By John DeFore
James Galloway, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, has been pursuing 
research for decades that is suddenly looking particularly timely, pointing out growing hazards in an area many observers thought was solved long ago. He kept studying the effects of nitrogen long after the end of the 1970s acid rain crisis, and has produced papers and flow charts illustrating a “nitrogen cascade” whose environmental impact is in many ways, Galloway has said, “as big an issue as carbon.”
At issue is reactive, not inert, nitrogen, which enters the environment largely through nitrogen-based fertilizer. The substance can make its way to coastal areas and contribute to red tide, can become nitric acid in lakes, or can enter the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Galloway’s suggestions for dealing with this accumulation include recovering nitrogen from human and animal waste for reuse and decreasing forms of livestock farming that are nitrogen-intensive.
Tonight, a banquet at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills will honor Galloway’s work and that of another researcher — Stanford environmental biologist Harold Mooney, who has studied how plant species in different locations with similar climates evolve toward similar goals. The two men will jointly receive this year’s Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an award established over thirty years ago and given out by the University of Southern California.
The honorees have earned their gold medals and a $200,000 cash award through research in different fields, but both, USC says “drew important links between local and global ecosystems.
The Tyler Prize is the premier award for environmental science, energy and environmental health, and widely considered as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in those fields, according to the University of Virginia. Previous winners include primate researcher Jane Goodall and former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.