The 2014 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference is soliciting proposals for sessions to address conference themes and integrative topics. For guidelines and submission instructions, please visit gulfofmexicoconference.org.

The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2013.

Click here to view the 2012 SETAC Annual Report.

Please congratulate these individuals as they join the community of SETAC Asia/Pacific geographic unit. We would also like to specially thank SETAC Asia/Pacific members who have made their votes and assisted in the selection process.

David Parry, Business, Australia

Noriyuki Suzuki, Government, Japan

Hong-Tao Wang, Business/Academia, China

Jing You, Academia, China

Their two-year appointment will run from 1 May 2013–30 April 2015.

We are looking for seven members (two each from the academic, business and government sectors and one student) to join the PAG Steering Committee.  This is an excellent opportunity for individuals who want to influence the work of the PAG and who wish to get actively involved in running PAG events.  If you are interested, please contact Alistair Boxall. We would particularly welcome applications from the Latin America, Asia/Pacific and Africa Geographic Units which are currently under-represented on the committee.

The PAG is also running a special meeting at the SETAC Europe 23rd Annual Meeting in Glasgow. This meeting, scheduled for 1530-1730 on Tuesday 14 May, will include a presentation on transparency and quality in risk assessment of pharmaceuticals as well as a presentation of a recent study into the ecotoxicity of diclofenac. The presentations will be followed by a discussion session. Everyone is welcome to attend what should be an interesting and highly topical meeting.

• Nominee names
  
• Nominee affiliations
• The award for which they should be considered

So take this opportunity to consider nominating your friends, colleagues or yourself for one of the awards. Send the requested nominee's information to setac@setac.org no later than 2 April. Awards Committee representatives can then help identify and coordinate nomination packages which are due by 6 May.

Global Awards

• Founders Award
• Herb Ward Exceptional Service Award
• SETAC/ICA Chris Lee Award
• Global Partners Capacity-Building Award

SETAC North America Awards and Fellowships (nominees from US, Canada and Mexico only)

• SETAC/Menzie Environmental Education Award
• Eugene Kenaga SETAC Membership Award
• SETAC Government Service Award
• Outstanding Regional Chapter Member
• SETAC/EA Engineering Jeff Black Fellowship

Note: Students can find award opportunities, including travel awards, research fellowships and presentation awards, via the SETAC website and future communications.

Visit the SETAC North America Earth Day Event grant application to submit a proposal by 28 February. Contact SETAC North America Education and Short Course Committee Chair Chris Ivey or Laura Swanson from the SETAC office for more information.

After a nearly two-year effort, the SETAC World Council approved the Berlin Declaration on Sustainability at the SETAC North America 33rd Annual Meeting in Long Beach, Calif.  Earlier drafts came under close scrutiny and were discussed in myriad forums and debates in various geographies around the globe. The approved version of the declaration consists of a preamble and five articles. The preamble provides the scientific underpinnings of SETAC’s involvement in the environmental aspects of sustainability and the need to accommodate "a shift in the ecological sciences to a transdisciplinary approach including social, economic and behavioral sciences, and more direct collaboration with the traditional biophysical sciences.” The five articles specify areas in which SETAC can engage in the "science of sustainability,” promote economies that allow better natural resource management and energy use, and on a tripartite basis pursue policies that reflect "linkages between ecological dynamics, global societies and human well-being.”

The declaration alludes only to direct activities that SETAC should take to accomplish these goals.  To that end the World Council asked for an implementation or action plan to be submitted by early 2013.  The Advisory Group on Sustainability, chaired by Norbert Scholz and co-chaired by Cynthia Stahl, has been assigned lead responsibility, but other groups are being approached to assist. One of the components of the plan includes the writing of topical papers to establish a framework and to elaborate further activities. This idea was put forward initially in Berlin and has been accepted as a way to support the action plan. Where and how these papers should be published is being discussed.. Options range from a series of Globe articles to submitting the papers to IEAM. 

Currently three matters are being addressed (with perhaps more to follow).  These derive in part from the declaration itself and in part from the ongoing work by SETAC experts and other groups:

• We ought to focus on science.
• Decoupling economic growth from resource use doesn’t seem possible.
• Life cycle assessment (or more specifically life cycle sustainability assessment) takes care of addressing sustainability.

The idea is to have an outline for these papers and the implementation plan in January 2013 and to have the drafts submitted in the first quarter of the new year.  If you wish to become part of any of these writing teams or to suggest other topics, please contact Norbert or Cynthia through the SETAC website.

Scientific conferences contribute significantly to the local economy. According to the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, SETAC attendees spent about $1.55 million while at the meeting. In addition, SETAC volunteers participated in a restoration service project at Los Cerritos Wetlands, planting and propagating a variety of emergent plants and weeding invasive species. As part of a carbon-offset program, SETAC and its meeting participants donated more than $15,000 to the Friends of the Colorado Lagoon, to help with their effort to restore critical saltmarsh habitat, and to students at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, to support their carbon sequestration and shoreline re-vegetation efforts of Lake Waco.

While SETAC strongly supports Congressional efforts to address the nation’s financial condition and the long-term solvency of the U.S. Postal Service, language in H.R. 2146, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA), and S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, could have serious unintended consequences, particularly because Congress is under pressure to act quickly.

In particular, amendment SA 2060 to the 21st Century Postal Reform Act is unrelated to efforts to reform and modernize the Postal Service; instead it restricts government employees from attending meetings and conferences. The amendment could have severe negative consequences on scientific discovery, technological innovation and job growth. The dangers of government employees operating in a vacuum—with fewer opportunities to learn and exchange information with other sectors in a conference or meeting setting—are too great to ignore.

Along with more than 2,100 other professional societies, SETAC is delivering a letter to key Congressional offices, expressing concern over the devastating effects such legislation could have on government scientists and on researchers' ability to interact with peers from universities and private industry.

We need your help in spreading the word. Send a message to your members of Congress to make them aware of this amendment and the damage it could cause to public-private partnerships.

13 December 2012 at the University of Leeds, UK
Learning lessons from past and current nano research to better plan for the future

The recently completed ENNSATOX project on nanoparticles in the aquatic environment and the ongoing project on NanoFATE raise issues concerning the potential for impacts of nanotechnology on the environment.

This one day interactive Cafe Scientifique-style workshop and knowledge transfer event, organized by SETAC Europe, is of relevance and interest to research, business and regulatory experts involved in nanotechnology. It will report on what ENNSATOX and NanoFATE have delivered and will include the work of the Brian Mercer Award in facilitating the development of unique analytical methodologies to aid the prediction of nanoparticle behavior at the cellular membrane level. The workshop will address the need for standardization of methods and incorporation of methods into regulation. The ethical and societal aspects of potential impacts of nanotechnology will also be debated.

The workshop will be chaired jointly by Professor Andrew Nelson, coordinator of the EU FP7 funded ENNSATOX project and recipient of the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award, Dr Claus Svendsen, coordinator of the FP7 funded NanoFATE project, and Dr Karen Steenson, ENNSATOX Project Manager.

 Download the workshop programme and flyer.

You can also download a copy of the declaration as a .pdf file.

PREAMBLE

Whereas SETAC’s tripartite structure of academia, industry, and government provides a model for dialogue on complex issues;

Article 1

Promote the development and application of the sciences and tools that enable citizens and organizations to reduce their ecological footprint.

Article 2

Promote resource-efficient economies that allow us to better manage natural resources in light of the increasing demands.

Article 3

Cultivate the development of long-term perspectives for resource management and energy use that reflect the nested interrelationships of ecological systems, societies, and economies at local, regional, and global scales.

Article 4

Promote respectful dialogue about the challenges of an ever increasing human population and the inalienable rights of citizens to experience social equity and equal access to resources while protecting genetic and biological diversity.

Article 5

Engage academic, business, governmental and non-governmental sectors in the pursuit of informed policies that promote continual improvement in our collective understanding of the direct linkages between ecological dynamics, global societies and human well-being.

The following individuals were elected:

Academia

Bryan Brooks, Baylor University, USA
Will Clements, Colorado State University, USA
Karsten Liber, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Charles Wong, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Government

Tom Augspurger, Federal Government, USA