Economic development and environmental protection: an ecological economics perspective

This paper argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that, beyond a certain point, there is an unavoidable conflictbetween economic development (generally taken to mean 'materialeconomic growth') and environmental protection. Think for a moment of natural forests, grasslands, marine estuaries, salt marshes, and coral reefs; and of arable soils, aquifers, mineraldeposits, petroleum, and coal. These are all forms of 'natural capital' that represent highly-ordered self-producing ecosystemsor rich accumulations of energy/matter with high use potential (low entropy). Now contemplate despoiled landscapes, eroding farmlands, depleted fisheries, anthropogenic greenhouse gases,acid rain, poisonous mine tailings and toxic synthetic compounds.These all represent disordered systems or degraded forms of energy and matter with little use potential (high entropy). The main thing connecting these two states is human economic activity. Ecological economics interprets the environment-economyrelationship in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law sees economic activity as a dissipative process. Fromthis perspective, the production of economic goods andservices invariably requires the consumption of available energy and matter. To grow and develop, the economynecessarily 'feeds' on sources of high-quality energy/matter first produced by nature. This tends to disorder and homogenizethe ecosphere, The ascendance of humankind has consistently been accompanied by an accelerating rate of ecological degradation, particularly biodiversity loss, the simplificationof natural systems and pollution. In short, contemporary political rhetoric to the contrary, the prevailing growth-oriented global development paradigm is fundamentally incompatible with long-term ecological and social sustainability. Unsustainability is not a technical nor economic problem as usually conceived, but rather a state of systemic incompatibilitybetween a economy that is a fully-contained, growing, dependent sub-system of a non-growing ecosphere. Potential solutions fly inthe face of contemporary development trends and cultural values.     

Formulation and Validation of an Empirical Moisture Damage Index

An empirical moisture damage index was developed in order to reduce the subjectivity of the estimation of moisture damage in domestic residences, in relation to occupant health. The database was generated using information gathered from a sample of 164 houses that were examined by civil engineers, and questionnaire data collected from the occupants. The index was formulated to associate with the occupant reported respiratory symptoms by calculating weighted estimates of selected moisture damage attributes using 80% of the sample. The remaining 20% of the sample was used to verify the final index. The index associated strongly with the health symptoms of interest. This index is a tool that may be used as an indicator of moisture damage induced exposure in domestic residences.     

The interaction between physical and social-psychological factors in indoor environmental health

Indoor environmental health is now recognized as an important factor in preventing respiratory health problems in the United States. It is also a concern in Canada due to the amount of time that Canadians spend indoors because of cold weather and the potential for increased time indoors during the summer if theclimate warms. The negative health effects are often labeled assick building syndrome, but diagnosing a building or itsoccupants as sick is complicated by the variety of symptoms, thepresence of chronic versus acute symptoms and social andpsychological (socio-psychological) factors that may reduce theeffectiveness of an engineering solution. As a case study, thecontribution of various factors to indoor environmental health,in three buildings at the University of Toronto, was examinedusing five different methods. The results indicate that theinhabitants of the buildings consider features other than airquality in considering building health such as design,maintenance, funding cuts and socio-psychological factors.     

土壤环境容量数学模型——Ⅰ.土壤污染动力学模型

应用物质平衡原理,导出模拟土壤污染过程的动力学方程.可用于估算土壤环境容量、分析土壤污染动态和预测土壤超容年限.以测定残留率为基础的一类模型是本文提出的模型的一个特例.     

我国土地资源利用的几个战略问题

我国人均资源占有量远低于世界水平,资源供应日益紧缺,并将成为经济发展的一个重要的约束条件。从土地资源的潜力来看,我国土地理论的最高人口承载量可能是15—16亿人,并在相当长的时期内将处于临界状态。关键在于控制人口的增长和在农业方面采取超常规的增产措施,特别是大幅度增加农业投入。我国土地生产潜力东部大于西部,粮食生产的重点应放在中部地带。20亿亩耕地是我国国土资源的精华所在,种植业的主攻方向应放在中产田,并大力加强我国九片商品粮基地的建设。林业建设的战略重点应尽快转向山区。牧业应发展饲料生产,开辟新的饲料基地。从总体看,应强调发展资源节约型的农业,以内涵挖潜为主,向生产的深度和广度进军。     

河西走廊灌溉农业发展的水资源承载能力分析

论文采用模糊综合评判方法,对河西走廊灌溉农业发展的水资源承载能力进行了分析,建立了评价的数学模型。研究表明,该区水资源开发利用已近于其饱和容量,发展节水灌溉,充分提高水的利用效率,是保障和发展干旱区农业的根本出路。     

建立商品房抗震安全监管体系的思考

在城市建设高速发展的今天,商品房日益增多。然而,商品房的抗震设防现状却令人不容乐观。本文通过认真分析商品房抗震安全监管存在的种种问题,提出了相关对策措施,旨在引起人们的重视并加以解决。     

均质滤料过滤截污模型研究

对均质滤料过滤进行了分析，采用毛细管模型研究过滤水流，给出毛细管中剪切应力的分布，通过毛细管中颗粒物的受力分析，求得颗粒与毛细管壁间的物理化学作用力。对颗粒在毛细管在毛细管中运动的受力平衡进行分析简化，得到了截污饮和时滤床中孔隙率的计算公式，由此可以计算出均质滤床的最大截污能力，即：清洁滤床的孔隙率与孢和孔隙率之差乘以滤床的体积。     

淮北煤中12种有害微量元素在煤及其灰中的分布特征

为了解有害微量元素在各煤层中的分布与变化规律,以及在煤燃烧后的煤灰中所发生的迁移与富集情况,采集了淮北煤田不同煤层、不同深度的15个煤样,采用中子活化法对其原煤及灰分中的12 种微量元素(Ag, As,Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Sb, Th, U, V)进行了测试。结果显示:绝大部分有害微量元素的含量都处于n×10 6到n×10 5数量级范围内,不同煤层或同一煤层不同部位中微量元素的含量分布不同;与全国和华北煤中有害微量元素的(平均)含量相比,除Mn低于全国和华北的平均值外,As、Co、Mo、Sb、Th、U与之相近,而Ag、Ba、Cr、Cu、V高于全国和华北煤中的平均值;12种微量元素均在灰分中有所富集,而且富集能力序列为:Cu>Cr>Mn>Mo>Co>Ba>V>Th>As>U>Sb。     

土壤对六价铬的还原容量初步研究

提出并讨论了土壤的潜在还原容量、有效还原容量和条件还原容量等概念，通过对采用北京和唐山地下水饮用水源区３个包气带土壤样品的土柱淋滤实验，研究了土壤对水溶液中六价铬的还原作用，研究了上述土壤各种还原容量之间的关系及影响因素，探讨了向土壤中投加适量常见，无毒，价廉的还原性物质以提高土壤还原能力的方法和将其应用于去除灌溉用污染地下水中六价铬的可能性，实验结果表明，在正常环境条件下，土壤的有效还原容量比土