Research
Penn State Intercom......September 20, 2001

Rainforest may
not be sustainable

Talk of saving the rainforests is as burned into the collective minds of people as refrains to "Save the Whales" and to "Make Love, Not War." Without action, however, the day when there are no tropical rainforests to talk about could come a lot sooner than people think, according to a Penn State Abington researcher.

James "Bud" Alcock, professor of environmental sciences, has developed a mathematical model to study the effect of human-driven deforestation. Current rates of about 1 percent per year in the Amazon River Basin rainforest in Brazil could push the rainforests past the point where they can sustain themselves a lot sooner than many people think. Other key tropical rainforests are in the Con-go River Basin in Africa and Southeast Asia.

To use the 2-million-square-mile Amazon River Basin as an example, Alcock said his model shows that if there's no immediate and aggressive action to change current agricultural, mining and logging practices, the rainforest could pass "the point of no return" in 10 to 15 years. When all is said and done, the model indicates that the rainforest could essentially disappear within 40 to 50 years. That's a far cry from the common belief among researchers that the forest is still 75 to 100 years away from total deterioration, if current patterns prevail, said Alcock.

"Because of the way tropical rainforests work, they are dependent on trees to return water to the air," said Alcock, noting that the sheer size of the Amazon River Basin has already been reduced by about 25 percent. "This interdependence of climate and forest means risks to the forests are much closer at hand than what we might expect, and we're doing very little because of the priorities of Brazil and The Congo. It's a very difficult problem because of several pressures. For example, you can't say, 'leave the rainforests alone' when people are living in poverty."

Rainforests are dependent on high levels of precipitation brought on by daily rain, and a healthy forest holds onto the rain and returns it to the atmosphere so it can be recycled -- a process called evapotranspiration. Without a healthy base of vegetation, water runoff occurs at a higher rate, and it creates the potential for a highly unstable rainforest system.

There are those who espouse preserving small portions of the rainforest, but Alcock said damage to the overall system would probably limit the rain necessary to do that. Less rain could mean more forest fires, further threatening the balance of the rainforest.

While others have studied the effect of tropical rainforest deforestation on regional and global climates, Alcock said his study differs because it focuses on the local impact of the issues. In the Amazon River Basin, for example, loss of the forest would likely cause the extinction of many species of animals that thrive in such an environment, he said.

Materialistic kids wield
hefty purchasing power

A national study of materialism in 9- to 14-year-olds, led by a marketing researcher in The Smeal College of Business Administration, suggests that more materialistic youth tend to shop more and save less, expect their parents to spend more on Christmas and birthday presents, and that parents who are more materialistic tend to have children who are more materialistic.

"Materialistic 9- to 14-year-olds -- called 'tweens' -- are most interested in new products and most responsive to advertising and promotional efforts. Their parents view them as more expert with regard to the products and these children wield more purchase influence on their parents," said Marvin E. Goldberg, professor of marketing and lead author of the study. Goldberg authored the study with Laura Peracchio of the University of Wisconsin; Gerald J. Gorn of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; and Gary Bamossy of the University of Utah.

Children account directly for an estimated $36 billion in sales annually and when their indirect influence over far-ranging product decisions from stereos to vacations is considered, the estimate of the total economic spending impacted by children in the United States is $290 billion, Goldberg said.

It is estimated that by age 10 the average child makes five trips a week either to a store or a shopping center.

"Over the past decade or so marketers have increasingly targeted the 27 million youth that are 9 to 14 years old. Midway between early childhood and adolescence, they have been labeled 'tweens' and this subsegment has drawn the attention of a broad array of marketers," Goldberg said.

Goldberg points out that while there is concern regarding materialism among youth, very little research has focused on the issue and that the study's findings are intended as an exploratory effort to understand materialism as a phenomenon among youth and how it relates to other aspects of their environment.

FROM THE EXPERTS

Web site answers
consumer queries
about food safety

Consumers with questions on food safety, storage and preparation now have a new Internet resource, thanks to researchers in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

The Penn State Food Safety Web site, http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/, is a convenient resource for consumers, educators and the food industry. According to site author Luke LaBorde, assistant professor of food science, the site was a response to public and professional confusion.

LaBorde said surveys indicate that many people look to the Internet for food safety information, but can't find what they need. Commercial sites, for instance, may lack objectivity or be too disorganized or lengthy for convenient use. Others contain outdated information.

"Consumers can access our site for food safety information from University researchers, extension educators and government authorities," LaBorde said. "They also can get up-to-the-minute information on issues like E. coli contamination, pesticides, food additives, mad cow disease and biotechnology."

The site contains links to more than 1,200 reviewed food safety-related Web resources. The Food Safety News and Features section offers daily updates on general food safety, diseases and genetically modified organisms. In addition to links to federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency, the section offers a special "Rumor Control" feature which debunks the latest misinformation.

Central to this Web site are two easily searchable databases:

* The Food Safety Database divides the food system into four sectors: consumer, food service/retail, processing and production. There are Web links to research and extension publications, position papers from commercial and trade organizations, and government regulations.

* The Food Preservation Database contains links to specific procedures for safe canning, freezing, drying, smoking and curing of foods.

The Web site also provides a link to courses and workshops on food safety offered through th e food science department; an "Educator's Toolbox" of brochures, fact sheets, videos, poster s and other materials; and a list of additional food safety-related contacts and Web sites.

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