Achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development requires better information about the consequences of proposed actions. Partial information accounts for many failed efforts in the past. The financial implications for the proponent of the projects have often been more thoroughly analyzed than the implications for other actors. The impacts on biological diversity, or on the social fabric of local communities, have often been ignored. Decisi- makers may also focus more on the short-term consequences instead of long- term impacts, creating negative unintended consequences. It is...

This companion to Accounting for Resources, 1 tracks the life cycle of specific elements, such as chlorine and heavy metals, in order to estimate the generation and dissipative losses of material wastes. The book begins with a succinct review of the life-cycle analysis methodology and evaluates some of its weaknesses in estimating the generation of waste. The authors propose a new quantitative measure of the potential for environmental harm of waste materials. They include case studies to add weight to their proposal. Four horizontal life-cycle case studies are included; one for chlorine and...