Climate citizenship in the European union: environmental citizenship as an analytical concept

The concept of environmental citizenship is employed as an analytical tool to determine what kind of climate citizenship(s) the citizen-directed material in the European Commission’s climate change campaign is constructing. The research material is read, analysed and interpreted through elements attached to environmental citizenship: the realm of activity, political space, depth of activity, level of activity, citizen virtues, citizen rights and responsibilities and conception of the environment. The results suggest that climate citizenship is considered mainly as a private sphere activity performed by individuals and consists mainly in small adjustments in daily life. Climate citizens are motivated to everyday-life mitigation by personal benefit, greenhouse gas emissions and preserving natural resources.     

The evolution of municipal waste management in Europe: how different are national regimes?

The 1994 European Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste allowed a diversity of conceptions of waste management to be developed and tested in various countries. Such a diversity may raise drawbacks related to the achievement of the single market and the European law of competition. The paper describes the main differences in waste management regimes in five countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Greece. This comparative approach allows us, first, to identify four main variables in order to characterize policy regimes, explaining the degree of orientation of waste regimes to cost-effectiveness. Second, we will show that implementation has resulted, in each country, in learning, correction and self-regulation, thus reducing the initial divergences between national regimes. Hence, efficient harmonization of waste management regimes may be achieved unexpectedly in a soft way without passing stringent European directives. Moreover, if policy-makers were to adopt explicitly the option of experimenting with competing organizational and policy concepts, as an approach to European harmonization, it would reveal, by 2004, the cost-effectiveness of alternative solutions at a time when European policy has to be reconsidered. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taking risks with the precautionary principle: food (and the environment) for thought at the European Commission

Various parties relate to the precautionary principle with various understandings, claims and hopes. One of the ways to comprehend this multiplicity of meanings is to examine the composition of this problematic norm in the societal and institutional settings where it occurs. In this paper, I address its elaboration on the European Union institutional terrain with the European Commission's Communication on the Precautionary Principle. This effectuation of the precautionary principle embraces a number of issues of transnational or multilevel governance, expertise, legitimacy and sovereignty. The crucial matter that this paper engages in initially is that of risk analysis, the procedural framework that the precautionary principle confronts with its innovative articulations of science and policy-making, but to which I argue that it succumbs in part. Also explored, in turn, are further framings of the precautionary principle: science versus policy, a given policy domain—environment—in relation to others, as well as action versus inaction (whereas I argue that the precautionary principle ought to be about acting and doubting). These are further evaluated in the conclusions, together with the predicament of establishing a common understanding or defining the precautionary principle. I show that, complementary to drivers of divergence, one finds support for a common approach, though there is no radial symmetry in these tangled stakes, and any ‘diffusion’ of the precautionary principle has to be actively carried out for a shared understanding to be more widely shared. In this process, Europe, the European Commission, its Communication, and the precautionary principle are being shaped into diverse compositions of unity in diversity. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of sustainable development strategies and policies: The need for more timely indicators

Indicators are commonly used as tools to identify and highlight socio‐economic and ecological trends and to assess progress towards sustainability. Different quality criteria can be considered for indicators. This paper focuses on the timeliness of indicators used in the evaluation of sustainable development strategies. The analysis is based on indicators included in four assessment reports of the sustainable development strategy of the European Union and three assessment reports of the national strategy of Finland. Furthermore, a web‐based national level indicator portal is analysed. The results show that the timeliness of indicators has generally not improved during the past decade and that indicators used in strategy evaluations have a time lag of approximately two years. It is suggested that more attention should be given to efforts to improve the timeliness of indicators in order to increase the effectiveness of the evaluations. More generally, it is suggested that greater emphasis should be put on the empirical research on actual use of indicators.     

Volatile organic compounds at swine facilities: A critical review

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are regulated aerial pollutants that have environmental and health concerns. Swine operations produce and emit a complex mixture of VOCs with a wide range of molecular weights and a variety of physicochemical properties. Significant progress has been made in this area since the first experiment on VOCs at a swine facility in the early 1960s. A total of 47 research institutions in 15 North American, European, and Asian countries contributed to an increasing number of scientific publications. Nearly half of the research papers were published by U.S. institutions.Investigated major VOC sources included air inside swine barns, in headspaces of manure storages and composts, in open atmosphere above swine wastewater, and surrounding swine farms. They also included liquid swine manure and wastewater, and dusts inside and outside swine barns. Most of the sample analyses have been focusing on identification of VOC compounds and their relationship with odors. More than 500 VOCs have been identified. About 60% and 10% of the studies contributed to the quantification of VOC concentrations and emissions, respectively. The largest numbers of VOC compounds with reported concentrations in a single experimental study were 82 in air, 36 in manure, and 34 in dust samples.The relatively abundant VOC compounds that were quantified in at least two independent studies included acetic acid, butanoic acid (butyric acid), dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl sulfide, iso-valeric, p-cresol, propionic acid, skatole, trimethyl amine, and valeric acid in air. They included acetic acid, p-cresol, iso-butyric acid, butyric acid, indole, phenol, propionic acid, iso-valeric acid, and skatole in manure. In dust samples, they were acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, p-cresol, hexanal, and decanal. Swine facility VOCs were preferentially bound to smaller-size dusts.Identification and quantification of VOCs were restricted by using instruments based on gas Chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) with different detectors most of which require time-consuming procedures to obtain results. Various methodologies and technologies in sampling, sample preparation, and sample analysis have been used. Only four publications reported using GC based analyzers and PTR-MS (proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry) that allowed continuous VOC measurement. Because of this, the majority of experimental studies were only performed on limited numbers of air, manure, or dust samples. Many aerial VOCs had concentrations that were too low to be identified by the GC peaks.Although VOCs emitted from swine facilities have environmental concerns, only a few studies investigated VOC emission rates, which ranged from 3.0 to 176.5 mg d⁻¹ kg⁻¹ pig at swine finishing barns and from 2.3 to 45.2 g d⁻¹ m⁻² at manure storages. Similar to the other pollutants, spatial and temporal variations of aerial VOC concentrations and emissions existed and were significantly affected by manure management systems, barn structural designs, and ventilation rates.Scientific research in this area has been mainly driven by odor nuisance, instead of environment or health concerns. Compared with other aerial pollutants in animal agriculture, the current scientific knowledge about VOCs at swine facilities is still very limited and far from sufficient to develop reliable emission factors.     

欧盟游泳场水质监管现状及对我国游泳场水质管理的建议

欧洲国家对游泳场水质的管理由来已久,管理经验丰富,而我国对游泳场水质的管理刚刚起步,仍然存在很多不足。针对目前我国由于监督管理以及某些地区的经营不善出现的一系列游泳场水质问题,本文介绍了欧盟成员国的游泳场水质质量监测管理现状,分别从游泳场水质管理立法、游泳场水质监测方法、游泳场水质评估和等级划分,以及欧盟国家游泳场未来发展趋势等方面,对欧盟国家游泳场水质管理的发展情况进行了分析总结。借鉴欧盟发达国家游泳场的水质管理经验对我国游泳场水质进行监测和管理非常重要,最后提出完善我国游泳场水质管理的一些建议,如建立游泳场水质监测日志,制作游泳场水质信息系统,加强游泳场水质监测技术研究等。希望借助欧盟国家的游泳场管理经验,促进我国游泳场水质管理的进一步发展和完善。     

Evaluation of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Soil Moisture Product over China Using Variance Reduction Factor

In this study, we evaluated the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative soil moisture product v02.1 (ESA CCI SM v02.1) using in situ observations collected at 547 stations in China from 1991 to 2013. A conventional validation was first conducted, and the triple collocation errors of ESA CCI SM and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting reanalysis data were approximately 0.053 and 0.050 m³/m³, respectively. To obtain more reliable validation results, the average soil moisture of the in situ observations per ESA CCI SM pixel was also used as the validation sites. Variance reduction factor (VRF) was adopted to quantify the accuracy of the soil moisture validation sites, and the average VRF was estimated at 4.88%. The validation results were enhanced by excluding validation sites with VRF errors greater than 5% from the statistical analysis. Although the ESA CCI SM underestimated the in situ observations with a Bias of 0.05 m³/m³, a moderately high correlation coefficient of 0.44 and a relatively small unbiased root‐mean‐square difference of 0.05 m³/m³ were observed. This study provides information on the utilization of ESA CCI SM for ecological protection, climate change, and hydrological forecasting. It also suggests the adoption of VRF for future error corrections of satellite‐based products.     

欧盟废物焚烧指令的研究与借鉴

为进一步完善我国废物焚烧标准体系,防控废物焚烧环境风险,本文对欧盟废物焚烧指令与我国焚烧标准体系进行了对比分析。欧盟废物焚烧指令分别对专用焚烧厂和协同焚烧厂从废物运输到处理处置全过程的污染物排放控制做出了相关规定,适用于危险废物和非危险废物的焚烧以及常规污染物和有毒污染物的控制。欧盟废物焚烧指令对不同规模的焚烧设施采用统一标准,以日均值和半小时均值为污染物排放限值,更客观、准确地评价了污染物排放对环境的影响。与欧盟废物焚烧指令相比,我国废物焚烧标准涉及废物联合利用处置的相关条文较少,内容不详,项目缺失。我国烟尘、HCl的排放限值均在欧盟标准限值6倍以上,SO2的排放限值是欧盟标准的4~8倍。除CO、NOx的排放限值外,其他污染物排放限值也明显高于欧盟标准限值。我国采用抽样监测方法,监测结果可能在日常排放值的95%置信区间外,不具备代表性。我国可借鉴欧盟废物焚烧指令的成果制定协同焚烧标准,并严格污染物排放限值,考虑采用日均值或半小时均值的评价方法,提高我国废物焚烧标准的精确性和可执行性。     

中国—欧盟碳泄漏问题实证研究

气候变化问题已被公认为是全球范围内可持续发展面临的最大威胁,碳泄漏问题是目前气候变化领域的一个热点问题.欧盟等以存在碳泄漏为由欲对非减排国家征收碳关税.在此背景下,本文对碳泄漏问题进行理论分析和实证研究.理论分析认为,碳泄漏有三个主要渠道:化石能源的国际贸易、碳密集型产品的国际贸易和能源密集型产业的国际转移,其中,碳密集型产品的国际贸易一直是争论的核心.在此基础上,本文从碳密集型产品的国际贸易角度对中国与欧盟之间碳泄漏问题进行了实证研究.本文选取钢铁、有色金属、水泥、化肥、玻璃和玻璃制品、纸张和纸制品六个碳密集型产业为研究对象,以中国与欧盟碳密集型产品的进出口比率作为指标,考察欧盟实施温室气体减排措施(1992年)以来该指标的变化趋势,以确定中国与欧盟之间是否发生了碳泄漏以及程度如何.研究结果表明,中国与欧盟之间可能并未发生碳泄漏,或者即使发生了碳泄漏,其程度也很微弱,不足以成为欧盟征收碳关税的理由.     

Selective Patronage and Social Justice: Local Food Consumer Campaigns in Historical Context

In the early 2000s, the development of local food systems in advanced industrial countries has expanded beyond creation and support of farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture farms and projects to include targeted Buy Local Food campaigns. Non-governmental groups in many U.S. places and regions have launched such campaigns with the intent of motivating and directing consumers toward more local food purchasing in general. This article examines the current manifestations and possibilities for social justice concerns in Buy Local Food campaigns, by considering them within the more general category of “selective patronage“ campaigns. Historical campaign examples, such as Buy Union, Buy American, and Buy Black campaigns, offer instructive comparisons to contemporary consumer campaigns promoting local food. Through examining the construction of threats, intended beneficiaries, products to be avoided, and those to be preferentially selected, the paper demonstrates how selective patronage campaigns have emphasized social justice needs and concerns for designated groups in ways that have been potentially exclusionary of other disadvantaged groups and thus undermining of social justice more broadly. As a contemporary instance of “selective patronage,“ Buy Local Food campaigns exhibit similar contradictory impulses, which are intensified by the conceptual and practical pitfalls in designating “local.“ The article concludes by considering how the challenges and prospects for commitments to social justice in local food consumer campaigns reinforce the importance of emerging initiatives centered on domestic fair trade.