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FIND THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION YOU NEED
Despite the Internet's tremendous potential, finding useful environmental information on it can be time-consuming and not cost-effective when using traditional search engines. The available informatio...
September 1, 2000 By Pulp & Paper Canada
Despite the Internet’s tremendous potential, finding useful environmental information on it can be time-consuming and not cost-effective when using traditional search engines. The available information is incomplete and very scattered. It is not uncommon to find hundreds of “hits” that must be reviewed.
After five years of browsing and collecting environmental information from the Internet, I have finally decided to make sense of it all. Below is a summary of the sites that I have found most useful relating to pulp and paper environmental issues. Of course, this is just a sub-sample. There are many more.
First, I recommend the Copernic search engine to do searches. It is more thorough and complete since it compiles the results of 14 popular search engines and scores them according to relevance. I have been able to find good sites using Copernic that don’t appear on other search engines such as Yahoo! Copernic can be downloaded at no charge and add-ons are available at a cost. Another useful site is GO translator, which translates any web site into the language of your choice.
The sites in the table are organized by general topic. The ones I would recommend for regular checks are the following:
1. PAPTAC, CPPA and TAPPI;
2. Environment Canada and US EPA;
3. Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Reach for the Unbleached;
4. The Business and Sustainable Development Site.
It is a good idea to subscribe to an environmental news service to stay aware of current environmental issues. One of the more useful technical sites is ECOTOX. It allows any user to find out about the toxicity of numerous chemicals like those being used in certain additives or those present in mill effluent. There are also some good scientific and technical searchable databases. These will generate articles or abstracts of papers relating to topics of interest (i.e. ET&C, NISC, CNIE). Happy browsing!
Phil Riebel can be reached at priebel@sympatico.ca. For more information visit www3.sympatico.ca/priebel
| Topic | URL | Comments |
Pulp and paper sites
| Pulp and Paper | www.paptac.ca | Technical news on the Canadian |
| Technical Association | industry, committee reports, | |
| of Canada (PAPTAC) | publications to order. | |
| Canadian Pulp and | www.opendoors.cppa.ca | Complete up-to-date news on Canadian |
| Paper Association | industry initiatives, including | |
| (The Green Trail) | environmental issues. | |
| Technical Association | www.tappi.org | A good resource for technical news and |
| of the Pulp and | information, including access to the | |
| Paper Industry (TAPPI) | journal articles, bookstore, and the | |
| public outreach initiatives. |
General but very useful sites
| Copernic search | www.copernic.com | Free download. A thorough search |
| engine | engine that compiles the results of 14 | |
| other popular search engines including | ||
| Yahoo! | ||
| GO Translator | http://translator.go.com | Allows you to translate any web site into |
| the language of your choice. The | ||
| translation is rough but adequate to get | ||
| the main message. | ||
| Governmental organizations/departments | ||
| Environment Canada | www.doe.ca | Information on national environmental |
| – The Green Lane | issues, access to regulations such as the | |
| Fisheries Act, the Environmental Effects | ||
| Monitoring Program (EEM). | ||
| The US | www.epa.gov | A tremendous amount of information |
| Environmental | on environmental issues, including | |
| Protection Agency | online access to all EPA publications. | |
| Canadian Council of | www.ccme.ca | Useful publications such as water, |
| Ministers of the | sediment and soil quality criteria. |
Environment
| Topic | URL | Comments |
| Industry Canada | http://strategis.ic.gc.ca | Statistics on the Canadian pulp and |
| paper industry. |
Non-governmental organizations
| Links to | http://ceres.ca.gov/tcsf/ | A useful site that lists all the main |
| Environmental | earth/envlinks.html | environmental groups and provides |
| Organizations | links to their site | |
| Greenpeace, Sierra | www.greenpeace.org; | Influential environmental groups. Pulp |
| Club, Sierra Legal | www.sierraclub.org; | and paper companies should be aware |
| Defence Fund, Reach | www.sierralegal.org; | of current issues being targeted by |
| for the Unbleached | www.rfu.org | these groups. |
| Canadian | www.ceaa-acve.ca | Directory of certified environmental |
| Environmental | auditors. |
Auditing Association
(CEAA)
| Canadian Association | www.caeal.ca | List of lab auditors, accredited labs, |
| of Environmental | scopes of accreditation. |
Analytical Laboratories
(CAEAL)
| American Fisheries | www.fisheries.org | Much technical information on fisheries, |
| Society | including environmental effects on fish. |
Sustainable development / ecoefficiency
| President’s Council | www.whitehouse.gov/ | Key US initiative promoting sustainable |
| for Sustainable | PCSD/index.html | development |
Development
| Eco-Rating | www.eco-rating.com | Environmental rating agency to assess |
| International | and rate a company’s environmental | |
| performance. | ||
| OECD Environment | www.oecd.org//env/ | Much environmental information on |
| index.htm | initiatives of OECD member countries, | |
| including Canada. This includes | ||
| environmental performance reviews. | ||
| Topic | URL | Comments |
| Business and | http://192.197.196.1/ | An excellent site for companies who are |
| Sustainable | business/default.htm | looking to become more eco-efficient. |
| Development | Full of ideas and case studies. |
Directories of environmental products and services
| ESAA Directory and | www.esaa.org/members/ | This directory focuses primarily on |
| Buyers Guide of | about.htm | western Canada |
Envi
ronmental
products and Services
| Enviro-Access | www.enviroaccess.ca | A Canadian-made environmental |
| directory of products and services, | ||
| including a business directory |
Environmental search engines
| Environmental | www.webdirectory.com; | Search engines specializing on |
| Organization Web | www.eco-web.com | environmental topics |
Directory; Green Pages
– The Global Directory
for Environmental Technology
Environmental news services
| Environmental | www.eponline.com; | Search engines to find relevant Articles |
| Protection Online; | www.manufacturing.net/ | in the journal |
| Pollution Engineering | magazine/polleng |
Online
| Yahoo Environment | http://headlines.yahoo | Up-to-date environmental news from |
| and Nature News | .com/Full_Coverage/ | around the world |
Tech/Environment_and
_Nature_News
| Topic | URL | Comments |
| Environmental | www.hmsincorporated | Tips related to health and safety issues. |
| Managers Monthly | .com/haz_manager.htm |
Tips
| Canada Newswire | www.newswire.ca | Often covers major environmental news, |
| such as companies that have been | ||
| charged. |
Online literature searching
| National Information | www.nisc.com | Literature searching of hundreds of |
| Services Corporation | scientific and technical journals. | |
| National Council for | www.cnie.org | Search over 330 journals on-line. |
Science and the
Environment
| Environmental | http://etc.allenpress.com/ | Online ET&C journal. Over the years, |
| Toxicology and | entconline | several articles have been written on |
| Chemistry | pulp and paper effluent toxicology and | |
| environmental effects. |
Useful tools for environmental staff
| ECOTOX | www.epa.gov/ecotox | A searchable database for toxicology to |
| determine the toxicity of numerous | ||
| chemical compounds to fish and other | ||
| organisms. | ||
| Water and Wastewater | www.waterand | News, suppliers/services and technical |
| wastewater.com | information relating to water and | |
| wastewater treatment |
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