“You Can't Run Your SUV on Cute. Let's Go!”: Internet Memes as Delegitimizing Discourse

In an effort to explore the role of new media technologies in environmental protest rhetoric, this paper examines Greenpeace's Let's Go! Arctic campaign, which opposed Shell's Arctic oil-drilling plans. The campaign produced a body of Internet memes designed to look like Shell's own corporate advertising. Moreover, the viral campaign used various rhetorical techniques that challenged Shell's goals and identity. Greenpeace-generated and user-generated memes cleverly use irony, corporate voice and humor to delegitimize Shell's Arctic efforts. The memes offered messages that mocked corporate practices and corporate messaging while also providing direct protest messages and accessible humor that invited identification against Shell. Thus, the memes collectively encouraged identification with Greenpeace's antidrilling, pro-environment discourse.     

Sustaining food self-sufficiency of a nation: The case of Sri Lankan rice production and related water and fertilizer demands

Rising human demand and climatic variability have created greater uncertainty regarding global food trade and its effects on the food security of nations. To reduce reliance on imported food, many countries have focused on increasing their domestic food production in recent years. With clear goals for the complete self-sufficiency of rice production, Sri Lanka provides an ideal case study for examining the projected growth in domestic rice supply, how this compares to future national demand, and what the associated impacts from water and fertilizer demands may be. Using national rice statistics and estimates of intensification, this study finds that improvements in rice production can feed 25.3 million Sri Lankans (compared to a projected population of 23.8 million people) by 2050. However, to achieve this growth, consumptive water use and nitrogen fertilizer application may need to increase by as much as 69 and 23 %, respectively. This assessment demonstrates that targets for maintaining self-sufficiency should better incorporate avenues for improving resource use efficiency.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0720-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Is pork trade good for China's greenhouse gas emissions?

China produces the largest amount of pork in the world, which emits the largest amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This paper calculates GHG emissions from China’s hog production at the provincial level using newly published emission factors. Empirical results show that GHG emissions from China’s hog production mainly respond to the scale intensity. Capital abundance and income contribute positively to GHG emissions from hog production. Pork trade increases GHG emissions from China’s hog production with a significantly direct effect, reduces GHG emissions through indirect technique effects.     

Individual Accuracy in Estimating Plume Opacity

The accuracy of individuals to estimate the opacity of black and white plumes in Visible Emission Training Programs is analyzed. The analysis includes new students and individuals returning for recertification. Following a set of drills, students generally have accuracy only slightly lower than those achieving certification. The accuracy of individuals during their initial recertification attempt is virtually the same as the accuracy six months earlier when they passed the certification test. The most important skill to reading opacity is an unshakable mental impression of plumes having 25, 50 and 75 percent opacity.     

Lessons from the 2006 Louisiana health and population survey

The 2005 hurricane season caused extensive damage and induced a mass migration of approximately 1.1 million people from southern Louisiana in the United States. Current and accurate estimates of population size and demographics and an assessment of the critical needs for public services were required to guide recovery efforts. Since forecasts using pre-hurricane data may produce inaccurate estimates of the post-hurricane population, a household survey in 18 hurricane-affected parishes was conducted to provide timely and credible information on the size of these populations, their demographics and their condition. This paper describes the methods used, the challenges encountered, and the key factors for successful implementation. This post-disaster survey was unique because it identified the needs of the people in the affected parishes and quantified the number of people with these needs. Consequently, this survey established new population and health indicator baselines that otherwise would have not been available to guide the relief and recovery efforts in southern Louisiana.     

Origins of Manganese in Air Participates in California

The proportions of manganese to other metals in samples of airborne fine particles taken at some sites in California have increased greatly since the beginning of 1985. Here, data are presented which indicate that the addition of manganese to leaded gasoline is largely responsible for this increase. Concentrations of manganese, silicon, titanium, iron, lead and other elements in airborne particles were measured using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis. Coefficients of correlation among levels of manganese, iron and lead measured at twenty sites in California were calculated. Levels of manganese and iron are generally highly correlated because of the presence of large amounts of these elements in the earth’s crust. Levels of airborne manganese and lead at sites In Southern California are often highly correlated, suggesting a vehicular source of manganese. Observed manganese concentrations are apportioned into two major sources: the earth’s crust and motor vehicles. The apportionment indicates that vehicular emissions of manganese may account for a significant part of the total at urban sites in Southern California. At most other sites, the contribution from vehicles is found to be far smaller than that from the earth’s crust.     

Discriminating between Copper and Silver Mill Tailings in Silver Bow Creek Overbank Deposits,Butte, Montana,U.S.A.

Mining of the Butte deposit evolved over 100 years from placer mining starting in 1864 through silver mining to copper mining in the 1900s. Tailings resulting from milling during the period 1876-1924 were typically sluiced into the adjacent Silver Bow Creek (SBC) where they were washed downstream. The most significant flood event in 1908, among others, resulted in emplacement of approximately 2.9 m tons of sediment intermixed with tailings as overbank deposits along SBC between Butte and the Warm Springs Ponds. Apportioning the associated costs was contingent in part on discriminating between ownership of liability for the silver and copper tailings, which together formed the most significant portion of the overbank deposits. Samples were collected of tailings end-members and SBC deposits and their characteristic mineralogy (e.g. galena for silver tailings, and enargite for copper tailings) used to ascertain mixing of the tailings along SBC. This analysis identified Pb as a signature element for silver tailings and Cu for copper tailings. Two-hundred and twenty-four Cu and Pb chemical analyses representing 43 transects through the overbank deposits along SBC allowed calculation of the proportional contribution of the end members for each integrated transect. Accumulating the volumes from each transect resulted in an apportionment of 53% copper and 47% silver tailings in the overbank deposits.     

Quantifying Metal Contributions from Multiple Sources to the Clark Fork River,Montana, U.S.A.

Identifying and quantifying the contributions of multiple sources of trace elements to stream sediments in a basin containing several possible inputs presents a unique problem related to the investigation of rivers impacted by industrial activity. A multi-source dilution-mixing model was developed and applied to determine the relative contributions to As, Cu and Pb burdens in the Clark Fork River, Montana, a recipient of historical mine wastes as a result of over a century of mining and milling operations. The results identified the Flint Creek drainage as a major source of anthropogenic As (47%) and Pb (35%) to sediments of the Clark Fork River and the Milltown Reservoir, in addition to the major sources associated with mining operations in Butte, MT. The Little Blackfoot River also contributes anthropogenic As (3%) and Pb (4%) to the Clark Fork River, while minor inputs of Cu (1%) and Pb (2%) emanate from the Blackfoot River. The model allows source quantification, and an understanding of the fate and transport of mine wastes in a basin, allowing identification and eventual prioritization of sites destined for remediation.     

Demonstrating the In Situ Biodegradation Potential of Phenol Using Bio‐Sep® Bio‐Traps® and Stable Isotope Probing

The effect of phenol concentration on phenol biodegradation at an industrial site in the south of Wales, United Kingdom, was investigated using standard Bio‐Sep^® Bio‐Traps^® and Bio‐Traps^® coupled with stable isotope probing (SIP). Unlike many ¹³C‐amendments used in SIP studies (such as hydrocarbons) that physically and reversibly adsorb to the activated carbon component of the Bio‐Sep^® beads, phenol is known to irreversibly chemisorb to activated carbon. Bio‐Traps^® were deployed for 32 days in nine site groundwater monitoring wells representing a wide range of phenol concentrations. Bio‐Traps^® amended with ¹³C‐phenol were deployed together with non‐amended Bio‐Traps® in three wells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis of Bio‐Traps^® post‐deployment indicated an inhibitory effect of increasing phenol concentration on both total eubacteria and aerobic phenol‐utilizing bacteria as represented by the concentration of phenol hydroxylase gene. Despite the chemisorption of phenol to the Bio‐Sep^® beads, activated carbon stable isotope analysis showed incorporation of ¹³C into biomass and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in each SIP Bio‐Trap^® indicating that chemisorbed amendments are bioavailable. However, there was a clear effect of phenol concentration on ¹³C incorporation in both biomass and DIC confirming phenol inhibition. These results suggest that physical reductions of the phenol concentrations in some areas of the plume will be required before biodegradation of phenol can proceed at a reasonable rate. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Urban Transitions: On Urban Resilience and Human-Dominated Ecosystems

Urbanization is a global multidimensional process paired with increasing uncertainty due to climate change, migration of people, and changes in the capacity to sustain ecosystem services. This article lays a foundation for discussing transitions in urban governance, which enable cities to navigate change, build capacity to withstand shocks, and use experimentation and innovation in face of uncertainty. Using the three concrete case cities—New Orleans, Cape Town, and Phoenix—the article analyzes thresholds and cross-scale interactions, and expands the scale at which urban resilience has been discussed by integrating the idea from geography that cities form part of “system of cities” (i.e., they cannot be seen as single entities). Based on this, the article argues that urban governance need to harness social networks of urban innovation to sustain ecosystem services, while nurturing discourses that situate the city as part of regional ecosystems. The article broadens the discussion on urban resilience while challenging resilience theory when addressing human-dominated ecosystems. Practical examples of harnessing urban innovation are presented, paired with an agenda for research and policy.