http://cbr.tulane.edu Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research http://cbr.tulane.edu/images/cbr-rss-logo.gif http://cbr.tulane.edu Hormones from plastics, pesticides and even common prescription drugs are seeping into waterways and having unintended consequences on wildlife, says environmental studies professor John McLachlan. A recent report found that one third of small-mouth bass were feminized in nine major U.S. river basins, and almost all of the waterways tested contained some hormonally active chemicals. The long-term consequences of hormones and endocrine disruptors in the environment is the focus of the Tenth International Symposium on Environment and Hormones (E.hormone 2009), a four-day conference opening on Wednesday (Oct. 21) that will bring together leading hormone experts from around the world... http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/102009_ehormone.cfm The long-term consequences of hormones and endocrine disruptors in the environment will be the focus of the Tenth International Symposium on Environment and Hormones (E.hormone 2009), a four-day conference starting Oct. 21 at Tulane University that will bring together leading experts from around the world to talk about the latest research in this emerging field... http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_10072009.cfm Torbjörn Törnqvist, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been appointed Deputy Director for Research in the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR), effective September 1. In this role, he will provide leadership for environmental research across Tulane's campuses by fostering collaborative approaches, identifying disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research opportunities in this broad area, and supporting junior faculty and others that are new to this rapidly growing field. As a member of the CBR senior leadership team, Torbjörn will play a key role in furthering CBR's research programs including its Long-Term Estuary Assessment Group (LEAG) and Urban Ecosystems (UrbanEco)... http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/tor-deputy.pdf What's a Dutch countryside without watermills? The Colorado River without the Hoover Dam? RiverSphere, a project arm of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, has proposed a facility to explore hydrokinetic energy in New Orleans, putting the city on the map of hydroelectric innovators. While the river is no stranger to innovation, fitted with some of the largest hydroelectric dams of the 20th century, that construction lead to environmental devastation, from decimated fish populations to disrupted currents and river ecology. Doug Meffert, RiverSphere's project director, envisions the Mississippi River lined with technologies that not only are safe for the environment, but also can provide New Orleans with plenty of renewable energy... http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/2009_07_28_RiverSphere_Gambit.pdf Within the year, Louisiana could be at the forefront of a new renewable energy trend by harvesting electricity from the nonstop flow of the Mississippi River. Tulane University is hoping to play an important role in developing this new technology under the auspices of RiverSphere, a research and educational arm of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research. "What we're proposing is to establish a center of excellence to explore renewable energies," says Doug Meffert, program director of RiverSphere. According to Meffert, the proposed project would establish a research site for companies to explore this untapped resource... http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/070909_river_turbine.cfm Another soy compound capable of mimicking estrogen is identified, showing there is still much to learn about what types of compounds soy contains. Researchers have isolated a new estrogen-like compound in soy called glycinol. The authors report that glycinol appears to be as potent as other, similar compounds found in the legume and its many food products, such as tofu and soy milk. Collectively, these compounds are called isoflavone phytoestrogens. When researchers identify which compounds in soy can mimic estrogen, they take an important step toward understanding how soy can postively or negatively affect health... http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/150/5/2446 As a part of our UrbanEco Initiative, the CBR will host a workshop regarding the Bayou Bienvenue Wetland area, which lies just north of the Lower Ninth Ward. Formerly a healthy cypress-tupelo swamp, the area has been severely degraded over the past fifty years as salt water from the Gulf of Mexico crept in by way of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet channel. A variety of universities, government agencies, community groups and residents have identified the restoration of Bayou Bienvenue as one of the region’s most important sites for wetlands restoration. Lying just over the Florida Avenue levee - just at the city’s back door - a healthy wetland could provide crucial buffering of storm surge entering the area from the Gulf and Lake Borgne. The workshop will offer stakeholders an opportunity to present on their current or potential projects, and begin to build a coalition committed to seeing this treasured local ecosystem back to life... http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/BBRA_Agenda.pdf When the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) wanted a partner to develop an environmental observatory in the lower delta of the Mississippi River, it didn’t need to develop a relationship — it already had one with the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research... http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/050609_wetlands.cfm CBR Distinguished Scholar John Barry opines about the Swine Flu and discusses the parallels with the 1918 influenza pandemic on this New York Times OP-ED piece... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/opinion/28barry.html?_r=1 This month marks one year since Tulane University President Scott Cowen signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging that Tulane would measure its impact on global warming and then develop a plan to achieve carbon neutrality. Shelley Meaux says the first step is compiling a greenhouse-gas emissions inventory, a tool that measures an institution’s impact on climate change. “Preliminary results show that buildings are the largest source of greenhouse gases at Tulane, followed by travel for university business, commuting by faculty, staff and students, waste and, finally, the vehicle fleet,” says Meaux, senior program coordinator in the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research. Meaux, along with environmental coordinator Liz Davey, staffs the Climate Commitment Advisory Committee, which Cowen appointed after signing the climate commitment... http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/032509_climate.cfm On CNN's "State of the Union," host and chief national correspondent John King goes outside the Beltway to report on the issues affecting communities across the country. This week, King traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, to look at recovery from Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward compared to the rest of the city... http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/19/sou.la.ninth.ward/index.html?iref=newssearch#cnnSTCText The rapidly growing population centers in low-lying coastal settings worldwide (notably in Asia) will face formidable challenges due to sea-level rise in the next century. However, the timing of the onset of adverse impacts will vary, depending on site-specific conditions such as topography, local sea-level scenarios, probability of major storm events, wealth, and community resilience. Within this context, New Orleans can be viewed as a canary in the global warming coal mine... http://cbr.tulane.edu/BrunerLoeb/ A water-damaged piano that belonged to New Orleans-born rock and roll musician Fats Domino and computer simulations of hurricanes are just part of an exhibit being developed by the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research and the Louisiana State Museum. Slated for opening in 2010, the multi-room showcase will offer an educational tour of the environmental causes and effects of Hurricane Katrina and its landfall, as well as lessons for recovery. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/010509_katrina_exhibit.cfm The City of New Orleans has endorsed the project on "New Orleans as a model urban biosphere" . This project has been initiated by UNESCO in partnership with the Center for Bioenvironmental Research of Tulane University and the Stockholm Resilience Center. This welcome addition to the ICLEI network enhances UNESCO's visibility in this increasingly important initiative. http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=9210 Governor Bobby Jindal announced appointments to three boards and commissions on Thursday, December 4, 2008. The Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation serves to advise the governor on the status of Louisiana’s coastal protection and restoration program. Additionally, the commission strives to foster cooperation between federal, state and local agencies, conservation organizations and the private sector relative to coastal protection and restoration activities. http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/Government/Louisiana_Gov._JIndal_Picks_Coast_Prison_Arts_Agencies_Members__8034.asp In the commentary “Sustaining Coastal Urban Ecosystems” published in the latest issue of the London-based journal Nature Geoscience, Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Douglas J. Meffert, deputy director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, also say New Orleans must concentrate more of its population on the 50 percent of its land mass that lies above sea level. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/120408_tornqvist.cfm Leaded gas was phased out in 1986, lead-based house paint a decade earlier. As a result, the percentage of U.S. children aged 5 years and younger exceeding the 10-µg/dL blood lead level of concern established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dropped dramatically. On a national average, the rate fell from over 80% in 1976 to just below 2% in 2002. In many cities, however, it still commonly exceeds 15%. Why? A review published in the August 2008 issue of Applied Geochemistry points to urban soil as a lingering source of lead poisoning in children. http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/116-12/forum.html#soil Everyone in New Orleans will recognize the truth behind the title of geographer Richard Campanella's new history of the city. "Bienville's Dilemma" -- which he succinctly distills to "questionable geography, questionable future" -- has been an issue since the city's 1718 founding. And "dilemma," defined by the dictionary as "a problem involving a difficult or unpleasant choice which will bring undesirable consequences," characterizes the state in which all New Orleanians find themselves post-Katrina. For Campanella, who is the associate director of Tulane University's Center for Bioenvironmental Research and a research professor with Tulane's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Orleans has been a case of obsession at first sight. http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/Campanella_TP_Article.pdf The Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research has received a National Science Foundation award totaling $901,120 to enhance a program designed to increase the number of minority students pursuing doctoral programs in environmental research. Approximately 70 students have already participated in the program, named the Pipeline Project, which is in its 10th year. The National Science Foundation funding adds a novel component to the program and focuses on the area of environmental biology. John McLachlan, director of the Center For Bioenvironmental Research, said, “The program’s strategy is simple: Discover young scientists early on in their careers and encourage them to pursue scientific research as a job option.” http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/100208_bioresearch.cfm Anyone attending the Tulane commencement ceremony during the last decade has heard the music of Michael White, a bandleader, instrumentalist and scholar whose band has sent thousands of graduates out into the world to a distinctly New Orleans beat. For his lifelong work as a purveyor and student of traditional New Orleans jazz, White, who is an alumnus of the university, is the recipient of a 2008 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The attention he is receiving as one of a handful of fellows cited by the NEA is dovetailing nicely with another major event in his life — the release of Blue Crescent, a CD of mostly original music that he recorded locally at the Tulane-affiliated A Studio in the Woods and released in June. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/081208_michael_white.cfm CBR Deputy Director Douglas Meffert explains how river turbines can contribute clean/renewable energy to the power grid of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans... http://www.cnn.com/video/savp/evp/?loc=dom&vid=/video/living/2008/08/07/cody.biofuel.nola.cnn Teams of Tulane students are signing up to compete in RecycleMania, a national competition that pits more than 200 colleges and universities against each other to see who can collect the largest amounts of recyclable trash. Student teams can sign up online for Tulane’s on-campus RecycleMania competition that will give prizes from the Crescent City Farmers Market, Creole Creamery, Plum Street Snoballs, the Audubon Zoo and the Rathskellar in the Lavin-Bernick Center to the teams collecting the most recyclable material. Winners will be determined at weigh-ins on Fridays. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/022608_recycle.cfm In 2005, the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research began the UrbanEco Initiative in partnership with the Tulane School of Architecture’s City Center and several local, national and international academic partners. Their goal is to create communities with sustainable environmental, social and economic conditions. Sustainability — meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs — should rank among the top priorities of developers, according to leaders of UrbanEco. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/013008_urbaneco.cfm "As Hurricane Katrina’s surge filled the bowl-shaped metropolis of New Orleans, the simple geography of rising water came face-to-face with the complex human geography of a nearly three-hundred-year-old city. Whose homes were flooded, in terms of race, ethnicity, and class, became the subject of national discussion. This article describes how those residential patterns fell into place beginning in colonial times, and how they were affected by Katrina’s flood." Read more of Richard Campanella's (Assistant Director for Environmental Analysis at the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research) article on this special issue of 'The Journal of American History'. http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/katrina/campanella.html Rumors of a “Katrina cough” started circulating in New Orleans as soon as people began clearing debris, gutting houses and rebuilding after the hurricane in August 2005. Is this a respiratory complaint caused by breathing polluted dust, is it only seasonal allergies, and does it cause long-term changes in respiratory health? A researcher in the Tulane School of Medicine seeks answers. Henry Glindmeyer is carrying out a five-year study to determine if workers in New Orleans face risks from inhalant exposure to minute particles such as mold, fungi or bacteria. Glindmeyer is a professor of pulmonary, critical care and environmental medicine at Tulane. The study is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is providing $1.86 million. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/010208_cough.cfm Charles Allen, assistant director for external relations at the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, was featured along with actor Brad Pitt on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” Allen is the president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association and is working with Pitt on green rebuilding projects in the Katrina-devastated Lower Ninth Ward. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/splash_1207.cfm The Tulane City Center at the Tulane School of Architecture is helping make the urban farming dreams of New Orleans’ Vietnamese community a reality. A team has been working with the community leaders at Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corp. to plan a 20-acre farm along the eastern border of New Orleans. Peter Nguyen, urban farm program manager with the development corporation, approached Dan Etheridge, assistant director of Tulane City Center, for help due to Tulane's track record of facilitating community partnerships and advancing community-based projects. Etheridge partnered with Tulane student Art Terry and faculty from the School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University to work on the farm plans, which include small-scale commercial farming, community garden plots, a chicken farm, a lagoon for water and a children's play area. http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/121307_farm.cfm There's plenty of interest among Tulane students in studying environmental issues. At the Environmental Orientation, sponsored by the Green Club and the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Flowers described the environmental science major within the School of Science and Engineering, and anthropology professor William Balee pitched the environmental studies program within the School of Liberal Arts. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7546 With so many Tulane faculty, staff and students working on environmentally-friendly building projects, it seemed like a good time to invest in an institutional membership for Tulane in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This is the organization that created and administers the LEED green building standard. Membership gives all full-time employees access to USGBC research on green building, the LEED standards and case studies, discounts on training, and the opportunity to participate in committees that shape the future of green building and the USGBC standards. There are online discussion groups and local chapters, for those who are interested in learning more through networking. http://www.usgbc.org/myUSGBC/Members/MemberDetails.aspx?CID=10105358 Unprecedented agricultural intensification and increased crop yield will be necessary to feed the burgeoning world population, whose global food demand is projected to double in the next 50 years. Although grain production has doubled in the past four decades, largely because of the widespread use of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation promoted by the "Green Revolution," this rate of increased agricultural output is unsustainable because of declining crop yields and environmental impacts of modern agricultural practices. The last 20 years have seen diminishing returns in crop yield in response to increased application of fertilizers, which cannot be completely explained by current ecological models. A common strategy to reduce dependence on nitrogenous fertilizers is the production of leguminous crops, which fix atmospheric nitrogen via symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria, in rotation with nonleguminous crops. Here we show previously undescribed in vivo evidence that a subset of organochlorine pesticides, agrichemicals, and environmental contaminants induces a symbiotic phenotype of inhibited or delayed recruitment of rhizobia bacteria to host plant roots, fewer root nodules produced, lower rates of nitrogenase activity, and a reduction in overall plant yield at time of harvest. The environmental consequences of synthetic chemicals compromising symbiotic nitrogen fixation are increased dependence on synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer, reduced soil fertility, and unsustainable long-term crop yields. http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/higher-ground-rcampanella.pdf A yearlong topographic and demographic study of New Orleans arrives this month like the latest installment of the television series "MythBusters" -- and may forever change the notion of the Big Easy as a below-sea-level city. http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/higher-ground-rcampanella.pdf A yearlong topographic and demographic study of New Orleans arrives this month like the latest installment of the television series "MythBusters" -- and may forever change the notion of the Big Easy as a below-sea-level city. "Contrary to popular perceptions, half of New Orleans is at or above sea level," according to the study by Tulane and Xavier universities' Center for Bioenvironmental Research. http://cbr.tulane.edu/PDFs/higher-ground-rcampanella.pdf CBR Associate Director and geographer Richard Campanella has completed an analysis of New Orleans' residential population distribution and the city's elevational geography, concluding that it is possible that over 300,000 residents could live in the city's above-sea-level neighborhoods at circa-1960 population densities. The report recommends that policies to encourage utilization of properties in this area be investigated and implemented. http://kerrn.org/pdf/campanellaaslno.pdf When Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group was looking for communities that could benefit from the donation and installation of solar panels, Charles Allen knew where to turn. His work on green rebuilding through his work at Tulane and his own Holy Cross neighborhood keeps his feet on the ground in New Orleans -- and in touch with a community that still appreciates help. "Our residents were ecstatic about the offer," says Allen, who is assistant director for external relations at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7204 Torbjörn Törnqvist, CBR scientist and geologist, and his colleagues comment on a research report from last October. That report suggested that sediment for the wetlands comes primarily from hurricanes and not from the river. Challenging the choice of data and the resulting estimates, Tornqvist et al. argue that sediments from the river are the primary source of wetland material, while acknowledging that hurricanes can be significant contributors of sediment. http://kerrn.org/pdf/Science2007.pdf " When Richard Campanella, a research professor with the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, commented on the New Orleans "brain gain" in an article in the March 3 issue of The Times-Picayune, he apparently got the attention of a lot of people. "I've received eight or nine calls about it," says Campanella, who went on record in the article estimating that 2,000 to 3,000 professionals have come to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina." http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7235 Thomas Sherry hacked his way with a machete through the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge on the Pearl River last summer, clearing trails of vines and vegetation downed by Hurricane Katrina. Sherry, a professor of ecology and environmental biology, worked for days and days with graduate student David Brown nearly a year after the storm to get to forest study-sites that he'd set up pre-Katrina. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7111 Since Hurricane Katrina, many people in the greater New Orleans area are looking for ways to improve and preserve the environment. Even though area curbside recycling programs have been suspended in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish, there are some local businesses and nonprofits that accept or pick up recycled materials from community residents, businesses and organizations. Tulane University is playing its part, with numerous paper and cardboard recycling sites on campus. The Tulane recycling program provides recycling service in the residence halls for even more materials. http://tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7073 A chemical produced by specially grown soybeans may successfully fight the growth of estrogen-stimulated breast and ovarian cancers, says Tulane cancer researcher Matthew Burow. Breast cancer affects one in eight adult women, half of whom will have tumors that grow in the presence of estrogen. Burow says that medicines such as Tamoxifen, which act against estrogen, have long been used to treat these cancers. Over time, however, the tumors may become immune to the effects of the drugs and continue to grow, leaving women with fewer options for treatment. Further, the drugs that control those tumors effectively can also increase the risk of uterine cancers. Burow worked on the research in collaboration with faculty at the Tulane Cancer Center and the Center for Bioenvironmental Research. Co-authors of the article include Tulane researchers Virgilo A. Salvo, Stephen M. Boue, Juan P. Fonseca, Steven Elliott, Bridgette Collins-Burow, Sudesh K. Srivastav, Barbara Beckman and John McLachlan. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7050 Few people in town have as intimate a view of how the city is progressing as Rich Campanella, associate director of the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities and a research professor in the earth and environmental sciences department. A geographer by training, Campanella researches and maps the historical geography of the New Orleans region, an interest that has produced three critically acclaimed books. His most recent, Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm (2006), was awarded the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities' "Humanities Book of the Year" Award. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7024 Meffert, the Eugenie Schwartz professor of river and coastal studies at Tulane and deputy director of the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, was one of eight members of a disaster study team of city leaders that visited Japan in October. The mission of cultural and intellectual exchange centered around disaster recovery and was funded through the Consulate-General of Japan's New Orleans office by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=7013 South Louisiana is sinking, says Tulane geoscientist Torbjörn Törnqvist, but rapidly rising sea levels might be a bigger threat to the region. Törnqvist's study of marsh peat samples from an area near New Iberia, La., was published in a recent edition of Eos, the world's most widely read geoscience periodical. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=6964 This month marks the publication of Tulane geographer Richard Campanella's third book about the City of New Orleans. Entitled Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm (Center for Louisiana Studies, 2006), Campanella says this book is the most thorough of the three he has written about the Crescent City. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=6719 In part, that knowledge is acquired through a course entitled "Rebuilding New Orleans: Communities, Cultures and Cities," which is led by Koritz and her colleagues Nghana Lewis, assistant professor of English and African and African Diaspora Studies; Terrence Fitzmorris, associate dean of the School of Continuing Studies and adjunct professor of history; and Richard Campanella, research professor and assistant director of the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities. http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=6645