Dynamics and Causation of Environmental Equity, Locally Unwanted Land Uses, and Neighborhood Changes

/ Why are some environmental risks distributed disproportionately in the neighborhoods of the minorities and the poor? A hypothesis was proposed in a recent study that market dynamics contributed to the current environmental inequity. That is, locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) make the host communities home to more poor people and people of color. This hypothesis was allegedly supported by a Houston case study, whereby its author analyzed the postsiting changes of the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods surrounding solid waste facilities. I argue that such an analysis of postsiting changes alone is insufficient to test the causation hypothesis. Instead, I propose a conceptual framework for analysis of environmental equity dynamics and causation. I suggest that the presiting neighborhood dynamics and the characteristics of control neighborhoods be analyzed as the first test for the causation hypothesis. Furthermore, I present theories of neighborhood change and then examine alternative hypotheses that these theories offer for explaining neighborhood changes and for the roles of LULUs in neighborhood changes. These alternative hypotheses should be examined when analyzing the relationship between LULUs and neighborhood changes in a metropolitan area. Using this framework of analysis, I revisited the Houston case. First, I found no evidence that provided support for the hypothesis that the presence of LULUs made the neighborhoods home to more blacks and poor people, contrary to the conclusion made by the previous study. Second, I examined alternative hypotheses for explaining neighborhood changes-invasion-succession, other push forces, and neighborhood life-cycle; the former two might offer better explanation.KEY WORDS: Environmental equity and justice; Locally unwanted lane uses; Siting; Market dynamics; Invasion-succession; Neighborhood changes     

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.     

三江平原地貌因子及其主要环境地质问题

地貌因子有其不可替代的作用和功能,是决定环境的主要因子,是生态地质环境中最积极最活跃的主导支力条件;是生态平衡的重中之重;是生态地质环境的基础,并影响其它因子或成份.如地貌因子或成份发生了变化,其它因子或成份就会发生一系列连锁反应;地貌因子发生变化或失去平衡,其它因子也会发生变化或失去平衡.文本论述了三江平原地貌特征,详细地分析了地貌的作用,阐明了有关地貌的主要环境地质问题.     

中国经济的“阿基米德支点”

资源是经济发展的“阿基米德支点”：世界十大经济国每年能源的生产占全球的６２．１％，消费为７１．０％。重要矿产资源的生产多排在世界前１０名生产国之，外面是消费则多排在１０名之内，且对这些矿产资源的消费量多在９５％以上。     

The evolution of sustainability

Six separate but related strains of thought have emerged prominently since 1950 in discussions of such phenomena as the interrelationships among rates of population growth, resource use, and pressure on the environment. They are the ecological/carrying capacity root, the resources/environment root, the biosphere root, the critique of technology root, the no growth/slow growth root, and the ecodevelopment root.Each of these strains of thought was fully developed before the word sustainable itself was used. Many of the roots are based on fundamentally opposing assessments of the future of mankind. Many of the roots, such as the ecology/carrying capacity root, are based on physical concepts, and they exclude normative values. Others, such as the ecodevelopment root, include such values as equity, broad participation in governance, and decentralized government.When the word sustainability was first used in 1972 in the context of man's future, in a British book,Blueprint for Survival, normative concepts were prominent. This continued to be the case when the word was first used in 1974 in the United States to justify a no growth economy.Sustainability was first used in a United Nations document in 1978. Normative concepts, encapsulated in the term ecodevelopment, were prominent in the United Nations publications.After about 1978, the term sustainability began to be used not only in technological articles and reports but also in policy documents culminating in the use of the term in the report of the summit meeting of the Group of Seven in 1989.The roots of the term sustainability are so deeply embedded in fundamentally different concepts, each of which has valid claims to validity, that a search for a single definition seems futile. The existence of multiple meaning is tolerable if each analyst describes clearly what he means by sustainability.     

基于OMI数据的东南沿海大气臭氧浓度时空分布特征研究

基于臭氧监测仪(OMI)卫星反演数据,对2005—2018年东南沿海5省区域大气臭氧柱浓度数据进行提取及分析,探讨其时空分布格局及影响因素.结果表明:①在时间变化上,14年间,该区域大气臭氧柱浓度整体呈先上升后下降的趋势,2005—2013年臭氧柱浓度持续升高,最高值为324.52 DU,高值区不断向南部区域扩大;2013—2018年臭氧柱浓度呈下降趋势,最低值为228.27 DU,但在2017、2018年略有上升.②在空间分布上,臭氧柱浓度自北向南逐渐降低,高值区集中分布在江苏及浙江省北部;低值区集中于福建省南部及广东省大部分地区.③在季节变化上,大体呈现出春夏季高于秋冬季,高值区在春夏季交替出现,秋季略高于冬季,但差异不明显.④稳定性分析表明:研究区臭氧柱浓度整体呈现中部分散、南北部集聚、差异较显著的分布格局.⑤自然因素中,风向、气温均呈现显著正相关,江淮地区的梅雨季节(降水)及华南地区的台风和暴雨也起到显著作用.⑥人文因素中,臭氧柱浓度与地区生产总值、各产业生产总值及机动车保有量均表现出正相关,其中,臭氧柱浓度与第二产业的相关度最高.另外,臭氧柱浓度与NO_x排放量表现出显著相关性.VOC_s对臭氧柱浓度的影响中,工业源是主控因素,交通源和居民源次之,电厂源对臭氧柱浓度的影响最弱.这进一步说明臭氧浓度的变化受到了诸多因素的综合影响,但气温、NO_x及VOC_s的排放是臭氧浓度变化的主导因素.     

科技创新投入对环境全要素生产率的影响机制

使用2004~2015年的中国280个地级市的面板数据,对科技创新投入与环境全要素生产率间的非线性关系、内部影响机理和空间异质性进行分析,结果显示：科技创新投入与环境全要素生产率之间呈现倒N型关系,两个拐点的位置分别为7.722（2257.47万元）和9.610（14913.17万元）;在外部资本进入、污染治理、市场规模效应3种影响路径中,科技创新投入影响下的外部资本进入对环境全要素生产率依然存在污染避难所的负向效应,科技创新投入与外部资本间效应为0.1363,外部资本与环境全要素生产率间效应为-0.0065;科技创新投入能够增强企业的污染治理技术并提高环境全要素生产率,三者间前后效应分别为-0.0277和-0.0311;科技创新的投入与高效益增强了市场规模效应,有效促进生产结构的转型进而提高环境全要素生产率,三者间前后效应为0.0186和0.4346.空间异质性中,外部资本进入与溢出效应带来的污染避难所负效应在中部地区显著,在西部和东北部地区不显著,而污染天堂正效应在东部地区存在但不显著;污染创新治理投入的技术正溢出效应在东部和西部地区效应显著,在中部和东北部不显著;科技创新投入与市场需求规模效应在空间区域无差异且显著为正.建议依据科技创新投入的不同影响路径来实施空间差异化策略.     

北方湖库沉积物重金属区域特征及生态风险评价

以白洋淀、衡水湖、于桥水库、松花湖、大伙房水库和小兴凯湖沉积作为研究对象,通过对北方六湖库沉积物中Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr、Ni等重金属元素进行分析,并与国内外其他水域重金属污染情况进行多因素比较,探讨了六湖库主要重金属污染源的差异性,区域分布特征以及与国内外其他水域污染的相似性和区别.结果表明,六湖库沉积物重金属污染处于中等偏下水平.六湖库之间主要重金属污染源存在差别.沉积物重金属含量未出现明显上升的趋势.其中Zn、Pb存在富集现象,但Pb含量与历史数据相比出现下降,Zn的含量与其他地区相比整体偏高.大伙房水库沉积物重金属污染较重,Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr、Ni含量平均值分别为56.28,142.3,17.44,97.9,44.44mg/kg.小兴凯湖沉积物重金属含量最低,Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr、Ni含量平均值分别为2.41,63.90,13.37,56.36,26.09mg/kg.六湖库综合风险评价结果为大伙房水库>于桥水库>白洋淀>衡水湖>松花湖>小兴凯湖,重金属整体潜在生态风险指数为低.     

某垃圾焚烧厂投产前后周边土壤二英类化合物的分布

为研究垃圾焚烧厂运行对周边土壤二英类化合物（PCDD/Fs）含量的影响,采集了珠三角地区某垃圾焚烧厂投产前和投产后周边土壤样品,分析研究了该垃圾焚烧厂运行对周边土壤中PCDD/Fs含量和组分的变化.结果表明:①2012年（投产前）珠三角地区某垃圾焚烧厂周边土壤PCDD/Fs含量较低,范围为163~591 ng/kg（毒性当量范围为0.198~0.863 ng I-TEQ/kg,I-TEQ为国际毒性当量因子折算的毒性当量值）;2017—2019年（投产后）周边土壤PCDD/Fs含量范围为151~1.75×103 ng/kg（毒性当量范围为0.812~3.88 ng I-TEQ/kg）,与其他研究相比处于较低的水平.②投产后,距该垃圾焚烧厂较近（1.5 km）的采样点（S1）土壤PCDD/Fs含量逐年增长,在较远（5.2 km）但人口较密集的采样点（S3）土壤PCDD/Fs含量整体较高,但呈逐年下降趋势.③投产后,土壤中的17种PCDD/Fs单体组分中,毒性当量贡献率最高的单体为八氯二苯并二英（OCDD）和2,3,4,7,8-五氯二苯并呋喃（2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF）,二者毒性当量贡献率范围为15.7%~45.4%.④在同一采样点土壤PCDD/Fs单体组分年间差异不明显,但同一年份不同采样点差异明显.研究显示,目前该垃圾焚烧厂周边土壤PCDD/Fs含量较低,但仍需要长期监测其可能带来的风险.      

2006-2017年四川盆地MODIS气溶胶光学厚度时空变化特征

四川盆地地形复杂、气候特殊,是我国颗粒物污染高发地.为探究四川盆地气溶胶分布和周期变化特征,深入认识气溶胶污染特性及其气候效应,结合卫星遥感探测方法,利用2006-2017年MODIS C006 3 km AOD（气溶胶光学厚度）产品,分析了四川盆地AOD的时空特征.结果表明:①MODIS AOD（MODIS数据反演的气溶胶光学厚度）与太阳光度计CE318观测的AOD、ρ（PM_2.5）、ρ（PM₁₀）线性相关系数分别为0.78、0.77、0.75,表明MODIS C006 3 km AOD产品适用于四川盆地颗粒物污染研究.②四川盆地AOD平均值范围为0.1~1.3,其中,成都平原和四川盆地东南部地区是AOD高值（AOD值>1.0）中心,四川盆地周边高海拔区AOD均小于0.3.③2006-2017年AOD年均值范围为0~2.5,整体呈"倒N型"曲线下降,其峰值和谷值分别出现在2013年和2017年;2013年AOD大于1.0的区域占四川盆地的34.1%,是12 a中颗粒物污染最重的一年;2017年AOD小于0.3的面积占57.1%.④AOD季节性变化呈春季最大、夏季次之、秋季最小的特征.⑤AOD月变化呈"双峰型"波动特征,AOD月均值范围为0~2.5,其中,2-5月AOD月均值均大于0.7,8月AOD月均值为0.6,11-12月AOD月均值均小于0.5.研究显示,四川盆地颗粒物污染防治应以成都平原城市群和四川省南部城市群为主,应重点控制细颗粒物排放,合理安排工业企业的周期性生产强度.