Sustainable development policies in Canada's mining sector: an overview of government and industry efforts

This paper provides an overview of mining sustainable development policy-making in Canada. In addition to documenting the important efforts made by the Canadian government, some of the more recent initiatives undertaken by the Canadian mining industry are highlighted. Following years of sustainable development research and careful planning, the Canadian government finally drafted the national Minerals and Metals Policy of the Government of Canada: Partnerships for Sustainable Development (1996), which sets out the Canadian government's role, objectives, and strategies in areas of jurisdiction for making the concept of sustainable development operational in its mining industry, and seeks to create a legacy that Canadians can pass to future generations. Since its implementation, the primary response of both national mining organizations and selected Canadian mining companies to the challenge of sustainable development has been improved planning, and the development of policies that address key environmental and socioeconomic issues and which build upon the principles addressed in the Minerals and Metals Policy of the Government of Canada. It is concluded that most of the attempts made thus far by both the government and the mining industry to address mining sustainable development through policy-making have been major successes, but further improvements can be achieved if additional industry-government partnerships are formed, more community workshops are held, and selected environmental management practices are researched and developed.     

Microbe-mediated sustainable bio-recovery of gold from low-grade precious solid waste: A microbiological overview

In an era of electronics,recovering the precious metal such as gold from ever increasing piles of electronic-wastes and metal-ion infested soil has become one of the prime concerns for researchers worldwide.Biological mining is an attractive,economical and nonhazardous to recover gold from the low-grade auriferous ore containing waste or soil.This review represents the recent major biological gold retrieval methods used to bio-mine gold.The biomining methods discussed in this review include,biol...     

循环经济与西北工矿型城市的可持续发展

针对西北工矿型城市发展中面临的可持续发展问题,阐述了循环经济在西北工矿型城市发展的迫切性;结合西北工矿型城市的实际情况,提出了适合西北工矿型城市可持续发展的三个循环经济模式,进而探讨了西北工矿型城市发展循环经济的可行对策。     

An overview of environmental valuation methods for the mining industry

During recent decades, public concern about the protection, preservation and restoration of the environment has increased. Towards this direction, legislative action on environmental issues that affect the mining industry has been taken worldwide. Within this new framework, two issues are of critical importance to the sector – namely, project appraisal by means of social cost–benefit analysis (SCBA), and natural resource damage assessments. In a vast majority of cases, both issues require analysis to be carried out in a way that the loss of natural resources and the effects of environmental degradation on human health and well-being are assessed in monetary terms. This paper focuses on the application of environmental valuation methods in mining. Principal legislative requirements are briefly described, some critical points of the most important valuation methods are outlined, and demonstrative examples are presented.     

Sustainability issues in sheet metal forming processes: an overview

Environmental sustainability in manufacturing is nowadays an urgent and remarkable issue and the main concerns are related to more efficient use of materials and energy.In sheet metal forming processes there is still a lack of knowledge in this field mainly due to the need of a proper modelling of sustainability issues and factors to be taken into account. The aim of this paper is mainly to underline the state of the art from a forming point of view about the sustainability contributions offered in any phase of a product life cycle. Actually, a lack in terms of comprehensive contributions is present in the technical literature, thus, the authors try to give a sort of holistic vision aimed to provide basic guidelines in order to help in identifying the possible solutions with regard to all the phases of a forming product life cycle. The main attention was paid to sheet metal forming technologies. The paper gives an overview of the main topics concerning sheet metal forming problems related to energy and resource efficiency with the aim to stress the principal contributions which may derive from such processes to environmental performances of manufacturing.     

Acid deposition and its effects in China: an overview

Acid rain is an increasing environmental problem in China. At present SO₂ emission is about 20–22 million tons. However with a growing number of large power plants the long-range transport of air pollutants is expected to increase. The highest acid deposition is near the emission sources. Wind-blown, alkaline soil dust is important in neutralizing the acidity of the emissions, especially in large parts of northern China. In the south, where alkaline soil dust contributes less to acid neutralization, the annual pH in precipitation was below 4.5 at monitoring stations in several provinces and as low as 4.1 in some urban areas. Total sulfur deposition has been estimated to be about 10 g S m−² year⁻¹ in heavily exposed areas. Negative effects on forests, including die-back, have been reported for relatively small areas near large cities. Since large, regional surveys have not been carried out, there are large uncertainties about effects on a regional level. The high concentrations of gaseous pollutants, especially within and near the cities, are likely to have severe effects on human health as well as on materials and vegetation. Several field and laboratory studies, as well as computer simulations, indicate that acidification of soil and soil water has occurred in the past few decades. This has probably caused elevated concentrations of toxic aluminum in soil water. At present, the toxic effect of Al is likely to be counteracted by high concentrations of calcium at many places. The Chinese authorities have recognized air pollution and acid rain as serious environmental problems, however, there are difficulties in implementing effective measures to reduce the problems. With respect to ecological effects we lack a comprehensive regional overview of the extent of the acid deposition problem in China. Such information is necessary before effective countermeasures can be developed.     

Environmental regulatory and policy framework in China: an overview

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Is community-based sustainability education sustainable? A general overview of organizational sustainability in outreach education

Educators recognize the ecological, economic, and social components of environmental sustainability. For community-based programs, there is another sustainability trio that, if neglected, will lead to a decline in program quality and function. To be sustainable over the long term, community-based programs must have superior educational quality, clear organizational structure, and continued financial stability. Many educational outreach programs that have neglected this sustainability trio have been weakened or eliminated as they are not seen as priority items during budget reductions. The Master Gardener Program exemplifies this premise, representing a cadre of tens of thousands of university-trained volunteer educators who deliver environmental education to their communities. Over the years, the vision for educational quality, use of clear organizational structures fitting an increased reliance on volunteers, and securing of outside funding for sustainability education have waned in many states, resulting in a lack of university leadership and programmatic devolution. We propose revising outreach education to align with the best practices in adult pedagogy and science by developing a centralized organizational structure and by looking outside traditional university resources for funding opportunities. These strategies can easily be adapted for other community-based outreach programs.     

Fostering change to sustainable consumption and production: an evidence based view

This “Note from the field,” is an edited version of a policy brief summarizing the key findings from the first half of the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange network (SCORE!) for the policy programs in the field of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). We recommend a framework for action to change to SCP that mentions the key domains to include food, mobility, and energy use/housing (the last two clearly related to urban development). It should use a systemic perspective on the SCP challenge and differentiate between developed, fast developing, and base of the pyramid economies. SCORE! focuses mainly on developed economies, and here we propose to differentiate between: (1) measures that fit with mainstream beliefs and paradigms. Here, governments could make operational agreements on implementation of instruments like green public procurement, stimulating ecodesign, etc. (2) Problems where a rough agreement on goals exists, but where change is radical, or means are uncertain, and hence planning difficult. Here, governments could foster visioning, experimentation, and support e.g. international collaboration in leapfrogging programs. (3) Problems that outright clash with the mainstream beliefs and paradigms. Here, governments could foster informed deliberation on the more fundamental issues related to markets, governance and growth.     

Mechanical micromachining: a sustainable micro-device manufacturing approach?

The use of mechanical micromachining to produce micro-devices is a flexible approach that can use any material that can be machined. The energy consumption for micromachining was compared between a conventional CNC and a micro-milling facility and showed that the energy usage for conventional CNC is highly inefficient. An energy footprint that is two to three magnitudes smaller is possible with a custom built micro-milling facility. The rapid increase in the manufacture of micro-devices, which will more than double in the next five years, will require careful planning if a sustainable future is to be envisaged for the use of mechanical micromachining for mass manufacture.     

Designing the sustainable product-service integration: a product-service blueprint approach

As a means for providing the sustainable production and consumption, the concept of product-service system (PSS) has received increasing attention. What is at the core in the PSS is the design, since it determines the distinctive characteristics and quality of PSS. Even though some tools have been suggested for PSS design, previous tools mainly focus on identifying the relationship between actors in a conceptual level. Despite the fact that it is significant and cannot be neglected, what is more important in a practical situation is to represent the detailed flow or relationship of PSS elements, with the consideration of products and services. In response, this paper proposes a ‘‘product-service blueprint’ which is a new and systematic way to elucidate the relationship between products and services, providing the implication of how PSS can provide the sustainable production and consumption. Employing the service blueprint as a starting point, new areas, lines, and symbols are introduced to represent the distinctive features of PSS. The proposed product-service blueprint represents the product use throughout the life cycle, service flow from the management to the customer, and the relationship between products and services. Taken together, the product-service blueprint will help both managers and researchers to promote the product-service integration under the concrete framework.     

西部生态脆弱区矿山不同开采强度下生态系统服务时空变化——以神府矿区为例

以神府矿区为例,选取土地利用、植被覆盖、土壤、气象等生态环境与统计数据指标,利用RS和GIS技术构建生态系统服务遥感测量评估指标体系,评估研究区2005-2015年生态系统服务变化及时空分布特征,进一步探究神府矿区不同开采强度对生态系统服务的影响并进行驱动力分析。研究结果表明:(1)2005年、2010年、2015年研究区的总生态系统服务分别为1.598×1010元、1.905×1010元、2.134×1010元,呈现逐年递增的趋势;(2)生态系统服务功能中水土保持价值比例最大,草地的单位面积生态系统服务价值最高,耕地、草地生态系统为该地区贡献了最多的生态系统服务价值;(3)研究区生态系统服务分布表现为由东北向西南逐渐降低的趋势,不同开采强度下的生态系统服务增长变化较为相似,煤炭开采区域生态系统服务未显著下降,整体较为平稳。对生态系统服务变化的驱动分析表明在近年来相对改善的气候环境与人工修复共同作用下,神府矿区生态系统服务未发生明显的缩减。此类半干旱生态脆弱矿区国土空间生态修复适宜通过主动的"保护性开发"以及"人工诱导+自然修复"为主的方式,避免大范围与高强度的水土扰动型治理,通过适度...     

在可持续发展的世界里达到幸福

过去数十年,现代科学为人类能享有舒适和幸福奠定了乐观的基础。如果,我们可以不带任何情绪地接受一种可能性,即资源消耗和气候变化将使地球地理和传统的社会秩序发生深远的改变。那么,我们仍能找到方法使其赋予我们生活意义;且还未完全实现的渴望不灭。此文以人类历史为例,提出了令人耳目一新的观点和价值观。作者们认为,人类确实可以在前     

Hydrogen for a sustainable global economy

The topic of this special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is “Sustainable Hydrogen from Biomass.” It is of interest to practitioners in the energy sector, governmental policy makers, researchers, educators, as well as to the general public. The purpose of this special issue is to increase public awareness and to stimulate exchange of information among actors expected to play important roles in making hydrogen available for the sustainable energy system of the future.Hydrogen as a biofuel, that is, hydrogen produced from biomass in a sustainable way is recognised as an important component of the fuel market for the future low or non-carbon based energy systems. In this special issue, the main focus is on hydrogen produced from vegetable biomass by fermentation. The development of a two-stage bioprocess for the cost-effective and environmentally friendly production of pure hydrogen from multiple biomass feedstocks is elucidated by a collection of papers presenting preliminary results of Integrated Research Project HYVOLUTION supported by the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union. The attention is turned to:- the over-all concept and characteristics of the two-stage hydrogen fermentation process,- key technological issues of fermentative hydrogen production,- the availability of vegetable feedstocks including agricultural byproducts that suitable for fermentative processing,- prospects of societal integration and sustainability of the fermentative hydrogen production technology.Other papers included in this special issue are devoted to:- simultaneous production of hydrogen and methane by fermentation of lactose-containing feedstocks derived from byproducts of milk processing,- hydrogen gas generation from organic material by electrohydrogenesis, that is, a bioelectrochemical process performed in reactors known as a microbial electrolysis cells,- the ideas for Europe-wide effort on education of hydrogen users and training of skilled staff needed for facilitating the transition to the future hydrogen economy.