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.     

The Impact of Landsat Satellite Monitoring on Conservation Biology

Landsat 7s recent malfunctioning will result in significant gaps in long-term satellite monitoring of Earth, affecting not only the research of the Earth science community but also conservation users of these data. To determine whether or how important Landsat monitoring is for conservation and natural resource management, we reviewed the Landsat programs history with special emphasis on the development of user groups. We also conducted a bibliographic search to determine the extent to which conservation research has been based on Landsat data. Conservation biologists were not an early user group of Landsat data because a) biologists lacked technical capacity – computers and software – to analyze these data; b) Landsats 1980s commercialization rendered images too costly for biologists budgets; and c) the broad-scale disciplines of conservation biology and landscape ecology did not develop until the mid-to-late 1980s. All these conditions had changed by the 1990s and Landsat imagery became an important tool for conservation biology. Satellite monitoring and Landsat continuity are mandated by the Land Remote Sensing Act of 1992. This legislation leaves open commercial options. However, past experiments with commercial operations were neither viable nor economical, and severely reduced the quality of monitoring, archiving and data access for academia and the public. Future satellite monitoring programs are essential for conservation and natural resource management, must provide continuity with Landsat, and should be government operated.     

野生灵长类资源的旅游开发与保护关系探讨

以安徽黄山旅游开发利用野生短尾猴资源实践为基础，探讨了旅游开发与保护的辩证关系，提出了灵长类动物旅游开发中应注意的问题和采取的措施。     

论DNA分子标记在家畜遗传多样性保护中的应用

本文就ＤＮＡ分子遗传标记在家畜遗传多样性保护中应用的可行性及途径进行了探讨，提出了家畜遗传多样性标记辅助保护新策略。     

西北地区高速公路建设中的水土保持

就西北地区高速公路建设的水土流失特点进行了分析，并提出了工程防范措施。     

大树杜鹃Rhododendron protistum var.giganteum和蓝果杜鹃Rhododendron cyanocarpum的濒危原因研究

大树杜鹃ＲｐｒｏｔｉｓｔｕｍｖａｒｇｉｇａｎｔｅｕｍＦｏｒｒｅｓｔｅｔＴａｇｇＣｈａｍｂｅｎｉａｉｎ和蓝果杜鹃ＲｃｙａｎｏｃａｒｐｕｍＦ．Ｗ．Ｓｍｉｔｈ被定为国家三级保护植物［１］。本文对这两种保护植物从资源调查、原产地的土壤分析、种子繁殖和贮存方式、异地保护和异地栽培条件下幼苗生长等４个方面作了濒危原因研究。研究结果表明：大树杜鹃应就地和异地保护并用，蓝果杜鹃则应采取就地保护为宜。     

典型黄土塬区不同植物措施水土保持效应分析

基于黄土高原典型黄土塬区2014-2016年的自然降雨数据及5种植被措施（乔木、灌木、撂荒、人工种草、耕地）下的坡面产流、产沙情况的观测数据,系统分析了不同植被覆盖措施下的黄土坡地水土流失对不同类型侵蚀性降雨的响应机制,结果表明：（1）降水集中于4-10月份,其中引发水土流失的侵蚀性降雨集中于7月、8月。（2）根据最大30分钟降雨强度I₃₀及降雨总量可将侵蚀性降雨分为5种类型,其中小雨量、小雨强类型的降雨是当地发生频率最多的侵蚀性降雨类型;降雨强度最大的Ⅴ雨型降雨侵蚀力最大,降雨量最大的Ⅰ雨型降雨侵蚀力次之,而Ⅱ雨型降雨侵蚀力最低;Ⅴ雨型在观测期内产流产沙量最大。（3）5种植被措施在不同降雨类型下均有明显的水土保持效应,在不同类型降雨下不同植物措施减沙率和减流率变化规律不同。研究结果对于黄土高原地区水土保持及资源可持续利用具有重要的指导意义。     

502清洁生产实践

分析台州市两家502企业清洁生产情况,总结经验和成效,提出进一步清洁生产潜力,促进行业节能降耗减污。     

矿产资源的开发利用与环境保护

作者论述了人口、资源、环境三者之间的辩证关系，提出环境保护是矿产资源开发利用的前提，不能以牺牲环境为代价来开发利用矿产资源。以此为基点，作者概述了我国矿产资源开发利用对环境的影响，以及我国矿山环境保护工作的现状，提出了加强矿产资源开发利用中环境保护的五项建议。     

The economics of tire remanufacturing

The world market for tires is described to identify the current material flow from raw materials to tires and the used tire disposal problem. Then, I describe the value-adding operations in the tire production process and in the tire retreading process. Once retreading is identified as the only recovery alternative that maximizes tire utilization, I explain why heat generation is the only recovery alternative, when retreading is not technically feasible. The economic values of heat generation in electric plants and in cement kilns are discussed. The paper culminates with the case of retreading, the tire remanufacturing process and the recommendation of a simple decision rule for selecting the number of times a tire should be retreaded to maximize its utilization.