Environmental and energy-related challenges to sustainable tourism in the United States and China

This article examines the relationship between tourism, energy, and environment. This article approaches tourism as a complex adaptive system composed of consumers, transportation providers, travel intermediaries, and destinations composed of multiple tourism-related companies and other stakeholder groups. Environmental and energy-related challenges of components to the system are examined as well as various units – the system as a whole, enterprises and individuals – within the system. A total of 92 peer-reviewed articles were studied that address ‘energy’ and ‘tourism’ published between 1974 and 2011. Also addressed are the impacts of social and cultural differences between the United States and China concerning responses to environmental and energy-related challenges. This article concludes with recommendations for addressing the challenges associated with such challenges, including building system capacity, technology development and adoption, support of individual behavior change, increasing understanding of the trade-offs and interactions within the system, and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches to these challenges within the tourism system.     

Principal sustainability components: empirical analysis of synergies between the three pillars of sustainability

Starting from the concept of three fundamental sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, and economic), this study investigated professional contributions to sustainability by means of principal component analysis (PCA). Graduates from the Environmental Sciences program (N?=?542) at ETH Zurich described their best professional contributions to sustainable development. Next, they evaluated whether their best practice example contributed to achieving any of the five environmental, social, and economic objectives of the Swiss national sustainability strategy. These judgments served as the basis for a PCA aiming to identify principal sustainability components (PSCs) covering typical synergies between sustainability objectives within and transcending the three fundamental dimensions. Three PSCs capturing important synergies were identified. PSC 1 Product and Process Development reflects how ecological innovation and modernization can generate social and economic benefits and at the same time facilitate the reduction in use of as well as the responsible use of natural resources. PSC 2 Education and Social Economics reflects how educational activities and sociocultural sustainability initiatives can simultaneously promote income and employment, social and human capital, and free personal development. PSC 3 Protection of Nature and Humans covers the synergetic benefits which protection of natural spaces and biodiversity and the reduction of environmental risks have for the protection of health and safety of the population. The study also revealed that integration of environmental, social, and economic aspects is often connected to conflicts between these dimensions. However, contributions which consider the economic situation of future generations or enhance social and human capital achieved considerable integration but showed no inclination toward such conflicts.     

水稻基因类型与生长环境对精米中砷积累的影响

砷(As)是动植物非必需的有毒类金属。水稻是对As有较强吸收和富集能力的大宗粮食作物,大米的食用是我国及东南亚地区人体暴露As的最主要途径,严重威胁人体健康。水稻籽粒中As的积累与水稻的基因型及众多环境因子密切相关,而且表现出复杂的交互作用。在浙江省选择了不同土壤砷背景值的5块水稻田,同时在嘉兴市农科院布置了人工添加As的盆栽实验,比较了20个水稻品种在这6个实验点的精米中As含量。结果表明,水稻基因型与环境及其相互作用对水稻籽粒中As的积累均有极显著影响,并且筛选得到了5个精米中As含量较低的基因型:秀水128、秀水09、秀水134、甬粳16和Y-05-8。     

Databanks of data sources for environmental chemicals

There exist a vast variety of data sources, either manual sources or computerized databases in the field of environmental chemicals. To facilitate the access and to retrieve the information wanted efficiently, we built up two “databanks of data sources”, one called “Databank of Manual Sources (DMAS)” and the other named “Databank of Databases (DADB)”. The set‐up of these databanks is explained and the load status statistics are shown. DMAS has 164 and DADB 106 hits.     

A critique of ethical and social issues of genetically modified crops

SUMMARY

The ethical and social issues of genetically modified crops as reported by the Nuffield Bioethics Committee are summarised. A critique of their findings is presented. It is argued that the apparent benefits are outweighed by the ecological, social and economic costs, and that the yields of some genetically modified crops are poorer when compared to conventional species. Furthermore, the current regulations are far too lax for consumer protection. There is an urgent need for a critical and disinterested review of the scientific basis of the research.     

Higher education in urban environmental management: a new programme at the Asian Institute of Technology,Bangkok

Environmental management and planning is now considered as a new field of professional expertise. There are even professional associations for interested professionals. To date, urban environmental management has been regarded as a subdiscipline of environmental management, but since the Rio Conference in 1992, with the new focus of urban management on environmental problems, it can itself be considered as a professional field. This paper traces the emergence of the field and tries to identify the new skills required for it. The question of formal training, in higher education, for a new type of professional is raised and discussed. It refers at length to an initiative taken by the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) to propose and offer a new graduate programme in this discipline, and draws on the author's experience of an Asian workshop (Bangkok, May 1993) aimed at defining the need for such a new profession in Asia.     

The abatement of major pollutants in air and water by environmental catalysis

This review reports the research progress in the abatement of major pollutants in air and water by environmental catalysis. For air pollution control, the selective catalytic reduction of NO _x (SCR) by ammonia and hydrocarbons on metal oxide and zeolite catalysts are reviewed and discussed, as is the removal of Hg from flue gas by catalysis. The oxidation of Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by photo- and thermal-catalysis for indoor air quality improvement is reviewed. For wastewater treatment, the catalytic elimination of inorganic and organic pollutants in wastewater is presented. In addition, the mechanism for the procedure of abatement of air and water pollutants by catalysis is discussed in this review. Finally, a research orientation on environment catalysis for the treatment of air pollutants and wastewater is proposed.     

化学工业园区重大环境风险源监控技术研究与应用

基于监控系统综合集成的思想,以重大环境污染事件风险源监控技术规范、重大危险源控制规章、污染源在线监测为基础,从监控指标体系、监控布点范围及监控技术筛选三方面建立化学工业园区中重大环境风险源监控技术体系. 结果表明:重大环境风险源监控指标体系主要从企业内部及企业周边敏感受体两方面进行构建;监控范围从重大环境风险源本体、缓冲区及环境敏感受体三方面确定;监控技术筛选时考虑了环境风险源的状态、监控技术方法的实用性和环境风险源/受体属性. 以上海闵行区化学工业园区为例,经调研统计,该化学工业园区共有重大风险源87个,其中罐区60个、排放口12个,其余分散在库房、生产场所等处. 根据化学工业园区企业内部风险设施及周围敏感受体的监控指标、监控范围及常用监控技术,制定了以罐区、排放口的特征风险物质为指标,以储罐的温度、压力、图像视频、液位及排放口特征风险物质浓度的传感器监控技术为主的监控方案.      

红枫湖饮用水水源地的工业企业环境风险评价

为降低饮用水水源地的工业企业突发环境事件发生的频率、提高环境风险管理的效率,在工业企业环境风险特征分析及Seveso Ⅲ指令的基础上,构建了基于危险物质泄漏、污染物排放及迁移、风险管理与控制能力的工业企业环境风险评价指标体系,并建立了风险评价方法. 以贵阳市红枫湖流域为例,按其水文特征划分为5个区域,对流域工业企业及各区域进行了风险评价. 结果表明:红枫湖流域81家工业企业中有55家风险企业,占企业总数的67.9%,整体风险水平较高;风险级别为重大、较大、一般和较低的企业分别有10、14、20和11家;风险较高的企业多为化工、印染、医药、造纸、冶金和煤矿类企业;羊昌河、麦翁河、麻线河、后六河流域及湖区周边区域的风险指数分别为16.09、7.01、3.77、0、1.07,羊昌河和麦翁河流域分别属于较高风险、一般风险区域,而其他区域的风险较低. 风险评价结果与红枫湖流域内工业企业的污染特点及位置分布较吻合,据此提出红枫湖流域实施环境风险分级管理的建议.