Environment and Personal Well-being in Urban China

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between environment and personal well-being using a sample of 562 urban employees from three cities in Liaoning province in the People’s Republic of China.In contrast to previous studies,this study controlled positive affectivity (PA),negative affectivity (NA),job satisfaction and Big Five personality traits.In addition,the research variables of personal well-being index (PWI),positive affectivity,negative affectivity,job satisfaction,Big Five,and environmental satisfaction are measured with multi-item scales.The research finds that environmental satisfaction is positively related to personal well-being,suggesting that improvement of the natural surroundings in the cities can improve people’s well-being.     

Communicating Haze Crisis Online: Comparing Traditional Media News and New Media Perspectives in Singapore

ABSTRACT

To understand haze-related online communication in Southeast Asia, this exploratory study took a mixed method approach to conduct web analysis of online communication during haze crisis in Singapore, followed by textual analysis of traditional and new media content during peak days. First, web analytics showed that Singapore’s haze online communication occurred mostly on the Twitter platform with primary negative sentiments. Next, textual analysis results found that majority of traditional media-affiliated news provided informative haze reports and centered on positive measurements taken by government and authorities, similar to Public Information Model for crisis management. In comparison, haze-related new media content had diverse topics reflecting laymen’s viewpoints with critical tones and negative sentiments. News portals and blogs used two-way asymmetrical and symmetrical model for crisis management, respectively. Additionally, Social Cognitive Theory’s media diversity perspectives were applied to understand people’s media choices among traditional and new media during natural crisis with environmental influences.     

The positive psychology of sustainability

As in most areas of psychology, a negative bias permeates the study of the subject of Conservation Psychology: sustainable behavior (SB). SB constitutes the set of actions aimed at protecting the socio-physical environment. This behavior is sometimes addressed as having negative antecedent-instigators (fear, guilt, shame), activated to avoid undesirable outcomes from environmental degradation. Also, psycho-environmental researchers often visualize negative psychological consequences (discomfort, inconvenience, sacrifice) of SB. Yet, a number of studies reveal that positive psychological antecedents (capacities, emotions, virtues and strengths) as well as positive psychological consequences (satisfaction, psychological well-being, and happiness) of SB are also significant determinants of pro-environmental actions. In this paper, I argue that SB is positive behavior originated by positive dispositional factors, and maintained by psychological benefits. By combining the emergent fields of positive psychology and the psychology of sustainability, an alternative approach for the study of the positive psychology of sustainable behavior is outlined.     

The Impact on Environmental Kuznets Curve by Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in China

Abstract

Based on data of trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), economic development and environmental conditions in China's 30 provinces between 1990–2002, this paper deals with the impact on Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) of trade and FDI in China. The results show no direct impact on EKC of trade, on the one hand. However, trade contributes significantly to economic growth, and has played a positive role in introducing advanced pollution prevention technology and environmental management methodology to China. Therefore, a proactive trade policy will help solve the environmental pollution problem brought by economic growth. On the other hand, there is a positive correlation between FDI and pollutant emission, which proves that FDI does have some negative influence on environment in China due to hasty introduction of foreign capital and inadequate environmental management system in China.     

Environmental regulation and firms’ performance: a quasi-natural experiment from China

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates whether environmental regulation affects firm’s performance including productivity, wage and employment using firm-level data in 1996–2007. The identification uses Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy implemented by the Chinese government in 1998, in which tougher environmental regulations were imposed in TCZ cities but not others. By difference-in-differences estimation, we find that tougher environmental regulation leads to larger increase on both total factor productivity and wage, and firms tend to employ fewer workers under pressure of environmental protection. Heterogeneous tests show that the impacts are better for non-pollution intensive firms, non-exporters and SOEs. Finally, we find that R&D input and exiting firms among industry are the driving forces for enhancing TFP and increasing wage and unemployment.     

Estimate on spillover effect of environmental pollution between peripheral areas

ABSTRACT

Interaction of environmental pollution between peripheral areas has become a central topic in the field of resources and environment but little is known about the actual impact on peripheral areas in the current literature. This paper sets out a simultaneous equation model to investigate the spillover effect of environmental pollution between China’s peripheral areas utilizing the panel data of 218 cities in China. Making use of indicators for measuring the impact on environmental pollution, it identifies that environmental pollution between cities of China has a significant two-way spillover effect. After standardization of variables, it is found that the spillover effect of peripheral areas on urban environmental pollution cannot be neglected. Nearly, a third of the environmental pollution level in a city is induced by the environmental pollution in peripheral areas. If the indicator of environmental pollution in peripheral areas is missing, wrong conclusions will be drawn. Therefore, government should shift the emphasis of environmental regulation from local to global, and improve the overall environmental quality through coordinated management of regional environment.     

榆林煤炭矿区生态环境改善支付意愿分析

运用榆林煤炭矿区居民为改善当地生态环境支付意愿(WTP)的调研资料,得出每户每年平均的支出金额介于229.56-347.92元之间,由此推断出榆林煤炭矿区每年因煤炭开发而造成的生态环境破坏价值损失大约在13 822.09万-20 948.69万元之间。通过运用D-H模型和Tobit模型对调研资料分别进行分析,发现,D-H模型对被调查者支付意愿影响因素的分析明显优于Tobit模型。D-H模型的结果显示,被调查者"决定是否参与支付"与"决定支出多少金额"两个行为的影响因素不完全相同。被调查者对当地生态环境状况的满意程度对其"决定是否参与支付"呈负向影响;反映被调查者所在行政区域对其"决定是否参与支付"呈正向影响。被调查者的家庭年收入、受教育状况、年龄、职业状况、对当地生态环境状况的满意程度均对其"决定支出多少金额"具有显著的正向影响;被调查者的家庭人口数、对环境保护政策的了解程度对其"决定支出多少金额"有显著的负向影响。最后,提出了提高当地居民参与生态环境改善活动积极性的一些措施。     

Scientific Basis and Technological Path of Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment

Abstract

The study tries to set up a system to extract strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in exploitation of regional development based on the present situation of environmental assessment in China. First, the article summarizes the emphasis and deficiency of international academic community’s SEA research in the past 10 years. Based on this, the article puts forward the concept and evaluation principles of regional strategic environmental assessment (RSEA). Then the article expounds the necessity of carrying out RSEA. After that, the article discusses in detail the process of RSEA, which includes defining evaluation scope, describing regional background, combing strategic behavior, designing development scenarios, predicting the pressure on environment, assessing environmental impact, screening alternatives and proposing regulation and control schemes.     

The association between rural–urban migration flows and urban air quality in China

In light of the rapid urbanization of the world’s population over the past decades, there is a growing concern about the environmental impacts of urban population growth. Rural–urban migration is a particularly important component of the urbanization process in developing countries and is often considered to be detrimental to urban environmental conditions. However, few studies have explicitly examined the presumed negative impacts of in-migration on the natural environment of cities. The continuously increasing volume of rural–urban labor migration in China since the early 1980s has formed the largest population flow in world history. This study links the existing literature on population–environment and urbanization–environment interactions by empirically assessing the relationship between rural–urban migration and urban air conditions in China. A two-period (2004 and 2010) longitudinal dataset for the 113 key environmental protection cities of China was constructed based on multiple data sources. We applied the STIRPAT equation using conventional and spatial panel regression models to examine whether rural–urban migration flows were associated with air pollution in cities. Results show a strong negative association of in-migration with urban air quality even after controlling for the effects of other population, affluence, and technology factors. Findings from this research can contribute to a better understanding of the environmental consequences of rural–urban migration in China, with broader implications for sustainable development research and policies.     

“Not All Environmentalists Are Like That … ”: Unpacking the Negative and Positive Beliefs and Perceptions of Environmentalists

ABSTRACT

Limited research to date has qualitatively explored the perceptions members of the public who are not environmental activists hold of environmentalists. Therefore a qualitative survey was conducted with 89 US residents aged 21–53 (M_age?=?32.74, SD_age?=?7.89) to obtain an in-depth understanding of how non-activists within the public perceive environmentalists. Data obtained were analyzed using thematic analysis and demonstrated that non-activist perceptions of environmentalists contained both positive and negative components. Environmentalists were seen to value nature and to be actively involved in bringing about positive environmental change (positive component), yet were also viewed as aggressive in their behaviors and stubborn in their beliefs (negative component). Further still, it was found that environmentalists were more likely to be perceived positively when they engaged in individual-level, private sphere behaviors (such as recycling), and negatively when they engaged in collective-level, public sphere behaviors (such as protesting). These findings not only challenge the assumption that members of the public typically evaluate environmentalists negatively, they also outline why some individuals may fail to identify as an environmentalist and engage in pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, they also provide some insight as to why some environmentalists find it difficult to advocate for system change that results from collective action within the public sphere.     

Non-agricultural Population,Employment and Land: An Econometric Study in an Integrated Framework

Abstract

This paper explored the relationships among nonagricultural population, employment and land in an integrated framework, taking account of rural-urban land conversion into Carlino–Mills’s model on the regional growth. Two-stage-leastsquares and ordinary-least-squares were employed. Recent data for district (grade) cities in China (from 1999 to 2005) were used. Our results showed that: first, urban population influenced non-agricultural employment, and vice versa, but the evidence that non-agricultural employment influenced urban population was stronger than the evidence that urban population influenced non-agricultural employment; second, urban population and non-agricultural employment both influenced ruralurban land conversion, but the evidence that urban population influenced rural urban land conversion was more stronger than the evidence that non-agricultural employment did. We also found that: first, the employment from the secondary industry influenced urban population in a positive way, and vice versa, but the employment from the tertiary industry influenced urban population in a negative way, and vice versa; second, the employment from the secondary industry influenced rural-urban land conversion in a positive way, but the employment from the tertiary industry influenced rural-urban land conversion in a negative way. We can conclude that the key of urbanization is to speed up the process of non-agricultural employment, especially the employment from the tertiary industry, which might promote non-agricultural population, employment and land harmoniously.     

Should the fashion industry confront the sustainability challenge with 3D prototyping technology

Abstract

In this paper, coming out of a broader research project on how the digital prototype can be effectively integrated in the product development process of the clothing industry, the authors investigate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Collective Actions on Sustainability and the environmental impact of the new model of fast and accelerating fashion. Extensive research was contacted with personal interviews and analysed primary data shows how new technology solutions like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), 3D visualisation or 3D prototyping can work with and across supply chain partners to reduce the environmental footprint of their processes. The final phase of the paper involves the conceptualisation of a new apparel product development model, encompassing various digital tools which aim at addressing fit problems, extending the useful life of clothes and reducing the environmental impact of clothing in use through design and services.     

Investigating the malleable socioeconomic resilience pathway to urban cohesion: a case of Taipei metropolitan area

It is known that globalization has led first- and second-tier cities’ urban restructuring trajectories, excreted pressures, and caused tremendous socioeconomic volatility. This resulted in marginalized communities in dire of social empowerment, employment structure variance, and industry sectoral adjustment. Moreover, recent successive climate and health crisis unfolded and affirmed the state of our urban incompetence to sustain socioeconomic resilience or otherwise; lacking swift responses in providing critical management and services, cites are facing multifaceted challenges. Urban well-being and resilience are at stake. Although the environmental and health dimensional effects are apparent, this study ascertains that the transept multi-scalar analysis within the urban socioeconomic structure is crucial in sustaining core resilience to foster health and well-being of the community. As an integral part of the investigation, the revised DPSIR assessment framework is applied to evaluate the sectoral shift; spatial structure disarray and urban codependence degree are examined within the Taipei metropolitan area (TMA), a medium size but densely populated metropolitan area in Taiwan. The place-based DPSIR analysis ascertained the states and impacts in TMA: (1) A population decline speeded the restructuring of the urban core, while the impact of demographic aging and shrinkage rate mandates proper management and planning responses to the decline process; (2) the socioeconomic state effect is determined but does not critically affect the periphery zone, while an uneven demographic shift within the urban core necessitates dynamic adjustment responses to appropriately provide intergenerational services; (3) the uneven sector redistribution stimulated the core’s spatial and structural inter-dependency with peripheral zones, requiring governance with tighter cross-administration cooperation among respective public sectors; and (4) facing the sector/temporal and demographic pressure, urban cohesiveness in the TMA is greatly affected, which in turn disrupts the resilience pathway toward a cohesion. The study ascertained that the revised DPSIR framework could provide cities facing pressing socioeconomic drivers with effective analysis to allocate pressures, states, and impacts and formulate the necessary responses. To assure the socioeconomic resilience and urban cohesiveness, planning policy should carefully monitor and evaluate socio-demographic and sector redistribution factors to promote the urban resilience.

     

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration

ABSTRACT

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land’s green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding. There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.     

The Fuzzy Synthesizing Evaluation of City's Environmental Quality Based on GIOWA Operator: A Case of 13 Cities of Jiangsu Province

Abstract

In this paper, the generally induced ordered weighted averaging (GIOWA) operator is used to construct the fuzzy evaluating system of the quality of a city's environment including air, water and noise. Based on the part data of air, water and noise of the 13 cities under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu provincial government in 2002, a case study is given. The evaluating results show that the evaluating system of the quality of a city's environment based on the GIOWA operator can reflect the condition of pollution controlled and environmental quality of a city in a period of time.     

Sustainable Everyday Life and Celebrity Environmental Advocacy in Hugh’s War on Waste

ABSTRACT

This study employs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s television program, Hugh’s War on Waste, to explore representations of sustainable everyday life and the functions of celebrity environmental advocacy. The analysis is located within broader understandings of the discursive and contested nature of sustainability and the representative functions of environmental celebrities who act as figures of both distinction and equivalence. It discusses Fearnley-Whittingstall within the context of the stable of celebrity chefs, and it demonstrates how Hugh’s War on Waste is an example of the burgeoning televisual genre based on forms of campaigning about food issues. The analysis specifically explores how Hugh’s War on Waste is informed by: narratives of self-transformation where individuals are marshaled into appropriate practices of waste management and sustainability, presentations of the pleasures associated with such practices, and revelations of the networks of food production, distribution and consumption across the contexts of domestic everyday life, farms, supermarkets, and other corporations.     

Impacts of Suburbanization on Urban Eco-environment of Xi’an in China

Abstract

Suburbanization in large cities is an important phenomenon in the process of urbanization development in China in recent decades, which plays a very important role in promoting city development, whereas some side effects on the eco-environment appeared at the same time. This paper, taking Xi’an City in China as a case study site, analyzed the features of population suburbanization and industry suburbanization and pointed out the impacts of suburbanization on urban eco-environment. Based on the research, suggestions of countermeasures for urban planning and municipal management of Xi’an City in protecting urban eco-environment and conserving natural ecology were put forward in the end.     

中国环境信息公开的时空演化特征及其影响因素

环境信息公开是大数据信息时代环境治理的新型工具,我国在立法和实践上取得了重要进展,准确把握其发展脉络、现实状况和驱动因素,是有效推动环境信息公开和发挥其治理效果的先决条件。基于2008—2017年120个城市的PITI指数,采用空间数据探索分析和动态空间面板模型方法,分析了我国环境信息公开的时空演化特征和影响因素。研究发现:①我国环境信息公开正处于向中等水平过渡阶段,表现出明显的区域不平衡现象,呈现“沿海-内陆”梯度递减特征。②我国环境信息公开表现出较强的空间集聚特征,呈现显著的空间“俱乐部”分布格局,区域内部空间溢出效应显著,区域间辐射带动作用较弱。③较高的经济发展水平和环保投入强度表现出显著的促进作用,而良好的企业绩效和教育水平、较高的社会舆论和环保监督压力并没有发挥应有的促增效应;较差的空气质量和较高的工业污染表现出显著的抑制效应,而提高外资引入和环保执法力度则表现出较弱的负向作用。沿海城市和智慧城市的促进作用相对较高,资源型城市则较低。④环境信息公开在时间、空间和时空维度上分别表现出叠加效应、同群效应和示范效应。因此,应逐步完善环境信息公开的体制机制,加快环保基础设施建设,推进企业环保信用评价,提高公众互动参与和监督,强化环保指导帮扶和监管执法,构建环境信息公开的长效机制。     

The sustainability of positive environments

Inspired by the emergence of the positive psychology (PP) movement, recent environmental psychology studies have identified a need for further inquiry into “positive environments” (PEs). Recognizing that PP has largely neglected the role of environmental factors in the appearance of positivity, this paper proposes the study of person–environment relations in order to explain human well-being, psychological growth, sustainable behaviors, and other psychological positive factors, in addition to studying the material and social well-being that a positive environment provides. The traditional view of environmental positivity (i.e., the environment as an inexhaustible and infinite source of resources that satisfy human needs) is contrasted against an ecological vision of PE in which the conservation of the quality of the environment is as important as the satisfaction of human needs. A definition of positive environment is presented and discussed, which conceives PE as a context that promotes individual and collective benefits and that also influences human predispositions to conserve—in the long run—the sociophysical structures on which life depends.     

Short-term effects of particulate matter constituents on daily hospitalizations and mortality in five South-European cities: Results from the MED-PARTICLES project

BackgroundFew recent studies examined acute effects on health of individual chemical species in the particulate matter (PM) mixture, and most of them have been conducted in North America. Studies in Southern Europe are scarce. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between particulate matter constituents and daily hospital admissions and mortality in five cities in Southern Europe.MethodsThe study included five cities in Southern Europe, three cities in Spain: Barcelona (2003–2010), Madrid (2007–2008) and Huelva (2003–2010); and two cities in Italy: Rome (2005–2007) and Bologna (2011–2013). A case-crossover design was used to link cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions and total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality with a pre-defined list of 16 PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 constituents. Lags 0 to 2 were examined. City-specific results were combined by random-effects meta-analysis.ResultsMost of the elements studied, namely EC, SO₄^2 −, SiO_2, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Ti, Mn, V and Ni, showed increased percent changes in cardiovascular and/or respiratory hospitalizations, mainly at lags 0 and 1. The percent increase by one interquartile range (IQR) change ranged from 0.69% to 3.29%. After adjustment for total PM levels, only associations for Mn, Zn and Ni remained significant. For mortality, although positive associations were identified (Fe and Ti for total mortality; EC and Mg for cardiovascular mortality; and NO₃⁻ for respiratory mortality) the patterns were less clear.ConclusionsThe associations found in this study reflect that several PM constituents, originating from different sources, may drive previously reported results between PM and hospital admissions in the Mediterranean area.