Radical,reformist, and garden-variety neoliberal: coming to terms with urban agriculture's contradictions

For many activists and scholars, urban agriculture in the Global North has become synonymous with sustainable food systems, standing in opposition to the dominant industrial agri-food system. At the same time, critical social scientists increasingly argue that urban agriculture programmes, by filling the void left by the “rolling back” of the social safety net, underwrite neoliberalisation. I argue that such contradictions are central to urban agriculture. Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in Oakland, CA, I explain how urban agriculture arises from a protective counter-movement, while at the same time entrenching the neoliberal organisation of contemporary urban political economies through its entanglement with multiple processes of neoliberalisation. By focusing on one function or the other, however, rather than understanding such contradictions as internal and inherent, we risk undermining urban agriculture's transformative potential. Coming to terms with its internal contradictions can help activists, policy-makers and practitioners better position urban agriculture within coordinated efforts for structural change, one of many means to an end rather than an end unto itself.     

技术进步路径选择与中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度

本文采用考虑反馈性出口隐含碳的MRIO模型,测算了2000—2011年中国14个制造业行业出口隐含碳排放强度;在此基础上,基于全球价值链(GVC)分工地位的视角,理论分析并实证检验了不同技术进步路径对中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度的影响。研究发现:中间品进口、自主研发、模仿创新显著降低了中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度,而国外技术引进和外商直接投资(FDI)对中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度的影响不显著;提升中国制造业在GVC中的国际分工地位能够显著降低其出口隐含碳排放强度。进一步研究发现,不同技术进步路径对中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度的作用效果受到制造业在GVC中的国际分工地位的影响,并表现出明显的门槛特征,即只有中国制造业在GVC中的分工地位越过门槛值后,技术进步路径才能显著降低中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度。此外,将制造业分为知识密集型、资本密集型和劳动密集型三类,发现不同技术进步路径对中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度还存在着显著的行业差异。因此,中国制造业应充分发挥中间品进口、自主研发、模仿创新在降低中国制造业出口隐含碳排放强度中的作用,在引进FDI和国外技术的过程中,优先考虑引进发达国家的先进低碳制造技术和清洁生产技术。同时,中国制造业还应积极培育自身竞争优势,构建自我主导的国内价值链和区域价值链体系,主动嵌入全球创新链,提升中国制造业在GVC中的国际分工地位。此外,政府应根据技术创新和引进政策在不同制造业行业中的执行效果,有所侧重地制定和实施相关政策。     

餐厨垃圾厌氧消化中硬脂酸钙的形成及作用

在稳定运行的餐厨垃圾单相厌氧消化体系中，出现白色颗粒状物质，且随着负荷的提高，其数量和粒径不断增加。利用能谱技术分析白色颗粒的元素组成，结合傅里叶红外光谱和13C核磁共振技术分析白色颗粒中的官能基团。经过研究分析认为，该白色颗粒的主要成分为长链羧酸钙盐，具体为硬脂酸钙。同时，对其形成过程进行了分析。该物质的形成对餐厨垃圾中油脂的去除提供了新的思路和途径。     

温州市粮食生产潜力及土地人口承载力研究

在光能生产潜力计算的基础上，经过温度、降水、土壤肥力和土壤质量等自然因素的订正，分析了温州市的土地生产潜力、粮食生产潜力。通过对温州市历年来主要粮食作物产量分析，采用产潜比增长速度法预测了２０００年和２０１０年的粮食产量，并据此计算了２０００年、２０１０年和潜在最大的人口承载量，指出温州市建立稳定协调可持续发展的人地关系的关键。     

餐厨垃圾混菌发酵制备燃料乙醇

以校园餐厨垃圾为原料,利用根霉和枯草芽胞杆菌进行糖化预处理,再接种啤酒酵母发酵产乙醇。通过单因素实验,以乙醇产量为响应值,对发酵条件进行优化。实验结果表明:乙醇产量最佳的发酵条件为:当底料含水率为22.79%,啤酒酵母接种量为15%,30℃培养条件下,经过5 d发酵,乙醇产量最高可达到6.67%。选用餐厨垃圾丰富了燃料乙醇的取材途径,实现了原材料的多元化,采用微生物预降解原材料为实现高产乙醇奠定了基础。     

Key Features and Context‐Dependence of Fishery‐Induced Trophic Cascades

Abstract: Trophic cascades triggered by fishing have profound implications for marine ecosystems and the socioeconomic systems that depend on them. With the number of reported cases quickly growing, key features and commonalities have emerged. Fishery‐induced trophic cascades often display differential response times and nonlinear trajectories among trophic levels and can be accompanied by shifts in alternative states. Furthermore, their magnitude appears to be context dependent, varying as a function of species diversity, regional oceanography, local physical disturbance, habitat complexity, and the nature of the fishery itself. To conserve and manage exploited marine ecosystems, there is a pressing need for an improved understanding of the conditions that promote or inhibit the cascading consequences of fishing. Future research should investigate how the trophic effects of fishing interact with other human disturbances, identify strongly interacting species and ecosystem features that confer resilience to exploitation, determine ranges of predator depletion that elicit trophic cascades, pinpoint antecedents that signal ecosystem state shifts, and quantify variation in trophic rates across oceanographic conditions. This information will advance predictive models designed to forecast the trophic effects of fishing and will allow managers to better anticipate and avoid fishery‐induced trophic cascades.     

Sustainable development and the water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on livelihoods

The water–energy–food nexus is being promoted as a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Frameworks for implementing nexus thinking, however, have failed to explicitly or adequately incorporate sustainable livelihoods perspectives. This is counterintuitive given that livelihoods are key to achieving sustainable development. In this paper we present a critical review of nexus approaches and identify potential linkages with sustainable livelihoods theory and practice, to deepen our understanding of the interrelated dynamics between human populations and the natural environment. Building upon this review, we explore the concept of ‘environmental livelihood security’ – which encompasses a balance between natural resource supply and human demand on the environment to promote sustainability – and develop an integrated nexus-livelihoods framework for examining the environmental livelihood security of a system. The outcome is an integrated framework with the capacity to measure and monitor environmental livelihood security of whole systems by accounting for the water, energy and food requisites for livelihoods at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. We anticipate this holistic approach will not only provide a significant contribution to achieving national and regional sustainable development targets, but will also be effective for promoting equity amongst individuals and communities in local and global development agendas.     

Do mucilage events influence pico- and nanoplankton size and structure in the Adriatic sea?

Temporal changes in abundance and biomass of picophytoplankton, heterotrophic pico-eukaryotes, and nanoplankton assemblages were investigated along a transect crossing the Adriatic Sea, from the Italian to the Croatian coast. This 15-months (June 1999-August 2000) investigation allowed comparing microbial parameters during summer 1999 (year without mucilage) and summer 2000 when a major mucilage event occurred. Pico- and nanoplankton assemblages displayed significant differences between the 2 summer periods. The main differences can be summarized as: (i) presence of cyanobacterial blooms (up to 10⁸ cells l^-1) in summer 2000, absent in summer 1999; (ii) an increasing fraction of heterotrophic pico-eukaryotes (up to 5.0 × 10⁶ cells l^-1) and heterotrophic nanoplankton (size 2-5 µm) during mucilage event; (iii) a reduced abundance of small-sized (2-3 µm) phototrophic nanoplankton in summer 2000. Changes in community structure were signals of changes in trophic condition of the system, which resulted in a competitive advantage for small sized pico- and nanoheterotrophs. Data presented here indicated that mucilage events are associated with changes in microbial community structure and functioning in ambient water and induced the amplification of 3-step microbial food chain. The potential use of the heterotrophic pico-eukaryotes for describing alterations of the trophic pathways during mucilage events is discussed.     

基于PCR-TGGE技术的餐厨垃圾厌氧消化微生物群落结构解析

为了解不同负荷下单相餐厨垃圾厌氧消化反应器内微生物群落结构演替特征,在单相厌氧消化反应器负荷为2.0～8.5kg·m-·3d-1(以VS计)的不同负荷条件下取样,运用16SrDNA的PCR-TGGE技术对反应器内微生物进行动态追踪.同时,运用Dice系统和NMDS软件对PCR-TGGE图谱进行分析.结果表明,负荷为4.0～6.0kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化不大;负荷为6.0～7.0kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化较为明显;负荷分别为7.0～8.0kg·m-·3d-1及8.5kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化最为明显.纵观整个过程,在餐厨垃圾厌氧消化反应器有机负荷在2.0～8.5kg·m-·3d-1下厌氧反应器内的微生物群落结构存在明显的阶段性演替;负荷为7.0kg·m-·3d-1时微生物群落结构的丰富度最好.     

杂质对废塑料裂解产物及污染物排放的影响

从垃圾中分选出的废塑料混有大量杂质,杂质对现有废塑料裂解工艺有直接的影响.针对这一问题,对混有厨余、纸、织物和渣土等杂质的废塑料裂解产物和污染物排放进行了研究.同时检测和分析了厨余、纸、织物和沙土等常见杂质所含N、Cl、S元素向裂解油、裂解气中的迁移规律.研究表明,厨余的混入将对裂解油的产物产生严重不利影响,如热值降低至27 MJ/kg,油品的含水率高达25%以及多环芳烃含量大大提高,因而应在分选过程中除去.厨余、织物和纸张等杂质的混入导致裂解气体中污染物浓度的显著上升.渣土的混入对气体产物有有利影响,对油品无明显不利影响.