Economics and energetics of organic and conventional farming

The use of organic farming technologies has certain advantages in some situations and for certain crops such as maize; however, with other crops such as vegetables and fruits, yields under organic production may be substantially reduced compared with conventional production. In most cases, the use of organic technologies requires higher labor inputs than conventional technologies. Some major advantages of organic production are the conservation of soil and water resources and the effective recycling of livestock wastes when they are available.     

DISTRIBUTED DISCHARGE OF COOLING WATER ALONG DIRECTION OF STREAM FLOW1

ABSTRACT. A multiple-outfall system for cooling water disposal which is distributed along the direction of stream flow is analyzed. The results provide a simple method of preliminary design of a cooling water discharge outfall system and for a quick extimate of water quality of a polluted stream. It is shown that a properly designed distributed discharge system is capable of preventing serious pollution due to localized discharge of wastes and waste heat; however, the final design of the discharge system should take into account alternative schemes of waste heat disposal and their economic consequences.     

可持续发展能力建设的理论分析与重构

本文从《２１ 世纪议程》所述的可持续发展能力的解释出发,首次定义了可持续发展能力建设的概念,全面阐术述了能力建设的基本概念和实质内涵;同时,从理论上论述了能力建设的现实意义、能力建设的途径以及能力建设在实施可持续发展战略中基础作用。     

减灾事业的发展和综合减灾

中国减灾事业的发展史可分3个阶段:第一阶段是新中国成立以前的几千年,减灾活动以赈灾为主,帝王“祭天求恕”,“防灾吏制”,安抚于民。清末民初1800至1949年间计发生巨灾25起,死亡4993万余人,总灾亡则近亿,年均灾亡60万人以上,这段惨痛的灾况记下了十分难得的灾情史,泣血于残野。新中国成立后,在“为人民服务”的思想指导下,为减轻灾害损失,逐步建立了气象、水利、农林、地震、海洋、地质等专业的灾害科技与减灾工程,政府并组织社会兼事抗灾、救灾、应急减灾,国家减灾实力快速增长,已取得突出减灾实效,这个阶段比第一阶段灾亡人数下降了90%以上,但年均灾亡人口仍有1.2万人左右。该阶段的工作特点是以单灾种纵向体系为主,不同灾类的监测、预报水平尚高低不一,这与成灾机理的难易程度和工作条件的强弱有关。21世纪初,随全球增温之势锐升,多类极端灾变遍及各洲,促使许多国家发动全社会人众共同探求“综合减灾”之路;我国政府已迅即开展全社会应急减灾行动,开启了“综合减灾”之先声,这是减灾事业步入第三阶段的先导。综合减灾应该是全社会相关部门和民众的统一行动。目前尚有3个问题需要弄清楚,一是多种自然灾害之间成灾机理相关性的研究,其对象是灾害群与灾害链;二是全社会减灾要素综合运作预案的优选;三是如何核算减灾投入与社会可持续发展之正、负效应关系。     

Meaning work: reworking institutional meanings for environmental governance

Effective environmental governance requires institutional change. While some actors work to change institutions, others resist change by defending and maintaining institutions. Much of this institutional work is ‘meaning work’, which we define as the practice of crafting, adapting, connecting and performing meanings to purposively create, maintain or disrupt institutions. This paper constructs a concept of meaning work that highlights agency in carrying meanings across scales and between discursive layers, while noting the structuring role of prevailing discourses. It grounds the concept using two environmental governance cases at very different scales: a local democratic innovation employed by Noosa Council in Queensland, Australia; and the international campaign to divest from fossil fuels. The cases demonstrate the diversity of meaning work and the difficulty of achieving deep discursive change. They point to the need for environmental governance practitioners to rework existing meanings to construct compelling stories for change, taking advantage of narrative openings.     

A narrative perspective on institutional work in environmental governance – insights from a beach nourishment case study in Sweden

Institutional work offers a promising lens for understanding institutional change, focusing on the efforts of actors in creating, maintaining or disrupting institutions. In this paper, we explore the capacity of a narrative approach to provide insights on institutional work, using a case study from the coast of Sweden. We identify four narratives that compete in the policy discourse regarding erosion and beach nourishment in the coastal province of Scania. The narratives reveal that actors hold different beliefs concerning the magnitude of the erosion problem, the division of responsibilities and the suitability of sand nourishment as a coastal protection measure. The narrative competition is considered reflective of past institutional discussions and ongoing institutional work in coastal management in Scania, confirming that narratives are used as sense-making and meaning-giving devices in institutional discussions.     

WASTE WATER REUSE IN PHOENIX-HOW VIABLE IS IT?1

ABSTRACT: The Phoenix metropolitan area has a unique combination of circumstances which makes it one of the prime areas in the Nation for waste water reuse. Overriding all of these conditions is the long-term inadequacy of the existing water supplies. The Salt River Valley has a ground water overdraft of about 700,000 acre feet per year. To help alleviate this situation, the Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the MAG 208 is looking at ways to reuse a projected 2020 waste water flow of 340,000 acre feet per year. Reuse options identified include ground water recharge, agricultural irrigation, turf irrigation, recreational lakes, fish and wildlife habitats, and industrial cooling. These look nice on paper but before they can be implemented, some hard questions have to be answered, such as: How acceptable are local treatment plants when 15 years ago there was a major push to eliminate local plants; is the Phoenix area ready for reuse in urban areas; what are people willing to pay for water; who benefits if a city goes to ground water recharge; how much agriculture will be left in the area by 2020? These and other questions must be resolved if reuse is to become a viable option in water resource planning in the Phoenix area. Summary. Large scale reuse of waste water conforms with the national goal of better resource management through recycling. The Phoenix metropolitan area has a unique combination of circumstances which makes it one of the prime areas in the nation for waste water reuse. Some of the most notable conditions are: the existence of a large and rapidly growing urban area which is in the process of planning for future waste water management systems; the existence of agricultural areas which are projected to be farmed well into the future, and the existence of constructed and planned major recreational systems such as Indian Bend Wash which can use recycled waste water; the existence of extensive depleted ground water aquifers; the need for a dependable source for the cooling of the Palo Verde Nuclear reactors; and finally, overriding all of this, the long-term inadequacy of the existing water supplies. Given this, one would expect to find total reuse within the Phoenix metropolitan area. Reuse is taking place with irrigation and nuclear power cooling to the west but there is no long term plan which looks at the Valley as a whole and considers waste water as part of the Valley's water resources. The Corps 208 plan is looking at waste water in this manner but initial analysis shows that although reuse is technically feasible there are many financial, social, institutional, and political questions still to be answered. These include: determining the value of existing diminishing water sources and what people are willing to pay for the next source of water; are people willing to identify priority uses of water for the area so that water of varying quality is put to its highest and best use; will the present institutional boundaries remain to create water-rich and water-poor areas; and will legislation be forthcoming to simplify the complex surface and ground water laws that presently exist? The Corps 208 study will not be able to answer these questions, but the goal at the moment is to identify feasible reuse systems along with decisions the public, owners, agencies, and politicians must make to select and implement them. If some sort of logical process is not developed and public awareness not increased, the chance for a long-term plan to utilize waste water as a major element in the Phoenix area water resource picture, may be missed.     

CASE STUDIES OF AGRICULTURAL WATER CONSERVATION1

Farmers from four irrigation districts in Texas and California were questioned about water conservation practices they are now using, those they plan to adopt, and potential incentives that government might offer to induce still further water conservation on their part. While responses differed somewhat from place to place and among individual farmers, the general results were: a) farmers reported that “water conservation” is not new to them, it is something they practice regularly; b) recent innovations such as laser controlled land leveling devices have permitted some substantial water use reductions in recent years; and c) even greater incentive mechanisms that government could provide and that farmers would accept as useful incentives, such as long term low interest loans for water saving equipment, would probably not be able to reduce water use in agriculture much further than 15 percent below current levels. It is recommended nonetheless that Federal agencies and local water districts and individuals should nonetheless pursue water conservation training and education programs, demonstrations of conjunctive use and water banking opportunities for water saving, and increased loan programs for installation of water saving equipment.     

THE MILWAUKEE POLLUTION CASE - IMPLICATIONS FOR WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The Illinois v. Milwaukee Federal District Court decision is the most far reaching application yet of the federal common law of nuisance to interstate water pollution conflicts. Although a Federal Appelate Court recently rescinded part of the district court decision, Milwaukee must still upgrade its metropolitan sewage system to a level beyond that required by federal and state regulations. The improvements must be completed with or without federal aid. The case points out the apparent inability of the Clean Water Act, the most comprehensive federal legislation affecting the nation's water quality, to deal with certain interstate water quality conflicts. The Milwaukee decision could set a precedent for similar settlements elsewhere which may in turn affect the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality clean up program. A more integrated, ecosystem conscious approach to management of shared water resources (e.g., the Great Lakes) would help reduce the need for court decisions like Illinois v. Milwaukee.     

ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF LAND USE ON SEWER SERVICE AREA PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The density and distribution of land uses has important consequences for the planning of sewerage systems and for the costs of these systems. This paper examines these consequences using a simplified service area model. The model determines the area to be served by a central waste treatment plant, where alternative on-lot disposal systems are also available. The model is applied to various urban area configurations, which are summarized by their total populations and by their population density distributions. Both minimum regional cost and minimum local cost service area configurations are determined. In addition, the sensitivity of the model to the parameters of the cost and population density functions is assessed. It is found that the model is most sensitive to the parameters of the collection cost function.