The rise of the eco-preneur and the messy world of environmental innovation

Media and academic debates about the environment have increasingly made reference to the so-called 'eco-preneur' ('green entrepreneur' or 'environmental entrepreneur'). These discussions encourage us to see the potential of such figures to act as drivers of environmental innovation. Their combination of entrepreneurial zeal and green motivations is seen as providing them with the ability to transcend the usual tensions between business and the environment. In academic circles a new literature is beginning to emerge around this perspective, 'eco-preneurship'. In this paper we investigate the usefulness of eco-preneurship for understanding environmental innovation. In particular we ask where this literature, supported by popular images in the media, fixes our gaze when we think about environmental innovation in society. And, crucially, what might we be missing by concentrating our attention on these eco-preneurs? The paper concludes by suggesting that environmental innovation is better understood as an inherently messy and complex institutional process, which cannot be reduced to the psychology of entrepreneurial personalities.     

The rise and fall of new knowledge interests in the Dutch environmental movement

Summary Since the late 1960s concern about the pollution of our physical environment has grown into a social and political issue. In this process of increasing awareness, environmental activists have played a catalysing role in most Western countries. Moreover the environmentalists formulated an alternative set of ideas and strategies concerning the production and use of knowledge. These new knowledge interests were organised around three dimensions: cosmology, technology, and the organisation of knowledge production. On the basis of a case-study of Dutch environmentalism this paper tries to demonstrate how the articulation of these new knowledge interests of international scope actually occurred in the particular Dutch national setting. The analysis shows that many of the ideas brought forward in the course of time by Dutch environmentalists have been imported from abroad, especially from the United States, Great Britain and West Germany. However, the specific ways in which Dutch environmentalists have defined the content of their own knowledge interests have depended very much on the particularities of the political culture and socio-economic climate of the Netherlands, as well as the internal dynamics within the various environmental groups themselves.Dr Jacqueline Cramer was until very recently a member of staff in the Department of Science Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam. She has now moved to the TNO Centre for Technology and Policy Studies, P.O. Box 541, 7300 AM, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. This paper forms part of a comparative study of the development of environmentalism in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands carried out in association with Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison of the University of Lund, Sweden.)     

Government policy and environmental protection in the developing world: The example of Nigeria

Environmental protection is a topical and controversial issue of contemporary Third World development. As a result of the growing crisis of environment and development as well as issues of global environmental balance, divergent views and proposals have been put forward by external governments, international agencies, and environmental groups in resolving the environmental degradation problems of the developing world. However, very little appraisal has been made of the efforts by indigenous Third World governments in facing up to their environmental conservation issues. This article examines the role of past and recent government environmental control policies and programs in Nigeria. The article analyzes three aspects of environmental protection: (1) the theoretical economic bases of environmental protection and the Nigerian approach to environmental protection, including traditional values and modern institutional control measures, the latter embracing nature conservation efforts; (2) environmental considerations in national development plans; and (3) the evolution of a federal environmental protection agency and a national policy on environment. Finally, the article discusses the future challenges and directions for environmental policy.     

The seventh world conservation lecture the World Bank's challenge: Balancing economic need with environmental protection

The World Conservation Lecture is an annual event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) — United Kingdom, to draw attention to the World Conservation Strategy. This lecture was presented at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on 3 March 1988. Full copies of the lecture, in booklet form, are available from the Education Department, WWF — UK, Panda House, Weyside Park, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1XR.     

The image and experience of high rise housing in Israel

High rise housing is characterized by two major factors—height and number of people—each of which play a role in the image created and each of which are associated with advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this study was to compare the image of high rise housing which emerges from the literature with the image and experience of high rise living as reported within a particular physical, social and cultural context—that of Israel. Three hundred and forty four individual, structured interviews were conducted with middle-class women living in buildings from four to 20 storeys high. Data are presented on their image of high rise housing; their experience of specific aspects: such as crowding, neighbor relations, childrens' outdoor play; and their general satisfaction with the building. On the whole the results indicate that these Israeli respondents' experience does not correspond to the image of high rise housing as portrayed in much of the literature. Their image is a function of their experience, which in turn is a function of the interaction between their own personal characteristics (particularly stage in the life cycle) and the height of the building—within a particular socio-cultural context.     

The environmental awareness of environmental protection bureaucrats in the People's Republic of China

Summary Over 180 environmental protection bureaucrats in the People's Republic of China were individually interviewed to determine their environmental awareness and their attitudes towards the environment. The study indicates that environmental protection bureaucrats in China have conflicting attitudes towards the relationship between man and nature, and between economic growth and environmental protection. However, they show a strong faith in science and technology's ability to solve environmental problems. The perception that too-harsh environmental protection regulations would reduce the growth potential of the economy is so predominant that it poses a serious threat to the environment of the three municipalities under investigation. It is argued that environmental management is a matter of managing human beings. To understand people, it is imperative to gain a thorough understanding of their worldview.Dr Koon-Kwai Wong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and the Geography option co-ordinator on the China Studies course at Hong Kong Baptist University. Dr Hon S. Chan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong.     

The eighth world conservation lecture

The World Conservation Lecture is an annual event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), United Kingdom, to draw attention to the World Conservation Strategy. This lecture was presented at the Commonwealth Institute in London on 20 April 1989. Full copies of the lecture, in booklet form, are available from the Public Relations Department, WWF - UK, Panda House, Weyside Park, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1XR.     

The environmental regulator and industrial development

Environmental regulatory agencies' administrative procedures have a significant impact on plant location. The authors review the basic reasons why companies build new plants and the constraints they operate under during site searches. The relationship between these issues and the regulatory agencies' administrative procedures is then shown, as well as the manner in which these procedures influence the site search. On the basis of this discussion, recommendations are made about how state environmental protection agencies can assist site seekers in a manner consistent with their regulatory responsibilities.     

The environmental attitudes inventory: A valid and reliable measure to assess the structure of environmental attitudes

Environmental attitudes (EA), a crucial construct in environmental psychology, are a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating the natural environment with some degree of favour or disfavour. There are hundreds of EA measures available based on different conceptual and theoretical frameworks, and most researchers prefer to generate new measures rather than organize those already available. The present research provides a cumulative and theoretical approach to the measurement of EA, in which the multidimensional and hierarchical nature of EA is considered. Reported are findings from three studies on the development of a psychometrically sound, multidimensional inventory to assess EA cross-culturally, the Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI). The EAI has twelve specific scales that capture the main facets measured by previous research. The twelve factors were established through confirmatory factor analyses, and the EAI scales are shown to be unidimensional scales with high internal consistency, homogeneity and high test-retest reliability, and also to be largely free from social desirability.     

U.S. Postal service northeast area master plans: Cutting edge environmental management for the real world

The U.S. Postal Service faces a range of environmental challenges as broad as those encountered by many large industries. The Postal Service's Northeast Area has responded with a carefully crafted, far-reaching approach to environmental management that relies on several key components—chief among which is a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Master Plan.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

进一步深化建设项目施工期环境监理重点工作的思考

建设项目环境监理试点工作中,施工现场的重点工作决定了建设项目环境监理的工作质量,也提出了工程施工期环境管理的新要求。从工程实际中研究工程施工期环境影响特点及环境保护目标,深化工程施工期污染防治和环境管理要点,是建设项目施工现场环境监理的新内容。     

The locus of environmental attention

Brunswik (1944) suggested a method for exploring the allocation of visual attention in the natural world. The current study revives and revamps this method. Individual observers (N = 16) walked along a predetermined outdoor route. Periodically, the experimenter sounded a clicking device. Upon hearing the sound, the observer stopped and reported as precisely as possible what he/she was looking at when the clicker sounded. The size, nature, and location of reported objects are analyzed. Two mathematical models are developed to account for these data. The first assumes that reported objects are sampled directly from the objective environment; the second assumes that reported objects are sampled from an individual's visual field. The current findings can not establish which of the two models is correct. A method is proposed which might discriminate between the models.     

The object of environmental ethics

Since the term environmental ethics began to be used a generation ago, it has covered many different kinds of environmental notions, problems, ethical systems, and forms of behavior. A variety of cases are presented and examined under two terms,environmental ethics andecological morality, in an effort to illustrate different kinds of ethical objectives. In order to understand the connections between various strands of environmental ethics, personal and social values and subcultural norms of environmental ethics are examined under Christopher Stone's concept of moral pluralism. G. J. Warnock's notion of the general object of morality is proposed to integrate the variegated purposes of environmental ethics.