Modification of evaluation method for auto-assessment and electronic submission by businesses

SUMMARY

This paper describes the evolution of an evaluation method developed initially to assess progress towards sustainable development for various land use activities in Costa Rica. Since that time, the method has been expanded to apply to all types of business activities in any location, and refined so that a numerical score can be provided for each attribute. These scores can then be presented graphically in four categories. The method has since been tested on a variety of businesses and is being refined for electronic submission and display of the results. The benefits of this approach, as well as its shortcomings and some of the problems resolved, are presented.     

Justice in sustainability indicators and indexes

At least since the Brundtland Report, technical assessments of what can be sustained and values about what is desirable to sustain, for whom, and for how long have been intertwined. This intersection is particularly evident in the assumption that justice among people living today and between present and future generations is a key part of sustainability. In official international policy documents and academic studies of sustainability, this justice may include the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, distributive justice, or the ability of people to meaningfully contribute to decisions that affect their lives, participatory justice. Yet, the process of developing indicators and indexes to track movement toward or away from sustainability has been dominated by technical, economic, and environmental assessments. This raises questions about whether or not indexes align with and thus will monitor and encourage progress toward sustainability in a technically possible and desirable way. To begin to answer this question, this paper identifies definitions of justice used in sustainability discourse and evaluates the degree to which sustainability indicators and indexes align with these concepts. The 2010 Environmental Performance Index, Eurostat's Sustainable Development Indicators, and a group of local indicators and indexes are examined. It is found that the indicators embody various aspects of justice, though they are still significantly limited by the available data, especially as they generally cannot monitor inequities between subpopulations and have a limited capacity to monitor progress toward participatory justice.     

Community sustainability: a holistic approach to measuring the sustainability of rural communities in Scotland

ABSTRACT

Although sustainable development was defined in the Brundtland Report almost 30 years ago, the current usage of the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development remain highly equivocal. In the context of rural communities, multiple interpretations and weak definitions lead to confusion in understanding what comprises a sustainable rural community. Building on existing definitions (e.g. Baker’s, 2006, ‘Ladder of Sustainable Development’), models (principally, The Egan Review’s, 2004, ‘Components of Sustainable Communities’) and findings of this study, a sustainable community is defined and a holistic model of a sustainable place-based rural community is presented. This model, the sustainable community design (SCD) is used as the basis for analysing community sustainability, which is measured using mixed methods and scorecard assessment. Sensitivity of the method is demonstrated with inter- and intra-community variations in sustainability across three diverse Scottish rural communities. Intra-community variations illustrate heterogeneity in community sustainability, explain ambiguity in characterisations of an individual community’s sustainability, and highlight the importance of an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to community development. The SCD framework is presented as a useful tool for meso-level sustainability assessment and to facilitate the sustainable development of rural communities.     

Measuring the effectiveness of San Francisco’s planning standard for pedestrian wind comfort

ABSTRACT

In 1985, San Francisco adopted a wind comfort standard in its Downtown Area Plan in response to increasing concerns about the city’s downtown public open spaces becoming excessively windy. After 30 years of implementation, this study revisits the standard and examines its effectiveness in promoting pedestrian comfort. Seven hundred one valid samples were collected from 6 months of field study, which combined surveying pedestrians and on-site collection of microclimate data. Statistical analysis and an assessment using the physiological equivalent temperature show that 11 mph (4.92 m/s), the comfort criterion in places for walking, performs as an effective determinant of outdoor comfort in San Francisco. This study sheds light on climate-resilience of cities, as they have become key urban challenges today.     

生态宜居城市建设指标与评价方法——以天津市为例

将定量指标与定性指标融为一体,从城市经济、文化教育、基础设施、生态环境和社会保障5个方面,构建生态宜居城市指标体系,并整合层次分析法（AHP）和风玫瑰图法,进行生态宜居化程度综合评价与分析。以天津市为例进行研究,结果显示本文所建立的指标体系能够客观地反映城市的生态宜居建设情况,并能根据评价结果分析出城市的发展潜力与存在...     

基于AHP-FPR模型的矿井通风系统优化方案评价

矿井通风系统优化方案的评价涉及到许多模糊的、不确定因素.从安全、技术、经济角度出发,选取15个技术指标,建立了评价指标体系.将层次分析法(AHP)与模糊模式识别(FPR)理论相结合,采用层次分析法确定指标权重,多级模糊模式识别法构造最优相对隶属度矩阵以判断样本级别,在此基础上建立了AHP-FPR评价模型.通过对平煤八矿通风系统优化改造方案的评价实例证明,该模型实用性较强,可为管理者提供决策依据.     

A Realistic Assessment of the Indicator Potential of Butterflies and Other Charismatic Taxonomic Groups

Abstract:  Charismatic groups of animals and plants often are proposed as sentinels of environmental status and trends. Nevertheless, many claims that a certain taxonomic group can provide more-general information on environmental quality are not evaluated critically. To address several of the many definitions of indicator species, we used butterflies to explore in some detail the attributes that affect implementation of indicators generically. There probably are few individual species, or sets of species, that can serve as scientifically valid, cost-effective measures of the status or trend of an environmental phenomenon that is difficult to measure directly. Nevertheless, there are species with distributions, abundances, or demographic characteristics that are responsive to known environmental changes. In this context, single or multiple species can serve as indicators when targets are defined explicitly, ecological relationships between the target and the putative indicators are well understood, and data are sufficient to differentiate between deterministic and stochastic responses. Although these situations exist, they are less common than might be apparent from an extensive and often confounded literature on indicators. Instead, the public appeal of charismatic groups may be driving much of their acclaim as indicators. The same taxon may not be appropriate for marketing a general conservation mission and for drawing strong inference about specific environmental changes. To provide insights into the progress of conservation efforts, it is essential to identify scientific and practical criteria for selection and application of indicators and then to examine whether a given taxonomic group meets those criteria .     

Sensitive crop species and appropriate bioassays for potential use in phytotoxicity assessment of Pb-contaminated soils

The present study aims to determine the phytotoxic effects of lead (Pb) on corn (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), cabbage (Brassica oleracea) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and to identify the sensitive crop species and appropriate bioassays for potential use in phytotoxicity assessment of Pb-contaminated soil. In a laboratory experiment, Pb(NO₃)₂ was added to the background soil to obtain eight Pb treatments. The results indicate that the seed germination rate of lettuce decreases by 14.44%, 30.00% and 40.00% at 2000, 3000 and 4000 mg Pb kg^?1 soil, respectively. However, the germination of corn, wheat, cucumber and cabbage is not significantly influenced by the Pb-contaminated soil treated with all the tested concentrations. Furthermore, the root elongation is more sensitive to Pb than is seed germination. The minimum concentrations of adverse effect of maize, wheat, cucumber, cabbage and lettuce are 2000, 3000, 1300, 800 and 300 mg Pb kg^?1 soil, respectively. Moreover, dicotyledon species are more sensitive than monocotyledon species. In the genotoxicity study, the mitotic index (MI) fluctuates with an increasing Pb concentration. The micronuclei (MN) frequencies of cucumber, cabbage and lettuce exhibit a dose-dependent effect at concentrations ranging from 1300 to 4000 mg Pb kg^?1 soil. It can be concluded that lettuce is a good candidate for indicating the toxicity of Pb in soil. Root elongation and the micronucleus frequency of dicotyledon are appropriate bioassays for potential use in phytotoxicity assessment of Pb-contaminated soil.     

煤矿区生态累积效应评价研究进展

煤炭开采活动的特点决定了其对矿区生态环境的影响具有明显的累积效应。在梳理生态累积效应概念和特征的基础上,结合煤矿区各类活动的特点综述了煤矿区生态累积效应的影响源、途径、效应及类型,并评述了目前国内外有关煤矿区生态累积效应的相关研究。目前针对煤矿区生态累积效应的研究仍十分有限,评价方法也尚不成熟。关于煤矿区的生态累积效应研究主要集中在效应评价方面,有关生态累积效应的发生机理、指标体系构建、评价方法学、管理规划及应对机制,是未来应加强的重点研究领域。     

氨基甲酸酯类农药对蛋白核小球藻联合毒性作用特点及机制

氨基甲酸酯类农药广泛应用于农业生产中,其在环境中的残留及其对非靶标生物的毒性作用引起关注。以5种氨基甲酸酯类农药包括残杀威、灭多威、抗蚜威、涕灭威和呋喃丹为研究对象,以蛋白核小球藻为受试生物,应用微板毒性分析法系统测定每种农药及其五元混合物对蛋白核小球藻在不同暴露时间(12、24、48、72和96 h)的生长抑制作用,并同步分析农药对蛋白核小球藻的生理特性如叶绿素含量、蛋白质含量、超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性和脂质过氧化物丙二醛(MDA)含量的影响。结果表明,5种农药对蛋白核小球藻的浓度-效应均具有明显的时间依赖性,农药抗蚜威在中低浓度促进绿藻生长,呈现非单调J型浓度-效应曲线(CRC)特征,其余4种农药的CRC呈现经典S型;以半数效应浓度的负对数(p EC50)为毒性大小指标,5种农药在96 h时毒性大小为:呋喃丹(p EC50=3.43)残杀威(p EC50=2.76)抗蚜威(p EC50=2.12)灭多威(p EC50=2.11)涕灭威(p EC50=1.89)。浓度为EC50的5种农药处理后的蛋白核小球藻中叶绿素和蛋白质含量随暴露时间的延长而减少,但不同农药处理的绿藻中叶绿素和蛋白质含量减少率随暴露时间延长变化趋势稍有不同; SOD酶活性随着暴露时间延长逐渐下降,MDA含量逐渐增加,这说明藻细胞受到破坏,脂质过氧化的损害程度超过细胞修复能力,SOD活性被抑制,细胞的抗氧化能力下降,藻细胞内的H2O2不断积累,导致MDA含量升高。五元混合物对蛋白核小球藻的毒性也具有一定的时间依赖性,并表现出刺激作用,即hormesis现象,且混合物毒性与组分浓度比具有良好的线性相关性;暴露于混合物的小球藻均在96 h出现了刺激效应,其叶绿素与蛋白质含量随暴露时间延长不断增加,SOD活性不断升高,MDA含量不断减少;五元混合物均在96 h呈现出拮抗作用,且与混合物的浓度和组分浓度比相关。