Backyard bounty: exploring the benefits and challenges of backyard garden sharing projects

Backyard garden sharing projects can be viewed as a small-scale alternative to traditional community gardens. These shared spaces are able to overcome some of the pressures on community gardens such as competing demands for housing and other services and amenities while still providing many of the health-promoting benefits community gardens are noted for. This study is a small-scale participatory qualitative project that explores three backyard garden sharing partnerships. The aim of this study is to explore the benefits and challenges of these shared spaces and to discuss the overall feasibility of shared backyard gardens. Partnerships comprised an older adult homeowner (i.e., greater than age 65) and a non-senior gardener. At an individual level, the results suggest that backyard garden sharing can promote physical activity, psychosocial well-being, and social connectedness for both older adult homeowners and volunteer garden partners. To be successful, partners benefit from an established agreement about what to grow and how to share the garden's produce. In addition, a dedicated project coordinator and a limited amount of community resources can ensure the viability of these small-scale projects.     

A new method for the rapid determination of volatile organic compound breakthrough times for a sorbent at concentrations relevant to indoor air quality

The use of sorbents has been proposed to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in ambient air at concentrations in the parts-per-billion (ppb) range, which is typical of indoor air quality applications. Sorbent materials, such as granular activated carbon and molecular sieves, are used to remove VOCs from gas streams in industrial applications, where VOC concentrations are typically in the parts-per-million range. A method for evaluating the VOC removal performance of sorbent materials using toluene concentrations in the ppb range is described. Breakthrough times for toluene at concentrations from 2 to 7500 ppb are presented for a hydrophobic molecular sieve at 25%) relative humidity. By increasing the ratio of challenge gas flow rate to the mass of the sorbent bed and decreasing both the mass of sorbent in the bed and the sorbent particle size, this method reduces the required experimental times by a factor of up to several hundred compared with the proposed American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers method, ASHRAE 145P, making sorbent performance evaluation for ppb-range VOC removal more convenient. The method can be applied to screen sorbent materials for application in the removal of VOCs from indoor air.     

The emergence of the transition movement in Canada: success and impact through the eyes of initiative leaders

ABSTRACT

Originating in the UK in 2006, the Transition movement is oriented to local grassroots citizen-led efforts that prepare for and support a societal energy transition to a low-carbon future in response to climate change, peak oil, ecological degradation, and economic instability. Overlapping significantly with relocalization, degrowth/slow growth, local food, and related movements, and based on permaculture principles and a distributed network model, it embraces the opportunity to turn crisis into an opportunity to build more resilient, convivial, and vibrant local communities, declaring that “if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable”. The Transition approach has spread rapidly around the world, including initiatives in over 100 communities and cities in Canada. This paper reports on the methods and results of a Canadian community-based research study aimed at understanding how and where the movement has taken root across the country, what Transition practice looks like, challenges and opportunities encountered, and lessons learned that could be applied within the movement and by others interested in the role of citizen-led initiatives for sustainability transition. Utilising a practice theory lens, drawing on an extensive web-scan of the movement’s online presence, a survey and interviews with initiative (co)founders, an e-survey of Transition members/participants, regional “structured story-dialogue” workshops, and key informant interviews, and informed by input from a Movement Advisory Group, we describe the research process and explore what success and impact mean to those most active in the movement.     

Habitat specialization and the exploitation of allochthonous carbon by zooplankton

The significance of spatial subsidies depends on consumer resource interactions in the recipient habitat. Lakes are subsidized by terrestrial carbon sources, but the pathways of allochthonous carbon through lake food webs are complex and not well understood. Zooplankton vertically partition resources within stratified lakes in response to life history trade-offs that are governed by predators, the quantity and quality of food, and abiotic conditions (e.g., UV, temperature, and viscosity). We measured habitat specialization of zooplankton in an oligotrophic lake where allochthonous and autochthonous resources varied with depth. During stratification, the quantity and quality of zooplankton food was highest in the hypolimnion. We used a yearlong time series of the delta13C of zooplankton and particulate organic matter (POM) to determine which zooplankton species exploited hypolimnetic rather than epilimnetic resources. Because the delta13C of POM decreased with depth, we used the delta13C of zooplankton to detect inter- and intraspecific variation in habitat selection. We incubated Daphnia pulex at discrete depths in the water column to confirm that the delta13C of zooplankton can indicate habitat specialization. Zooplankton that specialized in the epilimnion relied more on allochthonous carbon sources than those that specialized in the hypolimnion. Therefore, the fate of allochthonous carbon subsidies to lakes depends on spatially explicit consumer-resource interactions.     

Ambient halocarbon mixing ratios in 45 Chinese cities

During this study 158 whole air samples were collected in 45 Chinese cities in January and February 2001. The spatial distribution of different classes of halocarbons in the Chinese urban atmosphere, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Halon-1211, and other chlorinated compounds is presented and discussed. Most of these compounds were enhanced compared to background levels. However, the mean enhancement of CFCs was relatively small, with CFC-12 and CFC-11 increases of 6% (range 1–31%) and 10% (range 2–89%), respectively, with respect to the global background. On the contrary, strongly enhanced levels of CFC replacement compounds and halogenated compounds used as solvents were measured. The average Halon-1211 concentration exceeded the background of 4.3 pptv by 75% and was higher than 10 pptv in several cities. Methyl chloride mixing ratios were also strongly elevated (78% higher than background levels), which is likely related to the widespread use of coal and biofuel in China.     

珠三角地区大气中HCFC-22的浓度观测和变化趋势初步研究

通过罐采样和预浓缩-色谱/质谱方法,对珠三角地区广州城区和鼎湖山大气中HCFC-22进行了初步的观测和分析.结果表明,2005年广州城区HCFC-22年平均体积分数达到(479.5±241.4)×10-12,鼎湖山仅为(244.4±51.3)×10-12.广州城区大气HCFC-22日变化幅度夏秋季节相对较大,而鼎湖山日变化不明显;广州城区大气HCFC-22的体积分数夏秋季节高于冬春季节,鼎湖山则相反.与城区HCFC-22排放的季节性有关,夏秋季节广州城区与鼎湖山HCFC-22体积分数差别很大,冬春季节则比较接近.初步研究结果表明,广州城区和鼎湖山大气HCFC-22的体积分数呈现快速增长趋势,年增长率分别达到6.57%和7.28%,约为一些全球基准观测站(NOAA/CMDL)的1.9～2.8倍.