Environmental,economic and social costs and benefits of a packaging waste management system: A Portuguese case study

The impact of the management of packaging waste on the environment, economic growth and job creation is analyzed in this paper. This integrated assessment intends to cover a gap in the literature for this type of studies, using the specific case study of the Portuguese packaging waste management system (SIGRE).The net environmental benefits associated with the management of packaging waste, are calculated using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The results show that, for the categories studied, the impacts associated to SIGRE's various activities are surpassed by the benefits associated to material and energy recovery, with special focus on recycling. For example, in 2011 SIGRE avoided the emission of 116 kt CO₂ equiv. – the equivalent carbon emission of the electricity consumption of 124.000 households in Portugal.The economic impact of SIGRE is evaluated through Input–Output Analysis. It was found that SIGRE's activities also have a significant economic impact. For example, their added value are ranked amongst the upper third of the economic activities with highest multiplier effect at national level: this means that for each Euro of value added generated within SIGRE, 1.25 additional € are added to the rest of the economy (multiplier effect of 2.25).Regarding the social impacts of SIGRE, the number of direct jobs associated with the system is estimated to be more than two thousand and three hundred workers. Out of these, 83% are connected to the management of municipal waste packaging (selective collection and sorting), 15% are connected to the management of non-municipal packaging waste and only 2% are connected to the Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV, green dot society in English) – the management entity responsible for SIGRE.In general terms, the results obtained provide quantitative support to the EEA (2011) suggestion that moving up the waste hierarchy – from landfilling to recycling – creates jobs and boosts the economy.     

Michael Soulé (1936–2020) on spirituality,ethics, and conservation biology

Michael Soulé is best known for his scientific contributions and central role in founding the Society for Conservation Biology and its flagship journal. Less well known are his childhood experiences, his affinity for Zen Buddhism and Arne Naess’ deep ecology philosophy, and his contributions as an environmental activist to efforts to protect biodiversity and rewild ecosystems. Also less well known is the extent to which he was an interdisciplinary environmental studies scholar, struggling to understand what promotes and hinders proenvironmental behaviors. In this regard, his life and that of many other conservation scientists provide important clues, but no easy answers. By attempting to integrate the humanities, with its quest for a meaningful and fulfilling human existence, with naturalistic nature spirituality and ecocentric values, as well as the social and natural sciences, Soulé sought to solve the riddle as to why human beings seemed unable to understand, slow, and halt negative anthropogenic environmental change. He thus modeled what interdisciplinary environmental studies is at its best. Those advocating the conservation of biological diversity have much to learn from Michael Soulé, not only from his scientific findings but also from his way of seeing, the questions he asked, and his love of the living world.     

三十年来中国自然资源学会的发展与展望

中国自然资源学会迎来了30周年的大喜日子。论文系统地回顾了30 a来学会的发展历程,分析了存在的主要问题,对未来发展前景进行了展望。30 a来,学会经历了开创、发展和壮大的不同阶段,在为国家经济社会发展提供重要的资源科技支撑的同时,不断丰富资源科学研究的实践经验,并初步建立了中国特色的资源科学理论和方法体系框架。目前,学会已经拥有5 000多名会员、16个专业委员会、3个工作委员会、6个省级学会,成为中国科协下属的全国201个科技社团中的优秀学会之一。通过了国家民政部组织的中国社会组织评估并获得全国社会组织4A 级等级证书;获得了中国科协组织评审的优秀科技社团三等奖。但是,一些根本性问题仍然存在,包括:基本确立了资源科学但尚不牢靠;强调资源综合研究但分支学科分散;国内学术交流活跃但国际交流薄弱。未来学会将继续完善现有的理论方法体系,开拓资源学科研究的新领域;加强世界资源研究和国际合作交流;围绕国民经济应用性强的重大资源科学问题开展决策咨询;狠抓学科建设和资源科技人才培养;搭建"自然资源态势分析与学科发展信息平台"。     

中国土地资源研究与学术交流新进展

中国自然资源学会土地资源研究专业委员会成立于1986年6月,石玉林院士担任土地资源研究专业委员会首届主任,肖笃宁研究员担任第二届主任,倪绍祥教授担任第三届主任,刘彦随研究员担任第四届主任至今。在创始人石玉林院士的带领和指导下,在各届专业委员会的精诚团结与共同努力下,中国土地资源研究及其学术交流活动卓有成效,对推进我国土地资源科学研究、学科发展、规划管理和决策实践,发挥了重要的作用。正值中国自然资源学会30周年庆典之际,论文侧重梳理近10多年来,在土地资源研究专业委员会的组织与协调下,中国土地资源研究的主要特点及组织开展学术交流的进展情况,浅谈推进土地资源研究与学术交流的认识和主要体会,简要分析土地资源学科发展前景和亟需深入研究的前沿领域。     

关于环境空气质量和谐度的研究与应用

在目前我国城市都在应用空气污染指数来评价空气质量的基础上,提出应用环境空气质量和谐度来评价大、中型城市环境空气质量,详细阐述了环境空气质量和谐度的定义、评价依据、级别划分、评价方法以及定性描述,并对环境空气质量和谐度对城市环境空气质量评价进行了应用。     

A commentary on decision-making and organisational legitimacy in the Risk Society

Key concepts of Risk Society as elaborated by Ulrich Beck and others (Beck, U., 1992 (trans. Mark Ritter). The Risk Society. Sage Publications, London. Beck, U., 1995, Ecological Politics in the Age of Risk. Polity Press, Cambridge. Beck, U., 1999, World Risk Society. Polity Press, Cambridge. Giddens, A., 1994, Beyond Left and Right. Polity Press, Oxford. Beck, U., Giddens, A. and Lash, S., 1994, Reflexive Modernisation: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Stanford University Press, Stanford. Beck, U., Bonss, W. and Lau, C., 2003, Theory, Culture & Society 2003, Sage, London, 20(2), pp. 1-33.) are illuminated though a case study of managed environmental risk, namely the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) controversy at Botany, a southeast suburb of Sydney. We observe the way multiple stakeholder decision-making plays out a number of Risk Society themes, including the emergence of 'unbounded risk' and of highly 'individualised' and 'reflexive' risk communities. Across several decades, the events of the HCB story support Risk Society predictions of legitimacy problems faced by corporations as they harness technoscientific support for innovation in their products and industrial processes without due recognition of social and environmental risk. Tensions involving identity, trust and access to expert knowledge advance our understanding of democratic 'sub-political' decision-making and ways of distributing environmental risk.     

Energy forecasting and atmospheric CO2 perspectives: two worlds ignore each other

Macroeconomic models predict that the global primary energy demand will increase by a factor of 2–4 by the year 2050. In contrast, climate analyses made by the IPCC claim that CO₂ emissions in 2050 should not exceed the values of 1990 or even be 20% lower. By 2100 emissions should be reduced to one third of the present value. The common wisdom to deal with these opposing trends is the concept of de-carbonization, i.e., the continuous decrease of the carbon emission per unit energy utilization. De-carbonization rates needed to compensate for the growing demand while keeping the CO₂-emissions constant should at least be 2% per year compared to actual values of 0.3%. The potential of different de-carbonization rate measures is analyzed. It is argued that the goal can only be met if per capita energy utilization in the industrialized countries is significantly reduced from their typical level of 5000–10 000 W. As a realistic target we suggest 2000 Watt per capita, the present global average. This would leave expansion capacity for the developing countries which presently have per capita demand between 300 and 1000 W. Based on the example of Switzerland it is shown that the two key issues to attain this goal are the quality of buildings and the demand for mobility. It is concluded that the conversion of the present energy system into a 2000 W system is neither limited by technology nor by finances but by the acceptance of a new life style in which energy is used more efficiently and more intelligently than today. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

倡导绿色建筑,构筑资源节能型社会

本文比较系统地介绍了绿色建筑的内涵、特点、发展现状和趋势等,为构筑资源节能型社会提供参考依据。     

确保环境安全 构建和谐社会

我国现阶段，环境恶化趋势尚未得到有效遏制，环境灾难也时有发生，环境安全形势不容乐观。接连不断的环境污染事件对人民健康、生态环境、经济发展造成了严重影响。文章就确保公众的环境安全提出了几项措施，以期改善目前的环境污染状况．加快构建和谐社会的步伐。     

一种飞机发动机影响区设备的可靠性试验剖面设计方法

目的 准确制定飞机发动机影响区设备的可靠性试验剖面,提出一种可靠性试验剖面设计方法.方法 结合飞机发动机影响区设备的振动"宽带随机信号叠加窄带尖峰信号"的特点,采用工程截取等效法对实测振动数据分析归纳,得到振动试验谱.然后根据振动应力简化原则和飞机典型任务状态的持续时间及其占整个任务剖面的时间比例得到振动应力条件,并合成可靠性试验剖面.结果 使用此方法对某飞机发动机影响区设备的振动数据进行处理,得到飞机发动机影响区设备的可靠性试验剖面.结论 提出的工程截取等效法非常适合发动机影响区设备振动信号的分离和归纳;提出的可靠性试验剖面设计方法,为飞机发动机影响区设备的可靠性剖面设计工作提供了新思路,对飞机发动机影响区域设备的可靠性设计有重要意义.