Writing about Everyday Beauty: Anthropomorphizing and Distancing as Literary Practices

In this paper two ways to communicate a relation to one's everyday life environment are discussed: anthropomorphizing and distancing. Both are often thought to convey hierarchically anthropocentric relations to nature and as such to be undesired. The basis of this paper is empirical research conducted in a small northern Finnish village. Four villagers participated in writing letters about beauty in their everyday lives. In this paper the letters of two participants are discussed in detail. I conclude that anthropomorphism and distancing serve as literary practices of negotiating a meaningful relation to one's everyday life environment by conceptually framing the interplay of one's perceived proximity to and distance from the not-her.     

From Environmental Campaigns to Advancing the Public Dialog: Environmental Communication for Civic Engagement

This essay examines the claims of environmental identity campaigns regarding the issue of climate change. Identity campaigns are based on the idea that more effective environmental messages developed through the application of cognitive science by professional communications experts can favorably influence public opinion, and thus support legislative action to remedy this issue. Based on a review of the sociological and psychological literature regarding social change and mobilization, I argue that while this approach may offer short term advantages, it is most likely incapable of developing the large scale mobilization necessary to enact the massive social and economic changes necessary to address global warming. Specifically, theoretical and empirical research on the role of the public sphere, civil society and social movements shows that democratic civic engagement is core to successful social change efforts. However, identity campaigns focus on a communications process that centers on elite led one way communications, which falls to allow for any form of civic engagement and public dialogue. This undermines the creation of a democratic process of change and reinforces the professionalization of political discourse, leading to a weakening of the mobilization capacity over this issue of global warming. The essay concludes with the outlines of an environmental communication process that aims at enhancing civic engagement and democratic decision making.     

Researching Visual Environmental Communication

In 2008, we published a journal paper arguing that while scholarly work on media representations of environmental issues had made substantial progress in textual analysis, there had been much less work on visual representations. This special edition has a number of aims in this respect. It seeks to mark out where there has been progress since 2008, and the papers in this collection represent some of the fresh and exciting high quality scholarly work now emerging on an expanding number of topics and using different methods. We argue that we need to think more openly about what we mean by “the visual.” We begin by placing research into visual representations of the environment into the wider trajectory of visual studies research. We then proceed to review key trends in visual environmental communication research and to delineate core dimensions, contexts and sites of visual analysis.     

Greenwashing Consumption: The Didactic Framing of ExxonMobil's Energy Solutions

Corporate advertising campaigns increasingly use environmental frames to promote their products and processes, many of which are neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly. This study examines ExxonMobil's recent efforts at green advertising, focusing specifically on their widely aired “Energy Solutions” television advertisements. We argue that ExxonMobil's use of a didactic, greenwashed frame stifles criticism and discourages examination of ideologies of consumption by exploiting the ethos of the scientist and highlighting technological solutions to problems that are deeply tied to a culture of consumerism. The definition of green energy is controlled by those with the power to generate persuasive public messages about the sources and production of energy. Counterframes, however, can be employed to turn a questioning eye upon the solutions advanced by ExxonMobil. We issue a call for green frames that help citizens and consumers critically examine the ecological integrity of all means of energy production, and that call attention to the ways in which the greenwashing of research and development initiatives can dissuade necessary action, including reduction of US energy consumption.     

China’s Import of Wastes and Its Implications

Abstract

The trade of wastes in the world has been increasing and China has become the largest importer of wastes. This paper examines the import trend of different wastes and finds out that the total import volume to China approved by the Chinese government keeps increasing and the illegal trade can not be banned despite repeated prohibitions; therefore, China is not only “a world factory”, but actually “a global garbage dump”. In order to well understand the implications of wastes import, this paper further analyzes the resource and environmental effects and risks of different wastes imports as well as the strong driving force of wastes imports. Based on these detailed analysis and solid data, policy recommendations are put forward to reduce the demand for raw materials, to further strengthen the inspection of and supervision over the international trade of the wastes that can be used as raw materials by using the life cycle analysis and risk analysis, to improve the environmental standards and strengthen the disposal capacity, to re-export the raw materials produced from the imported wastes, to develop the long-term planning for the import of wastes and to promote international cooperation.     

京津冀臭氧污染特征、气象影响及基于神经网络的预报效果评估

基于生态环境监测和气象观测数据,分析了2016~2020年京津冀13个城市臭氧（O₃）浓度特征,讨论了O₃污染高发月份日最高温度（T_max）、日均地面气压（p）、日均地面相对湿度（RH）和日均地面风速（v）等气象要素对O₃-8h浓度和O₃-8h超标情况的影响规律,并采用AQI级别预报准确率、O₃浓度范围预报准确率和O₃级别预报准确率等方法,评估了基于神经网络的O₃统计预报效果.结果表明,2016~2020年期间京津冀13城市ρ（O₃-8h-90per）分别为157.4、177.2、177.3、190.6和175.6μg·m^-3,区域臭氧浓度5a上升了11.6%,2016~2019年期间总体呈波动上升趋势,2020年环比下降;2020年与2016年相比,除北京、张家口和承德略有下降外,其他10个城市ρ（O₃-8h-90per）上升了6~45.5μg·m^-3.O₃-8h月均值呈现"两头低,中间高"现象,ρ（O₃-8h）在4~9月的月均值超过了100 μg·m^-3,在6月最高,为158.10 μg·m^-3.城市O₃-8h超标率范围为8.6%~19.2%,97.8%的O₃-8h超标情况发生在4~9月.区域尺度上O₃-8h浓度与日最高温度相关性最强,当T_max在25~28℃区间时,所有城市开始出现O₃-8h超标.O₃-8h浓度与日均地面气压呈负相关关系;当RH在60%以下时,大部分城市O₃-8h浓度随相对湿度上升缓慢增长;当RH在61%~70%以上时,大部分城市O₃-8h浓度随日均相对湿度上升而下降.O₃-8h超标时的地面主导风向主要为偏南风,大部城市O₃-8h浓度高值易集中出现在2~3m·s^-1及以下低风速区间.OPAQ统计模式提前1~9 d预报相关系数范围为0.72~0.86,AQI级别预报平均准确率为67%~86%,O₃-8h浓度范围预报平均准确率为63%~84%.在O₃-8h超标情况多发的4~9月,模式对O₃轻度污染和O₃-8h超标情况提前3 d预报准确率分别为69%和66%,可为O₃-8h超标管控提供参考依据.     

Minimizing external indirect health costs due to aerosol population exposure: a case study from Northern Italy

Environmental Agencies require Decision Support Systems, in order to plan Air Quality Policies considering the cost of emission reduction measures and the human health effects (with related social costs). The use of Decision Support Systems is also useful to spread information to general public, explaining the effectiveness of proposed air quality plans. In this paper, a multi-objective approach to control PM10 concentration at a regional level is presented. The problem considers both the internal costs (due to the implementation of emission reduction measures) and the external costs (due to population exposure to high PM10 concentrations). To model PM10 concentrations, a single surrogate model is used for the entire domain, allowing the implementation of a very efficient optimization procedure. The surrogate model is derived through a set of 10 simulations, performed using a Chemistry Transport Model fed with different emission reduction scenarios. The methodology is applied to Northern Italy, a region affected by very high PM10 concentrations that exceed the limit values specified by the EU legislation.     

Controlling urban air pollution caused by households: uncertainty, prices, and income

We examine the control of air pollution caused by households burning wood for heating and cooking in the developing world. Since the problem is one of controlling emissions from nonpoint sources, regulations are likely to be directed at household choices of wood consumption and combustion technologies. Moreover, these choices are subtractions from, or contributions to, the pure public good of air quality. Consequently, the efficient policy design is not independent of the distribution of household income. Since it is unrealistic to assume that environmental authorities can make lump sum income transfers part of control policies, efficient control of air pollution caused by wood consumption entails a higher tax on wood consumption and a higher subsidy for more efficient combustion technologies for higher income households. Among other difficulties, implementing a policy to promote the adoption of cleaner combustion technologies must overcome the seemingly paradoxical result that efficient control calls for higher technology subsidies for higher income households.     

Evaluation of compost blankets for erosion control from disturbed lands

Soil erosion due to water and wind results in the loss of valuable top soil and causes land degradation and environmental quality problems. Site specific best management practices (BMP) are needed to curb erosion and sediment control and in turn, increase productivity of lands and sustain environmental quality. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of three different types of biodegradable erosion control blankets- fine compost, mulch, and 50-50 mixture of compost and mulch, for soil erosion control under field and laboratory-scale experiments. Quantitative analysis was conducted by comparing the sediment load in the runoff collected from sloped and tilled plots in the field and in the laboratory with the erosion control blankets. The field plots had an average slope of 3.5% and experiments were conducted under natural rainfall conditions, while the laboratory experiments were conducted at 4, 8 and 16% slopes under simulated rainfall conditions. Results obtained from the field experiments indicated that the 50-50 mixture of compost and mulch provides the best erosion control measures as compared to using either the compost or the mulch blanket alone. Laboratory results under simulated rains indicated that both mulch cover and the 50-50 mixture of mulch and compost cover provided better erosion control measures compared to using the compost alone. Although these results indicate that the 50-50 mixtures and the mulch in laboratory experiments are the best measures among the three erosion control blankets, all three types of blankets provide very effective erosion control measures from bare-soil surface. Results of this study can be used in controlling erosion and sediment from disturbed lands with compost mulch application. Testing different mixture ratios and types of mulch and composts, and their efficiencies in retaining various soil nutrients may provide more quantitative data for developing erosion control plans.     

Exploring trends, sources, and causes of environmental funding: a study of Florida counties

Florida is one of the largest spenders on the environment in the U.S. Employing a database from Florida counties, this study examines two distinct environmental funding areas in government: funding to protect the environment, and funding to develop the environment. These two types of funding serve different purposes, support different activities and operations, and draw from different revenue sources. The results show that environmental funding in government is a response to the environmental pressure generated by economic activities and population growth. Counties with a higher level of manufacturing and farming activity spend more to protect the environment, while counties with higher population densities spend more to develop the environment. Moreover, counties with more funding for public safety and economic development activities spend less on the environment, indicating that environmental funding is influenced by the political processes in public budgeting in which diversified interests compete for resources. These results show that environmental spending in government is the result of combined forces arising from environmental pressure and budgetary politics.