Scapegoating in the Wild: A Burkean Analysis of Two Outdoor Adventures Gone Wrong

Aron Ralston and Christopher McCandless, two outdoor adventurers, have captured the hearts of many American environmentalists. Each has attained the status of cultural icons and inspired books and films to recount their tales. While entertainment media have romanticized both individuals, news media are not as easy on one—McCandless is vilified while Ralston is valorized. When reporting these stories, news media outlets attempted to retell each story in a way that conforms to the dominant American ideology of wilderness, where “progress” is marked by control over nature—control that both Ralston and McCandless clearly unsettled. In addition, both committed many of the same errors in being underprepared. Despite these similarities, why are they each presented so differently in the news media? This paper offers a rhetorical analysis of newspaper articles on each story, where the phenomenon of scapegoating alienates McCandless, and the phenomenon of mortification purifies Ralston, restabilizing this American environmental ideology in both stories. In conclusion, I argue that the essential difference between these two stories is that they present two opposing ideals of a human–nature relationship, with Ralston's ideology including a space for technology and industrial knowledge, and thus construed as more appropriate than McCandless' ideology.     

Design standards for product end-of-life processing

In 2006, the British Standards Institute (BSI) published BS 8887-1 ‘Design for Manufacture, Assembly, Disassembly and End-of-life processing’ (MADE) subtitled ‘General Concepts, Processes and Requirements’. This was the first British Standard to address design for efficient post-consumer product reprocessing. By designing and planning for remanufacture, much of the embodied energy and production investment can be retrieved after the consumer no longer requires the original item. Therefore, end-of-life products become an asset rather than a liability. Design for disassembly facilitates efficient deconstruction and thus enables materials to be recycled with minimal loss of purity, thus maximising their value. The analysis presented here is based on the Standard Industrial Classification codes of companies and organisations that have purchased BS 8887-1. These data are considered in relation to the influence of environmental legislation. Company age, size and location, as well as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications, are discussed. This paper concludes by suggesting suitable directions for the continued distribution and development of this environmentally, economically and socially beneficial standard.     

中水回用及其立法构想——以四川中水回用及立法为视角

以节约和综合利用水资源的中水利用技术在我国北方地区已推广多年,但在同样缺水的四川,中水利用却非常低。究其原因,一个重要的因素就是四川中水无论在生产、销售还是使用上都处于无法可依的状态。为此,文章结合四川中水回用实际,提出了中水回用立法建议,以期促进中水回用的推广普及。     

试论土壤污染防治立法

土壤是一种不可或缺和不可再生的自然资源。土壤污染发展速度快,其危害日益严重,给人类生存和可持续发展带来了巨大压力。面对严峻的土壤污染形势,国外一些发达国家已积极立法应对,其中以美国、日本颇具代表意义。而在中国现行的法律体系中,关于土壤污染防治的法律基本是一片空白。因此,在借鉴国外先进经验的基础上,应尽快完善中国的土壤污染防治立法,对土壤污染防治作出专门的、系统的法律规定,从而有效地防治土壤污染。     

浅析环境利益保护视阈下《物权法》的完善

环境利益是人类从环境中获取的维持生命延续与自我发展的效用,以及能动地利用自然环境所形成的各种利益。在环境问题与环境危机的影响下,环境利益的实现必定受到阻碍。《物权法》规定了自然资源物权和环境保护相邻权,却忽视环境利益保护的理念,在物权客体范围与相邻关系等方面亦存在明显局限。应将"环境利益"纳入民事立法,尤其是《物权法》中,通过确立环境物权,丰富环境容量使用权、环境保护相邻权的相关内容,实现对《物权法》的完善,促进环境利益的民事法律保护与救济。     

论国内外资源安全立法趋势及我国立法模式的选择

资源安全问题是国际社会和我国所面临的一个重大问题，资源安全是在某种状态下资源供给与需求相均衡的一种状态。我国资源立法从上个世纪80年代开始，但并未确立资源安全的立法指导思想。资源是提升国家综合国力的重要因素，在经济全球化下，我国资源安全问题面临着严峻挑战，解决问题的关键是进行资源安全立法，构建资源安全法律制度体系。本文介绍了全球资源危机和我国所面临的资源安全形势，分析了国外资源安全立法动态，提出了我国资源安全立法的模式选择，并对资源安全（基本法）进行了框架结构设计。     

论综合性自然资源立法

综合性自然资源立法是完善我国自然资源法制的最佳方案选择。本文以正确处理自然资源开发、利用、保护和节约之间的关系为基本内容,提出了以实现自然资源的优化配置和可持续利用为目标的综合性自然资源立法的基本原则,并对综合性自然资源立法进行了具体的框架结构设计。     

完善我国环境资源立法的若干思考

分析了我国现行环境资源立法中存在的一些问题 ,提出了完善的对策     

环境公益诉讼立法问题研究

随着社会生产力的飞速发展,环境问题日益突出。环境公益诉讼是解决环境问题,保护国家、社会和公众环境权益的基本形式和有效途径,也是最后屏障。从国内一起环境公益诉讼案件出发,借鉴国外特别是美国环境公益诉讼的经验,提出了建立我国环境公益诉讼制度的若干立法建议,旨在探索一条落实科学发展观的环境保护新思路。