Best Practices in Environmental Communication: A Case Study of Louisiana's Coastal Crisis

This mixed-method case study of environmental communication best practices in Louisiana, USA, identifies trends and approaches as informed by environmental psychology. The results provide key insights for environmental communicators, especially communicators in coastal regions. In-depth interviews with both environmental psychologists and environmental communicators showed that both groups emphasized knowing the audience, telling local stories, building relationships with target audiences and targeted messaging. Both psychologists and communicators also frequently mentioned general messaging concerns of source credibility, avoiding controversial terms and talking about issues, impacts and solutions to which the target audience can relate. A representative survey revealed that Louisiana residents are most interested in hearing about how environmental issues such as climate change, coastal land loss and flooding are affecting their own communities. This finding supports the idea that environmental communicators could do a better job tapping into strong place attachment and sense of community among coastal residents to promote action.     

区域品牌发展对资源禀赋的敏感性研究

区域品牌已成为提升区域竞争力的重要途径,对于区域经济的可持续发展具有重要影响。本文基于资源配置体系的内生视角,在对区域品牌发展的驱动机制进行探讨和构建的基础上,理论分析并实证检验了区域资源禀赋对区域品牌发展的影响机理和作用边界,以及制度因素在二者关系中的调节作用,以期通过探索资源禀赋、制度因素与区域品牌发展的关系,揭示以资源禀赋为逻辑起点的区域品牌发展驱动机制。研究结果显示,在主效应方面,区域品牌内的品牌声誉、金融支持、技术投入三个资源因素对区域品牌发展均具有显著的驱动作用。作用边界方面,公共营销在品牌声誉与区域品牌发展的关系中具有显著正向调节作用,品牌声誉对区域品牌发展的贡献随着公共营销能力的提升而增加;市场维护变量在金融支持与区域品牌发展关系中具有显著正向调节作用,区域市场维护力度越强,金融支持对区域品牌发展的促进作用越显著。并且,两项制度因素均能够显著正向调节技术投入和区域品牌发展的关系,即制度因素与区域品牌发展对技术投入的敏感性具有正相关关系。研究结论的实践启示在于,区域品牌发展的核心驱动要素为区域资源的禀赋状态,区域内的企业、地方政府等利益相关主体应从树立品牌声誉、加强金融支持、提升创新技术投入三个方面来提升区域品牌的成长动力。在推动区域品牌发展过程中,地方政府的主要职能应锁定在建构主打产品的公共营销体系和维护产品市场交易秩序两个方面,继而为区域品牌成长提供政策环境和必要条件。     

环境库兹涅茨曲线理论及研究的批评综论

在综述国内外有关环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC)研究文献的基础上,对有关EKC研究存在的问题及对该理论的质疑进行了梳理与总结.现有研究也存在诸多缺陷,主要表现在以下方面:一,模型设定中经济与环境单向性假定以及不同国家同质性假定不符实际;二,对存量外部性以及生态阈值的忽视;三、指标选取随意性以及计量方法存在问题.本文的结论是:第一,不存在适合所有地区、所有污染物的单一关系模式.这种"不同的数据、不同的模型会有不同的结果"现象暗示着环境和收入水平间EKC关系的脆弱性;第二,经济增长与环境之间的关系是复杂的,笼统地把经济发展水平与环境污染程度相关联,是一种从外部考察"经济-环境"系统的"黑箱"方法,这种方法短干深刻性,难以揭示环境污染发生的内在根源与机制;第三,当前学界过于注重讨论EKC形状的及拐点,一定程度上使研究走向了歧途,割开经济-环境"黑箱"去探寻EKC曲线背后的作用机制才是更重要、更有实际意义的工作,EKC研究还有许多不可回避的探索方向.     

The Moral Appeal of Environmental Discourses: The Implication of Ethical Rhetorics

Environmental sustainability demands civic action through both changes in individual and community behaviors in addition to national and international agreements and cooperation. In moral appeals to the environment, individuals are often called upon to behave in “good” ways—reduce, reuse, recycle—to “save the planet.” Behavior, and our attitudes about it, is therefore an important component to ongoing sustainability efforts. This pilot study, conducted in Fall 2009, brings together research methods in sociolinguistics and rhetorical studies to examine the discourses that students produce when describing issues and practices concerning sustainability. In interviews with 15 students in an earth sustainability general education core, our study found that students were knowledgeable about environmental issues and expressed intentions to engage in sustainable behaviors. Yet, students produced accommodating discourses when addressing competing demands on their time and resources. The sociolinguistic analysis of interview data shows a disassociation from environmental issues at the symbolic level of language use. The rhetorical analysis shows that this disassociation manifests as guilt, largely because when choosing between various moral appeals in their social context, students are left without tangible direction for engaging in new sustainable behaviors.     

Climate Change Discourses and Citizen Participation: A Case Study of the Discursive Construction of Citizenship in Two Public Events

Citizen participation is a recurrent and democratically important issue in the ongoing debate about climate change. However, different meanings are ascribed to citizen participation in different contexts, ranging from top-down involvement to bottom-up engagement, thus creating tension between conflicting ideals. Focusing on public engagement and its construal in different situational contexts, we explore how citizens are discursively included or excluded from participation, as various climate change discourses unfold in two forums where local needs and global concerns interact. Furthermore, we address some opportunities and barriers regarding citizen participation in climate change issues.     

Examining Community Perceptions of Energy Systems Development: The Role of Communication and Sense of Place

An increasing demand for the development and implementation of low carbon energy systems has furthered the need to understand the factors that influence a community's support for or opposition to local energy developments. Carbon dioxide capture and geological storage (CCS) is one such energy system where it is widely acknowledged that public perceptions and acceptance of CCS technologies are critical to their implementation. CCS refers to the capture of carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources and the long-term storage of these emissions in stable underground reservoirs. This case study examines how place attachment and community networks factored into resident's perceptions of a proposed CCS project that was ultimately canceled due to local opposition. Participants were concerned about preserving shared places, spaces, and interactions that were valued by community members. Results demonstrate the need to ascertain how locally affected populations view CCS or other energy developments, especially with regard to their ideas about community, sense of place (ties to area and local relationships), and how they communicate about those factors. Such factors are important given the initiative to develop low carbon energy systems in rural areas.     

企业环境行为:环境政策研究的微观视角

企业环境行为是是企业面对来自政府、公众、市场等方面的压力．而采取的宏观战略和制度变革、内部具体生产的调整等措施和手段．是环境政策效果的具体体现。政府、公众和市场压力在不同阶段发挥着不同的作用。在工业绿色化的初级阶段以政府压力为主。随着公众和企业更多地参与到环保行动中来．来自市场及社区的压力逐渐成为企业环境行为的主导驱动力量。我国正处于工业化加速阶段．环境问题突出．必须积极开展对企业环境行为的研究，探求环境压力与企业环境行为转变的内在关系．找到促进企业改善环境行为和表现的最优方式，为我国环境政策的制定提供决策支持。     

负载有度:论环境法的生态承载力控制原则

可持续发展要求社会经济适度发展的同时,环境质量不退化.为达到这一目标,在环境管理中就必须以生态承载力为标准判断经济发展的规模和速度是否具有正当性和合理性,这是化解经济发展与环境保护矛盾的关键所在.环境法应当把生态承载力控制作为一项基本原则,要求人们对环境问题的预防应当以生态承载力为依据,确保向环境排放污染物的总量不得超过环境容量,并保证开发、利用自然资源不能超过生态环境在一定时期内的供给能力.这是对执法者在处理经济发展与环境保护的矛盾中所享有的过大的自由裁量权的必要制约.然而,生态承载力控制原则的实施难度较大,除了需要立法的明文规定外,还应当注重研究、建立生态承载力的核算方法体系;此外,还应当对现行环境执法体制进行改革,促使地方环保部门在环境执法中摆脱地方保护主义的不当干涉,并积极加强公众参与,通过公众监督杜绝突破生态承载力的决策的制定和实施.     

Interpreting Images of Fracking: How Visual Frames and Standing Attitudes Shape Perceptions of Environmental Risk and Economic Benefit

The news media’s increased reliance on visual communication to illustrate complex processes and promote learning stresses the importance of investigating how visual content impacts the understanding of scientific issues. In this paper, we investigate how members of the public interpret and make sense of differentially framed images of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) depicting environmental risk, economic benefit, or issue protest. For the analysis, a repeated measures online experiment was conducted with 250 participants to evaluate 40 photographs of fracking operations and consequences. Quantitative coding and thematic analysis of open-ended responses to the images reveal that standing attitudes, operationalized as support, opposition, or indecision about fracking, segments viewers into distinct groups and shapes interpretations of environmental risk and economic benefit. Issue opponents are more likely to indicate concern for the environment regardless of frame shown, whereas undecideds and supporters cite the impact on human health more frequently, largely in relation to job site safety. Supporters also see the least ambiguity, and most economic gains, in images about the controversial production practice.     

The Spatiotemporal Pattern of Fires in Northern Taiga Larch Forests of Central Siberia

The periodicity of fires in larch forests of Evenkia and their relationship with landscape elements have been studied. Cross-sections with “burns” in them caused by past fires have been analyzed in 72 test plots; the fire chronology encompassed the period from the 15th to the 20th century. The between-fire intervals (BFIs) have been calculated by two methods: (I) on the basis of burns alone and (II) on the basis of burns and the start of growth of the new generation of larch after the earliest fire. The BFI depends on local orographic features; it is 86 ± 11 (105 ± 12), 61 ± 8 (73 ± 8), 139 ± 17 (138 ± 18), and 68 ± 14 (70 ± 13) years for northeastern slopes, southwestern slopes, bogs, and flatlands, respectively. The mean BFIs calculated by methods I and II are 82 ± 7 and 95 ± 7 years, respectively. The permafrost horizon rises at a mean rate of 0.3 cm per year after a forest fire. It has been shown that the number of fires regularly peaks at periods of 36 and 82 years. There is also a temporal trend in fire frequency: the mean BFI was approximately 100 years in the 19th century and 65 years in the 20th century.     

环境承载力理论在区域规划环境影响评价中的应用

环境承载力分析是区域规划环境影响评价的评价方法之一。对环境承载力的合理分析，能够反映区域社会经济和资源环境的协调程度，准确地评估区域规划对环境造成的影响，使评价更具科学性。在环境承载力定义的基础上，通过建立一定的指标体系，结合发展变量与限制变量之间关系的描述，研究了区域环境承载力的利用强度，由此提出了一种更为直观的环境综合承载力量化方法——环境承载力综合指数。并将其应用到广州市南沙国际汽车城规划环境影响评价中，为该规划的进一步完善提出了合理的建议。该方法能够准确反映区域规划对环境的影响，为区域的协调发展提供科学依据。     

On the Formal and Informal Estimates of Floristic Diversity: An Example of Pine Forests of the Southern Urals

Advantages of the informal assessment of biodiversity based on the phytosociological spectrum (the ratio of species associated with different higher units of ecological-floristic classification in the cenoflora) are demonstrated in a study of pine forests of the Southern Urals (classes Vaccinio-Piceetea, Brachypodio-Betuletea, and Querco-Fagetea). The phytosociological spectrum reflects environmental conditions better than formal estimations of , , and -diversity.     

环境容量利用:法律属性与权利构造

本文首先从环境容量利用权产生的社会背景和自然科学基础出发,指出环境容量利用权是一种新型无形财产权,是对环境生态功能的商品化,兼具公权与私权属性.然后,本文深入探讨了环境容量利用权的权利构造,指出环境容量利用权的主体不限于排污者,而是一般主体,但要成为具体的环境容量利用权主体还需受到一定的公法管制;环境容量利用权的客体就是环境容量,通过环境容量所依附的物质载体的空间范围、利用环境容量的期限、所利用的环境容量的数量、所排放污染物的种类等参数可使环境容量具有确定性;环境容量利用权的核心权能是排污和收益,环境容量利用权的功能定位是利用而非支配或控制环境容量,一般不具有占有和排他权能,通过排污保证正常的生产活动是间接收益,而通过交易获取经济利益则是直接收益.最后,本文简要分析了环境容量利用权在中国的实现机制.     

An Interpretation of the Influential Power of China Development

Through the analysis on China’s economic development, utilization of resource environment and soft power, a basic judgment was made of the influence of "China development". The overall influential power of China development on international community was misunderstood. What we see is the role of "China Factor" in different fields. In the process of economic globalization, what economic system of capitalist market has seen is "China’s cheap labor", "China’s loose economic system environment", "earlier abuse of unlimited resource environment", "China’s broad consumption market" and "demographic dividend". In global or Asian financial crisis, what other countries valued was China’s "foreign currency" accumulated over the years. In global governance or crisis management, what international community expected was "China’s obligations and responsibilities" without the right of speech, etc.. All these are the "passive" roles produced by "a single factor" in definite fields. The active and initiative role China will play in international community still needs time and the continuous efforts of several generations. China once was a big country that had significant influential power on the world, and China’s renaissance is a normal process of development of things. What excessive talks about its influential power reflect may be the lack of China’s influence.     

环境损害的法律定义研究

结合近年发生的重大环境污染与破坏事故,从环境权益的角度,深入剖析“环境损害”的现象与实质,兼与“环境侵权”、“环境侵害”辨析,借鉴国外立法经验,为制定我国《环境损害赔偿法》界定“环境损害”的法律定义。     

最优环境税:庇古法则与税制协调

从经济学的角度对国外关于最优环境税的经典理论——庇古法则及近十年来研究的前沿内容——一般均衡模型等作出阐释，并在外部性理论的基础上通过一个一般均衡模型考察环境税的效率特性和在次优情形下最优环境税的决定因素。随后是对我国开征环境税的几点思考：环境税的课征范围应暂定为排放各种废水、废气（烟尘）和固体废弃物的行为。环境税税率的确定可以采用“反复迭代”的方法，即“环境效益优先，兼顾税收协调和收入分配等效应。”其他相关问题的处理，如环境税和其它政策手段的配合使用，环境税税收的使用等。     

基于环境责任保险的动态环境侵权救济体系研究

通过对环境责任保险的定义和特点的总结,以及对其环境侵权救济功能的探讨,得出结论:社会从矫正的正义观到分配的正义观的转变,是推动环境责任保险制度发展的根本原因;赋予第三人直接请求权是环境责任保险制度的重要组成部分;公共补偿制度的建立和发展是对环境责任保险制度的必要补充。在此结论的基础上,以环境侵权受害者能够得到及时有效的救济为出发点,构建了以环境责任保险制度为核心的动态侵权救济体系:民事救济作为第一层次,通过法律程序来确认侵权行为、责任主体以及赔偿额度等事项;环境责任保险作为第二层次,用来分散被保险人的污染损害赔偿责任,补偿受害者损失;公共补偿制度作为第三层次,用来补充民事救济和环境责任保险所未能覆盖到的受害者的人身、财产损失。三个层次联动配合、相互补充,从而在我国面临日益增多的环境污染事故的情况下,为受害者、企业和国家开辟了一条新的环境侵权救济之路。     

“中国发展”影响力的一种解读

通过对中国经济发展、资源环境利用以及软实力的分析,对“中国发展”产生的影响作出了基本判断:“中国发展”在国际社会中的整体影响力被误认,我们看到的依然是“中国因素”在不同领域发挥的作用.在经济全球化过程中,资本主义市场经济体系看到的是“中国低廉的劳动力”、“中国宽松的经济制度环境”、“早期没有限制的资源环境滥用”以及“中国广阔的消费市场与人口红利”;在全球或亚洲金融危机中,其他国家看重的是中国多年积累的“外汇”;在全球治理或危机处理中,国际社会期望的是没有话语权的“中国义务和责任”,等等.这些都是“单一因素”在特定领域中产生的“被”作用.中国对国际社会发挥积极和主动性影响作用还需要时间,需要几代人的继续努力.中国曾经是世界上极有影响的大国,中国的崛起是事物发展的正常过程,过多地谈论其影响反映的也许是其影响力的缺乏.     

Environmental Risks in Newspaper Coverage: A Framing Analysis of Investigative Reports on Environmental Problems in 10 Chinese Newspapers

Economic modernization has been China's national priority since the establishment of the People's Republic. Since the authorities retain control over the media, which is also now subject to commercial influences, it might be expected that the Chinese news media would construct a discourse of assurance, endorsing economic modernization. A framing analysis of newspaper investigative reports on environmental problems in this article, however, shows that these reports have portrayed environmental problems in a manner that opposes rather than supports the national priority for economic growth. It challenges rather than reinforces the current institutional discourse of development and criticizes rather than contributes to the present structure of the capitalist mode of production in China. In this case, the prominence of the critical reflective discourse demonstrates the critical role investigative journalism potentially plays in arousing the public's awareness of risks in order to create a society in which such risks can be minimized. Factors in the wider social context contribute to our understanding of the critical discourse of environmental problems.