Food for Thought: Audience Engagement with Sustainability Messages in Branded Content

Branded platforms are a growing “gray-zone” of marketing and media messages, in which corporations and news journalists partner to create content that supports strategic corporate goals while aligning with a publication’s scope of editorial coverage. As corporations are key influencers of and contributors to environmental communication, this trend has the potential to change environmental dialogue. In this article, we closely examine messages about food and sustainability, created in partnership by Chipotle Mexican Grill and the Huffington Post news site. We illustrate how use of a branded platform expanded the scope of environmental topics, issues, and frames that Chipotle addresses, how frames identified here connect to frames in coverage of science-related issues, as identified by other scholars, and discuss how branded platforms allow corporations to draw attention to polarizing environmental issues while protecting stakeholder relationships and brand reputation.     

Preserving Wilderness or Protecting Homelands? Intersections and Divergences in Activist Discourses About Mining in Ontario’s Far North

Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire/Wawangajing controversy constitutes a complex site of debate about the risks and benefits of mining in an area of major ecological significance that is also the ancestral territory of nine First Nation communities. This paper investigates the rhetorical alignments and divergences in public calls by Matawa First Nations tribal council and the Ontario Wildlands League for stronger environmental assessment of mining projects than that favoured by the Canadian government. Tracing the terminologies each group uses to describe the affected region and its inhabitants in its activist rhetoric about EA offers insight into the contingent, shifting ways in which wilderness advocacy and Indigenous justice discourses may speak together yet distinctly within contemporary environmental-natural resource disputes.     

The Dynamics of Justification in Policy Reform: Insights from Water Policy Debates in Ireland

Policy reform can be complex and fraught with contending arguments. Although much research has been conducted into the politics of coalition formation, less attention has been devoted to legitimating logics in policy reform. Drawing on the work of Boltanski and Thévenot, this exploratory study addresses this deficit by examining the influence of justifications deployed in policy debates. The paper analyses the role of shifting reasoning in contentious debates concerning attempts to reform water policy, including the introduction of domestic water charges in Ireland. Employing data from parliamentary deliberations, the paper traces the changing forms of justification used by those favouring and opposing the reforms. This examination suggests the importance of aligning an argument’s content with the shifting context into which it is introduced. The paper highlights the benefits of an investigative approach concerning policy justification for understanding policy reform dynamics at the intersection of politics and environmental communication.     

Media Storms and Policy Expertise: How Environmental Beat Journalists Gained Influence During a Shale Gas Controversy

This article examines the conditions under which environmental beat journalists can gain credibility as expert informants. It shows that media storms foster a particular dynamic that can add to this credibility. Comparing a media storm over shale gas development in Quebec with regular coverage of the same issue in British Columbia, this article shows that the coverage space given to environmental beat journalists during a media storm can render their alliance with protest groups mutually beneficial. Beat journalists can benefit from the willingness of these groups to participate in their stories, while the groups benefit from increased visibility. Beat journalists also benefit by being perceived as expert informants in policy networks, a role that they use to encourage policy-makers to take the concerns of protest groups seriously. This dynamic also increases the negativity of the news coverage. The article makes a contribution to knowledge on the role of environmental journalists in policy-making processes.     

Double Green Process: a low environmental impact method for recycling of CdTe,a-Si and CIS/CIGS thin-film photovoltaic modules

On the basis of the method for managing the end of life of CdTe photovoltaic panels previously proposed by the authors, a new method for the recycling of all types of thin-film panels (CdTe, a-Si and CIS/CIGS) has been developed and optimised under a research project founded by Enel Foundation and CRUI Foundation. The DGP process has been developed through a feasibility study carried out from three points of view: technical, environmental and economic. The process is composed by two sub-processes matched to each other, one suitable for CdTe panels (named DGPa) and the other one for a-Si and CIS/CIGS panels (DGPb). The Double Green Panel process is based mainly on mechanical treatments with a minimum use of chemicals and it is characterised by a greater level of automation and a high flexibility in production capacity. The potential environmental impacts of various configurations of the DGP process have been extensively analysed with LCA tool in order to develop an environmentally friendly process. The economic feasibility has been assessed through the Discounted Cash Flow Analysis (DCFA) method. The revenues associated to the recovery of valuable and common materials and the recycling costs have been taken into account.     

小分子有机酸对紫色土及其溶液中Pb的赋存影响

以紫色土中铅(Pb)为研究对象,采用以0.01 mol·L~(-1)硝酸钠(NaNO_3)为背景电解质的一步提取法,研究了不同浓度下乙酸,酒石酸和柠檬酸对土壤中Pb的释放作用,并通过土壤重金属形态的分步提取法和地球化学平衡软件Visual MINTEQ v3.0,进一步分析和预测了小分子有机酸作用下土壤中Pb以及土壤溶液中Pb的形态变化.在此基础上,分析了小分子有机酸对Pb作用的环境意义与环境风险.结果表明,3种小分子有机酸均显著增加了紫色土中Pb的释放量,活化效果表现为柠檬酸酒石酸乙酸.在有机酸作用下,土壤中交换态Pb总量增加,碳酸盐结合态Pb和铁锰氧化物结合态Pb总量降低;土壤溶液中Pb以有机结合态为主,占总Pb质量的45.16%~75.05%,游离态次之,占22.71%~50.25%,且随着浓度增加,柠檬酸和酒石酸作用下的土壤溶液中的游离态Pb和无机结合态Pb增加,而有机结合态Pb减少,乙酸则呈相反趋势.总体上看,小分子有机酸提高了紫色土中Pb的生物有效性,且存在地下水的淋溶风险,其中柠檬酸的淋溶风险远大于酒石酸和乙酸.     

陆地边界资源开发管理的经验与重点——以新疆北部陆地资源开发为例

新疆在长期边界资源开发的实践中形成了一套具有地方特色的陆地边界资源开发机制,成功地实现了对边界资源开发的有序管控。这些成功经验主要包括:对国家政策与地方政策进行相互配套,通过制度化建设将边界地区的资源开发服务于地方经济发展。在新形势下,边界资源开发出现了一些的新的动向与重点,其中包括在资源开发中注重环境保护问题,以及注重资源开发与边界地区经济发展相适应。总结以往经验,解决这些问题的关键是借助国家的一带一路建设,在实现边界地区安全稳定的基础上,以资源开发的可持续发展作为发展目标,通过经济发展促进边界地区的和谐、安全与稳定。     

生物炭和秸秆还田对微咸水滴灌棉田土壤真菌群落结构多样性的影响

微咸水灌溉增加土壤盐分,改变土壤环境,进而影响土壤真菌的结构和多样性.在长期微咸水灌溉的基础上,分别添加生物炭和秸秆（采用等碳量设计,分别为3.7 t·hm^-2和6 t·hm^-2）,探究生物炭和秸秆对土壤理化性质和真菌群落结构多样性的影响.结果表明：与不施生物炭和秸秆（对照）相比,生物炭施用显著增加土壤的pH、全碳、速效钾和速效磷含量,但显著降低土壤电导率,降低幅度为20.71%;秸秆处理显著增加土壤的速效钾和速效磷含量,但显著降低土壤容重和电导率,降低幅度为4.17%和64.50%.生物炭和秸秆处理对真菌群落Chao1指数和ACE指数有增加趋势,对Shannon指数和Simpson指数有降低趋势.土壤优势真菌门类为子囊菌门、被孢霉门、担子菌门、壶菌门和球囊菌门;优势真菌属为毛壳菌属、赤霉菌属、镰刀菌属、Idriella和被孢霉属.施加生物炭和秸秆提高子囊菌门、被孢霉门、担子菌门、球囊菌门和毛壳菌属的相对丰度;但降低壶菌门、赤霉菌属和Idriella的相对丰度.LEfSe分析表明,施用生物炭和秸秆还田降低真菌群落潜在生物标志物数量.RDA结果显示,土壤真菌群落结构与EC_1：5和TN显著相关.微咸水灌溉给土壤带来了不利影响,其中EC_1：5和TN是驱动土壤真菌群落结构变化的主要因子,土壤真菌群落通过生物炭和秸秆对土壤的改良作用来适应盐胁迫环境.     

2002~2009年兰州PM10人体健康经济损失评估

参考近年来公开发表的国内外流行病学文献,筛选出PM10的健康效应终点和适合于兰州地区的暴露-反应关系系数,对2002~2009年兰州地区PM10人体健康经济损失进行了计算.结果表明2002年以来兰州地区PM10人体健康经济损失并未明显升高,而是逐年波动;年损失值均在10亿元以上,其中2009年最高为16.6亿元; PM10人体健康经济损失与GDP的比值呈明显下降的趋势.     

季节性Kendall检验分析湘江长沙段水质变化趋势

季节性Kendall检验是一种广泛应用于河流水质变化趋势分析的非参数检验。以湘江长沙段三汊矶断面2001—2011年水质监测结果为样本,运用季节性Kendall检验分析湘江长沙段水质变化趋势及影响因素,结果表明:氨氮浓度呈显著上升趋势,总磷浓度呈高度显著上升趋势,总镉、总砷浓度呈高度显著下降趋势,湘江长沙段水质主要受城市生活、工业和农业面源污染物排放的影响,河水流量对水质的影响相对较小。