Climate Engagement in a Digital Age: Exploring the Drivers of Participation in Climate Discourse Online in the Context of COP21

Various scholars underscore the importance of public engagement with climate change to successfully respond to the challenges of global warming. However, although online media provide various new opportunities to actively engage in climate discourse so far very little is known about the drivers of this form of engagement. Against this background, this study tested a theoretical model on the effects of media and interpersonal communication on participation in climate discourse online using data from a representative online survey of German citizens (n?=?1392) carried out while COP21. Overall, the results show that receiving information on climate change from social media (social networks, Twitter, blogs), active information seeking online and interpersonal conversations about COP21 strongly encourage participation in climate discourse online. Moreover, results provide relevant insights on the role of interest in climate politics, personal issue relevance and climate scepticism as preconditions of communication effects.     

Just Blowing Smoke? Residents’ Social Construction of Communication about Wildfire

This study uses social constructionism as a basis for understanding the effectiveness of communication about wildfire risk between agency officials and wildland–urban interface (WUI) residents. Risk communication literature demonstrates a well-documented difference in the way land managers and stakeholders conceptualize risk. This is especially true of fire because management of these hazards have changed so drastically in past decades; fire managers have typically struggled to clearly articulate the current management policy to the public or integrate their specific knowledge in the risk management process. This study contributes to an understanding of how WUI residents construct communication about wildland fire and agency effectiveness in communicating the new era of fire inclusion. Specifically, we explore the personal and professional sources of information residents’ use to understand their fire risk and the subjects they would like more information about. We also explore the continued viability of Smokey Bear, the most enduring symbol of fire management.     

Tensions of Praxis: A New Taxonomy for Social Movements

This essay introduces and illustrates tensions of praxis that humans involved in activism face so that thought–action translation can occur more reflexively. Because social movements face unique challenges in effecting social change (Simons, 1970; Stewart, Smith, & Denton, 2007) the tensions of praxis are especially important for this type of social change agency. Therefore, this essay situates itself within discussions of environmental social movements and begins with a brief introduction of praxis as a theoretical and practical concern. Then, in order to illuminate the tensions of praxis, the following tensions are identified, explained, and illustrated: (1) this world or that world; (2) activity or inactivity; and (3) means and ends. Throughout the essay, primary data from a 2009 interview with Julia Butterfly Hill are used to illustrate these tensions. The essay concludes with theoretical and practical significance of the tensions of praxis and suggests directions for future research.     

Multiscale system dynamics of humans and nature in The Bahamas: perturbation, knowledge, panarchy and resilience

The analysis of the dynamic interactions between social systems, integrated by governance and communication, and biophysical systems, connected by material and energy flows, remains a challenge. In this paper, we draw on the heuristic models of the “adaptive renewal cycle” and “panarchy” [Gunderson and Holling (eds) Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press, Washington, 2002], which are embedded in the theory of complex adaptive systems. Taking island development research in The Bahamas as a case study, we investigate environmental stressors, knowledge and social response in the context of three distinct social–ecological subsystems: (1) the interaction between tropical storms/hurricanes and the social system of disaster preparedness/management; (2) coastal ecosystem degradation coupled with land development; and (3) the fishery, in which we also consider the impact of a recent biological invasion, the Indo-Pacific red lionfish. The findings demonstrate the complexity of panarchical relations and the crucial role of diverse and uncertain knowledge systems and underlying mental models of risk and environment for resilience and sustainability. These are acquired at different scales and form key variables of change. This also applies to processes of communication. Bringing together the various constantly evolving multi-level knowledge systems for effective communication and decision-making remains a major challenge.     

Figuring Out #Fukushima: An Initial Look at Functions and Content of US Twitter Commentary About Nuclear Risk

This study takes an exploratory look at Twitter content in the USA about the emergency at Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station. In particular, I focus on the concepts of the “atrophy of vigilance” from the risk communication literature and the message functions fulfilled for social media users. Two important results emerge from this analysis. First, Twitter content in the USA reflected a cautious approach, mainly suggesting an informative versus interpretive function and rarely mentioning risk or hazard outright. Second, this informative emphasis on risk dominated the content of tweets in the few days following the emergency but decreased substantially within 2 weeks afterwards; it was then overtaken by an interpretive risk emphasis. In addition, toward the end of this period, tweets were more likely to include hyperlinks to websites of traditional news outlets. Implications for the empirical study of social media and risk communication are discussed.     

Exploring Environmentalism amidst the Clamor of Networks: A Social Network Analysis of Utah Environmental Organizations

Dwelling in a world awash in multiple environmental crises while science and social theory erode the last vestiges of the subject of humanism, it makes sense to imagine our world beyond the lens of humanism and turn to diverse methodologies in order to explore what is going on and how to promote changes that nurture ecological sustainability. In this essay we take on this task in relation to environmental communication. In what follows we explore the contours of the age after humanism, what we term the Age of the Animate Earth. In the wake of the theoretical and actual deconstruction of the subject, we offer networks as a key unit of analysis. From this perspective, we suggest social network analysis (SNA) as one viable method for doing environmental communication studies and perform this move through a SNA of Utah environmental groups.     

土地形成的社会动力学——德国大型“水厂”的经验(论文摘编)

The contribution redefines the concept of“terra-forming”and the basically technical term“waterworks”froma sociological interpretation of metabolism:since human reproduction emancipatedfrom mereparticipation fromnature,it became,at least,a systematic transformation of nature.Irrigation and drain-age became the twin brothers of agriculture and mining,the most i mportant modifiers of both metabolismand natureitself.Fromthe early“hydraulic”toward modern“industrial”societies,the systemic co…     

An ethical dimension to sustainable restoration and long-term management of contaminated areas

Experience after the Chernobyl accident has shown that restoration strategies need to consider a wide range of different issues to ensure the long-term sustainability of large and varied contaminated areas. Thus, the criteria by which we evaluate countermeasures need to be extended from simple cost-benefit effectiveness and radiological protection standards to a more integrated, holistic approach, including social and ethical aspects. Within the STRATEGY project, the applicability of many countermeasures is being critically assessed using a wide range of criteria. Attention is being given to issues such as practicability, feasibility, capacity and environmental side-effects, as well as social factors such as public perceptions of risk, communication of information and the need for dialogue and consultation with affected communities, and ethical aspects such as informed consent and the fair distribution of costs and doses. Although such socio-ethical factors are now the subject of a substantial field of research, there has been little attempt to integrate them in a practical context for decision makers. Within this paper, we specifically consider the ethical aspects of restoration strategies and suggest practical means by which these can be taken into account in the decision making process, introducing a value matrix. The paper covers two critical areas: evaluation of individual countermeasures, and use of the matrix to ensure transparent and systematic consideration of values in selection of a restoration strategy.     

The Zambian Resource Curse and its influence on Genuine Savings as an indicator for “weak” sustainable development

The empirical evidence that economies predominantly reliant on their natural resources are characterized by slower economic growth—the so-called Resource Curse (RC)—is in many ways confirmed by the case of Zambia. Haber and Menaldo (Am Polit Sci Rev 105(1):1–26, 2011) identify Zambia’s extreme dependence on copper exports as one of the worldwide most striking examples for a country suffering from this “curse.” In topical literature, the RC is traced back to the generation of natural resource rents regardless of economic performance, which among other problems leads to suboptimal reinvestment. The World Banks indicator for the “weak” sustainable development of a country—the so-called Genuine Savings (GS)—considers exactly this reinvestment of rents from the depletion of natural capital rents into physical or human capital. Although it has been shown empirically that countries dependent on primary exports on average feature negative GS rates and that the determinants of the RC influence both present economic growth and future sustainability as measured by GS, no case studies have been conducted to confirm this. Against this background, we qualitatively survey the relationship between the most discussed determinants causing the RC in Zambia and the country’s GS rate. We show that all theoretical relationships between the GS rates of a country and RC determinants such as consumption behavior, volatile world market prices, the so-called Dutch disease as well as political and institutional structures apply to Zambia between 1964 and 2010: an extreme dependency on copper exports and insufficient reinvestments of income from the depletion of Zambia’s natural capital constitutes one of the main reasons for slow growth and negative GS until the copper price booms in the second half of the 2000s.     

Visitor Proficiency Profiling and Risk Communication at a National Park

While cognitive heuristics may produce successful, efficient outcomes, they can also introduce predictable biases that may be unavoidable even for seasoned experts. This study connects the concept of “professional intuition” to the practice of strategic communication, suggesting that people may rely on heuristics to profile an audience. These judgments, in turn, influence crafting of communication to meet the audiences’ assumed needs, the defining element of an audience-centered approach. Using interview and observational data, this study examines how national park staff use heuristic cues to evaluate visitors during face-to-face interactions. The assessments employees make, in turn, influence whether they encourage or discourage visitors from participating in inherently risky recreational activities. This visitor proficiency profiling, together with the strategic communication strategies employed, extends audience-centered communication to include both informal messages as well as individuals not necessarily trained as risk communicators. Both applied and theoretical implications of this research are considered.     

长江(江苏段)沿江开发环境风险监控预警系统

简要介绍了长江（江苏段）沿江开发带的基本情况,从区域环境质量及社会经济发展趋势两方面阐述了建立长江流域（江苏段）环境风险监控预警系统的意义。在总结目前国内外环境风险决策支持系统发展现状的基础上,论述了系统的目标、总体功能设计、框架设计以及关键技术,探索将地理信息技术运用于区域环境风险管理决策过程的方法,最后提出该系统还需从以下5个方面进行完善和改进,即追溯最大可信度风险源方法,应急救援系统、区域多环境风险事件的复合作用,发展特定有毒有机物水质预测模型和建立优先控制有毒有机物预警系统。该系统将为江苏长江开发战略提供实用型的环境管理手段。     

Transfer of radionuclides in aquatic ecosystems--default concentration ratios for aquatic biota in the Erica Tool

The process of assessing risk to the environment following a given release of radioactivity requires the quantification of activity concentrations in environmental media and reference organisms. The methodology adopted by the ERICA Integrated Approach involves the application of concentration ratios (CR values) and distribution coefficients (K(d) values) for aquatic systems. Within this paper the methodologies applied to derive default transfer parameters, collated within the ERICA Tool databases, are described to provide transparency and traceability in the documentation process. Detailed information is provided for the CR values used for marine and freshwater systems. Of the total 372 CR values derived for the marine ecosystem, 195 were identified by literature review. For the freshwater system, the number of values based on review was less, but still constituted 129 from a total of 372 values. In both types of aquatic systems, 70-80% of the data gaps have been filled by employing "preferable" approaches such as those based on substituting values from taxonomically similar organisms or biogeochemically similar elements.     

海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治之论证与路径展开

有效规制海底可燃冰开发伴生的多种类型生态环境风险,是保障可燃冰产业健康发展的内在需求。本文的主要目的即在中国现行法律体系规定的多元共治的环境法治理念和制度框架下,研究海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的理论基础、现实必要性及其制度路径。文章主要运用类型化方法来梳理与归纳海底可燃冰开发引致环境风险的具体类型;运用理论分析与价值分析方法,论证海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的必要性;运用法教义学分析、比较分析与系统分析方法,检视与剖析我国传统行政管制模式下的制度体系在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的绩效与利弊,归纳与展开海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的制度路径。本文的基本结论是,传统环境管制模式难以有效治理海底可燃冰开发引致的新型环境风险,当前我国所创新的环境多元共治模式,可以矫正政府单维管制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的缺陷、弥补"监管之法"在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的疏漏、克服单一行政命令方式在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的困境,系统构建海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元治理体系。在完善行政监管和推进私人治理两个层面对海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的基础上提出具体建议。在完善行政监管层面,我国《环境保护法》《海洋环境保护法》等法律规范经过拓展解释适用,仍然因为规制路径的间接性、零散性而产生内生弊端,亟待专门立法;在推进私人治理层面,多元共治机制分为多元主体参与机制与诉讼机制,应重视通过鼓励环保公益组织、可燃冰行业协会与私人等多元主体采取多元参与和私益诉讼方式,以发挥其在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的综合效用。     

Risks, risk taking, and societal decisions

Risk assessment is an important tool to help evaluate the appropriate course for social decisions. But this methodology does not appear to have played a significant role in such decisions. Moreover, public decisions often appear to be at wide variance with what course risk assessment would counsel. In this paper risk is defined, the nature of risk taking is examined, and risk assessment issues in terms of societal decisions are identified. Eight such issues are listed as technical challenges for risk assessors to take into consideration if their analyses are to be more successful in influencing public policy. Finally, the paper suggests two operative guidelines to improve the effectiveness of risk assessment influence on social decisions. One is to recognize that risk assessment is only one input, albeit an important one, to such decisions. The other is to strive for simplicity without loss of completeness or exactness.     

基于环境容量的县域农用地土壤重金属风险概率预警研究

《土壤污染防治法》的正式出台,标志着我国土壤污染防治工作由"现状治理"转向"风险预防",为此开展区域土壤重金属风险预警研究具有一定的理论与现实意义。以太湖沿岸某产粮县为研究对象,以2015年为基准年,运用重金属输入-输出通量模型和土壤环境负载容量法对研究区耕地土壤中的As、Hg、Cr、Cd、Pb 5种重金属15年(2030年)与35年(2050年)后的风险概率进行预警研究。研究结果表明:大气干湿沉降成为除As以外其他4种土壤重金属的主要来源,畜禽粪便、化肥投入与灌溉水也会在一定程度上影响土壤重金属输入;此外,研究区耕层土壤中As、Cr、Pb 3种重金属整体情况较为良好,Hg、Cd污染风险概率较高,主要分布在研究区中部的O镇、P镇。通过GIS技术与区域物质流通量模型的结合能够很好地对不同区域以及不同重金属污染类型的区域进行风险预警,这可以为土壤污染差别化管控策略的制定提供重要思路。     

“Hey Friend,Buy Green”: Social Media Use to Influence Eco-Purchasing Involvement

This study addresses the use of message carriers to convey corporate social responsibility information to promote eco-purchasing involvement. The work tests various media formats transmitted via social media. The effects of corporate vs. peer communication in a corporate social responsibility campaign in stimulating self-reported eco-purchasing involvement are indicated. The research varies communication dimensions of a fictional corporate social responsibility campaign sent through social media. Multiple media formats; new release; article; and advertisement were tested, as was the inclusion of social media persuasive sentiment. The analysis of source/format combinations and source/format/sentiment combinations found statistically significant differences for consumer-to-consumer communication in stimulating eco-purchasing involvement in certain circumstances. This research suggests an emerging role for the consumer communicator as a content co-creator and validates the effective use of articles and news releases instead of advertising on social media, yielding managerial and scholarly implications.     

风险规避、社会学习对农户现代灌溉技术采纳行为的影响——基于Heckman样本选择模型的实证分析

将社会学习引入现代农业技术采纳问题研究,既是对传统技术采纳与推广理论研究范式的拓展,也是理解农户技术采纳动态过程的关键.基于甘肃省张掖市498户农户微观数据,在用实验经济学方法测度农户风险规避程度的基础上,运用Heckman样本选择模型进行实证分析,探索风险规避、社会学习对农户现代灌溉技术采纳决策及采纳程度的影响,并引人交互项检验社会学习对风险规避的缓解效应.结果表明:(1)采纳现代灌溉技术的农户占样本总农户的比例为66.06％,这其中,样本户的平均采纳程度为47.26％.(2)风险规避、社会学习对农户现代灌溉技术采纳决策与采纳程度均有显著影响,农户风险规避程度越高,其采纳现代灌溉技术的可能性越低;社会学习能显著提升农户现代灌溉技术采纳决策与采纳程度.(3)从社会学习各维度的影响来看,相互学习对农户现代灌溉技术采纳决策及采纳程度均有显著正影响,学习他人对农户现代灌溉技术采纳决策及采纳程度有影响,但不显著.(4)社会学习有助于缓解风险规避对农户现代灌溉技术采纳行为的抑制作用.     

Environments,Risks, and the Limits of Representation: Examples from Nuclear Energy and Some Implications of Fukushima

This essay examines examples from the field of nuclear energy, including the 2011 disaster at Fukushima-Daiichi, through perspectives drawn from phenomenology, social systems theory, and constitutive communication theory. The essay argues that although prevailing approaches to nuclear risk analysis and risk communication seek to represent a world of preexisting phenomena, they also fundamentally constitute the world on which decision-makers, organizations, and communities act. Representations of nuclear risk are inevitably and problematically limited, with important implications for policy, practice, and communicative action.     

Social and behavioral research on risk: Uses in risk management decisionmaking

The overall objective of this paper is to describe the principle uses of social and behavioral research in risk management decisionmaking. Five such uses are identified and discussed, including uses in (1) identifying the nature and extent of public concern; (2) structuring public debate and resolving conflicts; (3) anticipating public responses to new technologies; (4) conducting and informing the public; and (5) designing and implementing risk management policies and systems.