This Week In CQ Researcher

Offshore Drilling
by Thomas J. Billitteri, June 25, 2010


Is tougher federal oversight needed?

The blowout two months ago at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico has turned into one of the worst environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Well owner BP failed in repeated attempts to stop the undersea gusher spilling millions of gallons, and experts say it may be months before it is brought under control. The blowout has exposed corner-cutting by BP and massive regulatory failures at the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency charged with overseeing the 4,000 offshore drilling facilities in the Gulf.

The spill also has laid bare ideological differences over national energy policy and heightened debate over how to balance environmental protection with the economy’s dependence on oil. Pressed by President Obama, BP promised to set aside $20 billion to pay damage claims. Still, the White House has been at a loss to stem political fallout from the disaster, which ultimately may help define the Obama presidency, much as Hurricane Katrina helped define the legacy of George W. Bush.

• Will the spill cause irreparable environmental damage?
  
• Are offshore drilling regulations too weak?
  
• Should offshore drilling continue?

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select the Off Campus Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Holiday Monday July 5

Southwestern College library will be closed on Monday July 5 for Independence Day. The library will reopen on Tuesday July 6 at 8:00 am.

Have a very happy and safe Fourth of July weekend.

Current Periodicals On Display

The library provides a display of over 50 current periodical titles in our Current Periodicals display area near the entrance of the library.

You'll find the most recent issues of various magazines like, Business Week, Fitness, Parents, Road and Track, Rolling Stone, Scientific American, Vogue and many other titles.

To view our complete list of periodicals, use our online Periodicals Holding List

Drop by and browse the information in over 50 magazines next time your in the library.

Library hours during the summer session are Monday through Thursday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, and closed Friday through Sunday.

Check It Out

Selling Online 2.0: Migrating from eBay to Amazon, craigslist, and Your Own E-Commerce Website
by Michael Miller
New Book Shelf HF5548.32 .M538 2009

This detailed guide offers sellers alternatives to eBay auctions, and, more importantly, strategies to assess which online retail web sites are the best for selling which products and services. Although the book does not address doing business using social networking web sites, such as Facebook, the analytical techniques presented here will assist business professionals with making decisions about using all such Web 2.0 applications. Miller also discusses multichannel selling and preparing business plans. With more sales transactions taking place online than ever before, this book is a useful resource for anyone considering selling online.
reviewed by Caroline Geck

Check out Selling Online 2.0 by Michael Miller, available now in the library on the New Book Shelf HF5548.32 .M538 2009.

Check It Out

More Than Title IX: How Equity in Education has Shaped the Nation
by Katherine Hanson
New Book Shelf LC1752 .H39 2009

Title IX was signed into law in 1972, ensuring that no federally-funded educational program could exclude anyone based on gender. Originally drafted to guarantee women access to school athletics, Title IX has had a far-reaching effect on all aspects society, starting a legacy of true equal-rights legislation for women that opened doors and minds. Title IX's impact on both genders, and on society as a whole, is an important focus of this volume, which merges straightforward history with firsthand accounts from those who took on the monumental task of changing politics and people in the 1960s and 1970s.
( Review from Publisher Weekly)

Check out More Than Title IX: How Equity in Education has Shaped the Nation by Katherine Hanson, available now in the library on the New Book Shelf - LC1752 .H39 2009 and in a digital electronic book format. To access our electronic books from off campus locations, you MUST first create a NetLibrary account from an on-campus computer.

This Week in CQ Researcher

Water Shortages
by Jennifer Weeks, June 18, 2010

Is the United States facing a crisis?

Clean water is a critical resource not only for drinking but also for agriculture, energy production and high-tech manufacturing. But severe drought — once seen as an issue only for the arid West — has become a fact of life in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, many cities depend on water mains and sewer pipes more than 100 years old. Environmental laws have sharply cut water pollution and improved drinking-water quality since the 1970s. But experts say the nation needs to spend more than $250 billion in the next several years to modernize water treatment systems, and current investments are falling short. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new ways to regulate water pollutants, and economists say charging more for water would promote conservation. But whether Americans will pay more for a resource that many view as a basic human right remains to be seen.

• Is the United States facing a water crisis?
  
• Can we afford stronger water-protection measures?
  
• Does hydraulic fracturing pollute water?

To read this article and others visit our Articles and Databases webpage and click on CQ Researcher. Select the Off Campus Access link for information on how to access this resource from off campus locations.

Check It Out

Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry
by Elizabeth Grossman
New Book Shelf RA1226 .G76 2009

Outing the truth about commonly used hazardous chemicals that are leaching out of everything from plastic bottles to children’s toys and infiltrating the biosphere and our bodies to deleterious effect. The Susan Grossman tracks the migration of synthetic, petroleum-based molecules emitted by pesticides, cosmetics, food containers, and vinyl, to name just a few sources. She accompanies scientists to China, the Great Lakes, and the Arctic,where these chemicals (82,000 and counting) are found in alarming quantities. These are dramatic expeditions, but even more revealing are Grossman’s quests through mountains of daunting lab studies and reports, which reveal that we are continually ingesting chemicals that disrupt endocrine hormone functions and other biological and genetic mechanisms and that cause cancer and other diseases.

Grossman profiles the worst offenders,including bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates,but she also portrays the good guys who are coming to the rescue, John Warner and Paul Anastas, founders of the burgeoning green chemistry movement. Green chemistry aims to replace hazardous synthetic chemicals with chemicals that are “benign by design.”
reviewed by —Donna Seaman, Booklist, September 15, 2009.

Check out Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry by Elizabeth Grossman, available now on the New Book Shelf RA1226 .G76 2009