Colleagues,
I am writing to seek guidance (references, contacts, informal knowledge) on
the history of remediation technologies for Acid Mine Drainage in the US and
Canada.
The purpose of our research is to identify historical factors that have
influenced industry's adoption of active technologies (chemical treatment)
over passive technologies (constructed wetlands) - or rather the reticence
of industry to adopt passive technologies - for the remediation of AMD.
Any references, contacts or information that you may have about the
historical development of remediation technologies - including regulatory,
economic, political, social, or other influencing factors - would be a great
help.
Thank you in advance,
Justin
PS - Our working hypothesis is that active and passive technologies are
associated with different technological paradigms, and that there are
particular factors that "lock in" one paradigm over the other. We
hypothesize that industry's technological paradigm with respect to
remediation is one of "environmental engineering," involving commitments to
certainty, control and prediction. In contrast, we hypothesize that passive
remediation is connected to a paradigm of "ecological engineering,"
involving commitments to openness, flexibility and working with, rather than
against, nature. We are looking for the factors that lock in the first over
the second paradigm.
--
Justin Page
PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology,
University of British Columbia
Sessional Lecturer
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Research Assistant
Translational Genomics Research Group
The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics
http://www.tgrg-ubc.org
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