Psychological Reactance From Reading Basic Facts on Climate Change: The Role of Prior Views and Political Identification

Scholars continue to search for solutions to shift climate change skeptics’ views on climate science and policy. However, research has shown that certain audiences are resistant to change regarding environmental issues. To explore this issue further, we examine the presence of reactance among different audiences in response to simple, yet prominently used, climate change messages. Our results show that emphasizing the scientific consensus of climate change produces reactance, but only among people who question the existence of climate change. Moreover, adding political identification to the model as an additional moderating variable shows the increases in reactance occur among Republicans who question the existence of climate change. Finally, our results show that reactance to climate change messaging may lead to backfiring effects on important outcomes tied to climate change such as risk perceptions, climate change beliefs, and support for mitigation policies.     

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.     

基于环境保护的机动车税优化建议

当前区域性大气污染问题突出,机动车使用造成的污染问题不可忽视。为解决区域性的大气污染问题,机动车税费的污染减排调控功能日益被政府和学者重视。研究围绕"如何使机动车税更好发挥环境保护的效果"的问题,比较了中日机动车税的结构和性质,分析了在购买、保有和使用等不同环节的机动车税的特点以及环保效果,并基于问卷调查分析中国私家车主不同环节机动车税的负担情况。研究表明,在机动车使用环节征收的成品油消费税污染调控效果要优于其他环节的税收;对商业用途的机动车使用征税仅有收入功能没有调控功能,建议将机动车相关税的作用重心从购买环节转移到使用环节上,并对商业用途和私人用途的机动车实施差别税率。     

石油类污染地下水中挥发性有机物低温生物降解性能的研究

针对地下水石油类污染的问题,从某污染场地土壤中筛选驯化出了适用于处理挥发性有机物的3株低温高效降解菌,并以苯和萘作为特征组分考察了pH、DO、温度、氮磷等因素对降解效果的影响;实验结果表明,在8℃左右的地下环境中,DO和氮磷的含量对污染物的降解影响较大;在pH 7.5、DO＞4 mg/L和投加氮磷的条件下,18 d内降...     

油气田含油污泥处理相关标准解析

通过对目前已出台油气田含油污泥处理相关标准的解析,针对标准之间存在着适用范围不一致、检测项目名称及限值不一致、检测方法不统一以及计算基础不统一等,造成油气田环保工作者和管理者认识上的混乱,对含油污泥处理技术的选用和治理市场的管理带来诸多问题。为加快促进油气田含油污泥处理减量化、资源化、无害化技术的发展,建议尽快出台有针对性、普适性强、统一的油气田含油污泥污染控制标准,确保含油污泥处理既科学合理,又经济可行;同时制定针对性强的含油污泥污染物检测方法,检测方法统一、计算公式一致,保证结果真实可靠,具有可比性。     

2019年西安首场雾霾PM2.5关键特征的综合诊断

通过对WRF-Chem（Weather Research and Forecasting Model Coupled to Chemistry）环境模式模拟资料、HYSPLIT（HYbrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model）前/后向气团轨迹资料、环境站监测资料，以及西安理工大学（Xi''an University of Technology，简称XUT）多波长激光雷达、米散射激光雷达、能见度仪、粒谱仪等观测资料的综合诊断，探讨了2019年1月初发生在西安的雾霾过程（记为首场雾霾）PM_2.5组分、分布及传输特征，旨在为雾霾气溶胶研究提供有益的个例积累.定性、定量双重检验表明，Chem模式较成功复制了此次雾霾气溶胶过程.利用这些可靠的模式数据分析表明，PM_2.5中碳气溶胶的主要组分为有机碳，约占85%，强盛期气溶胶各组分随高度增加均呈递减趋势，各组分近地面浓度最高.通过对两类不同方法获取的消光系数对比分析表明，相比于模式数据，激光雷达数据具有更高的垂直分辨率，因此，更善于描述消光廓线的细节特征.通过对多源资料的综合诊断最终揭示出，"北风涌"是雾霾消散的关键影响因子，沿铜川-西安-山阳一带存在着污染物传输的重要路径，雾霾由此体现出自北向南依次消散的特征.     

Effects of productivity on biodiversity in forest ecosystems across the United States and China

In the global campaign against biodiversity loss in forest ecosystems, land managers need to know the status of forest biodiversity, but practical guidelines for conserving biodiversity in forest management are lacking. A major obstacle is the incomplete understanding of the relationship between site primary productivity and plant diversity, due to insufficient ecosystem‐wide data, especially for taxonomically and structurally diverse forest ecosystems. We investigated the effects of site productivity (the site's inherent capacity to grow timber) on tree species richness across 19 types of forest ecosystems in North America and China through 3 ground‐sourced forest inventory data sets (U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis, Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory, and Chinese Forest Management Planning Inventory). All forest types conformed to a consistent and highly significant (P < 0.001) hump‐shaped unimodal relationship, of which the generalized coefficients of determination averaged 20.5% over all the forest types. That is, tree species richness first increased as productivity increased at a progressively slower rate, and, after reaching a maximum, richness started to decline. Our consistent findings suggest that forests of high productivity would sustain few species because they consist mostly of flat homogeneous areas lacking an environmental gradient along which a diversity of species with different habitats can coexist. The consistency of the productivity–biodiversity relationship among the 3 data sets we examined makes it possible to quantify the expected tree species richness that a forest stand is capable of sustaining, and a comparison between the actual species richness and the sustainable values can be useful in prioritizing conservation efforts.     

Effects of organic matter on Leymus chinensis germination,growth, and urease activity and available nitrogen in coastal saline soil

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of three organic matters (stalk powder, microbial fertilizer, and manure) on Leymus chinensis germination, growth, and urease activity and available nitrogen (N) in coastal saline soil. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with eight treatments: J₀V₀Y₀, J₁V₀Y₀, J₀V₁Y₀, J₀V₀Y₁, J₁V₁Y₀, J₁V₀Y₁, J₀V₁Y₁, J₁V₁Y₁. The notations were based on the quantities of each agent added to 1 kg of coastal saline soil: J₀ – no straw powder, J₁ – 0.2 kg straw powder, Y₀ – no manure, Y₁ – 0.3 kg manure, V₀ – no microbial fertilizer, V₁ – 0.2 L microbial fertilizer, each in quantic repeat. L. chinensis was sown as 50 seeds per pot. Results indicated that addition of organic agents exerted a significantly enhanced germination, increase in fresh weight and elevated soil urease activity. Soil available N levels were significantly positively correlated with soil urease activity and fresh weight, but not with germination rate. It is noteworthy that the halophyte L. chinensis showed improved characteristics when grown in coastal saline soil with addition of organic amendments.     

Catalytic activities and mechanism of formaldehyde oxidation over gold supported on MnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> microsphere catalysts at room temperature

MnO₂ microspheres with various surface structures were prepared using the hydrothermal method, and Au/MnO₂ catalysts were synthesized using the sol-gel method. We obtained three MnO₂ microspheres and Au/MnO₂ samples: coherent solid spheres covered with wire-like nanostructures, solid spheres with nanosheets, and hierarchical hollow microspheres with nanoplatelets and nanorods. We investigated the properties and catalytic activities of formaldehyde oxidation at room temperature. Crystalline structures of MnO₂ are the main factor affecting the catalytic activities of these samples, and γ-MnO₂ shows high catalytic performance. The excellent redox properties are responsible for the catalytic ability of γ-MnO₂. The gold-supported interaction can change the redox properties of catalysts and accelerate surface oxygen species transition, which can account for the catalytic activity enhancement of Au/MnO₂. We also studied intermediate species. The dioxymethylene (DOM) and formate species formed on the catalyst surface were considered intermediates, and were ultimately transformed into hydrocarbonate and carbonate and then decomposed into CO₂. A proposed mechanism of formaldehyde oxidation over Au/MnO₂ catalysts was also obtained.     

CO2 dynamic of Lake Donghu highlights the need for long-term monitoring

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Inland freshwater lakes have been widely considered as significant sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. However, long-term measurements of CO2 dynamics...