More than good intentions: the role of conditions in personal transportation behaviour

Engaging individuals in pro-environmental behaviours is critical to addressing today’s environmental challenges. This study examines how conditions – or an individual’s context – influence action. Through semi-structured narrative interviews and document analysis, we examined the influence of conditions in five individual cases involving attempted change in personal transportation behaviour. The cases, studied over the course of one year, are derived from participants in a sustainability institute, representing a range of attempted behaviours, and highlight numerous potential barriers to desired pro-environmental behaviours. We found that the degree of engagement with sustainable transportation primarily was influenced by the amount and intensity of supportive conditions relative to barriers. Participants who successfully engaged in their desired transportation-related pro-environmental behaviours experienced physical, social, and learning conditions that promoted competence and satisfaction. We discuss the implications for designing interventions that encourage pro-environmental behaviours.     

十一五省际节能绩效及绿色距离变化

从十一五节能目标出发,利用2006~2010年全国30个省区的统计数据,分析了各省区节能效率及绿色距离的变化。结论如下：（1）依据各省区单位GDP能耗、单位IAV能耗和单位GDP电耗数据计算它们的节能量与节能效率,结果发现各省区节能量与节能效率差异较大;（2）利用单位GDP能耗与单位IAV能耗、单位GDP电耗的面板数据,确定了生态省建设的单位IAV能耗、单位GDP电耗标准分别为1.513 7tce和95547度;（3）依据能耗绿色距离和生态化实现度公式,分析了各省区能耗绿色距离和生态化实现度的变化。既是对过去5 a各省区节能效率的回顾性评价,同时也为未来5 a各省区节能降耗提供了参考依据     

Overcoming growing water scarcity: Exploring potential improvements in water productivity in India

Improvements in water productivity (WP) are often suggested as one of the alternative strategies for overcoming growing water scarcity in India. This paper explores the potential improvements in WP of food grains at district level, which currently varies between 0.11 and 1.01 kilogram per cubic metre (kg/m³), in the 403 districts that account for 98% of the total production of food grains. The paper first finds the maximum yield function conditional on consumptive water use (CWU) and then explores the potential improvements in WP by: (a) bridging the gap between actual and maximum yield while keeping CWU constant; and (b) changing the maximum yield by adjusting the CWU using supplementary or deficit irrigation. Deficit irrigation in some areas may decrease yield but can increase production if land availability is not a constraint. A large potential exists for bridging the yield gap in irrigated areas with CWU between 300 and 475 mm. Of the 222 districts that fall under this category, a 50% reduction in yield gap alone could increase production by 100 million tonnes (Mt) without increasing CWU. Supplementary irrigation can increase yield and WP in rain‐fed and irrigated areas of 266 and 16 districts with CWU is below 300 mm. Deficit irrigation in irrigated areas of 185 districts with CWU above 475 mm could increase yield, WP and production. Decreasing CWU in irrigated areas with CWU between 425 and 475 mm reduces yield slightly, but if availability of land is not a constraint then the benefits due to water saving and production increases could exceed the cost.     

Tumor promoting effects of cyanobacterial extracts are potentiated by anthropogenic contaminants--evidence from in vitro study

Inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is affiliated with tumor promotion process and it has been employed as an in vitro biomarker for evaluation of tumor promoting effects of chemicals. In the present study we investigated combined effects of anthropogenic environmental contaminants 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB 153) and fluoranthene, cyanotoxins microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin, and extracts of laboratory cultures of cyanobacteria Aphanizomenon gracile and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, on GJIC in the rat liver epithelial cell line WB-F344. Binary mixtures of PCB 153 with fluoranthene and the mixtures of the two cyanobacterial strains elicited simple additive effects on GJIC after 30 min exposure, whereas microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin neither inhibited GJIC nor altered effects of PCB 153 or fluoranthene. However, synergistic effects were observed in the cells exposed to binary mixtures of anthropogenic contaminants (PCB 153 or fluoranthene) and cyanobacterial extracts. The synergistic effects were especially pronounced after prolonged (6-24 h) co-exposure to fluoranthene and A. gracile extract, when mixture caused nearly complete GJIC inhibition, while none of the individual components caused any downregulation of GJIC at the same concentration and exposure time. The effects of cyanobacterial extracts were independent of microcystin-LR or cylindrospermopsin, which were not detected in cyanobacterial biomass. It provides further evidence on the presence of unknown tumor promoting metabolites in cyanobacteria. Clear potentiation of the GJIC inhibition observed in the mixtures of two anthropogenic contaminants and cyanobacteria highlight the importance of combined toxic effects of chemicals in complex environmental mixtures.     

征收碳税对中国经济影响的实证

近年来,中国CO2排放置显著增加,已引起社会各界的广泛关注.碳税作为最有效的经济手段之一,适时开征,不仅是我国应对气候变化、节能减排的要求,也是中国承担相应的国际责任的要求.本文根据中国各省(市、自治区)能源消费量及相关系数对相关能源产品使用产生的CO2排放量进行了核算,并依据国际实践经验拟定了三种不同情景的碳税税率.利用1999 - 2007年间的省际面板数据,通过面板数据模型定量分析了征收碳税对中国经济的影响,特别是对经济增长、能源消耗影响.研究表明:①征收碳税会降低社会总产出,对经济增长具有消极影响,从长期看,随着碳税体制完善,税率逐步提高,这种消极影响将逐渐减弱;②征收碳税可以提高能源的产出效率,降低能源要素的使用,减少CO2的排放;③碳税税率提高会减小劳动和资本要素之间的收入分配差距.因此,碳税开征具有明显的节能减排效果,且能有效地调整要素间收入分配.但是受中国现阶段经济发展水平的制约,碳税对中国经济冲击较大,短期内暂不适合开征.     

1994年9月16日台湾海峡7.3级地震背景空区对闽粤沿海地震形势的影响

讨论了 1994年 9月 16日台湾海峡南部 7 3级地震对东南沿海地震带地震活动性的影响。从地震学角度出发结合这一地区地震地质背景对这次地震的震前背景空区的客观性进行了分析。并对其震后背景空区演变进行了追踪 ,以期从震后各断裂带受其应力调整的影响中 ,找出应力有可能再次集中的地段 ,这对缩小预测未来可能发生的中强地震的时间、地点、强度范围的预测具有实际意义。     

川西高山森林生态系统林下生物量及其随林窗的变化特征

作为森林生态系统的重要组成部分,林下植被及其残体的分布受到林冠层的影响,但迄今有关林窗对林下植被和残体生物量的影响尚无研究报道.于2013 年8 月2 日至20 日,以海拔3 600 m 的川西岷江冷杉原始林林下植被为研究对象,根据区域内的坡向和林分组成等因素设置3 个100 m×100 m 的典型样地,调查其生物量及其随林窗的变化特征.在每个样地内选择3 个大林窗,在林窗、林缘和林下分别设置3 个20 m×20 m 的样方,调查粗木质残体长度或高度、大小头直径、枯立木记录胸径、腐烂等级等;在林窗、林缘和林下分别设置3 个5 m×5 m 的样方,采用“收获法”收集样方内直径在2.5-10 cm之间的细木质残体和灌木生物量;在林窗、林缘和林下分别设置3 个1 m×1 m 的样方来调查凋落物储量和草本生物量;在1m×1 m 的样方内随机选择1 个20 cm×20 cm 的小样方来调查地被植物生物量.结果表明,（1）川西高山森林生态系统总生物量为72.75 t·hm^-2,其中林下生物量为67.92 t·hm^-2,占生态系统生物量的95.17%.活体植被以灌木为主,其生物量为9.81t·hm^-2;残体部分以粗木质残体为主,其储量为53.00 t·hm^-2;（2）林窗对灌木、草本、地被植物的影响各不相同,且不同物种的灌木生物量表现出不同的分布规律;草本生物量表现出明显的“边缘效应”,在林缘显著高于林下;林窗和林缘的地被植物生物量相对较低;（3）粗木质残体储量从林下到林窗呈现减小的趋势,但总体储量仍然较大,林窗和林缘的细木质残体储量高于林下.这些结果为认识高山森林生态系统林下生物量及其格局,以及林窗在森林生态系统的重要作用提供了基础理论依据.     

Inhalation of vanadium modifies gap junctions in mouse seminiferous tubules

Vanadium (V) adhering to inhaled particles has been associated with male reproductive alterations. Intercellular junction proteins, such as connexin 43, constitute the blood-testes barrier. These proteins are crucial for the reconstitution of the barrier during spermatogenesis. Normally, connexins are located between cell membranes but in cells exposed to certain metals or which are transformed, their location is altered. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the inhalation of vanadium pentoxide on the distribution of connexin 43 in seminiferous tubules of mice. Immunohistochemical localization of connexin 43 demonstrated the redistribution of the protein that increased with time of exposure while intensity of stain on the membranes decreased. In previous studies, reduction in the actin and γ-tubulin stain intensity upon V inhalation has been observed. All these alterations may explain the reprotoxic effect associated with vanadium.     

Effective Regulations with Little Effect? The Antecedents of the Perceptions of Environmental Officials on Enforcement Effectiveness in China

Enforcement gaps are an especially vexing problem in China due to pervasive "pro-growth" local government priorities, the weak administrative capacity of environmental agencies themselves, and relatively weak levels of societal support for a cleaner environment. This study seeks to examine this problem from the perspective of the local enforcement officials by empirically examining the relationships between these and other influences on their perceptions of enforcement effectiveness. Using samples of enforcement officials from the fast-growing cities of Chengdu, Dalian, and Guangzhou, this study finds that many of the more commonly cited problems related to regulatory enforcement were not as influential in accounting for variations in perceptions of enforcement effectiveness than the current literature might suggest. Moreover, this study also finds that the pattern of influences varies greatly across jurisdictions, with only the officials' belief in the legitimacy of the governments' policies being significant in all three samples. Strong influences on perceptions of enforcement effectiveness in two of the three samples include the environmental values of enforcement officials, their perceptions of organizational capacity for enforcement, and their assessment of government support for environmental protection. Although government support was found to be a strong predictor of enforcement effectiveness in two of the three samples, the influence of societal support had a somewhat mixed and more complicated effect. In addition, this study suggests that further improvements in enforcement effectiveness may be possible by cultivating or selecting enforcement officials with strong environmental values and beliefs in the legitimacy of the government's environmental policy to take charge of enforcement. Because it is generally accepted that local environmental protection bureaus are generally upgrading their organizational capacity for improvement as the result of increasing central government support for environmental protection and institutional restructuring, and because environmental awareness in China is growing, this study suggests that some incremental progress is likely in China's efforts to close the enforcement gap. Unfortunately, such improvements are likely to be masked by the steep trajectory of economic growth, the narrow scope of regulatory control (i.e., with scant attention paid to nonindustrial sources), and the migration of industrial pollution to rural areas.     

环境多相催化研究过程中的表面科学研究方法

简要介绍环境多相催化研究过程中应用表面科学的研究方法的必要性和将会遇到的挑战和机遇 .结合作者有关的研究事例 ,分别讨论了环境多相催化和表面科学研究领域之间材料和压力的差异所带来的问题和可能的解决方案 ,特别是催化剂原位表面表征的重要性