Towards a Zero Waste Strategy for an English Local Authority

Many developed countries are using a challenging Zero Waste concept to change current waste management practices to more sustainable methods of managing waste, including household waste. The concept includes waste prevention; high levels of recycling and recovery of all resources from waste; and behavioural change. This research provides a case study on the development of a Zero Waste Strategy (ZWS) for Charnwood Borough Council (CBC), an English Local Authority (LA), which has an established household waste management system.This paper describes the steps taken by the authors, together with CBC to devise and implement a ZWS. A series of focus groups were held involving elected members of the LA and members of the community. The aim was to identify the core aspects of environmental, operational and social demands in order to prioritise actions to be included in a draft ZWS. The draft underwent wider public consultation, which highlighted areas for revision, and following revision has been adopted by the LA. The ZWS takes into account local issues, local policies, alongside national strategies and legislation.Many of the options identified during this research complement each other and if used in combination may see large steps taken towards Zero Waste. This is difficult to achieve without a holistic approach to waste generation, collection, treatment and disposal. Key findings from this research are to switch the focus from recycling to reuse and waste prevention, alongside increasing education and behaviour change programmes for householders. Additionally, the potential value of separately collecting food waste, with a recognised high potential yield, must be explored to ensure meeting targets set in the ZWS and the requirements of the Landfill Directive.     

A Combined Park Management Framework Based on Regulatory and Behavioral Strategies: Use of Visitors' Knowledge to Assess Effectiveness

In light of the increasing mandate for greater efficiency in conservation of natural reserves such as national parks, the present study suggests educational approaches as a tool to achieve conservation purposes. Currently, the management of human–wildlife interactions is dominated by regulatory strategies, but considerable potential exists for environmental education to enhance knowledge in the short run and to prompt attitude change in the long run. A framework for conservation based on both traditional regulatory- and behavior-oriented strategies was proposed whereby the level of knowledge that park visitors have acquired comprises an obvious outcome and establishes a basis upon which the effectiveness of regulatory- and behavior-based regimes could be assessed. The perceptions regarding park-related issues of two distinct visitor groups (locals and nonlocals) are summarized from a survey undertaken in Vikos-Aoos national park. The findings suggest a superficial knowledge for certain concepts but little profound understanding of the content of such concepts, indicating that knowledge-raising efforts should go a long way towards establishing a positive attitude for the resource. Visitors' poor knowledge of the park's operation regulation contest the efficiency of the presently dominant regulatory management regime. While geographical distances did not appear to significantly differentiate knowledge between the two groups, wilderness experience (as certified by visits to other parks) was proved to be an impetus for generating substantial learner interest in critical park issues among nonlocal visitors. School education and media were found to be significant knowledge providers.     

Exploring changes in Ecuadorian land use for food production and their effects on natural resources

A model is used for the dynamic and spatially explicit exploration of near future agricultural land-use changes. In a case study for Ecuador, different plausible scenarios are formulated, taking into account possible developments in national food demand until the year 2010. The protection of nature parks and restrictions due to land degradation are evaluated with respect to their possible spatial impacts on the land-use change dynamics within the country. Under the assumptions of the demand scenarios, agricultural land-use expands significantly, resulting in more use of land in existing agricultural areas and frontier-type expansion into relatively undisturbed natural areas. The patterns of change depend on the increase in demand, competition between land-use types, changes in driving factors of land use, and the area and characteristics of land that is excluded from agricultural use. The modelled land-use dynamics are related to their possible impacts on the natural resource base, specifically soil fertility. The results indicate potential negative effects of land-use changes on the soil nutrient balance and biodiversity. It is argued that spatial and temporal quantification of land-use dynamics at the landscape level can support research and policies aimed at understanding the driving factors of land-use change and the behaviour of complex agro-ecosystems under changing conditions at different scales. In this way, issues dealing with sustainable food production and the management of the natural resource base can be addressed in a more integrated and quantitative manner.     

Disconnected futures: exploring notions of ethical responsibility in energy practices

This article aims to explore people's connections to or disconnections from the future and the implications of this for their perspectives on equity, justice and ethical issues related to energy consumption. Everything people do is embedded and extended in time across the modalities of past, present and future, making time an inescapable aspect of our existence, yet one that often remains invisible and intangible. Debates about energy and environmental equity have raised questions about the extent to which people today should bear responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour for future generations. Seemingly intractable difficulties have been identified, however, in people's abilities to connect their present actions with their potential future consequences and thus take on such responsibilities. Drawing on data from interviews about energy consumption practices, this article explores whether people's living temporal extensions through younger generations of their families influence their views and practices around energy use in both the present and anticipated future. Through exploring these issues we offer a contribution to the ethical debate around responsibility for future generations.     

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: An integrative review and research agenda

Environmental quality strongly depends on human behaviour patterns. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour. A general framework is proposed, comprising: (1) identification of the behaviour to be changed, (2) examination of the main factors underlying this behaviour, (3) design and application of interventions to change behaviour to reduce environmental impact, and (4) evaluation of the effects of interventions. We discuss how environmental psychologists empirically studied these four topics, identify apparent shortcomings so far, and indicate major issues for future research.     

Community knowledge networks: an action-orientated approach to energy research

The Climate Change Act 2008 commits the UK to reducing carbon emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. With household emissions constituting more than a quarter of current total energy use in the UK, energy practices in the home have taken on increased policy attention. In this paper, we argue that the UK government's approach is founded upon a variant of methodological individualism that assumes that providing greater energy information to individuals will effect behaviour change in relation to energy use. Such an approach is potentially limited in its effectiveness and does not afford appropriate recognition to all those affected by energy policy. In contrast to this approach, we set out an alternative perspective, a community knowledge networks approach to energy and justice which recognises the contexts and relationships in which people live and use energy. Such an approach emphasises situated knowledge and practices in order to gain a greater understanding of how individuals and communities use energy, but, importantly, offers a means for affording greater recognitional justice to different social groups.     

Think globally, act locally'? Climate change and public participation in Manchester and Frankfurt

'Think Globally, Act Locally' was one of the most famous slogans of the 1970s environmental movement. Discourses about global climate change are now a vivid illustration of this new 'global thinking'. Although there is a substantial amount of research about global environmental issues and policy initiatives, there is still a gap in understanding of how lay publics actually comprehend global climate change. Using qualitative research method, this study is a comparison of how lay publics in Frankfurt (Germany) and Manchester (UK) perceive these issues and the possible solutions. The study found strong similarities in lay public perceptions in both cities including that (1) awareness of global environmental issues is always contextualised in broader perspectives not exclusively 'environmental', (2) there is a shared and strong sense of global equity based on recognition of differences and (3) there is an ambivalence about the role of environmental 'information'. Differences between lay public perceptions in Manchester and Frankfurt can be explained by specific features of national cultures.     

“Lead has become carbon dioxide”: framing sustainable travel in an age of climate change

This paper explores the promotion of environmentally sustainable travel and the ways in which individual citizens engage with exhortations to adopt environmentally responsible travel modes. In local contexts, the arguments for promoting modal shifts have focused on issues like congestion, noise reduction and the improvement of local environmental quality. However, in recent years, concerns about global climate change have reframed the promotion of sustainable travel around carbon emissions reductions and more fundamental changes to lifestyle choices as a way of combating climate change. Within this context, this paper considers the ways in which individuals frame sustainable travel through using focus group data collected as part of a wider research project on travel behaviour in the UK. The paper will demonstrate that notions of “sustainable” travel are still largely dominated by localised environmental concerns that have resonances with the everyday experiences and practices of individuals, with many of the factors underlying established discourses of travel behaviour being focused on pragmatic issues like convenience and cost. In contrast, the issue of climate change presents a number of challenges for policy-makers seeking to change behaviour because of the contestations surrounding climate science, political leadership and the perceived role of individual consumers in tackling climate change.     

First principles of the MameLuke multi-actor modelling framework for land use change, illustrated with a Philippine case study

This paper presents the first principles of the MameLuke framework, an agent-based modelling framework for studying environmental issues and land use and cover change (LUCC). The MameLuke framework enhances the understanding of the relationship between societal processes and LUCC by modelling individual and group decisions and human-environment interactions. The framework allows for the transformation of real-life stories into computerised models following a predetermined sequence. By doing so, the framework allows for a truly integrative approach, because it is not bound to any particular scientific discourse. Even better, the framework enables its users to combine scientific discourses regarding human decisions and behaviour on multiple scales and levels. The agents (actors and locations) in the framework are heterogeneous. This heterogeneity of agent behaviour is established by dividing the agents into categories. If an agent is a member of an agent category or combination of categories, it has access to a defined set of implementable actions. The actions are constructed out of potential option paths (POPs) and potential option nodes (PONs). The whole of POPs represent a theoretical construct of agent behaviour and decisions that the framework user wishes to explore. The POP defines a sequence of PONs. The PON is a transaction interface between an initialising agent and a recipient agent where they exchange material and immaterial capital. This paper explains the basic architecture of the MameLuke framework and shows its applicability with a model of a Philippine case study. This case study concerns the dynamics of migration and deforestation. It is part of a larger study on land use change in the San Mariano watershed area at the forest fringe of the Sierra Madre mountains in the Philippines.     

Benefits of Collaborative Learning for Environmental Management: Applying the Integrated Systems for Knowledge Management Approach to Support Animal Pest Control

Resource management issues continually change over time in response to coevolving social, economic, and ecological systems. Under these conditions adaptive management, or “learning by doing,” offers an opportunity for more proactive and collaborative approaches to resolving environmental problems. In turn, this will require the implementation of learning-based extension approaches alongside more traditional linear technology transfer approaches within the area of environmental extension. In this paper the Integrated Systems for Knowledge Management (ISKM) approach is presented to illustrate how such learning-based approaches can be used to help communities develop, apply, and refine technical information within a larger context of shared understanding. To outline how this works in practice, we use a case study involving pest management. Particular attention is paid to the issues that emerge as a result of multiple stakeholder involvement within environmental problem situations. Finally, the potential role of the Internet in supporting and disseminating the experience gained through ongoing adaptive management processes is examined.     

Computer and mobile phone waste in urban India: an analysis from the perspectives of public perception,consumption and disposal behaviour

Sustainable management of Electronic waste (E-waste) is a major challenge for contemporary India, an emerging economy burdened with both the domestic generation and illegal import of E-waste. Considering the ever-increasing complexities of E-waste in Indian cities, this paper aims to evaluate the current trends, opportunities and challenges associated with consumption of electronic items (with respect to computers and mobile phones) and disposal of E-waste in urban India. Bangalore, a city popularly known as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, is considered as a case study in order to evaluate public awareness, household consumption and E-waste disposal behaviours. The city profile of Bangalore indicates that it has a rapidly emerging market for electronics and thus, has the potential to act as a ‘model’ for evaluating the issues concerning E-waste in metropolitan India. Questionnaires were distributed originally among 300 households with an effective response rate of 63.3%. The results indicate that the majority of households (59.3%) still retain their obsolete electronics due to lack of knowledge about proper E-waste management. High awareness about E-waste and high willingness to recycle/repair their E-waste (above 80% in both cases) are yet to be translated into responsible disposal/recycling behaviour as 95.8% of households have no knowledge about the presence of any formal recycling centre. Income, education, age and gender dimensions associated with E-waste disposal behaviour and awareness were also evaluated. Although we found no gender differences for most of the parameters, there have been some interesting correlations in age and income-wise segregation of disposal behaviour. We noted that the city of Bangalore still possesses some typical Indian socio-cultural characteristics, such as considering E-waste as ‘valuables’, changing several hands before final disposal, defying ‘brand’ or ‘looks’ consciousness, etc., which could be directed towards responsible E-waste disposal behaviours. We suggest that establishing appropriate and convenient E-waste collection/recycling facilities, ensuring responsible household disposal behaviour, implementing effective laws and legislation, and organizing mass E-waste awareness campaigns would aid in addressing the current E-waste concerns in the city.     

World energy future: the demand side challenge

Non-OECD countries will account for the greatest share of growth in future energy demand. Policy-makers, in response to public concern that the continued use of fossil-fuels could bring about global climate change have sought out policies which will reduce future energy demand. However, economic instruments which can do so, such as carbon taxes, provoke significant distributional and equity issues. Most OECD governments have set CO₂ reduction targets, but few of those targets are backed up by effective legislation and programmes. Instead, most governments seem to count on increasing energy efficiency, seemingly 'spontaneously', to bring about CO₂ reductions. Realization of OECD CO₂ reduction targets would be insignificant on a global scale, but they are nevertheless very ambitious when compared to recent changes in the OECD's energy-derived CO₂ emissions. Reliance on market forces alone may therefore not be enough.     

LONG-TERM WATERSHED RESEARCH AND MONITORING TO UNDERSTAND ECOSYSTEM CHANGE IN PARKS AND EQUIVALENT RESERVES1

ABSTRACT: Integrated watershed ecosystem studies in National Parks or equivalent reserves suggest that effects of external processes on “protected” resources are subtle, chronic, and long-term. Ten years of data from National Park watersheds suggests that temperature and precipitation changes are linked to nitrogen levels in lakes and streams. We envision measurable biotic effects in these remote watersheds, if expected climate trends continue. The condition of natural resources within areas set aside for preservation are difficult to ascertain, but gaining this knowledge is the key to understanding ecosystem change and of processes operating among biotic and abiotic ecosystem components. There is increasing evidence that understanding the magnitude of variation within and between such processes can provide an early indication of environmental change and trends attributable to human-induced stress. The following four papers are case studies of how this concept has been implemented.* These long-term studies have expanded our knowledge of ecosystem response to natural and human-induced stress. The existence of these sites with a commitment to gathering “long-term” ecosystem-level data permits research activities aimed at testing more important hypotheses on ecosystem processes and structure.     

Learning for sustainability: participatory resource management in Cambodian fishing villages

Considerable attention is now being given to the role and importance of education and learning implications of participatory resource and environmental governance. The contention is that such learning has the potential to transform behaviour, and in the case of resource management, may help change current patterns in resource use towards a more sustainable social-ecological system. Our purpose is to establish the opportunities for learning afforded to those participating in local level resource management committees in two Cambodian fishing communities and consider the learning outcomes from such opportunities. Our approach was qualitative and used a case study design. The findings establish a wide range of committee resource management activities that resulted in both instrumental (e.g., learning about administrative procedures) and communicative (e.g., insights into the need to conserve mangroves) learning. It was revealed that such learning can lead to changes in behaviour at the community level (e.g., managing local waste). Our findings also indicated a number of motivators and enablers of learning such as opportunities for dialogue, leadership and the presence of declining resources.     

Questioning the local: environmental regulation,shale gas extraction,and the politics of scale

ABSTRACT

The exploration and potential extraction of shale gas – better known as fracking – has emerged as one of the most contentious dimensions to local environmental politics in the UK. Local residents and environmental activists have raised concerns about health, noise, ground water contamination, seismicity, environmental amenity, and other impacts of the industry on communities. Despite the complexities of shale gas extraction, an emphasis on the local has shaped key dimensions of the debate around the appropriate location for well pads to the relative exclusion of other issues. This paper draws on fieldwork in Lancashire, UK, to reflect on the political construction of scale in order to explore how an emphasis on “the local” can restrict political debate over shale gas to narrow concerns with land-use planning thereby obviating a fuller engagement with wider questions concerning risk, energy policy, and climate change. It is concluded that a more nuanced conception of scale is necessary for understanding how concerns with shale gas are diminished rather than strengthened through the current planning policy and regulatory regime operating in the UK.     

The strategic gap in air-quality management

The successful management of atmospheric pollution is best achieved when the benefits of controls can be clearly demonstrated to those who the controls affect. There is a need to demonstrate to a population that change will benefit the social and biophysical aspects of that population’s environment as a whole. This paper suggests that policy-makers need to demonstrate clearly the advantages of a change in behaviour for the local environment while concurrently minimising the life-style costs of the people whose co-operation is needed to bring that change about. This requires an improved understanding of the activities affected and the message and media by which environmental benefits can be communicated in the light of that understanding.Using the example of tropospheric ozone, this paper argues that air-quality management requires close regional co-ordination which can facilitate the establishment and implementation of local policy options. The ability of the UK National Air Quality Strategy to achieve this in its present form is discussed and the existence of a strategic gap between the current approach to air-quality management and the major issues surrounding air quality considered.     

THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE PRACTICE OF TEACHERS

This study concerns the design of classroom environments and the impact of these environments on the practice of teachers. It involves data gathered from primary and secondary schools, using lesson observations and teacher interviews. Behavioural mapping instruments were developed for the school-based data collection, and subsequent analysis is both qualitative and quantitative. A number of constructs have been developed, defined and used to evaluate what happens within classrooms. Some of these constructs are physical (modes of layout), some are pedagogic (child-centred), and some involve combinations of data. The findings from the analysis of teachers’ classroom behaviour have been related to the issues emerging from their interviews. This enabled examination of behaviour alongside statements of attitudes and beliefs about the role of the classroom environment. These data inform questions about teachers’ awareness of their surroundings; the extent to which this awareness impacts on their teaching, and the extent to which teachers feel they have control over the features of their classrooms. The article concludes by making the case for the importance of environmental awareness in the training and retraining of teachers. Environmental competence is an important constituent of the skilled teacher.     

Integrating local and technical knowledge to support soil salinity monitoring in the Amudarya river basin

The role of monitoring is changing due to the increasing awareness of complexity and uncertainty in environmental resources management. Monitoring systems are required to support critical reflection about the effectiveness of actions toward the achievement of management objectives. To this aim, monitoring should be based on a strong integrated and multi-scale approach. Monitoring costs could be prohibitive if the monitoring is only based on traditional scientific methods of measurements. To deal with these issues, the design of an innovative monitoring system should be based on the integration between different sources of knowledge and information. In this work the usability of local knowledge to support environmental monitoring is investigated. A multi-step participatory monitoring design process has been implemented aiming to design a program for soil salinity monitoring in the lower Amudarya river basin in Uzbekistan. Although there is an increasing awareness of the importance of stakeholders being involved in decision processes, the current socio-cultural and institutional context is not favourable to the participatory approach. The choice of method to be implemented in this work was influenced by such conditions. The analysis of the lessons learned from the experiences gained in this project revealed some important clues concerning the development of a locally-based monitoring program. These lessons can be subdivided according to three fundamental issues: the long term involvement of local community members in monitoring activities, the acceptance of locally-based monitoring systems by decision makers, and the reliability of monitoring information.     

A general framework for a collaborative water quality knowledge and information network

Increasing knowledge about the environment has brought about a better understanding of the complexity of the issues, and more information publicly available has resulted into a steady shift from centralized decision making to increasing levels of participatory processes. The management of that information, in turn, is becoming more complex. One of the ways to deal with the complexity is the development of tools that would allow all players, including managers, researchers, educators, stakeholders and the civil society, to be able to contribute to the information system, in any level they are inclined to do so. In this project, a search for the available technology for collaboration, methods of community filtering, and community-based review was performed and the possible implementation of these tools to create a general framework for a collaborative ??Water Quality Knowledge and Information Network?? was evaluated. The main goals of the network are to advance water quality education and knowledge; encourage distribution and access to data; provide networking opportunities; allow public perceptions and concerns to be collected; promote exchange of ideas; and, give general, open, and free access to information. A reference implementation was made available online and received positive feedback from the community, which also suggested some possible improvements.     

Governance innovations for climate change adaptation in urban Denmark

Urban areas worldwide are challenged by climate change and urban flooding. Within the academic literature, adaptive measures that can be integrated into other issues such as recreation, nature reserves, and social issues are considered the way forward. Adaptation has recently become a mandatory planning theme for Danish municipalities, which in the absence of established practices are struggling to find the best institutional set-up to address adaptation as an integrated issue. Based on a case study of an integrated project organised as a partnership, this article identifies and discusses governance challenges that must be addressed if municipalities are to benefit from synergies through integrated projects. The municipality in question has established a partnership with housing organisations, foundations, and a utility company as well as facilitated a dialogue with citizens and institutions to address flooding threats and social issues at the neighbourhood scale. Because of strong political and leadership support, funding from partners, and good project facilitation both partners and politicians are enthusiastic about the project and its potential. Several challenges, however, needed to be addressed, particularly in relation to clashing norms from different governance paradigms. This is an issue requiring more attention both in research and practice.