Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

高等工程教育与工程技术人员的安全文化素质的培养

从现代生产体系的特点以及产品设计缺陷对人的危害等方面阐述了提高工程技术人员安全文化素质的必要性。进而讨论了我国高等工程教育与安全文化素质培养相脱节的表现和原因。在此基础上，提出了改进高等工程教育，促进工程技术人员安全文化素质提高的一些设想     

Information technologies and the sharing of disaster knowledge: the critical role of professional culture

A comparative survey of a diverse sample of 96 US and Italian emergency management agencies shows that the diffusion of new information technologies (IT) has transformed disaster communications. Although these technologies permit access to and the dissemination of massive amounts of disaster information with unprecedented speed and efficiency, barriers rooted in the various professional cultures still hinder the sharing of disaster knowledge. To be effective the available IT must be attuned to the unique settings and professional cultures of the local emergency management communities. Findings show that available technology, context, professional culture and interaction are key factors that affect the knowledge transfer process. Cultural filters appear to influence emergency managers' perceptions of their own professional roles, their vision of the applicability of technology to social issues, and their perspective on the transferability of disaster knowledge. Four cultural approaches to the application of IT to disaster communications are defined: technocentric; geographic,; anthropocentric; and ecocentric.     

南海海域重要养殖水域牡蛎体中的腹泻性贝类毒素

对2006年和2007年南海海域23个重要养殖水域牡蛎体中腹泻性贝类毒素(DSP)进行了调查,结果表明:甲子港、唐家湾、镇海湾、安埔港、防城港、八所港和榆林港等7个水域牡蛎体DSP毒性呈阳性结果,占调查水域的30.4%,其DSP值均为0.05MU/g.2006年牡蛎体DSP检出率为8.7%(n=23),2007年为21.7%(n=23).调查期间,牡蛎体DSP检出值0.05MU/g已达到了FDA(美国食品药物管理局)、日本、加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰、朝鲜等6个国家食用贝类标准警戒限量水平,和超出了我国<无公害食品水产品中有毒有害物质的限量>规定贝类DSP不得检出标准,表明了近期南海海域某些养殖水域的牡蛎已经受到了DSP毒化的威胁.     

When apologizing hurts: Felt transgression and restoration efforts

Apologizing is important for conflict resolution and relationship reconciliation, yet apologies often fail to restore the damaged relationship. While much research has been devoted to investigating the victims' reactions upon receiving an apology, in this paper, we adopt an apologizer-centric approach and explore the phenomenon of apologizing with no felt transgression (vis-à-vis when there is felt transgression) along with its affective and reconciliation outcomes for the apologizer. Based on Appraisal Tendency Framework, we predict that apologizing with no felt transgression will lead to reduced guilt and increased anger in the apologizer, which will result in a decreased level of their restoration efforts towards the victim. In addition, we further hypothesize about the role of organizational conflict cultures in influencing the relationship between apologizing and restoration efforts via guilt and anger. Study 1 uses a micro-narrative procedure and an inductive data analysis approach to demonstrate the varied situations and motivations of employees apologizing with (no) felt transgression, Study 2 utilizes an experimental design to examine the mediation effect, and Study 3 employs the critical incident technique to test our whole research model. Our hypotheses were largely supported across our studies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Effects of humic acids derived from lignite and cattle manure on antioxidant enzymatic activities of barley root

To investigate the effects of humic acids (HAs) on the ability of plants to defend themselves against oxidative stress, barley was hydroponically cultured in the absence and presence of HAs, and the antioxidant enzymatic activities (catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate and glutathione peroxidases) of root tissue were evaluated. Auxin-like structures in HAs, which were extracted from an oxidation product of lignite (LHA) and compost derived from cattle manure (CHA), were identified by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with tetramethylammonium hydroxide. The LHA, which had the lower molecular weight, was more effective in promoting the growth of barley root than CHA. However, the amounts of auxin-like structures in the CHA were much higher than those for LHA. The antioxidant enzymatic activities were initially decreased in the presence of LHA and CHA at the first day after refreshing the culture solution, but were significantly increased on the second day. The CHA sample, which contained relatively high levels of phenolic acids that contained auxin-like structures, was effective in increasing four types of enzymatic activities, while the activities of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase were increased in the presence of LHA, which contains naphthalene derivatives. These results indicate that using HAs as a supplement can be effective in enhancing antioxidation enzymatic activities, while the appearance of the effects is retarded because of the decomposition and release of auxin-like compounds from HAs by organic acids from the plant roots.     

三级串联人工快渗系统处理养殖废水

人工快速渗滤系统（constructed rapid infiltration,CRI）是在传统的污水快速渗透系统上发展起来的一种新的生物处理方法。采用猪粪浸泡污水模拟实际猪场处理系统的厌氧出水,研究三级串联人工快渗系统对其污染物的去除效果。试验结果表明,三级串联系统对废水COD、NH3N的去除率稳定在81%和94.5%,出水均满足了《畜禽养殖行业污染物排放标准》（GB18596-2001）的要求,同时三级串联系统还可以有效预防系统的堵塞。     

Shifting Baselines: Conveying Climate Change in Popular Music

Popular music is a generation-specific zeitgeist, while music affords otherwise unobtainable engagement with environmental themes. Despite being the most widespread form of music there is a paucity of scholarship on climate change vis-à-vis popular music. In turn, this article explores how popular music may provide a soundtrack that narrates the rapidity of contemporary biophysical change. Approaches of conveying versus communicating climate change in music are considered across a spectrum of musical forms, from contemporary and historical popular music to contemporary classical music and sound art. The article applies the framework of shifting baselines to music engaged with environmental change in order to formulate a closer relationship between objective and quantitative intergenerational biophysical change and subjective and qualitative socio-cultural change. To cease losing track of such inexorable degradation, the article speculates on future musical forms that may obviate such intergenerational myopia by conveying and/or communicating the unprecedented rapidity of biophysical change.     

利用西湖淤泥进行低成本有机型基质栽培试验

以西湖淤泥为主要原料，配以砻糠灰、干鸡粪、菜籽饼等，组配低成本有机型基质，旨在合理开发利用西湖淤泥。处理Ⅰ(西湖淤泥 砻糠灰 干鸡粪)与处理Ⅱ(西湖淤泥 砻糠灰 菜籽饼)均有良好的理化性质，其孔隙度、有机质含量及N、P、K含量适宜樱桃番茄的生长。处理Ⅰ樱桃番茄早期营养生长及前期产量、总产量等方面与对照(泥炭 珍珠岩 泡沫粒)无显著性差异，果实中Vc含量显著高于对照。处理Ⅱ早期营养生长不如对照，但前期产量、总产量与对照无显著性差异，干物质、Vc含量与糖度显著高于对照。处理Ⅰ、处理Ⅱ的成本约为对照的1／2左右。