Incompatible Land Uses and the Topology of Cumulative Risk

The extensive literature on environmental justice has, by now, well defined the essential ingredients of cumulative risk, namely, incompatible land uses and vulnerability. Most problematic is the case when risk is produced by a large aggregation of small sources of air toxics. In this article, we test these notions in an area of Southern California, Southeast Los Angeles (SELA), which has come to be known as Asthmatown. Developing a rapid risk mapping protocol, we scan the neighborhood for small potential sources of air toxics and find, literally, hundreds of small point sources within a 2-mile radius, interspersed with residences. We also map the estimated cancer risks and noncancer hazard indices across the landscape. We find that, indeed, such large aggregations of even small, nondominant sources of air toxics can produce markedly elevated levels of risk. In this study, the risk profiles show additional cancer risks of up to 800 in a million and noncancer hazard indices of up to 200 in SELA due to the agglomeration of small point sources. This is significant (for example, estimates of the average regional point-source-related cancer risk range from 125 to 200 in a million). Most importantly, if we were to talk about the risk contour as if they were geological structures, we would observe not only a handful of distinct peaks, but a general “mountain range” running all throughout the study area, which underscores the ubiquity of risk in SELA. Just as cumulative risk has deeply embedded itself into the fabric of the place, so, too, must intervention seek to embed strategies into the institutions and practices of SELA. This has implications for advocacy, as seen in a recently initiated participatory action research project aimed at building health research capacities into the community in keeping with an ethic of care.     

环境标志计划与中国循环经济探讨

经济发展模式的优劣直接影响着社会发展形态的性质和方向。循环经济发展模式是实现低资源能源消耗、高经济效益、低污染排放,既生态经济。环境标志计划以生命周期评价为理论基础,对产品的环境行为进行控制,推动循环经济发展,环境标志计划是推动循环经济发展的动力。     

A comparative analysis of predictors of sense of place dimensions: attachment to, dependence on, and identification with lakeshore properties

Sense of place can be conceived as a multidimensional construct representing beliefs, emotions and behavioural commitments concerning a particular geographic setting. This view, grounded in attitude theory, can better reveal complex relationships between the experience of a place and attributes of that place than approaches that do not differentiate cognitive, affective and conative domains. Shoreline property owners (N=290) in northern Wisconsin were surveyed about their sense of place for their lakeshore properties. A predictive model comprising owners' age, length of ownership, participation in recreational activities, days spent on the property, extent of property development, and perceptions of environmental features, was employed to explain the variation in dimensions of sense of place. In general, the results supported a multidimensional approach to sense of place in a context where there were moderate to high correlations among the three place dimensions. Perceptions of environmental features were the biggest predictors of place dimensions, with owners' perceptions of lake importance varying in explanatory power across place dimensions.     

Optimizing Messaging to Reduce Red Meat Consumption

Red meat production has a range of negative environmental impacts. We sought to characterize the motivations, environmental attitudes and demographics of red meat-eaters, and examine the effect of message framing in reducing future meat consumption. Canadian adult meat-eaters (593) completed a survey and were randomly assigned to one of six message treatments that presented information on the environmental impacts of meat production using frames representing social norms and/or place identity constructs. Taste and quality were the most important motivators for eating meat, while moral/ethical factors were the least. Forty-nine percent of respondents indicated they would reduce red meat intake after exposure to an information only message, while the social norms frame was more effective than others (χ2). Awareness of the environmental effects increased significantly after messaging for all 13 impacts. These findings should assist communicators with designing more effective messaging aimed at encouraging pro-environmental behaviours associated with meat consumption.     

Estimate on spillover effect of environmental pollution between peripheral areas

ABSTRACT

Interaction of environmental pollution between peripheral areas has become a central topic in the field of resources and environment but little is known about the actual impact on peripheral areas in the current literature. This paper sets out a simultaneous equation model to investigate the spillover effect of environmental pollution between China’s peripheral areas utilizing the panel data of 218 cities in China. Making use of indicators for measuring the impact on environmental pollution, it identifies that environmental pollution between cities of China has a significant two-way spillover effect. After standardization of variables, it is found that the spillover effect of peripheral areas on urban environmental pollution cannot be neglected. Nearly, a third of the environmental pollution level in a city is induced by the environmental pollution in peripheral areas. If the indicator of environmental pollution in peripheral areas is missing, wrong conclusions will be drawn. Therefore, government should shift the emphasis of environmental regulation from local to global, and improve the overall environmental quality through coordinated management of regional environment.     

环境管理理论基础的思考

阐述了环境管理学的理论基础,包括人地关系、管理学、生态学、经济学、生态经济学、法学、环境伦理学和教育学理论。     

《燃煤二氧化硫排放污染防治技术政策》绩效定量评估

基于全国46个城市(其中38个城市位于"两控区")1996~2005年的面板数据,运用difference-in-differ-ences(DID)模型对《燃煤二氧化硫排放污染防治技术政策》的绩效进行了定量评估。结果表明,该政策的实施对于降低工业二氧化硫排放量起到积极作用,使"两控区"城市年工业二氧化硫的排放量平均降低了19.3%。     

遥感技术在现代环境监测与环境保护中的应用

现代环境监测已经发展到环境质量监测为主的整体预防性监测,全球环境保护的国际性、跨学科及综合性性质,使得包括遥感在内的“3S”技术在区域环境质量监测和全球性的重大环境问题研究方面广泛应用。本文介绍了遥感技术在全球气候监测、水环境监测和大气污染监测等方面的应用实例,指出遥感技术应与地面监测紧密结合,进一步加强对环境资源的动态监测。     

试论高速公路营运管理中的环境保护

高速公路的发展为改善交通环境和拉动所在地区的经济建设做出了重大贡献,但不论是在建设阶段,还是在运营阶段,高速公路都会不可避免地对周围的自然生态环境产生直接或间接的影响,并带来一系列的环境污染问题。文章对高速公路营运管理的环境保护中存在的问题作了比较深入地分析与探讨,并初步提出了营运期环境保护工作的重点与措施。