Spreading the News on Carbon Capture and Storage: A State-Level Comparison of US Media

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has received abundant federal support in the USA as an energy technology to mitigate climate change, yet its position within the energy system remains uncertain. Because media play a significant role in shaping public conversations about science and technology, we analyzed media portrayal of CCS in newspapers from four strategically selected states. We grounded the analysis in Luhmann's theory of social functions, operationalized through the socio-political evaluation of energy deployment (SPEED) framework. Coverage emphasized economic, political/legal, and technical functions and focused on benefits, rather than risks of adoption. Although news coverage connected CCS with climate change, the connection was constrained by political/legal functions. Media responses to this constraint indicate how communication across multiple social functions may influence deployment of energy technologies.     

Eating Meat and Climate Change: The Media Blind Spot—A Study of Spanish and Italian Press Coverage

There is strong evidence that a meat and dairy-based diet is a very important contributor to climate change. However, the correlation between the production and consumption of livestock and anthropogenic climate change has received minimal media coverage. The literature for English-speaking countries shows a sort of media blind spot for meat in that the news media barely address, or do not address, the responsibility of individuals' dietary choices with regard to this issue. In this paper, we provide data for press coverage in Southern Europe from a sample of the top 10 Spanish and Italian newspapers for a seven-year period (2006–2013). Data from our samples correlate with findings from previous studies. However, our comparative study suggests that there are also meaningful differences between both countries studied while their alleged Mediterranean dietary background makes no difference in terms of ethical or dietary sensitivity.     

Global Journalism in Decision-Making Moments: A Case Study of Canadian and American Television Coverage of the 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen

Climate change is a phenomenon with global causes but local effects, and thus global climate change decision-making moments provide ideal opportunities to examine how local and global discourses work together—or do not—through global journalism. This case study investigates the globally focused vs. culturally bound frames used in television news coverage, in Canada and the USA, of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Initial quantitative findings that Canadian media used many more culturally bound sources than did American media contradict the past findings and suggest Canadian media engaged less in producing global journalism than did American media. A follow-up qualitative analysis not only found more global framing in the American stories, but also concluded that global sources did not necessarily create global journalism; instead, a global orientation is required.     

Visual Climate Change Communication: From Iconography to Locally Framed 3D Visualization

Climate change is an urgent problem with implications registered not only globally, but also on national and local scales. It is a particularly challenging case of environmental communication because its main cause, greenhouse gas emissions, is invisible. The predominant approach of making climate change visible is the use of iconic, often affective, imagery. Literature on the iconography of climate change shows that global iconic motifs, such as polar bears, have contributed to a public perception of the problem as spatially and temporally remote. This paper proposes an alternative approach to global climate change icons by focusing on recognizable representations of local impacts within an interactive game environment. This approach was implemented and tested in a research project based on the municipality of Delta, British Columbia. A major outcome of the research is Future Delta, an interactive educational game featuring 3D visualizations and simulation tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation future scenarios. The empirical evaluation is based on quantitative pre/post-game play questionnaires with 18 students and 10 qualitative expert interviews. The findings support the assumption that interactive 3D imagery is effective in communicating climate change. The quantitative post-questionnaires particularly highlight a shift in support of more local responsibility.     

Regulating non-precious transition metal nitrides bifunctional electrocatalysts through surface/interface nanoengineering for air-cathodes of Zn-air batteries

Zn-air batteries (ZABs), especially the secondary batteries, have engrossed a great interest because of its high specific energy, economical and high safety. However, due to the insufficient activity and stability of bifunctional electrocatalysts for air-cathode oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) processes, the practical application of rechargeable ZABs is seriously hindered. In the effort of developing high active, stable and cost-effective electrocatalysts, transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have been regarded as the candidates due to their high conductivity, strong corrosion-resistance, and bifunctional catalytic performance. In this paper, the research progress in TMNs-based material as ORR and OER electrocatalysts for ZABs is discussed with respect to their synthesis, chemical/physical characterization, and performance validation/optimization. The surface/interface nanoengineering strategies such as defect engineering, support binding, heteroatom introduction, crystal plane orientation, interface construction and small size effect, the physical and chemical properties of TMNs-based electrocatalysts are emphasized with respect to their structures/morphologies, composition, electrical conductivity, specific surface area, chemical stability and corrosion resistance. The challenges of TMNs-based materials as bifunctional air-cathode electrocatalysts in practical application are evaluated, and numerous research guidelines to solve these problems are put forward for facilitating further research and development.     

乡村振兴背景下县域农业农村创新发展评价及空间格局——以甘肃省为例

实施农业农村现代化创新发展措施,将有效促使乡村振兴战略长远推进,形成我国农业农村创新发展的新局面。基于甘肃省86个县域研究单元,从创新投入、创新保障、创新效果三个维度构建了包含28个二级指标的农业农村创新发展评价指标体系,就农村地区创新发展水平进行综合评价。结果表明：（1）甘肃省农业农村整体创新发展得分呈上升趋势,但增长幅度较为缓慢。综合创新能力得分较高的县（区）主要集中在河西地区东部,得分较低的县（区）主要集中在南部民族地区。河西地区创新保障和创新效果水平处于全省前列,南部民族地区创新投入水平较低。（2）全省农业农村创新发展在东西方向上表现为西高东低,2013年以后逐渐表现出“两头高、中间低”趋势;在南北方向上表现北高南低;在东南—西北方向上呈现出西北高、东南低;在西南—东北方向上呈现出东北高、西南低。创新发展指数方向特征未发生明显变化,在空间上具有一定的锁定性。（3）创新发展热点区域集中在河西地区张掖市、武威市及金昌市,冷点区域集中分布在南部民族地区;极冷点区和极热点区数量减少,县域农业农村创新发展差距在减小。（4）多元资本投入、农业经济发展、自然地理条件及资源禀赋、农业基础设施配置、农业发展政策等通过内外因素结合创新发展供需两侧作用于甘肃省农业农村创新发展时空演化。     

浙江省都市区碳排放时空演变及其影响因素

都市区建设促进城镇协同发展,对碳排放产生了影响,因此研究都市区建设与碳排放的关系,有助于探索减排的有效途径。基于浙江省各县市区2010—2018年间土地利用、能源消费等数据,测算碳排放量;利用空间自相关方法和空间计量回归模型,探讨四大都市区碳排放的时空演变特征及其影响因素。结果表明：（1）杭州都市区是浙江省最大的碳排放都市区,其次是宁波、温州和金义都市区。（2）碳排放在空间上具有明显的集聚特征。不同都市区碳排放的时空演变特征具有显著的差异性。（3）都市区建设有助于各城镇的协同作用,促进资源的高效配置和利用,进而降低碳排放。（4）都市区碳排放的影响因素和驱动机制受到都市区发展阶段和特色影响,形成不同的空间特征。（5）都市区低碳建设任务和方案是由其独特的碳排放驱动机制和时空演变特征决定的。     

模拟增温和降雨增加对撂荒草地土壤胞外酶活性及计量特征的影响

土壤胞外酶活性是催化土壤有机质分解的关键限速步骤,而且对外界环境的变化极其敏感,然而却很少有研究聚焦于土壤胞外酶活性对气候变化的响应,尤其是在黄土高原地区.以黄土丘陵区撂荒草地为研究对象,野外模拟气候变暖和降水增加,通过测定土壤理化性质、植被群落特征和土壤酶活性,探究土壤酶活性及计量比对气候变化的响应特征及驱动因素.结果表明,增温、增雨以及二者的交互作用均显著降低了土壤β-1,4-葡糖苷酶(BG)和纤维二糖水解酶(CBH)活性,然而,土壤β-1,4-木糖苷酶(BX)活性在气候变化处理下却呈现出增加趋势,其中,增温处理的增幅最大,达到了63.15%.增温增雨的交互显著增加了β-1,4-N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)和亮氨酸胺肽酶(LAP)以及碱性磷酸酶(ALP)活性,分别增加了34.32%、 12.97%和44.86%.增温显著增加了过氧化物酶(PER)活性,而增雨显著降低了PER酶活性,增雨以及增温增雨显著降低了多酚氧化酶(PPO)活性,这主要归因于植物群落科组成的变化.增雨和增温增雨处理下碳降解酶活性∶氮降解酶活性(CEs∶NEs)和氮降解酶活性∶磷降解酶活性(NEs∶PEs)显著...     

A new method for broad-scale modeling and projection of plant assemblages under climatic,biotic, and environmental cofiltering

There is increasing interestin broad-scale analysis, modeling, and prediction of the distribution and composition of plant species assemblages under climatic, environmental, and biotic change, particularly for conservation purposes. We devised a method to reliably predict the impact of climate change on large assemblages of plant communities, while also considering competing biotic and environmental factors. To this purpose, we first used multilabel algorithms in order to convert the task of explaining a large assemblage of plant communities into a classification framework able to capture with high cross-validated accuracy the pattern of species distributions under a composite set of biotic and abiotic factors. We applied our model to a large set of plant communities in the Swiss Alps. Our model explained presences and absences of 175 plant species in 608 plots with >87% cross-validated accuracy, predicted decreases in α, β, and γ diversity by 2040 under both moderate and extreme climate scenarios, and identified likely advantaged and disadvantaged plant species under climate change. Multilabel variable selection revealed the overriding importance of topography, soils, and temperature extremes (rather than averages) in determining the distribution of plant species in the study area and their response to climate change. Our method addressed a number of challenging research problems, such as scaling to large numbers of species, considering species relationships and rarity, and addressing an overwhelming proportion of absences in presence–absence matrices. By handling hundreds to thousands of plants and plots simultaneously over large areas, our method can inform broad-scale conservation of plant species under climate change because it allows species that require urgent conservation action (assisted migration, seed conservation, and ex situ conservation) to be detected and prioritized. Our method also increases the practicality of assisted colonization of plant species by helping to prevent ill-advised introduction of plant species with limited future survival probability.     

2000~2020年西南地区植被NDVI对气候变化和人类活动响应特征

研究植被变化及其对气候变化和人类活动的响应机制,对区域生态保护和植被恢复具有重要现实意义.利用MODIS NDVI数据、基于站点的气象数据和土地利用数据,结合Theil-Sen Median趋势分析、Mann-Kendall显著性分析、残差分析、偏相关分析和复相关分析等方法,基于不同地貌单元,分析2000～2020年中国西南地区植被覆盖时空演变特征及其对气候和土地利用变化的响应特征.结果表明,2000～2020年西南地区植被NDVI整体呈波动上升趋势,上升斜率在空间上呈东南高和西北低的分异格局.气候变化和人类活动对西南地区植被NDVI上升均以促进作用为主,且对广西丘陵植被生长的促进作用强于其他地貌单元.2000～2020年间西南地区植被NDVI与气温和降水呈正相关,与相对湿度和日照时数呈负相关,且温度是影响西南地区植被NDVI变化的气候主导因子.城市扩张在一定程度上减少了区域植被覆盖,但得益于适宜的气候条件以及林业生态工程的实施,西南地区整体植被覆盖以上升为主.研究结果可为西南地区生态保护及经济可持续发展提供科学依据.