Sustainability and social inclusion? Examining the frames of Canadian English-speaking environmental movement organisations

Some scholars and activists have suggested that discourses of environmental sustainability do not include sufficient attention to social issues or environmental justice. Since social inclusion is a prevalent masterframe among activists and in social policy circles in Canada and elsewhere, our research explored the extent that English-speaking Canadian environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) incorporate discursive aspects of social inclusion into their website communication. Social inclusion includes such issues as multiculturalism, gender inequality, low income and racialisation. We analysed mission statements, programmes and policy analysis presented by a sample of ENGOs drawn from the membership of the Canadian Environmental Network for evidence of a variety of indicators of attention to social inclusion. We conclude that environmental groups remain locked into an “environmentalist” frame that often ignores such issues. This has major implications for partnerships with other Canadian social movements.     

Lead astray: scale,environmental justice and the El Paso smelter

Residents in Paso del Norte (El Paso, Texas; Sunland Park, New Mexico; and Juárez, Mexico) have been concerned about heavy metal contamination in their communities since the 1970s, when high blood lead levels were found in children living in Smeltertown – a company town for the local metals smelter. After the smelter's closure in 1999, and throughout onsite and offsite cleanup efforts, residents have continued to express concerns about these contamination issues. Using a politics of scale framework and analysing ethnographic data and government, media and scientific documents, this paper identifies a set of major disjunctures between the scales of heavy metal contamination and the scales at which that contamination is regulated. These disjunctures exacerbate regional environmental injustice by complicating public participation, neglecting vulnerability and displacing hazards to new communities. Consequently, applying a politics of scale framework to this case study highlights regulatory and policy failures to address environmental justice.     

Sub-national level of participation in international environmental cooperation: the role of Shiga Prefecture for Lake Biwa environment in Japan

From a state-centric view, sub-national level of participation at the international level can be only feasible if it is an active part of national policy. In the case of Shiga prefectural government's initiative for international lake-environmental cooperation, however, sub-national actors came to see themselves as direct players in the absence of national policy. This study examines under what conditions and in what ways such sub-national level of participation takes place by conducting a case study of Shiga's collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) over lake-environment risk reduction. The article finds that the process of Shiga's participation in transnational governance will have less chance of being duplicated effectively in other Japanese sub-national governments. Shiga's cooperation with the UNEP was primarily driven by the ad hoc bottom-up political mobilisation of the sub-national actors. In general, without institutionalised channels for sub-national governments to participate in the regional/international level, sub-national governments need to mobilise resources on such an ad hoc basis and only pioneering sub-national actors are capable of effectively engaged on unfamiliar territory with the formation process of transnational governance.     

Community epidemiology and environmental health risk from dioxin contamination in Paritutu

This article explores community-awareness perspectives and actions towards dioxin-related health exposure in Paritutu Community, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The actions are analysed through media reports, covering a 10-year period from 1998 to 2008. Since 1964, Paritutu Community residents have expressed concern about increased morbidity associated with dioxin contamination from a nearby agrichemical plant. Upon investigation, official agencies were at first unable to verify a causal link between dioxin and morbidity, precipitating community activism and increasing public pressure on relevant authorities. Residents played a major role in alleviating further damage to their community by analysing and evaluating data and providing information that ultimately resulted in both official recognition of their environmental health risk and preventative strategies to alleviate their morbidity. This article backgrounds the Paritutu Community Epidemiology approach and evaluates stages in how the Paritutu Community overcame indifference and lack of precaution and exerted influence leading to the removal of the source of contamination and positive policy changes in public health including the setting up of ameliorative health services for affected people. The findings of this research support theories of popular, lay, community and worker epidemiology.     

Metabolisms of injustice: municipal solid-waste management and environmental equity in Barcelona's Metropolitan Region

Environmental justice studies that focus on the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) typically examine the unequal distribution of associated health and environmental risks in minority social groups and the political processes that generate these inequalities. With the aim to complement current views on the field, in this work, we explore whether there is an issue of environmental justice in municipal systems' grade of self-sufficiency in treating the MSW that they generate and in their effort to close their material cycles. The methodology used is based on the concept of urban metabolism and is applied to 12 coastal municipalities of Barcelona's Metropolitan Region in Spain. The metabolism of the MSW flows of each system is analysed to examine (i) the system's efficiency to close its MSW cycles, corresponding to an indicator of environmental sustainability, and (ii) the MSW export and import flows, as an indicator of social sustainability. The results demonstrate a positive correlation between socioeconomic status and the externalisation of MSW treatment-related hazards. The proposed indicator proves to be an excellent tool for the evaluation of both the environmental and social performance of a system considering MSW management.     

适应性环境管理模式在大型赛事筹备中 的应用（下） ——应用实例

将适应性环境管理的模式应用于深圳第26届世界大学生夏季运动会生态环境保障工作,对生态环境保障总目标层层分解落实,由第三方评估机构对任务逐项跟踪管理,定期评估各部门绩效,根据外部条件和内部因素的变化对工作方案和阶段性目标进行动态调整,最大限度地降低了环境管理工作的不确定性。经过六个月的实践应用,大运赛事期间深圳市生态环境保障工作取得了十分显著的成效。     

环境影响评价中的公众参与机制研究

通过梳理分析环境影响评价相关法中公众参与的规定,对照UNEP有效的公众参与五要素,剖析环境影响评价中公众参与机制的不足,并提出完善环境影响评价中公众参与机制的对策。     

WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS FOR CARBONATE AQUIFERS IN GRAZED LAND WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: Water quality indicators of two agriculturally impacted karst areas in southeastern West Virginia were studied to determine the water quality effects of grazing agriculture and water quality trends following initiation of water quality improvement programs. Both areas are tributaries of the Greenbrier River and received funding for best management practices under the President's Initiative for Water Quality and then under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). After 11 years of study there was little evidence to suggest that water quality improved in one area. Three and a half years of study in the other area showed little evidence of consistent water quality improvement under EQIP. Lack of consistent water quality improvement at the catchment scale does not imply that the voluntary programs were failures. Increased livestock numbers as a result of successful changes in forage management practices may have overridden water quality improvements achieved through best management practices. Practices that target well defined contributing areas significantly impacting aquifer water quality might be one way to improve water quality at catchment scales in karst basins. For example, a significant decrease in fecal coliform concentrations was observed in subterranean drainage from one targeted sinkhole after dairy cattle were permanently excluded from the sinkhole.     

中国生态环境科技创新体系建设研究

分析国内外生态环境科技创新的发展现状,相比较国外以市场机制为导向、以企业为创新主体、政府通过政策和管辖支撑创新的体系特征,我国已形成四大类环境类科创载体,但尚未形成成熟有效的技术成果产业化机制以及市场与政策协同促进科技创新的发展模式。本文根据生态环境科技创新的强政策驱动性、技术验证放大周期长以及集成性强的特点,重点通过环境技术研发、技术成果转化、技术放大与赋能、产业拓展与推广四个方面阐述了生态环境科技创新体系建设的主要环节：环境技术的研发由以科研机构为主的传统自发性研发、企业迭代性研发和联合应用型研发组成;技术成果的转化经历挖掘发现、技术识别与判断、知识产权评估评价后进入已成立的企业或新设公司,在这一过程中,成果转化专业队伍起着至关重要的作用;技术放大与赋能旨在为有创新技术的企业提供科技创新政策、二次研发中试验证、首台套工程案例、投融资等资源的对接,以协助初创企业成长;产业的拓展与推广则通过为解决环境问题形成集成方案、孵化平台为企业背书和产业政策匹配等方式助力企业长期发展。最后从加强专业化创新平台、技术评估体系、成果转化人才培养体系建设以及疏通投融资渠道等方面对中国未来生态环境科技创新发展提出相关建议。     

废荧光灯的环境污染对策探讨

废荧光灯管中的有害物质如果处置不当,会对人体健康和环境造成危害。目前国内大部分废荧光灯管未得到无害化处置,主要在指定的法规、有效的政策以及完善的运营机制方面存在很多弊端,应引起社会各界的关注和政府部门的重视。本文结合国内外废荧光灯管回收处置现状,针对存在的问题,提出源头控制、分类收集、多渠道回收、建立资金及资金补贴机制以及技术手段措施,为从根本上解决废旧灯管回收难的问题,并探索社会源危险废物的管理提供对策建议。