and state agencies.
2002 A Framework for Assessing and Reporting on Ecological Condition: An SAB
Report, EPA-SAB-EPEC-02-009
SAB suggests that better information about ecological condition is a pre-requisite for
better EPA decision-making and prioritizing and for preventing future environmental
problems. SAB provides a checklist of essential ecological attributes that can be used
to assess ecological condition.
2002 Industrial Ecology: a Commentary by the EPA Science Advisory Board, EPA-
SAB-EEC-COM-02-002
SAB proposes that industrial ecology—a systems approach to environmental
analysis—could help EPA address environmental policy challenges, and identifies the
need for better understanding of the potential and limitations of several approaches,
including technological innovation; voluntary and cooperative approaches to
environmental management; recycling and reuse; reduction in the amounts of materials
used in products; and substitution of scarce resources with those that are more
plentiful.
2004 Review of the Environmental Economics Research Strategy of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency; A Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board,
EPA-SAB-04-007
SAB identifies additional economic research needs that should be included in EPA's
Environmental Economics Research Strategy, including economists working closely
with ecologists to value bundles of ecosystem services rather than changes in single
services.
2005 Advisory Review of EPA's Draft Ecological Benefit Assessment Strategic Plan:
An Advisory by the SAB Committee on Valuing the Protection of Ecological
Systems and Services, EPA-SAB-ADV-05-004
SAB recommends that EPA adopt a framework for assessing the benefits of ecological
protection in agency decision-making.
78
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
2005 EPA's Draft Report on the Environment (ROE) 2003: An Advisory by the ROE
Advisory Panel of the SAB, EPA-SAB-05-004
SAB finds that the Report on the Environment is a critical document, essential for U.S.
efforts to support sustainable use of natural resources for future generations. SAB
recommends that EPA produce future Reports on the Environment on a regular basis.
SAB also gives several recommendations for improving the report, including
incorporating indicator data relevant to climate change; integrating indicators across
media; adding information on missing indicators, such as information on large scale
water availability and human water use and demand; and including analysis of much
greater statistical rigor in order to develop informative syntheses, identify patterns, and
depict trends.
2006 Advisory on EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment Program, EPA-SAB-ADV-
06-001
SAB recommends that EPA support efforts to develop the Regional Vulnerability
Assessment Program (ReVA), a program to develop tools and methods for estimating
future ecosystem vulnerability and illustrating trade-offs associated with alternative
environmental and economic policies on a regional scale.
79
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
ACRONYMS
3Rs Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
AMI Advanced Monitoring Initiative
BOSC Board of Scientific Counselors
BRIC Brazil, Russia, India and China
CCSP Climate Change Sciences Program
CENR Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
CNS Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability
ETV Environmental Technology Verification Program
ESTE Environmental Sustainable Technology Evaluation program
G8 The eight major industrialized nations: U.S., Japan, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, UK, and Russia
GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems
ISA Integrated Systems Analysis
LCA Life Cycle Assessment
MARKAL Market Allocation
MFA Material Flow Analysis
MYP Multi-Year Plan
NPD National Program Director
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
OFEE Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
OMB Office of Management and Budget
ORD Office of Research and Development
OSWER Office of Solid Waster and Emergency Response
P2NT Pollution Prevention and New Technology (P2NT)
P3 People, Prosperity, and Planet Student Design Program
RCC Resource Conservation Challenge
SAB Science Advisory Board
SES Sustainable Environmental Systems
SRS Sustainability Research Strategy
STS Science and Technology for Sustainability
TSE Technology for a Sustainable Environment
80
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
END NOTES
1 An open period for public comment beginning in February 2006 will precede the
definition of final goals and objectives of the Draft 2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan.
2 Preface to Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship. IAC
Report to the Administrator, November 2005. (www.epa.gov/innovation)
3 National Research Council, Building a Foundation for Sound Environmental Decisions.
Washington: NAS Press, 1997.
4 Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy. House Committee on
Science. September 24, 1998.
5 BOSC Review of ORD Global Change Research Program (draft, December 13, 2005)
noted: "Two underlying themes have surfaced in the Program's approach to its work. The
first is that its emphasis now and for the future should be on decision support—improving
the ability of those who control actions to make wise choices in the face of global change
through provisions of useful research and activities. The Subcommittee concludes that
this is the right emphasis and that it should be a guiding star for the efforts of this
Program. The second emphasis is on stakeholder involvement—being 'demand-driven'
and participatory."
6 www.epa.gov/indicators/roe
7 Source of population data: Water Availability in the Western United States. USGS
Circular 1261 (2005).
8 Dreaming with BRICS: The Path to 2050. Goldman Sachs Economic Report #99.
October 2003. www.gs.com/insight/research/reports/report6.html
9 Gro Harlem Brundtland, Our Common Future; World Commission on Environment and
Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
10 Administrator William Reilly may have been the first EPA Administrator to articulate
the need for a broader sustainability focus. "I don't think we will be able to say, in the
popular phrase of the moment," he said, "that we have attained a sustainable level of
development until we function in harmony with these ecosystems and learn to keep them
productive. [EPA] is not, nor ought to be, fundamentally about reducing this effluent or
that emission, but rather about protecting the totality of the environment."
www.epa.gov/history/publications/reilly/21.htm
11 The sustainability research program, like the global change program, affects decision-
makers at all levels of government and in the public and private sector. Achieving
sustainable outcomes, such as mitigation against global change, are best addressed in a
81
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
collective manner. See BOSC Review of the ORD Global Change Research Program
Final Draft, December 13, 2005, pg. 2.
12
C.S. Rollings. "Understanding the Complexity of Economics, Ecological and Social
Systems." Ecosystems 2001, 4: 390-405.
13
Joseph. Fiksel, "A Framework for Sustainable Materials Management," Journal of
Materials., August 2006 (in press).
14
Mark T. Anderson and Lloyd H. Woosley, 2005 Water Availability for the Western
United States: Key Scientific Challenges. USGS Circular 1261.
15 www.millenniumassessment.org
16 Richard Sparks, "Rethinking, Then Rebuilding New Orleans," Issues in Science and
Technology (Winter 2006), 33-39. "Planners should look to science to guide the
rebuilding, and scientists now advise that the most sensible strategy is to work with the
forces of nature rather than trying to over power them."
17
BOSC Review of Ecological Research Program (draft), August 2005.
18 See www.epa.gov/ncea/ROEIndicators/tfchapter5
19 For rapporteur's summary and presenters' precis papers of the EPA-sponsored forum
on "Sustainability, Weil-Being, and Environment Protection: What's an Agency to Do?"
seewww.epa.gov/sustainability/econforum
20 Tared Diamond, Collapse (TSTew York: Viking, 2004). Diamond argues that the natural
system is at the center of economic growth. Rejecting the common assertion that "(t)he
environment has to be balanced against the economy," he insists that "(t)his quote
portrays environmental concerns as a luxury, views measures to solve environmental
problems as incurring a net cost, and considers leaving environmental problems unsolved
to be a money-saving device. This one-liner puts the truth exactly backward" (pg. 503).
21 Robert T. Lackey, Denise H. Lach, and Sally Duncan, "Wild Salmon in Western North
America: Forecasting the Most Likely Status in 2100" (in press).
22 See EPA Draft Report on the Environment 2003 at
www.epa.gov/indicators/roe/index.htm Also "State of the Nation's Ecosystems," Heinz
Center, 2003. www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/index.htm
23 Several panelists proposed that Sustainability should incorporate non-declining levels of
ecosystem services and community welfare, as well as distributional equity among
generations; specifically, a sustainable economy preserves its capacity to generate
income, which is made possible because natural capital is maintained (Bhavik Bakshi).
Sustainability encompasses two equally important functions: fairly distributing economic
benefits over time and limiting the negative environmental impact of economic activity
(Geoffrey Heal). Another way to measure Sustainability is to ask whether a current action
(or absence of action) leaves future decision-makers with less desirable options than
those enjoyed by the current generation (William Pizer).
24
EPA SAB, Commentary on Industrial Ecology, 2002. Also SAB Review of Science and
Research Budgets for FY2006, March 30, 2006.
82
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
25 See www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve
26 DOE and USD A, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry:
The Technical Feasibility of a Billion Ton Annual Supply.
http://wwwl.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/fmal_billionton_vision_report2.pdf
27 www.epa.gov/chemrtk/hazchem.htm
28 The Draft 2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan Architecture document is available for public
comment, www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/06draftarch.pdf
29 See "A Framework for Computational Toxicology." ORD. EPA 600/R-03/065
November 2003.
30 See www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm
31 The drafting of this Research Strategy coincides with the major human and physical
impacts of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. In coming years, as attention shifts to
rebuilding the affected areas, questions will arise as to how humans and nature can
coexist in this region. The ability to plan and respond to natural disasters is an important
element of Sustainability planning.
32 National Academies Press, 2001. www.nap.edu/catalog/9975.html
33 Draft BOSC Program Review of Land Restoration and Preservation Program Review,
January 2006.
34 See www.smarte.org/smarte/home/index.xml
35 See Regional Summaries of State and Tribal Issues and Priorities for the 2006-2011
Strategic Plan Revision, www.epa.gov/ocfopage/plan/regions/index.htm
36 BOSC Review of Ecological Research Program. August 2005, pg.18.
37 For rapporteur's summary and presenters' precis papers of the EPA-sponsored forum
on "Sustainability, Weil-Being, and Environment Protection: What's an Agency to Do?"
seewww.epa.gov/sustainability/econforum
38 See www.epa.gov/ncer
39 See
http://cfpub3.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseacti on/display.institutionlnfo/instituti
on/1327
40 See GOESS 10-Year Implementation Plan Reference Document, www.epa.gov/geoss
41 See www. epa. gov/innovation
42 Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship: Technical Report
2005).
43 NACEPT Subcommittee on Environmental Technology March 23 2006.
44 OSWER has recommended that ORD look at proposed new methodologies for
assessing environmental impacts and provide guidance on appropriate support tools for
policy-makers. Although MFA is a valuable tool, it is primary focus is on volumes and
83
-------
Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
weights of materials. A clearer measure of environmental impact of 3R-type programs is
need.
45 All three concepts rely on strong scientific input to help decision-making achieve
measurable and sustainable outcomes. Michael Leavitt, EPA's former Administrator, and
current Administrator Steve Johnson have been making collaborating problem solving an
important element of EPA's governance agenda. Similarly, the concept of collaborative
conservation as outlined in an Executive Order (August 26, 2004) requires EPA (and four
other agencies) to actively engage all stakeholders when implementing conservation and
environmental projects. Finally, EPA is also promoting environmental stewardship -
defined as shared values and responsibilities among stakeholders for environmental
protection.
46 www.epa.gov/CARE
47 www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej _smgrants.html
48 www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-cps-grants.html
49 www. epa. gov/ncer/cns.
50 www. epa. gov/ncer/rfa
51 www. epa. gov/innovation
52 The EU is promoting National Strategies for Sustainable Development:
www.nssd.net/index.html. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
released its 2004_Research for Sustainability (www.fona.de/eng/). France issued its
National Strategy for Sustainable Development (reported at www.nssd.net/index.html):
the French-language text of the strategy is at
www.ecologie.gouv.fr/rubrique.php37id rubrique= 12 Environment Canada has
established an Environmental Foresight Branch with the mission of providing analysis
and advice on emerging environmental issues to inform the proactive development of
national environmental policy (www.ec.gc.ca/envhome.html).
53
For the agenda, highlights, and each of the 40-plus presentations, see
www.epa.gov/sustainability/Workshop0505/index.htm
84
------- |