Identifying motivations and barriers to minimising household food waste

The amount of food discarded by UK households is substantial and, to a large extent, avoidable. Furthermore, such food waste has serious environmental consequences. If household food waste reduction initiatives are to be successful they will need to be informed by people's motivations and barriers to minimising household food waste. This paper reports a qualitative study of the thoughts, feelings and experiences of 15 UK household food purchasers, based on semi-structured interviews. Two core categories of motives to minimise household food waste were identified: (1) waste concerns and (2) doing the ‘right’ thing. A third core category illustrated the importance of food management skills in empowering people to keep household food waste to a minimum. Four core categories of barriers to minimising food waste were also identified: (1) a ‘good’ provider identity; (2) minimising inconvenience; (3) lack of priority; and (4) exemption from responsibility. The wish to avoid experiencing negative emotions (such as guilt, frustration, annoyance, embarrassment or regret) underpinned both the motivations and the barriers to minimising food waste. Findings thus reveal potentially conflicting personal goals which may hinder existing food waste reduction attempts.     

镍的环境生物地球化学与毒性效应研究进展

目前镍的毒性评价大多基于单一指标和室内控制实验研究,如何综合考虑镍在水环境中的形态及天然复合水化学条件的影响,进而准确预测水体中镍的生物毒性是水质基准及生态风险评估领域的难题.本研究结合国内外最新研究进展,对镍的来源、形态、生物有效性、毒性机理、水质基准和标准及污水处理工艺等进行归纳总结.重点围绕镍的环境行为和毒性效应展开,剖析了水化学因子对镍生物有效性的影响,概述了镍对不同营养级水生生物的毒性表现,总结出镍对淡水水生生物的六大毒性作用机理,展望镍的生物有效性对毒性效应的影响趋势,对我国镍的淡水水生生物水质基准的制定具有重要意义.     

内分泌干扰物壬基酚在环境中迁移转化的研究进展

作为一种内分泌干扰物,壬基酚(Nonylphenol,NP)是壬基酚聚氧乙烯醚(NPnEO)的主要降解产物,具有高亲脂性、难降解性、生物累积性和高毒性.全面了解NP在环境中的迁移转化规律是对其进行科学的风险评价的基础.本文归纳和分析了近几年国内外学者有关NP在环境中的分布情况及其迁移转化的研究动态,从来源、分布及其在环境中主要的迁移转化过程和机理等方面分别论述了内分泌干扰物壬基酚在环境中的行为,重点讨论了NP在沉积物和土壤中的吸附-解吸和生物降解的机理及影响因素,最后指出了今后的主要研究方向.     

Acute toxicity bioassay using Paramecium caudatum,a key member to study the effects of monocrotophos on swimming behaviour,morphology and reproduction

The toxic effects of an organophosphorous insecticide, monochrotophos (MCP) were investigated on Paramecium caudatum in static acute toxicity tests (10?min and 2?h). The lethal concentrations (50%) were determined by probit method, for technical monocrotophos as 60 and 40.6?mg?L^?1, respectively. We have combined conventional light microscopy and a computerized video tracking system to determine behavioural and morphological changes in paramecium on exposure to MCP. Paramecia exposed to highest concentrations (90–100?mg?L^?1) used for 10?min exposure, exhibited initial increase with subsequent decrease in mobility with enormous blebbing, leading to lysis of cells. In the second set of experiments, the cells exposed to lethal concentration (40.6?mg?L^?1) for 2?h were under stress, and reduced their locomotor behaviour, i.e. distance travelled per unit time (mm in 6?min) and swimming speed (mm?s^?1) with increased time of exposure. In the third set of experiments, the number of generations and generation time in 24?h was evaluated with respect to the different sub lethal concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 20?mg?L^?1) of toxicant. The number of generations decreased and generation time extended significantly in a concentration dependent manner. The results indicate that the Paramecium toxicity assay could be used as a complimentary system to rapidly elucidate the cytotoxic potential of insecticides.     

Is the economic dimension inducing the other sustainability dimensions,or is it the reverse? Perceptions from the Portuguese metal industry

ABSTRACT

In organizational sustainability, the economic dimension is recognized as having a very important role. However, the discussion regarding whether it is exclusively the economic dimension that has the power to induce the other sustainability dimensions is far from agreement. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perceptions regarding the existence of mutual influences between the economic dimension of sustainability and the other sustainability dimensions – environmental, social and cultural – in a relevant Portuguese economic sector: the metal industry. The analysis and statistical tests performed with the 211 collected answers led to the conclusion that the influence exerted by the economic dimension on the other sustainability dimensions is perceived as dominant, both in present and future perspectives. The results also show the perception that the economic dimension is equally influenced by the environmental and social dimensions, and in a less extent, by the cultural dimension, and that all these mutual influences are perceived to increase in the future. The existence of organizational management systems has a positive effect on the perceptions regarding the existence of mutual influences between sustainability dimensions, but only for those companies with more than one certified management system. These results confirm that organizational management systems are connected to higher degrees of awareness regarding sustainability issues. Given that the great majority of the sampled industries are SMEs, the results obtained in this research demonstrate that the existence of mutual influences between sustainability dimensions is recognized even in small-sized industries.     

Sustaining recycling: identification and application of limiting factors in kerbside recycling areas

SUMMARY

Levels of recycling in the UK are substantially poorer than other European countries and American states. One explanation for low participation rates, has been the failure by some local authorities to bridge the gap between people's attitudes and behaviour. Research has shown that a gap exists between people's environmental attitudes and action. Previous experiments have employed antecedent and consequence conditions to influence the factors that limit environmental action, in an attempt to close the gap between attitudes and behaviour. This paper reports on the research carried out by Cardiff University and De Montfort University, which has attempted to identify and manipulate the factors that influence whether or not someone recycles in the Cities of Cardiff and Leicester. Different experiments were applied to different socio-demographic groups. Questionnaires were used to assess attitudes and behaviour before and after the implementation of a series of experiments. The research indicated that the interventions were more effective at increasing levels of recycling among existing recyclers rather than prompting non-recyclers to start recycling. The interventions differed in terms of their effect upon participation in particular sociodemographic groups. Key factors identified from the research could be equally applicable to other contexts of individual environmental action.     

A critique of the official report on the evacuation of the World Trade Center: continued doubts

This paper criticises the conclusions and the unanswered questions in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s official report on the evacuation of the World Trade Center in New York City, United States, on 11 September 2001. It reviews the extent to which the report disregards several conventional statistical methods and comments on the NIST's refusal to share the machine‐readable data file with the scientific community for replication and further analysis. Problems lie in the sampling methods employed, the treatment of missing data, the use of ordinary least squares (OLS) with binary dependent variables, the failure to document the scalability of the scales used, the lack of tests to check for constant error variance, and the absence of overall fit tests of the model. There are also conceptual and theoretical issues, such as the absence in the report of considerations of the influence of group‐level processes and their impact on the collective behaviour of evacuating collectivities.     

Risk factors for driving into flooded roads

Motor vehicle-related deaths account for more than half of all flood fatalities in the United States, but to date, very little is known about the risk factors associated with why people drive into flooded roads. Using data from survey questionnaires administered in Denver, CO, and Austin, TX, this paper suggests that people who do not take warnings seriously are more likely to drive through flooded roads, as are people aged 18–35, and those that do not know that motor vehicles are involved in more than half of all flood fatalities. In Denver, people who have not experienced a flood previously and those who do not know they live in flood-prone areas are also more likely to drive into flooded roads.     

Mobile phone use while driving: Predicting drivers’ answering intentions and compensatory decisions

The current study considered, for the first time, compensatory decisions within the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain why people use mobile phones while driving. The effects of age, gender, and mobile phone mode on respondents’ answering intentions and compensatory decisions were mainly examined. A series of questions were administered to 333 drivers (ages 25-59), which included (1) demographic measures, (2) scales that measured prior mobile use activities in both driving and ordinary contexts, (3) a question to measure drivers’ perceptions of the safety of hands-free phones, and (4) TPB measures, which measured answer intention and two compensatory behavioural decisions (i.e., reminding the caller that he/she is driving, limiting the length of a conversations (including perceived its limits)), along with predictive variables. Drivers reported a moderate likelihood of answering intention and a strong tendency to engage in the two compensatory behaviours. Answering intention and compensatory decisions, perceived behavioural control, perceived risk, and usage frequency were more dependent on mobile phone mode and age group than gender. The regression models explained 64% and 67% of the variance in answering intention in the handheld and hands-free scenario separately. Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural risk and control (PBRC), and prior answering behaviour emerged as common predictors. The predictive models explained 31% and 37% of the variance for perceived limits of a conversation length in handheld and hands-free scenarios, respectively. Answering intention and PBRC consistently predicted most of the variance (handheld: 28%; hands-free: 32%) for this compensatory perception limits. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Uniting multi‐adult households during emergency evacuation planning

When a no‐notice emergency prompts an evacuation, family members in different locations throughout a city may unite so that they can evacuate as a group. This paper draws on data from more than 300 interviews conducted in the metropolitan area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The study uses discrete choice models to analyse the expectations of respondents regarding whether their likely plans for evacuation involve gathering spouses, parents, adult‐age children, and/or non‐family members. In addition, it addresses the matter of whether respondents plan to reunite with family members at home. Individuals' access to a personal car is the dominating factor in predicting whether respondents plan to gather a spouse. Being the parent of a child under the age of 18 years increases the tendency to report planning to reunite with family members at home. Both commute mode and car availability are not significantly associated with plans to reunite at home.