Logistics Management - OSHA's new approach to warehousing

OSHA's new approach to warehousing
The federal agency is choosing collaboration over confrontation when it comes to improving warehouse ergonomics.

If you mention "OSHA" to a warehouse manager, you're likely to get a frown in response. That's because relations between warehouse operators and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the government's watchdog on industrial safety issues, haven't always been friendly.

In the 1990s, OSHA began to crack down on violations, and in 2000 the agency developed a controversial set of ergonomics standards that met with strong objections from many industries, including warehousing. Congress repealed those standards in 2001, just weeks before they were to take effect. Without standards in place, it became harder for OSHA to issue violation notices—and for warehouse operators to know when they'd done something wrong.

That lack of certainty has prompted OSHA to change the way it works with business, an approach that promises to improve safety and reduce warehouse operating costs.

OSHA's new approach is based on four activities: best practices guidelines, enforcement, outreach and assistance, and a national advisory committee. As part of this initiative, OSHA has been forming cooperative partnerships, or "voluntary protection programs," with companies and has been soliciting advice from industry associations.

OSHA also has targeted warehousing and other industries with above-average rates of ergonomic injuries for participation in its initiative, says Rich Fairfax, director of the agency's enforcement program. One industry group that was very interested in working with OSHA is the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA), an organization for warehouse-based third-party logistics providers. "For most warehouse operators, OSHA is a four-letter word. But we didn't want that to be the case," says Nathan Noy, IWLA director of government and legal services.

Last year the IWLA formed an alliance with OSHA. The alliance's goals are to collaborate on improving warehouse safety, reducing regulatory violations, and developing training and information programs.

Participants quickly decided that they should focus on ergonomics because the majority of warehouse safety incidents are ergonomics-related. IWLA members say they welcome OSHA's assistance in improving ergonomic practices. "What we applaud is that they are really trying to find a practical way to do that," says Ernie Harban, manager for training and loss prevention at third-party logistics provider Saddle Creek Corp.
Concrete Benefits

OSHA's outreach programs aim to produce concrete benefits for participants. Noy, for one, expects the alliance will help his group spread information on ergonomics to its members, which will reduce the likelihood of OSHA inspectors showing up on their doorsteps.

The agency has indeed issued fewer ergonomics citations in recent years than it did in the 1980s and early 1990s, says Prof. Donald Bloswick, an industrial ergonomics and safety specialist at the University of Utah. That's a good thing, he says. "I'd much rather see companies spending their dollars abating hazards than paying OSHA citations."

According to OSHA's Fairfax, participants in voluntary protection programs can indeed expect some breaks. If they do appear on OSHA's inspection list, the agency will defer an inspection and give the company time to develop and implement an improvement program.

It would be foolhardy, though, to put ergonomics on the back burner because OSHA is focusing more on outreach than on enforcement these days. "I think this would be a mistake for two reasons," says Dave Alexander, president of consultants Auburn Engineers. "First, you're still responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace. And second, if you're having enough injuries to be worried about OSHA, you should really be worrying about your pocketbook. You're probably paying a lot more money than you have to for workers' comp."
Four-Step Program

What type of ergonomics program should you have to make sure that you don't hurt your employees' backs—or your wallet? "The worst level of program is to be completely reactive, to only do something when someone gets hurt," says Tom Albin, an ergonomics specialist at Auburn Engineers.

Instead, many industry experts recommend that warehouse managers adopt the following four-step program for preventing ergonomics problems.

Step 1: Identify existing and potential problems.
Look at injury and illness records. If those costs average a few hundred dollars per person, per year, you probably have a pretty good ergonomics program, says Alexander. If you're spending several thousand dollars, you need to improve your program, he says.

Zack Koustandreas, vice president of consulting firm Ergoworks, recommends asking employees questions such as: Are you tired at the end of the day? Why are you tired? Which muscles are sore? "Is this a comprehensive and thorough analysis? No, but it will give you a hotspot—or two or three—that's a great place to start," he says.

Walk through a facility to see what the risk factors are. How far are people reaching? How much do boxes weigh? How many times are they performing a specific task? You can do this yourself, bring in a consultant or insurance company, or use OSHA's consultation service. Under the OSHA program, inspectors will conduct an inspection at no cost. If they find a hazard, however, you will be obligated to correct it.

Step 2: Train and educate correctly.
Good training is specific to each warehouse's unique operation. If it isn't, employees are likely to respond to recommendations with "yes, buts," according to Kim Monroe, president of Emmons Ergonomics Consulting.

Make sure training is practical and instructions make sense. "I can tell you to lift with your knees bent and your back straight, but if you've got to bend over to go into a slot, how are you going to do that?" says Albin. "If I train you to do something you cannot do, I've wasted your time and my money."

Step 3: Establish an effective injury-response program.
Encourage employees to report injuries and soreness early so you can identify problems before they become serious. It's helpful to work with a medical professional who is certified in occupational medicine and is familiar with your operation. If you don't have someone on staff, find someone who can visit your facility periodically.

Step 4: Earn continuing support for compliance.
Both employee involvement and management buy-in are critical to the success of any ergonomics program. "You really have to make sure that you have all your ducks in a row before you roll out the program, that you have management support and a certain amount of funding. That's the only way you can overcome resistance and skepticism," says Monroe.

And have patience. "You're not going to immediately see an effect on your injury and illness rates," Monroe warns. "In fact, when you first put in an ergonomics program, you might see your numbers go up because you have increased awareness and more people are reporting injuries early."

But stick with the program and you'll see improvements not only in the number of reportable injuries, but also in employee satisfaction.

Tips and Tricks for better warehouse ergonomics

Looking for ways to improve ergonomic practices in your warehouse? Here are some suggestions from warehousing experts:

1. When building a mixed pallet on a forklift, leave the forks at waist height to avoid having to stoop to put a case down.
2. Use a spring-loaded pallet holder. As boxes are unloaded and the pallet becomes lighter, the spring will raise the load; as boxes are added to the pallet, the load will be lowered. This will always keep the pallet at waist height.
3. Design conveyors so they can be adjusted for people of different heights to minimize bending, reaching, and twisting.
4. Use cushioned mats to relieve pressure on the back, legs, and feet from standing.
5. Make employees take frequent breaks. "We don't allow people to stay on the job when a break comes. We really want them to leave the job and walk to the break room so that they can change their body posture," says Ernie Harban of warehouse operator Saddle Creek Corp.
6. Rotate employees through different positions so they're not doing the same job all day long.
7. Design pallet bays so items can be accessed from more than one side. This reduces reaching and stress on the body, recommends ergonomics expert Donald Bloswick of the University of Utah. This will effectively reduce storage space and thus will raise costs to some degree, but it won't require a lot of mechanization cost, he says.
8. Educate your employees about workers' compensation rules so they understand how it affects their pay and employment conditions.
9. Involve employees in improving working conditions. At Ford Motor Co., for example, United Auto Workers members are the plant ergonomists.
10. If you don't have an ergonomist on staff, train your occupational health nurse, hygienist, or safety manager.
11. Make containers easier to handle. This could, for example, involve switching to smaller packages or using boxes with handholds.
12. Link your ergonomics program to other workplace initiatives, such as a Six Sigma quality program, to give ergonomics more visibility (and perhaps encourage more funding).

Ergonomics: Where Can I Turn For Help?

There's no shortage of information about ergonomics best practices, and much of it can be found online. Here are just a few examples:

OSHA's websitecontains excellent resources, including analytical tools, case studies, and operating guidelines. www.osha.gov

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) website contains information about musculoskeletal disorders and a downloadable version of the institute's Elements of Ergonomics Programs. http://www.niosh.gov

Stone Wheel Works provides free, downloadable ergonomics-analysis tools that can help quantify and abate risk. http://hsc.usf.edu/~tbernard/tebstonewheels.html

Washington State's Department of Labor and Industry includes helpful advice and case studies on its website. http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Topics/Ergonomics/default.asp

By Susan Lacefield, Associate Editor Logistics Management March 1, 2005

Bottom Up Vs. Top Down Corporate Blogging

As business blogging becomes more widespread, two main approaches have emerged. There are bottom up bloggers and top-down bloggers ...

... and then there are a scant few companies who are in between. Each approach is vastly different.

Bottom-up blogging can either start organically or with an edict or blessing of the corporation. Famous bottom-up blogging corporations include Microsoft and Sun. Basically, this is blogging at its best. It's real employees dishing out the straight dope from the bowels of a corporation. It's unfiltered, fun and, for many, incredibly risky. However, when done right, bottom-up blogging can change a corporation.

The majority of blogging companies, however, fall into the top-down camp. They devise a blogging strategy with input from execs, communicators, marketers, HR, etc. They deliberately determine who will blog for the company on what subjects at what time and in what place. Famous top-down blogging companies include most major media companies, GM and Cisco.

Read the rest of the article:
http://www.webpronews.com/txt/buvtdcb.html

====================

Signup for free newsletters: http://www.ientry.com/page/newsletters

By Steve Rubel - Contributing Writer

Corporate Blogging Safety

Corporate Blogging Guidelines

Corporate blogging guidelines are fast becoming a staple (pun intended) of many company employee handbooks.

We keep hearing of more bloggers who have been fired for their on the job blogging activities. As work related blogs become more common, that number of terminated blogging employees is expected to grow.

As a proponent of business blogs, and of employees maintaining job related blogs, I think the concept of employee blogging guidelines is a good one.

Banning work related blogging activity, by members of the organization, actually hurts the business. By failing to take advantage of the blog benefits, including transparency, conversation and community building, and relationship development, a company blogging ban does more harm than good.

Think in terms of being reasonable, and trusting employees to act in the company's best interest, and the blogging regulations and guidelines can help everyone involved.

The organization must keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of company bloggers are helping the business to succeed and achieve its goals.

The employee is able to write relatively freely about the company. The business benefits from the relationships built with current
and future customers and clients.

Toby Bloomberg, of the highly informative Diva Marketing, has compiled a comprehensive list of company blogging guidelines.

By reading the various corporate blogging recommendations, from the list that Toby provides, your business can formulate blogging guidelines that help both the company and the employees.

Read the rest of the article:
http://www.webpronews.com/txt/cbg.html

====================

Signup for free newsletters: http://www.ientry.com/page/newsletters

From: WebProNews Update - March 26, 2005
By Mark Fleming - Contributing Writer

Drunk Safety - For those who can't help themselves.

Posted by EHSmanager

New OSHA boss

No, he's not an expert in health or safety, but he used to be the lobbyist for Metabolife.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao announced on Dec. 14, 2004, the appointment of Jonathan Snare as the deputy assistant secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to replace the outgoing OSHA head John Henshaw. Although Snare will oversee the safety and health of 100 million workers under OSHA’s jurisdiction, it was not deemed important enough for significant media coverage.

Prior to joining OSHA, Snare was in private practice in Texas with Jackson and Walker, LLP, a firm whose web site boasts its areas of expertise include “union avoidance campaigns.” Snare was a paid lobbyist for Metabolife, the nation’s leading producer of ephedra products. Ephedra was finally banned after the FDA received reports of many deaths due to this harmful supplement.

As election operations vice-president of the Republican National Lawyers Committee, Snare helped organize and train Republican lawyers to go to South Dakota and other states to make sure that Democrats and Native Americans didn’t “steal the election.” He also served as general counsel to the Texas Senate Redistricting Committee and general counsel to the Republican Party of Texas.

It is clear what the future has to hold…

Industry News: Employer fined after messy chemical spill clean-up

After failing to take appropriate precautions following a chemical spill, Valmont Coatings-Oklahoma Galvanizing in Claremore, Okla., was cited by OSHA and fined $126,000 for safety and health violations that sent 18 employees to the hospital.

OSHA penalized the hot-dip galvanizing company, which is owned by Omaha, Neb.-based Valmont Industries, Inc., following an inspection that began last Aug. 31. Valmont Coatings, which employs more than 3,000 workers — about 100 of which are located in Claremore — was hit with one alleged willful and eight alleged serious violations for exposing employees to sulfuric acid during a clean-up spill from the rupture of a storage tank.

The alleged willful violation — issued by OSHA when an employer either knew that a condition constituted a violation or was aware that a hazardous condition existed and made no reasonable effort to correct it — was for failing to provide personal protective equipment to employees who responded to the acid spill.

The alleged serious citations included a long list of shortcomings:

# Failing to ensure that the premises were free from hazardous conditions such as exposure to concentrated sulfuric acid or being struck by debris caused by the leakage and/or rupture of a storage tank operating under pressure;

# Failing to develop and implement an emergency response plan;

# Failing to assure that the senior emergency response official took charge of the situation when the spill occurred; and

# Failing to train employees in emergency response operations.

The company has 15 working days to comply with or contest the citations. "

Industry News: Bush taps scientist to head EPA

President Bush nominated (03/04/2005) Stephen L. Johnson, a biologist and pathologist by training, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Johnson, whose nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, is expected to push changes Bush wants in air pollution and clean water programs, the Associated Press reports.

A career scientist, Johnson becomes the first person in the EPA’s 35-year history to rise from within its ranks to the top job of administrator. His first task, according to AP, will be to sell air pollution regulations that are aimed at reducing mercury emissions from power plant smokestacks and other pollutants carried across state lines. These regs are due to come out within the next couple of weeks.

Johnson is also tasked with freeing Bush's top legislative priority, a "clear skies" bill that has been stalled more than two years in the Republican-controlled Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

That measure would impose mandatory ceilings on three of the biggest pollutants from power plants — sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury — but allow individual plants to exceed their shares by buying pollution rights. Environmentalists say the legislation would delay needed cleanups.

"If confirmed, it will be my distinct privilege to serve you and our nation to continue to advance your environmental agenda while maintaining our nation's economic competitiveness," Johnson told Bush during a White House ceremony.

Johnson would succeed former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who last month became head of the Health and Human Services Department. Johnson would take the reins of an 18,000-employee agency with an $8 billion budget.

Bush wants to cut EPA spending by nearly a half-billion dollars next year, primarily from clean water programs. He wants to reduce by one-third the low-interest loans to states for water quality protection and decrease spending on replacing aging water treatment facilities and pipes by 83 percent.

The president said one of Johnson's top jobs also would be to "lead federal efforts to ensure the safety of our drinking water supply," saying the EPA has "an important role in the war on terror."

Johnson, 53, has been with the agency 24 years. He replaced Leavitt as acting administrator in January.

Questioning the EPA - Bangornews.com Staff

President Bush's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency isn't likely to face real opposition from Congress, but Steve Johnson, a longtime EPA staffer, should expect lots of questions from Maine's senators. They should expect detailed answers.

Although it is clear the Bush administration is moving forward with rules that weaken many environmental protections, it is important that these changes get as much scrutiny as possible. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have long histories of providing such scrutiny and they should continue to do so.

The senators will likely ask why the administration proposed rules on mercury pollution that are not as stringent as possible, especially in light of last month's report from EPA's inspector general finding that the proposed mercury rules were developed by working backward from a predetermined standard favored by industry. The rule, announced Tuesday, calls for a 70 percent reduction in mercury emission by 2018. In 2001, the agency estimated that mercury emissions could be reduced by 90 percent if the best available technology were used.

Sen. Snowe recently joined with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont in writing to the EPA last week to express their opposition to the mercury rules. "EPA's mercury proposals fell far short of what the law requires and that the proposed approach fails to protect the health of our children and our environment," the senators wrote.

Currently, 45 states have fish warnings for mercury, and EPA and the Food and Drug Administration warn women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children from eating more than six ounces a week of fish caught in local waterways. In Maine, 19 rivers and lakes have been under such advisories for a decade.

The senators should want to know how the EPA can continue to support the president's Clear Skies package, which was held up by a committee deadlock, when the existing Clean Air Act and other proposals would result in bigger and quicker reductions in pollution. The Clean Power Act, sponsored by Sen. Collins, would set a more rigorous timetable and allow for more local control, an important issue for Maine, which has had to go to court to try to compel the EPA to enforce existing pollution regulations.

On the issue of climate change, they will wonder why the administration has been slow to fund research into its causes and consequences. The Climate Stewardship Act, sponsored by Sen. Snowe, would set up a cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas. It would require the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop rules to reduce emissions from the electricity generation, transportation, manufacturing and commercial sectors, which account for 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases.

Mr. Johnson is in the unenviable position of taking over an embattled agency in the midst of congressional wrangling over a cornerstone of the administration's pollution policy. Given the importance of recent and impending regulatory decisions, senators would be remiss if they didn't take this opportunity to express their concern and, often, displeasure with the agency's direction.

OSHA Identifies 14,000 Workplaces with High Injury, Illness Rates; Letter Looks to Proactive Steps

March 10, 2005

Approximately 14,000 employers have been notified that injury and illness rates at their worksites are higher than average and that assistance is available to help them fix safety and health hazards, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Thursday.
Advertisement

In a letter this month to those employers, Jonathan Snare, acting assistant secretary of Labor for OSHA, explained that the notification was a proactive step to encourage employers to take steps now to reduce those rates and improve the safety and health environment in their workplaces.

'This identification process is meant to raise awareness that injuries and illnesses are high at these facilities,' Snare said. 'Injuries and illnesses are costly to employers in both personal and financial terms. Our goal is to identify workplaces where injury and illness rates are high, and to offer assistance to employers so they can address the hazards and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses.'

Establishments with the nation's high workplace injury and illness rates were identified by OSHA through employer-reported data from a 2004 survey of 80,000 worksites (the survey consisted of data from calendar year 2003). The workplaces identified had 6.5 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time workers. The national average during 2003 was 2.6 DART instances for every 100 workers.

Employers receiving the letters were also provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standard for their specific industry. Snare also offered the agency's assistance in helping turn the numbers around, suggesting, among "

Are You on OSHA's List?

OSHA has notified about 14,000 employers that injury and illness rates at their worksites are higher than average.

In a letter this month to those employers, Jonathan L. Snare, acting head of OSHA, explained that the notification was a proactive step to encourage employers to take steps now to reduce those rates and improve the safety and health environment in their workplaces. He also said that assistance is available to help employers fix safety and health hazards

'This identification process is meant to raise awareness that injuries and illnesses are high at these facilities,' Snare said. 'Injuries and illnesses are costly to employers in both personal and financial terms. Our goal is to identify workplaces where injury and illness rates are high, and to offer assistance to employers so they can address the hazards and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses.'

Establishments with the nation's high workplace injury and illness rates were identified by OSHA through employer-reported data from a 2004 survey of 80,000 worksites (the survey consisted of data from calendar year 2003). The workplaces identified had 6.5 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time workers. The national average during 2003 was 2.6 DART instances for every 100 workers.

Employers receiving the letters were also provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standard for their specific industry.

The list does not designate those earmarked for any future inspections. An announcement of targeted inspections will be made later this year. Also, the sites listed are establishments in states covered by federal OSHA; the list does not include employers in the 21 states and one territory (Puerto Rico"

ESS - The Neutral Solution

Ergonomic developments in the work place change the way employees function.

An ergonomically designed workstation can help turn a cramped work environment into a comfortable, productive space. Adjustable chairs and computer accessories have led the charge in the changing workplace. By adopting these advances, facility managers have been able to author new guidelines in workplace comfort.

What We Sit On
Ronda Crenshaw, director of the national ergonomic group for the New York, NY-based Humanscale, says, "The square footage of offices in this country is shrinking. With the footprint and space of the office environment getting smaller, it is crucial that the things that people are interfacing with on a daily basis are highly functional and adjustable. It is even more critical that everything be ergonomcially set up, because everyone is working in a tight space."

One of the most important aspects of a comfortable workspace is the chair. This is were employees spend the majority of their time if they work in front of a computer.
Dan Morley, president/principal of the Elizabeth, NJ-based BFI, explains that the traditional approach to a seat is foam. "Foam goes in the seat cushion itself and can be molded in a variety of ways. If someone is going to be sitting for a long period of time, you don't want to have a rectilinear front to the chair, because it puts pressure on the bottoms of the thighs. The solution is to have a waterfall edge molded into the foam-where the front of the seat cascades down the front of the chair. Otherwise pressure on the bottom of the thighs will cause fatigue."

While a foam chair is a satisfactory choice, in terms of ergonomics, it typically only provides minimal levels of comfort. "At its most basic essence what a chair ought to do is support healthy posture, encourage movement, and require little, if any, effort for the person sitting in it to achieve those things," says Crenshaw. A foam chair will tend to meet these basic requirements, but if comfort is a high priority, a foam chair is a thing of past.

"In the past few years there has been a movement away from foam and fabric to mesh," Morley says. A mesh chair is made from a lightweight material that has no fabric on it and allows free and constant movement of air, thus reducing heat build up.

"Have you ever taken a family trip to the beach on a hot day?" asks Morley. "If you're riding in a car with leather seats, by the time you get there everything from the waist down is soaked. You get uncomfortable. The same thing happens in an office chair; it's the direct result of poor air flow."

Another benefit of using mesh material in chairs is entirely ergonomic. "A mesh material can create the contours of support that are appropriate for the people that use the seat," says Morley.

A mesh office chair has an added advantage, Morley continues. "Most of the mesh chairs I've seen are made of a plastic material, like nylon or polypropylene. It's very durable. You can pour coffee on it and wipe it down." Because a mesh chair is so easy to clean, there will be fewer calls requiring maintenance or replacement.

How We Sit
Just because there are a variety of tasks that are performed while working at a desk, does not mean that comfort and support should be sacrificed to accomplish them-a quality chair will quickly adapt to the needs of the user.

Once a good seat base has been established, other factors like height, arm rests, and lumbar support have to be considered. A chair can be comfortable, but if it does not promote good posture and comfort while working, the chair will fail to have a significant effect on workplace comfort.

Photo by Haworth, Inc.,
An office that is built with ergonomics
in mind can raise worker happiness and
productivity.

"Another critical element of a good chair is height, particularly the ability to adjust the height of a chair," says Morley. "The whole idea of a chair is that it supports an employee with feet firmly on the ground and no undue pressure on the thighs."
In the past, the only way to adjust a chair was to hold the base still and spin it around. This took too much time, and as a result, most people didn't adjust their seats. Because adjustments weren't made, employees worked in poor position and could develop musculoskeletal disorders.

Today, chairs have abandoned spinning height adjustments for pneumatic approaches. Now all that an employee has to do is pull a lever, and the chair can be adjusted in a seconds.

Adjustments to the height of a chair are not the only modifications that can be made, however. During the course of a day, an employee will typically have to perform different tasks that require various body positions. "Not only do you want to adjust the arm pads in or out for use of the mouse or keyboard, but you should be able to adjust the height of the arms pads easily as well," Morley explains.

"The last thing to be considered in a good chair is the ability to make an adjustment to the lumbar area while seated," Morley says. In conjunction with adjustable height and moveable arm rests, a chair that is snug to the lower back will keep the user in a comfortable position and reduce the strain on the lower back.

Chairs designed to provide high levels of comfort are typically more expensive than a normal foam seats. However, a facility manager who values making employees feel at ease should make seating a high priority. A comfortable workstation will cut down on complaints and calls concerning the height of a chair or how to adjust it will decrease significantly.

Photo by Curtis Computer Products, Inc.
The 76532 Touch Arm by Curtis Computer Products, Inc. improves
worker comfort by offering flexibility.

A Changing Work Environment
Five or seven years ago, the thought of having a flat panel computer screen or laptop computer in nearly every workstation would have seemed ridiculous. To begin with, the technology was still being developed, and, perhaps more importantly, the price was exorbitant-especially when considering the scope of outfitting an entire office. Today, however, flat panel monitors and laptops are becoming increasingly common. And as computers shrink, so does the workspace. Since the office is becoming more cramped, keeping an employee productive can become difficult in small quarters. But new ergonomic technology can maintain proper posture and manage the work surface which helps mitigate feelings of claustrophobia.

"When someone sits at a workstation, there are two things that drive posture: where the eyes look to see work and the position of hands." says Crenshaw. A laptop can negatively affect posture. "If a laptop was sitting on a desk, in order to use the keyboard, an employee would have to pitch forward, lean both arms on the desk, and hunch over to see the screen. In this case, not only is there contact stress between arms and the desk, but the worker has also been pulled out of the back of the chair, which is no longer supporting anything." This all adds up to bad posture.

One solution for facility managers is a laptop holder. "The computer screen is at a better level so users can sit back," Crenshaw explains.

Having the laptop in a position that is natural to look at placates the first half of proper ergonomics: where the eyes look. "Our bodies follow our eyes. If someone does not have to strain to look at their computer-which is where most people spend the majority of their time looking-then a workstation is heading in the right ergonomic direction," says Crenshaw.

The second ergonomic consideration in the workstation is the positioning of the upper extremities. In order to be comfortable and ergonomically correct, there should be no contact between arms and desktops.

One solution is a keyboard drawer. According to Morley, if a drawer with a keyboard is placed 2" or 3" lower than the height of the work desk, it can be more comfortable for the user.

Once manufacturers noticed this trend, they began to offer devices called articulating arms. "These are flat surfaces that have the keyboard on them, but when you pull them out, the angle can be changed either positively or negatively," says Morley.

This may be beneficial to both employees and facility managers. By using an articulating arm, an employee is able to break free of a ridged workspace. Instead of being forced to set the keyboard in one place and at one angle, an articulating arm allows workers to determine what is most comfortable.

Photo by Humanscale
The L2 Notebook Manager places a laptop
into a proper ergonomic position.

A facility manager can appreciate the benefits of articulating arms in terms of workstation size. The arm is a flat piece of material that is attached to a moveable arm which is anchored to a desk. Combined with a laptop computer or flat panel monitor, the overall surface area that an employee will need to work can shrink significantly. "Now instead of a workstation that is 6' x 8', a facility manager might be able to reconfigure office size to 5' x 7'," Morley says.

Even though the workplace continues to get smaller, the comfort of employees is on the rise. Making the right decisions can have a positive impact on the workplace, says Crenshaw, "We try to achieve a high degree of functionality, and do it with something that is comfortable, and easy to use." This new way of thinking about the workstation has given rise to technologies that consider the needs of the employee. By adapting and accommodating to the needs of individuals, productivity continues to rise and facility managers can take part of the credit.

Energy and environment - Alert

Articles-by-subject alert: Energy and environment
From Economist.com, Monday February 28th 2005

The following have been newly published on Economist.com:

Rising sea temperatures
More evidence for man-made global warming, from a study of the oceans ... more

Restoring the marshes of southern Iraq
Water is now flowing again into many of the drained areas. But it may be too late to turn the clock back ... more

Sturgeon and caviar
The allure of caviar obscures a murkier truth ... more

Mexico's oil dilemmas
By shunning foreigners, politicians are set to doom their country's oil industry ... more

The world's most valuable company
The meaning of Exxon Mobil's triumph ... more

Russia's oil-stabilisation fund
The fiscal and political implications of a row over Russia's oil revenues ... more

Indian oil and gas
Pipelines promise to bring energy and, perhaps, unity ... more

Cleaning up nuclear sites
Turning nuclear sites into wildlife refuges isn't that easy ... more

America, Europe, Iran and its nukes
Now Russia is complicating the already tangled diplomacy over how to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions ... more

Tools that spank the best industry software

Tools that spank the best industry software.

(As requested by http://mjpiette.blogspot.com AKA Maurice Chevalier)

LEGAL FREE MUSIC???– Load Winamp (see below) and then install Streamripper . Open “media library” in Winamp , then select “internet radio”. Find you favorite “stream” of music and then select “start” on the Streamripper program.

DON’T FORGET! – You can also watch FREE movies and T.V. shows from arounf the world in Winamp “media library”. ENJOY!

STOP – Hackers, spyware and virus’s forever

I have a nearly unlimited budget for anti-virus, spyware and firewall software… however, I still use these free tools over all the rest. Imagine the best protection on your computer for FREE.

Follow these simple instructions: FIRST disconnect your computer from your internet connection. Then, UNINSTALL all antivirus and firewall software. After that, install Sygate Firewall (reboot), install Avast Antivirus (reboot), and last install Spyware Doctor .

Connect back to the internet and run “updates” immediately” to get the most protection (reboot). After that run a FULL scan using Avast Antivirus and Spyware Doctor . I will guarantee that these programs out perform anything you have used.

Remember, you have to register Avast Antivirus for it to keep working - IT’s FREE.

Ranked in order of cool (Click title for link)

Winamp Full 5.08
Play and organize a variety of audio and video files with this popular player.

Streamripper for Winamp 5
Download entire genres of streaming music from Internet broadcasters.

Protection Tools

StreamRipper32 1.61 (Stand alone)
Record streaming MP3s as individual files on your hard drive.

Avast Home Edition 4.5
Scan your computer for viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.

Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6
Set up your own personal firewall.

Spyware Doctor 3.1
Detect and remove spyware, adware, Trojan horses, keyloggers, and tracking threats from your PC.

Best web imaging and Blogging tools (Googles got it going on!)

Blogger.com – Is the best hands down for tools, access, easy of use, updating and for people to “find you”. You can try the rest… and you can also walk around in circles or watch the WWF NASCAR series is you want to waste you mind and time.

Picasa Photo Organizer – O.K. I use and love photoshop, cadd and all of the $$$ programs but, this FREE one by google is WOW easy to use and one of the best picture organizers. If you want to take 500 pictures on a trip and have them on a website or blog in 5 minutes… this is the ONLY program that can pull that off.

http://www.hello.com/ If you have Picasa and a blog you’ll need this. Not perfect but it is easy to use and understand. It “plugs” in to Picasa and when you want to share pictures on your “blog” just click the hello icon in Picasa to post your pictures.

DON’T FORGET “FireFox” http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

FireFox give you the privacy and speed you need in a browser.

You can get “live” news feeds, weather and music all in the browser you surf with. PLUS it blocks all the “pop” us and most java based viruses on the net.

What’s the “Buzz”?

Mobile FireFox, you load it on a thumb drive (USB drive) and your entire internet surfing and privacy goes with you. Your passwords, email, etc… WOW it is COOOL!

http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_firefox/download.asp

Remember a lot of FREE stuff is free for a reason and is usually garbage or spyware.

ONLY load and use software recommended by a professional who uses it themselves.

Find best free tools: http://www.download.com (A lot of it is fluff but, a few are keepers ;-)

Others:

Google tools: http://www.voelspriet.nl/googletools.htm

FireFox Rules - Here is help to make it better!

Ok, its no secret..Firefox is my favorite browser.. infact, if you are not using it (for example using... Gasp, IE) you need to change. Well I decided to write "help" article on how to make it even better. Using a few tweaks here and there, we can make FireFox considerably faster, enable advanced tab options, make newer versions compatible with older extentions, run directly from a flash disk, and on and on.

First, Lets change some hidden options to make it faster...

Open Firefox 1.0 and in the address bar type: about:config
1. Find browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs and double click on it so it = true
2. Find network.http.pipelining and double click on it so it = true
3. Find network.http.pipelining.maxrequests double click on it and change it from 4 to 100

What do these changes do?
1. Then enables advanced tab options in your Tools/Options page
2. This enables option #3.
3. This makes FF use 8 threads to each page.. Bascially, if you thought FF was fast before, try it after this.

Second, lets make it look better...
Visit the Mozilla Firefox theme page and select a theme that looks good to you.
I personally like the Noia eXtreme skin, but choose one that looks good to you.

Now lets make it work FOR us...
One of the sweetest thing about Firefox is the ability to use extentions. At the time of this writing, there are 226 extentions that we can use to make it better.. I will only touch on a few of them that I use. (Alphabetically Sorted)
Adblock: Remove inline ads.

Bookmarks Synchronizer: Save your bookmarks to an XML file, and sync with an FTP server. Keep your work/home bookmarks current!

Digger: Navigate to parent directories, switch to ftp equivalent of site, climb subdomains, etc.. Very helpful in "scouting" a site.

Download Sort: Automatically send downloads to specific folders based on file's extention.

Gmail Notifier: Lets you know if you have new gmail

Google Pagerank Status: Lets you see the Google PageRank of the page you are visiting.

refspoof: "Spoof" your referer.

Spiderzilla: Download an entire site to a local directory.

Super DragAndGo: Drag a link to blank space on a webpage, and it will open it in a new tab.

SwitchProxy: Manage and switch between multiple proxies. Make sure to read my article on finding and useing proxies.

User Agent Switcher: Switch the user agent of your browser.

x: Gives a Toolbar "paranoia" button, click it and it can clear history, form info, saved passwords, download history, cookies, & cache.

Firefox on a USB Thumbdrive
Check out the article on Portable Firefox 1.0

Tell Firefox what we want to see (and what we don't)
Sick of Google Ads on everyone's page? Well lets tell firefox that we don't want to see them anymore. This hack will remove 95% of all Ads, including google Ads. (Yes, even from Gmail. Warning, Removing these ads may violate the TOS of Gmail)

This hack uses the magic of CSS and a Firefox configuration file named UserContent.css. We are going to edit this file, I suggest you download the plugin ChomEdit to make your job easier. (Go install it now & come back after restart)

Ok, now that you have ChromEdit installed, open Firefox and click on Tools / Edit User files. A new window will appear that has five tabs across the top. Click on the tab that is labeled userContent.css. Next click on the link below and copy all the text. Then paste it into the userContent.css file, then click the Save button.
Code

Now restart your browser.. Tada, Google ads are gone!

From Digital Media Minute:

The above rules make use of the *!important* property value to override any rules that may already exist within the page that is being loaded. In the first rule, GMail has an element with an id of rh and we are setting the tables that have a class equal to metatable within that element, to not display (ie . display:none)
A word of caution, we are only hiding the ads from displaying. They are actually still there, just not visible. This means that Google is still indexing your email messages to provide you with “targetted ads”. It is also worth noting that as this hack is based upon creating CSS rules for existing GMail code, it is very possible that this hack will break as GMail continues to evolve.



Other Contributions:
yankeesfan: to get older extensions to work in 1.0, edit extensions.lastAppVersion from '1.0' to '.10'. Bugmenot and others will now work.

Source: http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/59/42/

Cool Sites to Bookmark

May want to "bookmark" some of these...

Whoisit and domain and track emails all on one site
http://www.dnsstuff.com/

How to use it????
http://www.showmyip.com/

Find your I.P. (see link above) and find out info ;-)


Other cool ref sites:
About people:
http://www.anywho.com

Criminal history:
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/simpleCaseSearch.xsl;jsessionid=8F7DD042C855B6781C5
68DBA21857DA2.render3?
http://offender.doc.state.wi.us/public/

Maps:
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form
http://www.terraserver.com/


Arial photo of Matt' house?
http://www.terraserver.com/imagery/image_gx.asp?cpx=-88.002899&cpy=43.066346

&res=8&provider_id=305

Everything:
http://www.wikipedia.org/

My favorite of the week:
FREE BOOKS
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

Find everything....Google:
http://www.google.com/unclesam
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators.html

Regs & Law
http://www.firstgov.gov/
http://www.fedworld.gov/
http://www.searchmil.com/
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html

GEEK STUFF

Strindberg and Helium

Funnier than it looks and a complete waste of time!! Miseryyyy!

Secret Life of Plants

Some cool time-lapse movies of plants in action. The descriptions are super informative too!

Ants with tree magnetism

Some researchers at UC Berkely and U Texas have found that certain species of tropical canopy ants will do a cool mid-air ninja move and glide back towards the tree trunk. Be sure to check out the movie too (RealPlayer). Also cool is the recent Science News article which quotes John Longino!! Link to article.

NASA World Wind

Holy Giant world of satellite imagery Batman!!!

THis is a very cool program that you can download for free from NASA that allows you to zoom in with surprisingly good detail on a planet full of Landsat and other imagery. For the US, they also include USGS 1 m DOQQ's and scans of 7 1/2 and 15 -minute Topo maps.

Note: you should have a decent video card with 3D acceleration and a high speed internet connection for best results. Hope you enjoy!

**But wait - there's more!! For those who just cant wait to see the new SEM, NASA also has this cool program Virtual Lab. Not as cool as WorldWind, but nice nonetheless.. (all via Metafilter)

Stay informed ... via the CAL

New proof that man has caused global warming via timesonline.co.uk -- like, duh.

SGR 1806-20 says "ka-boom" in gamma. via BBC News -- too bad we missed it due to cloud cover...

Solar + Stirling engine (?!?) equals juice! via Pop Sci. -- Been waiting for someone to exhume Stirling...

One for the Kid in us all: http://www.scitoys.com/ found via del.icio.us.

Okay, how bout something useful.

A pretty thorough list of Windows/DOS commands to impress your friends with. Be the first to dazzle your friends with the dreaded {WIN+R, control timedate.cpl} combination! Yes, you could have just double clicked on the time at the bottom right of the screen, but that wouldn't have shown off your m4d sk1llz, now would it?

Posted by Brian at 11:36 PM | Comments (1)

Time to populate this sucker

Exhibit A:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lrvk/lejo/dj.html (Flash Req'd) Brilliant!

Acid Rain and Associated Soil Chemistry

Acid Rain and Associated Soil Chemistry

http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/acidrain/ The EPA's site on Acid Rain has information on what acid rain is, how you measure it, what its effects are, and how we reduce it. There are also links to some science experiments and learning activities.

http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/msc/as/as_acid.html This website is maintained by Canada's environmental agency. They have a lot of information on Acid Rain including a link to Environment Canada's Air Pollution web site. They also have links to a couple scientific reports.

http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4lrm4/table.htm This website includes a lot of information on acid rain. This information includes effects on materials, atmosphere, architecture, trees and soils, lakes and streams, and humans. There are lots of links from this site to other acid rain sites.

http://bqs.usgs.gov/acidrain/ This USGS site has on line data and reports for acid rain, atmospheric deposition, and precipitation chemistry. It would be a good place to get technical information on the acid rain problem.

http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/acidrain/ This web address is from the USGS and shows the trends in precipitation chemistry in the United States from 1983-94. The article also lists the data and analysis of the trends of precipitation that followed the passing of the clean air act until 94'. The site is full of data and statistics so the information is in a ruff form but if picked through shows some wonderful data on the chemistry happening in the precipitation over the U.S.

http://water.usgs.gov/nwc/NWC/pH/html/ph.html Another USGS site containing a national map showing pH of precipitation at 190 sites participating in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. Can select individual states on map to obtain information about the state. Links to NADP main web page with additional maps and publications on acid deposition.

http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4lrm4/ The ABC's of Acid Rain. A very basic website, but makes it easy to understand. Includes definitions and effects on the atmosphere, architecture, humans, lakes and tress. Also includes ways to reduce our NOx and SO2 emissions.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/environment/air/acid.home.html
Acid Rain-a website designed for the Database for Use in Schools Project. It covers questions like: How big a problem is acid rain? What can we do about it? What has the Government done? A good basic overview.

http://ag.udel.edu/soilchem/researchconducte.html Studies performed by the University of Delaware Environmental Soil Chemistry Lab can be downloaded as PDF files from this website. Most of the studies involved advanced spectroscopy on contaminated soils.

http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/12orders.htm This contains several pages of very clear definitions and descriptions of the twelve soil orders. National soil survey maps with color coded dominant suborders and photographs on soil characteristics are also included. This site will help to recognize which soils are most susceptible to leeching due to acidic deposition.

http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/stugeon/swoope.htm This site is run by a Wisconsin school district. It contains a database from seven rain pH studies performed in the last four years by K-12 schools around the world. Background facts on acid rain and frequently asked questions are contained in two links. Another link has ideas for labs and activities to explore acid deposition. Most studies in the database, SWOOP, are the results of daily, month-long acid rain averages reported by schools internationally.

www-personal.umich.edu/~gtdeo/areffects.html This article is good for giving the individual with little knowledge or ability to comprehend acid rain the direct effects it will have to themselves or their community. It talks about specific species of fish and at what acidity they perish and what level of pollution it takes to achieve this. The site also discusses acid rains effects on buildings monuments and people.

www.biopoint.com/msla/acidrain.html This is a great web site that offers up many other web links to the acid rain resources around the web. The site gives a comprehensive breakdown to the main points on acidrain and gives you a summery about that certain aspect of acid rain and then shows you links to reliable sources on that subject.

http://wunmr.wustl.edu/EduDev/Water/acidrain.html This is a very well done paper about an Inorganic Reactions Experiment from a couple of chemistry professors at Washington University. The paper lays out their experiment then explains the findings and what they mean in the production of acid rain. The paper then proceeds with graphs and diagrams of the reactions taking place in the production of acid rain. The paper finishes off with discussing the effects of acid rain on buildings and monuments.

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/habitat/acidrain.htm synopsis of acid rain impacts on forests, fish etc., mainly in the Adirondack and Catskill Mtns. of NY

http://www.adk.org/html/acid_rain.htm Adirondack Mountain Club site, reports on the Clean Air Act, mercury, forest health, fish impacts, pending legislation

http://www.icsu-scope.org International scientific organization with members including most major national science organizations in most major countries. A worldwide network of scientists and organizations develop syntheses and review scientific knowledge on current issues. Publish reports, state of the science reports and evalutions (many available full text online). Have issued recent report on sulphur cycle and climate change.

http://www.igc.org
Institute for Global Communication
The IGC website has a section called EcoNet that is an advocacy site. There is a page on acid rain with lists for conferences, publications and numerous resources. This site has good information on acid rain. It has tons of links to other good environmentally concerned sites with resources on atmosphere & climate, energy resources, and sea and water resources.

http://www.igc.org/acidrain IGC Internet. Want to take a more in depth look at acid rain, check out this website. Read the briefing from an acid rain conference in Norway. Click through different magazine publications from around the world to see how other countries handle the acid rain problem. There are also many information links about the ongoing struggle with acid rain in this country. How is our country monitoring acid rain damage and what are we doing to control it? You can find answers to these questions here.

http://ess.geology.ufl.edu/ess/Labs/TermPapersFall99-00/Trujillo/Acid%20Rain.htm This is a site that shows the effects of acid rain on aquatic environments. it gives a brief introduction to how aquatic environments are acidified and identifies the major components of the pollution contributing to acid rain. It gives a very good table that shows as the acidity increased what parts of the ecosystem are affected.

http://www.energysource.com/energyexperts/natural_gas_facts/EnergySourceGasacidrain.html
This site gives the Natural Gas Councils reasons why burning natural gas will help to reduce atmospheric SO2 and therefore reduce acid rain. It also gives some details about the laws around emissions and info on coal burning emissions.

http://bionet.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/aerodata/lichenes/elabo.htm
This site about suggested lab experiments surrounding acid rain suggests using lichens to indicate atmospheric levels of SO2. I am interested in this because of the ubiquity of lichens in our environment and their ability to shed light on the air quality of a place.

http://www.environment.about.com/cs/acidrain Acid Rain General Information. Again, I love about.com because they come up with great links and information on what you are looking for. On this search I typed in Acid Rain: General Information and got six articles of various interest. Some of the topics include: the effects of acid rain on Maya Ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula; effects of acid rain on terrestrial ecosystems; and acidification of surface waters. To find more links change your search topic.

www.royal.okanagan.bc.ca/mpidwirn/atmosphereandclimate/acidprecip.html Livin g Landscapes. This website focuses mainly on acid rain and deposition in the Thompson-Okanagon. The authors take you through the whole process of acid rain. There is an introduction; acid deposition formation; effects of acid deposition; acid deposition in
Canada and British Columbia; solutions. This research is very informative and well layed out.

http://www.iclei.org/efacts/acidrain.htm: This website is run by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international environmental agency (http://www.iclei.org) designed to build a global movement of local governments for the improvement of environmental conditions. The particularly useful portion of the website is an
energy fact sheet dedicated to the discussion of acid rain. The fact sheet contains the following information on acid rain: definition, impacts, chemistry, methods of prevention and conclusions. Furthermore, it contains useful three images: a map of the pH scale, a diagram of the cycles of acidic pollutants, and a map of Canada detailing the ability of soils and bedrock to reduce the acidity of atmospheric deposition.

http://www.emep.int/emis_tables/tab1.html This address is part of the EMEP website, a "Co-operative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe." Emissions tables of certain pollutants are available for the years 1980-1999, showing each European nation's emissions in thousands of tons annually. A prediction for 2010 emissions is also included for each country. The specific pollutants
that are focused on are sulfur, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, non-methane volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metals.

http://www.nysfola.org/acidrain Begins with personal acid lake essay. Has map of US pH levels and other good scientific/chemical descriptions of what is happening.

http://www.nmt.ne.jp/~sanseiu Japanese acid rain site, in Tokushima. Tells what acid rain is but is remarkable for it’s pictures of “melting” architecture and statues. Also shows forest leaf damage.

http://www.msu.edu/~ramseyr1/lbs144/page7.html Goes through causes and effects on lakes and trout. How to reduce acid rain and importance of aluminum with acid rain.

http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Acid_Rain/older/uk_Acid_Rain.html Relays everything going on in UK as result of acid rain. Shows natural and anthropogenic sources.

http://www.acidrain.org/ Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain
The Secretariat is a joint venture between five Swedish environmental organizations with the intention of bringing about the reduction of emissions of air pollutants. The sight has suggestions for further reading, publications by the organizations and policy initiatives in Sweden pertaining to Acid Rain.

http://www.lehigh.edu/~kaf3/books/reporting/acid.html Acid Rain Backgrounder (1994); Nice summary – outlines what acid rain is; acidity basics; what causes acid rain; aquatic, plant, and forest ecological effects; toxic metals; and economic impacts. A nice quote: Environmental analyst and writer Sandra Postel of Worldwatch Institute says: "Forest effects do not stop at the forest boundary, but ripple to groundwater, streams and lakes which receive acids and metals that break from the forest cycle. Humanity's intimate connection to these forest systems ensures that it will not escape feeling the effects of their demise" (Postel).

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-06.html "Acid Rain Continues to Damage Northeast Forests", by Cat Lazaroff (Environment News Service). This article discusses that even though damage from acid rain continues to plague northeast forest ecosystems despite decreases in air pollution. Because the systems have been exposed for so long, they are extremely sensitive to any pollution. The study assessed the effects of acid rain in soil, water, and trees, and used models to predict what decreases in emissions are necessary in order to restore the ecosystems.

http://www1.uwex.edu/ces/pubs/pdf/G3305_8.PDF "Acid Rain: Potential Effects of Acidic Deposition on Forest Soil Biology", by G. Voigt and T. May (University of Wisconsin). Well-written, well-organized, and easy to follow. Discusses nutrient movement throughout a forest ecosystem and how it is altered by acidic deposition. Nice flowchart of nutrient movement and chemical responses to deposition of pollution.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/9111/DOC.HTML "Causes, Effects, and Solutions of Acid Rain", by Sarn Phamornsuwana. This page discusses many of the sources of acid-rain-causing chemicals and their secondary reactions, as well as the chemistry of their harmful effects. It is well-organized and easy to understand.

http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4lrm4/table.htm This Australian information sight is neatly organized with a comprehensive table of contents and no fancy graphics or images to get in the way. They discuss the impact of acid rain on humans, the atmosphere, architecture and aquatic systems. They also have a links page, a source list page and information on reducing emissions.

http://www.inforamp.net/~mcdermot/drink/dra00008.htm A recipe for Acid Rain, the mixed drink.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/environment/air/acid.what.now.html This site, designed for school children is very helpful and descriptive. It has global information about legislation passed in various countries and full color pie circle graphs and maps showing global distribution and wind patterns. It goes into depth on the green house effect and alternative energy sources.

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1999/04/040299/calcium_2472.asp This is a news article about calcium levels declining in the eastern United States. Calcium is used by trees to help ward off stresses of severe weather and of insects. Scientists from USGS and the Department of the Interior believe that acid rain is to blame for the calcium decline. Calcium reacts to neutralize acid rain, but then is no longer useful to the trees. The article claims
that deforestation is increasing this problem because calcium contained in the trees already will not go back into the ground when they die and decompose.

http://interactive.usask.ca/skinteractive/modules/agriculture/soils/soilchem/ Gives a good overview of soil chemistry processes including: Cation exchange, Ph, and Salinity. From this I learned why fertilizers are able to stick to the ground. The Ph of the soil determines what sorts of microorganisms can live there and thus regulate what plants and other nutrients are able to be in the ground.

http://www.panda.org/resources/publications/sustainability/acidrain/Thesis/af_ch7.htm This is interesting research on how forest fires affect forest degradation from acid rain. His research indicates that the ash layer left behind after a burn is sufficient to protect the forest from acid rain (although he makes no claim as to how long it works). He says that the convention of liming forests to neutralize acid rain is easier and more effective in returning Mg and Ca to the forests than prescribed burning.

http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~weather/manyp/Effects/fish.html This website is operated by the University of Toronto. The site focuses on the acidified lakes in Ontario as a result of acid rain. It contains a graph of the pH levels and resulting effects on aquatic ecosystems as the Ph becomes more acidic or more alkaline. The site also discusses the issue of aluminum leaching caused by acid rain which caused many fish kills.

http://odin.dep.no/md/html/acid/Eurofor.html This website is operated by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. The site contains a lot of good general information about the causes and effects of acid rain. The section of most interest to me was the section, which discusses the loss of forested land in Europe. It contains facts, reports, and graphs concerning the effects on European forests. For example, one graph illustrates the change in average crown densities.

http://odin.dep.no/md/html/acid/Acid.html ACID RAIN. This is a public information site about the effects of acid rain from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. There is information on acid rain, the effects of acid rain on soil, plant life, rivers, seas, and fish. They also discuss responsibilities, as either other country (ies) may be the source of pollution, current or in the past, which is causing an increase in acid rain.

http://www.cent.org/geo12/foc2a3c.htm
This site offers a list of World Wide Web sites that offer information related to acid rain. The sites range from information about acid rain formation, to tracking acid rain by the USGS, to the effects of it. The sites related to the effects cover the effects on human health, to effects of forests, water, and other things.

http://www.agwt.org/Trust_files/info/acid_rain.htm Short and sweet piece on Acid Rain and Ground Water Quality. This article was originally published in The American Well Owner. Details what acid rain is, how it may effect ground water quality, how to buffer a system if it is not buffered naturally and whether or not this should be of concern to the well owner.

http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/isopleths/maps2000/ Shows a map of the US and pH levels as well as specific chemical levels. You are able to download a map of the US and the particular chemical and it concentration levels for which you are looking. Chemicals available are as follows: SO4, NO3, NH4, Ca, Mg, K, Na, and Cl.

http://ks.essortment.com/acidraineffect_rqmz.htm how acid rain effects plants and wildlife. Begins with a description of acid depositions and sources. The site then runs blurbs on the effects of acid rain on plant, animal, aquatic and human life. Amusing because it is the most recent site I could find. Advertisements are spliced straight into the test. So much for the lofty heights of science.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/environment/air/acid.home.html This beautiful page has useful information on acid rain and is easy to use. It discusses some important topics such as what acid rain is, how it is caused, and what out government is doing about it. The site seems to be for use in schools and has an interesting questionnaire that you can fill out at the end.

http://www.lanl.gov/projects/cctc This site, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, is dedicated entirely to a project called the Clean Coal Technology Project run by the National Energy Technology Laboratory in California. This site lists experiments on alternative energy and fuel, recycling fuel, economic issues, and industry response.

http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Acid_Rain/acid_rain.html This is a website from the United Kingdom that includes a lot of information on acid rain both in general and in Europe. This site discusses the chemistry of air pollution and moisture in the atmosphere, contributing factors such as cars, chimneys, smoke stacks, and includes natural factors as well. The effects of acid rain on wildlife, soils, lakes, and buildings are also included. Different types of modeling and measuring, and international agreements are outlined. For some of the information on this site there is a children's version that can be selected, all of the information is otherwise technical, although there is a very convenient linked glossary.

http://www.angelfire.com/ks/boredwalk This website is an educational website designed for students. First, one selects a related topic under the large category of acid rain. Topics range from chemistry and environment to history or politics/government issues. Next, under each topic there are links to several subtopics and general information about the topic you have selected. I found this site to be very friendly.

http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~weather/maryp/Effects/fish.html This website is produced by the University of Toronto. It covers the effects of acid rain on aquatic ecosystems, especially focusing on the lakes near Toronto. This site includes photos of fish from healthy versus acidic lakes, as well as a very informative table on the effects of lowered pH to aquatic ecosystems. A very useful website for the chemist and the biologist.

http://www.utexas.edu/ftp/depts/grg/ustudent/gcraft/fall96/patel/projects/fall96/acidrain Students and faculty at the University of Texas made this site. It is an informational site the basics of acid rain, its causes and effects, ways to prevent acid rain, as well as using GIS to monitor acid rain.

http://www.sepa.org.uk/publications/stateoftheenvironment/stateenv/soeair.htm This page is the air quality page of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. It has data concerning the release of SOx and NOx, as well as trends in over the past several decades. The pH of many lakes in Scotland has been affected by acid rain, some to the point of becoming fishless. Recent data show sulphate levels to be dropping and recovery on the way.

http://www.internat.environ.se/index.php3?main=/documents/pollutants/kalka/acidrain/acidrain.htm
This is a Swedish Environmental Protection Agency website. It gives background information on why NOx and SOx reductions are necessary for the region as well as reduction goals. The sight has great links to other Swedish EPA sights of acidification, Sulphur deposition over the last 120 years and more.

http://www.iges.or.jp/ires/a3.pdf This site is a article, pubished in International Review of Environmental Strategies, concerning acid rain is Southern Asia. The paper outlines a means of integrating the region environmental concerns and developing policies the will allow issues that cross borders to be dealt with effectively.