Variation in perception of environmental change in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation

Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities. Overall, people were found to be less likely to perceive environmental changes in the marine environment than they were for terrestrial systems. The distance to the nearest market town (which may be a proxy for exposure to commercial logging and degree of involvement with the market economy), and gender had the greatest overall statistical effects on perceptions of risk. Yet, we also find that significant environmental change is underreported in communities, while variations in perception are not always easily related to commonly assumed fault lines of vulnerability. The findings suggest that there is an urgent need for methods that engage with the drivers of perceptions as part of community-based approaches. In particular, it is important to explicitly account for place, complexity and diversity of environmental risk perceptions, and we reinforce calls to engage seriously with underlying questions of power, culture, identity and practice that influence adaptive capacity and risk perception.

     

The socio-economic vulnerability of the Australian east coast grazing sector to the impacts of climate change

Regional Environmental Change - Research that projects biophysical changes under climate change is more advanced than research that projects socio-economic changes. There is a need in adaptation...     

Effects of alcohol at 0.05% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on low speed urban driving

ABSTRACT

Objective: Alcohol-impaired driving presents a continued risk for traffic safety and results in a significant proportion of fatalities on the roadway. We examined how alcohol at a 0.05% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) compares to 0.10% BAC (above the current U.S. legal limit) in terms of impact on driving performance.

Methods: Utilizing a within-subjects design, we recruited 108 healthy experienced drivers who were moderate to heavy drinkers. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, we administered placebo and alcohol at the 0.05% and 0.10% BAC levels in a standardized simulated driving protocol. Drives occurred on the descending limb of the blood alcohol curve. This analysis focuses on the urban portion of the drive

Results: The study observed clear differences in performance for lateral and longitudinal driving performance and glance behavior. Variability in lane keeping and average speed increased with BAC level, with degraded performance observed at 0.05% BAC. The frequency of lane departures and percentage of time focused on the forward roadway at 0.05% BAC did not differ from placebo but differed from the 0.10% BAC level.

Conclusions: Overall, our results show that there is degraded performance in the urban driving environment and that much of that begins at or below the 0.05% BAC level.     

A review of regulations and guidelines related to winter manure application

Winter manure application elevates nutrient losses and impairment of water quality as compared to manure applications in other seasons. In conjunction with reviewing global distribution of animal densities, we reviewed worldwide mandatory regulations and voluntary guidelines on efforts to reduce off-site nutrient losses associated with winter manure applications. Most of the developed countries implement regulations or guidelines to restrict winter manure application, which range from a regulative ban to guidelines based upon weather and field management conditions. In contrast, developing countries lack such official directives, despite an increasing animal production industry and concern over water quality. An analysis of five case studies reveals that directives are derived from a common rationale to reduce off-site manure nutrient losses, but they are also affected by local socio-economic and biophysical considerations. Successful programs combine site-specific management strategies along with expansion of manure storage to offer farmers greater flexibility in winter manure management.     

Mitigating Impact of Devils Lake Flooding on the Sheyenne River Sulfate Concentration

Devils Lake is a terminal lake located in northeast North Dakota. Because of its glacial origin and accumulated salts from evaporation, the lake has a high concentration of sulfate compared to the surrounding water bodies. From 1993 to 2011, Devils Lake water levels rose by ~10 m, which flooded surrounding communities and increased the chance of an overspill to the Sheyenne River. To control the flooding, the State of North Dakota constructed two outlets to pump the lake water to the river. However, the pumped water has raised concerns about of water quality degradation and potential flooding risk of the Sheyenne River. To investigate these perceived impacts, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was developed for the Sheyenne River and it was linked to a coupled SWAT and CE‐QUAL‐W2 model that was developed for Devils Lake in a previous study. While the current outlet schedule has attempted to maintain the total river discharge within the confines of a two‐year flood (36 m³/s), our simulation from 2012 to 2018 revealed that the diversion increased the Sheyenne River sulfate concentration from an average of 125 to >750 mg/L. Furthermore, a conceptual optimization model was developed with a goal of better preserving the water quality of the Sheyenne River while effectively mitigating the flooding of Devils Lake. The optimal solution provides a “win–win” outlet management that maintains the efficiency of the outlets while reducing the Sheyenne River sulfate concentration to ≤600 mg/L.     

COVID-19 effects on municipality waste collection services for households: statistical modelling of perspectives from Guyana and Nigeria

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The novel COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the functioning of solid waste management globally as households experience an increase in their waste...     

The politics of employment liability

Employment liability is an important check and balance against employee harm at work. In practice, however, an inadvertent consequence of employment liability is a potential shift in power from organizations to employees that affects subsequent managerial decision making. In this Incubator, we discuss behavioral and attitudinal ramifications of employment liability at work. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Growth of Dehalococcoides spp. and increased abundance of reductive dehalogenase genes in anaerobic PCB-contaminated sediment microcosms

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contaminate 19% of US Superfund sites and represent a serious risk to human and environmental health. One promising strategy to remediate PCB-contaminated sediments utilizes organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB) that dechlorinate PCBs.

However, functional genes that act as biomarkers for PCB dechlorination processes (i.e., reductive dehalogenase genes) are poorly understood. Here, we developed anaerobic sediment microcosms that harbor an OHRB community dominated by the genus Dehalococcoides. During the 430-day microcosm incubation, Dehalococcoides 16S rRNA sequences increased two orders of magnitude to 10⁷ copies/g of sediment, and at the same time, PCB118 decreased by as much as 70%. In addition, the OHRB community dechlorinated a range of penta- and tetra-chlorinated PCB congeners including PCBs 66, 70?+?74?+?76, 95, 90?+?101, and PCB110 without exogenous electron donor. We quantified candidate reductive dehalogenase (RDase) genes over a 430-day incubation period and found rd14, a reductive dehalogenase that belongs to Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain CG5, was enriched to 10⁷ copies/g of sediment. At the same time, pcbA5 was enriched to only 10⁵ copies/g of sediment. A survey for additional RDase genes revealed sequences similar to strain CG5’s rd4 and rd8. In addition to demonstrating the PCB dechlorination potential of native microbial communities in contaminated freshwater sediments, our results suggest candidate functional genes with previously unexplored potential could serve as biomarkers of PCB dechlorination processes.