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.     

Characteristics that make trophy hunting of giant pandas inconceivable

In November 1928, Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt led an expedition to China with the expressed purpose of being the first Westerners to kill the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). The expedition lasted 8 months and resulted in the brothers shooting a giant panda in the mountains of Sichuan Province. Given the concurrent attention in the popular press describing this celebrated expedition, the giant panda was poised to be trophy hunted much like other large mammals around the world. Today, however, the killing of giant pandas, even for the generation of conservation revenue, is unthinkable for reasons related to the species itself and the context, in time and space, in which the species was popularized in the West. We found that the giant panda's status as a conservation symbol, exceptional charisma and gentle disposition, rarity, value as a nonconsumptive ecotourism attraction, and endemism are integral to the explanation of why the species is not trophy hunted. We compared these intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics with 20 of the most common trophy-hunted mammals to determine whether the principles applying to giant pandas are generalizable to other species. Although certain characteristics of the 20 trophy-hunted mammals aligned with the giant panda, many did not. Charisma, economic value, and endemism, in particular, were comparatively unique to the giant panda. Our analysis suggests that, at present, exceptional characteristics may be necessary for certain mammals to be excepted from trophy hunting. However, because discourse relating to the role of trophy hunting in supporting conservation outcomes is dynamic in both science and society, we suspect these valuations will also change in future.     

Historical and contemporary indigenous marine conservation strategies in the North Pacific

Strategies to reduce, halt, and reverse global declines in marine biodiversity are needed urgently. We reviewed, coded, and synthesized historical and contemporary marine conservation strategies of the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation in British Columbia, Canada to show how their approaches work. We assessed whether the conservation actions classification system by the Conservation Measures Partnership was able to encompass this nation's conservation approaches. All first-order conservation actions aligned with the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nation's historical and contemporary marine conservation actions; hereditary chief management responsibility played a key role. A conservation ethic permeates Kitasoo/Xai'xais culture, and indigenous resource management and conservation existed historically and remains strong despite extreme efforts by colonizers to suppress all indigenous practices. The Kitasoo/Xai'xais's embodiment of conservation actions as part of their worldview, rather than as requiring actions separate from everyday life (the norm in nonindigenous cultures), was missing from the conservation action classification system. The Kitasoo/Xai'xais are one of many indigenous peoples working to revitalize their governance and management authorities. With the Canadian government's declared willingness to work toward reconciliation, there is an opportunity to enable First Nations to lead on marine and other conservation efforts. Global conservation efforts would also benefit from enhanced support for indigenous conservation approaches, including expanding the conservation actions classification to encompass a new category of conservation or sacredness ethic.     

Geochemical distribution of selected elements in flotation tailings and soils/sediments from the dam spill at the abandoned antimony mine Stolice,Serbia

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Materials held within mine tailings pose a serious risk to the environment in cases of tailings dam failure. Collapse of the tailing dam at the...     

Conspecific brood parasitism in an upland-nesting bird: cues parasites use to select a nest

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - In the animal kingdom, conspicuous colors are often used for inter- and intra-sexual communication. Even though primates are the most colorful mammalian taxon,...     

Presenting Triple-Wins? Assessing Projects That Deliver Adaptation,Mitigation and Development Co-benefits in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

The concept of climate compatible development (CCD) is increasingly employed by donors and policy makers seeking ‘triple-wins’ for development, adaptation and mitigation. While CCD rhetoric is becoming more widespread, analyses drawing on empirical cases that present triple-wins are sorely lacking. We address this knowledge gap. Drawing on examples in rural sub-Saharan Africa, we provide the first glimpse into how projects that demonstrate triple-win potential are framed and presented within the scientific literature. We identify that development projects are still commonly evaluated in terms of adaptation or mitigation benefits. Few are framed according to their benefits across all three dimensions. Consequently, where triple-wins are occurring, they are likely to be under-reported. This has important implications, which underestimates the co-benefits that projects can deliver. A more robust academic evidence base for the delivery of triple-wins is necessary to encourage continued donor investment in activities offering the potential to deliver CCD.     

Phytoplankton dynamics with a special emphasis on harmful algal blooms in the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea,Italy)

The response of phytoplankton assemblages to the closure of urban sewage outfalls (USOs) was examined for the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Mediterranean Sea), a productive semi-enclosed coastal marine ecosystem devoted to shellfish farming. Phytoplankton dynamics were investigated in relation to environmental variables, with a particular emphasis on harmful algal blooms (HABs). Recent analyses evidenced a general reduction of the inorganic nutrient loads, except for nitrates and silicates. Also phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) and abundances were characterized by a decrease of the values, except for the inner area of the basin (second inlet). The phytoplankton composition changed, with nano-sized species, indicators of oligotrophic conditions, becoming dominant over micro-sized species. If the closure of the USOs affected phytoplankton dynamics, however, it did not preserve the Mar Piccolo from HABs and anoxia crises. About 25 harmful species have been detected throughout the years, such as the potentially domoic acid producers Pseudo-nitzschia cf. galaxiae and P seudo-nitzschia cf. multistriata, identified for the first time in these waters. The presence of HABs represents a threat for human health and aquaculture. Urgent initiatives are needed to improve the communication with authorities responsible for environmental protection, economic development, and public health for a sustainable mussel culture in the Mar Piccolo.