BUTLER/CUNNINGHAM

Particular Governmental Institutions

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LEVEL 2

ENVIRONMENT FACTS:

INSTITUTIONS

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Particular Governmental Institutions

Institutions that are concerned with the environment often reference each other on their websites. Rather than duplicate such listings, we confine ourselves to some of the major institutions from which other refrences can be found. Listing an institution here does not imply an endorsement. Not listing an institution does not imply any slight.

The major state institution is the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). www.adem.state.al.us

ADEM provides a yearly summary of the state of the environment in Alabama. It is available at www.adem.state.al.us/Publications/EnvSummary/EnvSum.htm

The Auburn University Environmental Institute is at www.auei.org

The Auburn University College of Agriculture (www.ag.auburn.edu), and the Auburn University Alabama Cooperative Extension Service (www.aces.edu), often have features on the environment that can be very useful to particular groups and that are not covered on this page, such as on the problem of fire ants in Alabama.

The Southern Regional Water Quality Program maintains a variety of ways to monitor the condition of waterways in Southern states. The direct address for Alabama is http://srwqis.tamu.edu/states/alabama

Among federal agencies, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and especially the National Resources Inventory (NRI) of the NRCS maintain information on the state of the environment. See www.al.nrcs.usda.gov and www.al.nrcs.usda.gov/NRI/nri.html

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains a variety of information and maps, which are best searched through their website: www.epa.gov

For example, information on landfills and solid waste issues can be found at www.epa.gov/msw/longdesc/4-8longdesc.htm (msw = "municipal solid waste")

Jacksonville State University maintains an Environmental Policy and Information Center, that can be accessed at www.jsu.edu/depart/epic

They maintain a copy of the report of the recent Alabama Commission on Environmental Initiatives (ACEI) at www.jsu.edu/depart/epic/ACEI.html or www.jsu.edu/depart/epic/ACEIreport.htm

The University of Alabama offers an Educational Television series on the Environments. It, along with other environmental links/suggestions, can be accessed at www.ccet.ua.edu/enviro.htm

Environmental data often needs to be put in the context of population. Historical data can be found at www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html, or espcially for Alabama at www.census.gov/population/cencounts/al190090.txt

Particular Non-Governmental Institutions

The Sierra Club is perhaps the "parent" of all environmental institutions in the US. Their URL is www.sierraclub.org

Their feature on "factory farms" is about AFOs and CAFOs (accessible from their home page). However, it is as strong on "animal welfare" issues as on purely environmental issues.

The best known group concerned with air quality is the American Lung Association, at www.lungusa.org. The general report on air is at www.stateoftheair.org. Their rating of air (ozone) in various cities is at www.lungusa.org/air2001/rank1.html

A group within Auburn University that functions like a private organization is Grassroots at www.ag.auburn.edu/grassroots. In particular, they maintain an extensive list of other organizations along with the internet links, including, for example, the Friends of Rural Alabama.

Water Watch has already been mentioned above.

'Bama Environmental News collects extracts on environmental news from at least three newspapers. They are located at www.bamanews.com/op-ed.html. Many further links to other organizations can be found from there.

Geocities allows a doorway into Environmental Spectrums for several states. Each spectrum has several topics, such as water, air, land, CAFOs, etc. The Alabama Environmental Spectrum can be found at www.geocities.com/alenvspec/aes.indes.html

Most of their information seems to come from established sites such as ADEM but it make a good summary and introduction. It is still under construction and so might not easily readible for all topics.

The Nature Conservancy actively pursues environmental health and preservation. The general site can be found at http://nature.org.

The Nature Conservancy site for Alabama can be found at http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/alabama

The Alabama Environmental Council (formerly The Alabama Conservancy) works on various aspects of the environment and also seems to know what is going on with many other organizations in Alabama. They are at www.aeconlin.ws. Each major feature of the enviornment has a specific URL, available by querying the main site. For example, for air, see cleanair@aeconline.ws

The Alabama Rivers Alliance monitors the condition of many Alabama waterways. www.alabamarivers.org

Athough the Cahaba River Society is concerned with only one river, it is an important river and an active society, so the CRS can serve as an example of such societies. www.cahabariversociety.org

"ROSE" is "Recycled Oil Saves Energy". Since 1977, ROSE has been arranging for the recycling of oil products and has educated children and other people in Alabama. Through its long-term campaigning, it is largely responsible for the recycling that now occurs whenever anybody changes oil at a commercial establishment. Althought they are supported by government funds, they act fairly independently. www.wng.ua.edu/~prose.