Consumption,waste and (un)sustainable development: reflections on the Dutch holiday of Queen’s day

This article aims to interrogate manifold features, uses and manifestations of the term sustainability through critical reflection on paradoxes of “sustainable development.” This article will discuss the implication of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, postmaterialist values theory, and ecological modernization theory all of which expresses a certain relationship between the wealth of a nation and their environment impact. According to these theories, during early industrialization and development, economies use materially intensive resources, until a threshold is reached after which the economic and technological changes allow for more sustainable material use. Simultaneously, it is believed that concerns about environment are secondary to economic concerns and that satisfaction of material needs will lead to higher environmental awareness. The aim of this article is to reflect upon a gap in the literature of empirical case studies to support or refute these theories. While there is a wealth of publications detailing various unsustainable practices in different countries, studies addressing the implication of the accuracy of the triple theories for the global enterprise of development are rare. To compensate for this oversight, this article will address the case of Dutch Queen’s day celebrations in April 2013, based on the document analysis. In generalizing the case of Dutch Queen’s day celebrations to global consumption patterns, this article considers consequences of Western consumption model for the enterprise of global development. It is argued that the Dutch case supports evidence of the (un)sustainability of a consumptive economy operating within a global market. Alternative framework based on cradle-to-cradle and circular economy approaches is proposed.     

The effect of first aid training on Australian construction workers' occupational health and safety motivation and risk control behavior

METHOD: A 24-week experiment was conducted to assess how first aid training affects the motivation of small business construction industry employees in avoiding occupational injuries and illnesses and its effect on their occupational health and safety behavior. A simplified multiple baseline design across workplace settings was used to evaluate the effects of first aid training. Participants' motivation to control occupational safety and health risks was explored during in-depth interviews before and after receipt of first aid training. Objective measurement of occupational safety and health behavior was conducted by a researcher directly observing the workplace before and after participants received first aid training. RESULTS: The observations at participants' worksites suggested that, for the most part, the first aid training had a positive effect on the occupational safety and health behavior of participants. First aid training appeared to reduce participants' "self--other" bias, making them more aware that their own experience of occupational safety and health risks is not beyond their control but that their own behavior is an important factor in the avoidance of occupational injury and illness. First aid training also appeared to reduce participants' willingness to accept prevailing levels of occupational safety and health risk and increase the perceived probability that they would suffer a work-related injury or illness. Participants expressed greater concern about taking risks at work after receiving first aid training. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: It appears that first aid training enhances participants' motivation to avoid occupational injuries and illnesses and improves their risk control behavior. The implications of this are that first aid training can have a positive preventive effect and could complement traditional occupational health and safety training programs. As such, there may be benefit in providing first aid training to all employees rather than limiting this training to a small number of designated "first aiders."     

Policy-Oriented Integrated Analysis of Land-Use Change: An Analysis of Data Needs

Integrated analysis of land-use change in support of informed policy-making for sustainable land use at various spatial levels makes heavy requirements for quality data. This paper aims to structure the principal methodological and practical issues of data needs for this task. The data needs for local level analyses of land-use change are given special attention. The paper adopts an integrated economic–environmental modeling framework and suggests the main types of data needed. Four main data dimensions are distinguished: system of spatial reference, system of temporal reference, definitions, and data collection procedures (sources, collection instruments and techniques, recording and retrieval systems, data format, frequency of data collection). To evaluate the suitability of current data sets as well as to guide the collection of new ones, a scheme based on substantive and practical criteria is employed. The former include compatibility, consistency, and reliability of data, while the latter include availability, ease and cost of data collection/retrieval, and transferability of data. The evaluation indicates the broad gaps in current data sets along the four main data dimensions. Based on this evaluation, the paper suggests framework guidelines to address the main data issues identified. RID=" ID=" <SUP>1</SUP>CLAUDE: Coordinating Land Use and Land Cover Data and Analyses in Europe. European Commission Concerted Action project (DG-XII); DAPLARCH: Data Plan Development for Land Use and Land Cover Change Research. Program sponsored by IGBP-IHDP (LUCC and DIS). Street, Durham, North Carolina 27707, USA     

The Context for Substitutes in CVM Studies: Some Empirical Observations

The purpose of this paper is to report results from a set of experiments that provide data to test the NOAA [13] Panel recommendation that subjects be reminded of budgetary substitutes when providing values. The results suggest that simply reminding subjects of alternative environmental goods does not affect the distribution of values for a specific good. Such values are affected, however, whenever subjects simultaneously value alternative goods.