Rational pricing of groundwater with a growing population

When population is increasing, characterizing the optimal water consumption path is complicated by the fact that the underlying dynamics of the water stock is contingent on the level of the stock itself. We propose a method of constructing the optimal path in this case. Since population is increasing, the optimal consumption path may involve refraining at times from consuming the totality of the surface water flow in order to restock in groundwater for future consumption. The aquifer then serves as a means to achieve welfare increasing intertemporal transfers of surface water. Therefore the aquifer itself, as distinct from the stock of water it serves to store, may have value and the marginal valuation of water when groundwater stocks are being drawn upon should, for this reason, differ at times from the marginal valuation of water when it is drawn strictly from surface water.     

Resource conservation in the pulp and paper industries—rational-use-of-energy approach

Sharp rises in energy prices have generated an interest in the pulp and paper industries in cogeneration and heat pump applications. However, the institutional and industry-specific barriers to their implementation, despite economic viability, indicate the inadequacies of the energy conservation and energy saving approaches to minimise energy costs. A systems approach, referred to as rational-use-of-energy, is proposed to overcome some of the barriers and to highlight the conservation potential of other resources, such as chemicals and water at appreciably low effluent loads.     

Environmental education — Implications for public policy

Summary This paper examines first the practical requirements of educational participation, and attempts to define the kind of education system (both structure and curriculum) which would meet these requirements. Next, it describes the special role of environmental education for all age groups, not just those of school age. Organizational and curriculum models are presented to illustrate how locally based education could be developed in such a way as to draw together teachers, local people and technical professionals working in the locality, to make a collective learning process. Finally some conclusions are drawn about the politics of environmental education.Miss Jean Forbes is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Glasgow.