Do children play fair with mother nature? Understanding children’s judgments of environmentally harmful actions

The current study asks how young children judge behaviors that harm the environment as compared to moral transgressions, social-conventional transgressions, and personal choices. This study also questions whether children are more likely to cite biocentric or homocentric reasons when justifying their judgments of environmentally harmful behaviors. To answer these questions, sixty-one 6–10 year olds were asked to judge the severity of various actions that impact the environment. For comparison, participants also judged moral transgressions, social-conventional transgressions, and personal choices. Children judged actions that harm the environment more severely than social-conventional transgressions but not as severely as moral transgressions. When justifying their judgments of these environmentally harmful behaviors, participants were more likely to reference biocentric reasons as compared to homocentric reasons. The findings suggest that children perceive harm to the environment as bad, but harm to humans as worse.     

Polymodal foraging in adult female loggerheads (Caretta caretta)

To determine whether loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting in southeastern USA exhibit polymorphic foraging strategies, we evaluated skin samples for stable isotopes of carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) from 310 loggerheads from four locations on the east coast of Florida and epibionts from 48 loggerheads. We found a dichotomy between a depleted δ¹³C cluster and an enriched δ¹³C cluster. Epibionts from oceanic/pelagic or neritic/benthic habitats were largely consistent with this dichotomy. The bimodal distribution of δ¹³C could reflect a bimodal foraging strategy or—because of the potential for confounding among four gradients of δ¹³C in marine environments—a polymodal foraging strategy. We integrate our results with results from other stable isotope studies, satellite telemetry, and flipper tags to evaluate potential foraging strategies. Understanding foraging strategies is essential for development of management plans for this endangered species that has suffered a 43% population decline over the last decade.     

Sources of fine particles in the South Coast area,California

PM_2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter) speciation data collected between 2003 and 2005 at two United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Speciation Trends Network monitoring sites in the South Coast area, California were analyzed to identify major PM_2.5 sources as a part of the State Implementation Plan development. Eight and nine major PM_2.5 sources were identified in LA and Rubidoux, respectively, through PMF2 analyses. Similar to a previous study analyzing earlier data (Kim and Hopke, 2007a), secondary particles contributed the most to the PM_2.5 concentrations: 53% in LA and 59% in Rubidoux. The next highest contributors were diesel emissions (11%) in LA and Gasoline vehicle emissions (10%) in Rubidoux. Most of the source contributions were lower than those from the earlier study. However, the average source contributions from airborne soil, sea salt, and aged sea salt in LA and biomass smoke in Rubidoux increased.To validate the apportioned sources in this study, PMF2 results were compared with those obtained from EPA PMF (US EPA, 2005). Both models identified the same number of major sources and the resolved source profiles and contributions were similar at the two monitoring sites. The minor differences in the results caused by the differences in the least square algorithm and non-negativity constraints between two models did not affect the source identifications.     

Ambient Air Analyses Using Nonspecific Flame lonization and Electron Capture Detection Compared to Specific Detection by Mass Spectroscopy

Ambient air samples from various studies were analyzed for a specific set of trace-level volatile organic compounds by using a gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID) in parallel with an electron capture detector (ECD). The samples were then reanalyzed on a second GC system equipped with a mass selective detector (MSD). GC-FID/ECD data were compared to the nominally correct GC-MSD data to determine the accuracy of the nonspecific detectors, which often do not differentiate the targeted compound from Interfering compounds. Qualitative accuracy (capability for correctly identifying compounds on the basis of retention time only) and quantitative accuracy (capability for correctly measuring the concentration of an identified compound on the basis of peak area) were evaluated. Data are presented on a per-compound basis to provide the combined typical results from air samples collected in three geographic regions: Kanawha Valley, WV; Los Angeles, CA, area; and Houston, TX.     

Hawksbill sea turtles in seagrass pastures: success in a peripheral habitat

Hawksbill sea turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata, are closely associated with coral reef and other hard-bottom habitats. Seagrass pastures are peripheral habitats for Caribbean hawksbills. With the decline in quality and quantity of coral reefs, seagrass habitats may become more important for hawksbills. We use data from a 30-year mark-recapture study of hawksbills and green turtles, Chelonia mydas, in the southern Bahamas to assess the quality of a seagrass habitat for hawksbills. Size distribution, residence times, and body condition index for the seagrass hawksbill aggregation are similar to those of hawksbill aggregations over Caribbean reefs. Somatic growth rates of seagrass hawksbills are in the upper range of those reported for reef hawksbills. Based on these parameters, peripheral seagrass habitats can support healthy, productive hawksbill aggregations. During the 30-year study, a sixfold variation in green turtle density in the study area did not affect the productivity or body condition of hawksbills.     

Editorial The Good,the Bad and the Bubbly

Biodiversity planners increasingly recognise the need for delivering action on a ‘wider countryside’, rather than on a purely site‐centred, basis. Ecological processes often take place at the ‘landscape scale’ and are not sufficiently accommodated within reserves, and a failure to reflect this in biodiversity planning has been one of the contributors to species and habitat decline. However, there are generally few powers to enforce compliance with spatial rural land‐use strategies, and biodiversity plans at the landscape scale must rely heavily on incentives, advice and goodwill. Not surprisingly, this results in a substantial gap between policy and implementation. One way of analysing the causes of, and potential solutions to, implementation failure is to examine the barriers to plan uptake. This paper addresses barriers to biodiversity action in three case‐study areas in terms of ‘force fields’, depicting the nature and strength of negative and positive influences on land managers and conservation staff. It is concluded that a clearer understanding of the nature of ‘barriers’ can lead to improved targeting on potential ‘bridges’ to a better future.     

Putting the ‘E’ into LSPs: Representing the Environment within Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in the UK

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study with residents living in six deprived neighbourhoods in the UK and the front-line workers and local policymakers responsible for the renewal of these areas. The study was an attempt to raise awareness of local environmental concerns in the context of a national and local policy agenda, which has, until recently, largely overlooked the impacts of degraded environments on the lives and activities of the people who live in them. A key aim for the study was to raise people's concerns with local decision-makers and examine how far these might be addressed through the existing financial, administrative and legislative arrangements for neighbourhood renewal in the UK, namely Local Strategic Partnerships. The research was designed to provide practical lessons and policy recommendations for others wishing to raise the profile of environmental justice in the context of neighbourhood level regeneration projects, in both the UK and elsewhere in the ‘developed’ world.     

Disconnected futures: exploring notions of ethical responsibility in energy practices

This article aims to explore people's connections to or disconnections from the future and the implications of this for their perspectives on equity, justice and ethical issues related to energy consumption. Everything people do is embedded and extended in time across the modalities of past, present and future, making time an inescapable aspect of our existence, yet one that often remains invisible and intangible. Debates about energy and environmental equity have raised questions about the extent to which people today should bear responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour for future generations. Seemingly intractable difficulties have been identified, however, in people's abilities to connect their present actions with their potential future consequences and thus take on such responsibilities. Drawing on data from interviews about energy consumption practices, this article explores whether people's living temporal extensions through younger generations of their families influence their views and practices around energy use in both the present and anticipated future. Through exploring these issues we offer a contribution to the ethical debate around responsibility for future generations.     

Questioning complacency: climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation in Norway

Most European assessments of climate change impacts have been carried out on sectors and ecosystems, providing a narrow understanding of what climate change really means for society. Furthermore, the main focus has been on technological adaptations, with less attention paid to the process of climate change adaptation. In this article, we present and analyze findings from recent studies on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation in Norway, with the aim of identifying the wider social impacts of climate change. Three main lessons can be drawn. First, the potential thresholds and indirect effects may be more important than the direct, sectoral effects. Second, highly sensitive sectors, regions, and communities combine with differential social vulnerability to create both winners and losers. Third, high national levels of adaptive capacity mask the barriers and constraints to adaptation, particularly among those who are most vulnerable to climate change. Based on these results, we question complacency in Norway and other European countries regarding climate change impacts and adaptation. We argue that greater attention needs to be placed on the social context of climate change impacts and on the processes shaping vulnerability and adaptation.     

Photodegradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in passive air samplers: field testing different deployment chambers

Semi-permeable membrane devices (SPMDs) were loaded with deuterated anthracene and pyrene as performance reference compounds (PRCs) and deployed at a test site in four different chambers (open and closed box chamber, bowl chamber and cage chamber) for 29 days. The losses of PRCs and the uptake of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the ambient air were quantified. UV-B levels measured in each deployment chamber indicated that SPMDs would be exposed to the most UV-B in the cage chamber and open box chamber. Significantly less PAHs were quantified in SPMDs deployed in the cage chamber and open box chamber compared to samplers from the other two chambers, suggesting that photodegradation of PAHs had occurred. The loss of PRCs confirmed these results but also showed that photodegradation was occurring in the closed box chamber. The bowl chamber appears to provide the best protection from the influence of direct photodegradation.