Food for Thought: Audience Engagement with Sustainability Messages in Branded Content

Branded platforms are a growing “gray-zone” of marketing and media messages, in which corporations and news journalists partner to create content that supports strategic corporate goals while aligning with a publication’s scope of editorial coverage. As corporations are key influencers of and contributors to environmental communication, this trend has the potential to change environmental dialogue. In this article, we closely examine messages about food and sustainability, created in partnership by Chipotle Mexican Grill and the Huffington Post news site. We illustrate how use of a branded platform expanded the scope of environmental topics, issues, and frames that Chipotle addresses, how frames identified here connect to frames in coverage of science-related issues, as identified by other scholars, and discuss how branded platforms allow corporations to draw attention to polarizing environmental issues while protecting stakeholder relationships and brand reputation.     

中国低碳城市试点的政策设计逻辑

政策试点是中国国家治理策略体系的重要组成部分,是中国政府遵循“由点到面”逻辑以试验手段制定政策的一种常规性工作方法。低碳城市试点是中国应对气候变化战略的重要组成部分,通过选择不同类型、不同发展阶段、不同资源禀赋的地区开展试点,探索经济增长与碳排放脱钩的模式。现有文献侧重低碳城市建设的内涵、建设模式与路径、温室气体的核算方法、政策手段、峰值研究与达峰路径、效果评估等,有力地支持了低碳城市建设决策,但对于低碳城市试点的政策设计鲜有涉及。本文从政策过程理论、央地关系两个视角,结合府际学习与竞争关系,建构了中国低碳城市政策“试点–扩散”机制与政府行为的分析框架。中国的低碳城市试点具有探索型开拓性、综合型专业性、授权型自主性的特点,结合三批低碳城市试点的文件要求和实践进展,从政策试点的选点、设计、执行、监督和评估五个方面对于中国低碳城市试点进行了系统的梳理分析。相较于经济领域的其他政策试点,低碳城市政策试点具有弱激励弱约束的政策环境。地方政府基于自身的学习能力和领导力,在政策创新方面表现出争先、自主、效仿和守成四种行为特征,并以杭州、深圳、镇江、成都四个表率城市做了实证。政策“试点-扩散”的过程从本质上讲是中国政策创新与扩散的过程,可能在现实中需要往复多次进行,中国已陆续开展的三批低碳城市试点工作就遵循这样的政策逻辑。试点的意义是试出问题、解决问题、积累经验。从前三批试点城市评估结果来看,试点城市在低碳发展目标设定、转型路径探索和低碳发展动力转换等方面与社会的预期仍有差距,为此本文提出了推进低碳城市建设的四点建议:一是激发城市低碳发展的内生动力;二是完善低碳城市试点的科学论证机制;三是建立激励与约束并举的长效机制;四是强化市场公平竞争的政策导向。     

我国流域监管中府际关系协调模式研究

我国流域水资源管理实行流域管理与行政区域管理相结合的管理体制,但目前我国的流域监管体制中中央部委之间的主管与协管的矛盾、中央部委与地方政府之间的统管与分管的矛盾以及地方政府间区域利益的矛盾使得当前我国流域管理效率低下,水环境质量不容乐观。在我国目前的府际关系模式下,以上的府际关系矛盾短时间内难以消除,本文认为我国的流域监管体制改革中应着力构建以组织间网络为核心、以科层机制为保障、以市场机制为辅助的复合型协调模式,设立流域协调委员会,从而实现流域的一体化管理。     

生态旅游经济关系的二重性辨析

生态旅游经济关系是自然生态关系和社会经济关系的有机统一,两种关系并存于生态旅游经济复合系统中,成为生态旅游经济可持续发展的基础.但是,生态旅游经济关系在实践中出现了严重的变形,利益关系的冲突,正在使生态旅游经济越来越多地出现不和谐的现象,突破利益关系制约的瓶颈,重建和谐的生态旅游经济关系,正是解决生态危机的着眼点.因此,本文对生态旅游经济关系的二重性进行深入辨析,指出无论是生态旅游经济行为主体还是生态旅游经济过程,都具有自然生态属性和社会经济属性相统一的二重性,这些都决定了生态旅游经济关系二重性的协调统一.针对生态旅游经济关系在实践发展中的扭曲变形,只有变革传统经济学的发展观,以生态经济学和可持续发展经济学的理论为平台,对失调的生态旅游经济关系进行修正,还原生态旅游经济关系的本来面貌,即人与自然和谐、生态与经济协调、自然生态关系与社会经济关系统一的理想状态,才能实现生态旅游经济的可持续发展.     

土壤优先流的理论研究和试验分析

在活动流场模型的基础上建立了新的溶质运移控制方程,研究了流场分形特征参数的计算方法;采用4组染色示踪试验资料,分析了活动流场模型模拟土壤水流运动和溶质运移宏观非均匀特征的适用性.模拟分析表明,活动流场模型能较准确地捕捉到土壤中的优先流特别是不稳定流的宏观运动特征;土壤存在大孔隙结构的情况下,水流和溶质将更快的迁移到深层土壤,活动流场模型模拟计算的入渗深度偏小,但大于连续性模型的模拟计算结果;当土壤中的大孔隙结构较少时,活动流场模型模拟预测的土壤含水率分布和溶质浓度分布与实测结果比较一致.     

Cyclone mitigation, resource allocation and post-disaster reconstruction in south India: lessons from two decades of research

This paper opens with a history of development and disaster-prevention strategies in a cyclone-prone area of the east coast of India and traces the evolution in the area of British and Indian governments' programmes and policy over a century. Research over the last 20 years has shown, however, that the programmes and policies have failed to balance economic growth with safety. Resources intended for the benefit of all have been diverted by alliances of powerful people to a small minority, and recent developments have reduced the physical protection of the area. The result is that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of cyclones and floods. The findings suggest that the best way to reduce vulnerability is to improve the socio-economic standing of the most vulnerable and for this to happen these people must have an assured income based on assets that will enable them to acquire social and economic credit-worthiness within the local economy. This paper presents evidence that suggests that non-governmental organisation (NGO)-supported co-operatives are the best way to achieve this through self-help and self-employment schemes. It also suggests that NGOs should be encouraged to take up environmentally and ecologically beneficial activities involving the poorest groups in the communities, in this way combining sustained self-employment with environmental protection.     

全球环境变化与全球不平等南北方的不同立场

全球环境变化给发展中国家和南北关系带来深刻影响，理解环境问题的全球不平等需要以发展中国家80年代开始的经济结构调整和沉重债务为背景。南方的环境政策优先在很大程度上与其生活的可持续性相连，而不是通常与全球环境变化的长期性风险相关，然而，全球环境变化又与发展中国家贫困人口的日常生活紧密相关。从南方的立场看，当“问题”对他们不十分迫切时，就很难同意采取措施，仅此原因，北方对全球环境变化的关切要得到成功回应，真正的全球契约就需要解决基本“发展”问题，主要是贫困。     

Maize: The Native North American’s Legacy of Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity

Recent research has focused on establishing the values of preserving biodiversity both in agriculture and in less managed ecosystems, and in showing the importance of the role of cultural diversity in preserving biodiversity in food production systems. A study of the philosophy embedded in cultural systems can reveal the importance of the technological information for preserving genetic biodiversity contained in such systems and can be used to support arguments for the protection/preservation of cultural diversity. For example, corn or maize can serve as a paradigm of Native American thinking and can provide one of the few areas from which common philosophical conceptions can emerge. An examination of the cultivation of corn or maize as an agricultural activity and as a cultural activity in Native American literature reveals a philosophy that recognizes the importance of biodiversity and provides techniques for its preservation. Corn, and the food and the materials derived from it, is something thought out, not by specialists, but by the entire tribe and its ancestors, even if this thinking is done within what we might consider a framework of highly mythical notions. Importantly, this framework yields an understanding of both the genetics and nutrition of corn. A survey of these mythical notions (myths and stories) and agricultural practices makes this thought explicit and exemplifies the value of cultural diversity and biodiversity.     

Landslides, risk and decision-making in Kinnaur District: bridging the gap between science and public opinion

In November 1989 a major landslide destroyed the link road to the village of Sapni in Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalaya. Although aware of the risk of further landslide activity, the community has campaigned successfully for reconstruction of the road. Decisions of this kind take place at the local level, through village institutions and open debate, with good feedback between villages and district government authorities. In this way a balance is established between meeting more immediate needs (such as domestic water supply, irrigation, road access) and taking acceptable risks. Using the Sapni landslide as a case study, this paper explores the issue of 'acceptable risk', and looks at the existing strategy for risk and disaster reduction in the district.