Environments,Risks, and the Limits of Representation: Examples from Nuclear Energy and Some Implications of Fukushima

This essay examines examples from the field of nuclear energy, including the 2011 disaster at Fukushima-Daiichi, through perspectives drawn from phenomenology, social systems theory, and constitutive communication theory. The essay argues that although prevailing approaches to nuclear risk analysis and risk communication seek to represent a world of preexisting phenomena, they also fundamentally constitute the world on which decision-makers, organizations, and communities act. Representations of nuclear risk are inevitably and problematically limited, with important implications for policy, practice, and communicative action.     

Places and People: Rhetorical Constructions of “Community” in a Canadian Environmental Risk Assessment

This paper addresses the issue of public engagement in environmental risk contexts through a rhetorical analysis of the key term “community” in a risk assessment of mining-caused soil contamination. Drawing on Burke's concept of terministic screens and method of cluster criticism, the analysis shows the divergent constitutions of “community” in the Sudbury Soils Study's official discourse and the citizen-activist rhetoric of the Community Committee on the Sudbury Soils Study. Tracing the verbal and visual clusters within each organization's articulation of “community” as place and people reveals how the official Study's technical-regulatory ideology of environmental risk and citizen participation is countered by the Community Committee's contestatory environmental justice ideology. These competing views of “community” are mutually constitutive in that the official Study's mainstream risk discourse establishes the terms for the Community Committee's reactive counter-discourse, thus limiting citizen participation mainly to questions of “downstream” impacts. Our rhetorical analysis of “community” suggests a generative method for understanding the complex power relations animating specific risk communication contexts as well as for potentially reinventing “community” in terms more conducive to meaningful citizen engagement.     

Mountains and Handrails: Risk,Meaning, and Responsibility in Three National Parks

Where we live, the relationships we maintain, or the experiences we have can tell us about the way we perceive risk and the responsibility for its management. Perceptions of risk and responsibility are particularly relevant in US national parks, where unintentional injury is prevalent, yet support exists for allowing risk exposure. If experiencing risk may be both desirable (e.g., self-affirming) and undesirable (e.g., injury-causing), what is its role in a national park? Moreover, what are the expectations for visitors to encounter or to avoid it? In-depth interviews with National Park Service employees suggest that desired risk is contingent upon the circumstances in which it is encountered, and the values and prior experience of individuals. Employees perceive visitors as responsible for avoiding undesirable risk through information seeking and awareness, but also recognize considerable barriers to doing so. Theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research are presented.     

The Voice of Science on Climate Change in the Mainstream Turkish Press

This study aims to explore how the Turkish press represents the discourse of climate change scientists. This is achieved by analyzing climate change-related articles that quote scientists, directly and indirectly, in two Turkish mainstream newspapers (N = 132, 7 years). The Turkish case illustrates how scientific rhetoric is used for presenting climate change as a matter of concern in an industrializing country. The analysis suggests that climate science is portrayed as an un-discussed authority. News articles rely on data about the disturbance of species and the state of the natural environment to provide proof of global warming, by which they produce an implicit moral imperative. The articles also portray the worst threats and challenges—those pertaining to human society—as residing mostly in the future. We conclude by discussing the implications of the use of a projected future to convey a discourse emphasizing the alarming risks associated with climate change.     

西部水资源开发利用风险现状评价

我国实施西部大开发战略后,西部水资源开发利用问题变得越来越突出.为了弄清楚西部水资源开发利用存在的风险现状,本文在风险概念的基础上探讨了水资源开发利用风险概念和影响因素,并构建了西部水资源开发利用风险评价指标体系.根据水资源系统表现出多模态、突跳和发散的基本突变特征,论述了运用突变理论评价水资源开发利用风险具有一定的可行性,将突变理论引入到水资源开发利用风险评价中,对西部水资源开发利用风险进行评价.首先对各项风险评价指标按照重要性排序,并对各指标值进行无量纲化;然后利用突变模型的归一公式和突变模型的评价准则进行递归运算,最后求出各层指标相对风险值(突变隶属度),将评价结果与风险等级对照,综合判断和分析各层各项指标相对风险状况.计算结果表明:在西部12个省份中,各层指标的风险值差异显著,但是水资源开发利用综合风险值分布在0 66-0.92之间,总体上属于中高度风险水平,12省份风险从小到大排序为:西藏→陕西→重庆→四川→青海→云南→贵州→广西→内蒙→甘肃→新疆→宁夏,这一结果与西部12省份水资源开发利用实际状况相符,可以为西部大开发过程水资源合理有效利用和管理提供风险决策参考依据.     

黔西北山区耕地重金属健康风险评价及环境基准

以贵州省西北某典型喀斯特山区耕地为研究区,通过对137组土壤-农作物协同样品中重金属（Cd、 Hg、 As、 Pb和Cr）含量进行检测,系统评价了区域土壤和农作物中重金属健康暴露风险,并基于物种敏感分布模型（SSD）反推区域耕地土壤环境风险基准值.结果表明：研究区玉米和水稻土壤均受到不同程度重金属（Cd、 Hg、 As、 Pb和Cr）污染,其中Cd为首要污染物,超标率在87%～445%之间,且玉米地>水稻田;与土壤重金属高污染水平相反,仅有3.51%和13.04%的玉米籽粒和稻米中Cd含量超过国家食品安全限量标准,重金属Cd累积能力为水稻>玉米.健康风险评价结果显示,重金属对研究区成人和儿童的致癌/非致癌风险均处于较低水平,稻米摄入的致癌风险略高于玉米,儿童的健康风险值均高于成人.研究区土壤环境基准值是基于保护95%（HC₅）和5%(HC₉₅)的作物品种安全所得的土壤风险值,玉米土壤Cd、 As、 Pb和Cr的HC₅值分别为0.67、 771.99、 40.85和609.88 mg·kg^-1     

南水北调丹江口库区土壤中微塑料分布特征及风险评估

为探究丹江口库区土壤中微塑料赋存特征及影响因素,通过对果园、旱地、水田和湿地进行土壤样品采集,利用密度分选、显微镜观察和拉曼光谱仪测定等方法对土壤中微塑料进行鉴定.结果表明,研究区采集的64个样本均有微塑料检出,丰度范围为645~15161 n·kg^-1.空间分布上,库尾高于库中和库首,且表层土壤（0~20 cm）中微塑料的丰度明显低于下层土壤（20~40 cm）.微塑料主要类型为聚丙烯（26.4%）和聚酰胺（20.2%）,粒径主要集中在50~500 μm之间（75%）,常见形状为碎片状（66.2%）.相关性分析显示,土壤微塑料丰度与土地利用、距水面和住宅的距离、人口密度和土壤性状密切相关.从微塑料污染风险来看,72.1%区域微塑料聚合物污染指数处于Ⅲ级和Ⅳ级,丹江口库区存在一定的微塑料污染风险.研究结果可为微塑料风险评估提供支撑.     

梯级拦河堰对典型山地城市河流重金属元素的滞留效应:以重庆市梁滩河为例

梯级拦河堰通过改变水力条件的方式将大量重金属元素滞留到河底沉积物中,滞留在沉积物中的重金属会长期影响地表水质和水生态.在2020年5月采集位于重庆市主城区、布设有梯级拦河堰的典型山地城市河流——梁滩河干流河底沉积物,并监测各河段内沉积物累积量和样品中重金属元素含量以及其它基本理化指标.结果表明,梁滩河干流沉积物ω（As）、ω（Cd）、ω（Cu）、ω（Hg）、ω（Ni）和ω（Pb）均值分别为（4.66±4.78）、（0.361±0.256）、（32.30±14.38）、（0.069±0.039）、（33.47±15.37）和（26.34±11.52） mg·kg^-1,由于污染源空间分布不均和梯级拦河堰对河流连通性的破坏,各点位沉积物重金属含量有着较大的空间变异系数.改进的地累积指数（I_m）显示,Cd是沉积物中污染水平最高的重金属元素;有12.50%的监测点位处于偏中度或中度污染水平,污染主要分布于建设用地集中的上下游区域.潜在生态风险评价指数法（RI）和沉积物质量基准法（SQGs）显示,除污染水平较高、毒性强的Cd和Hg外,流域内背景值含量较高的Ni也对地表水生态风险形成威胁.在梯级拦河堰的影响下,干流沉积物中滞留As、Cd、Cu、Hg、Ni和Pb总量分别为446.10、47.28、4997.80、10.81、5135.68和4048.16 kg,其中Cd、Ni和Pb会长期威胁地表水生态安全.由于较高的重金属滞留总量和更易形成厌氧环境,各级拦河堰上游附近河段也是重金属内源释放所需关注的重点区域.利用主成分分析和聚类分析解析沉积物中重金属元素来源：Cd、Cu和Pb主要源于居民/工业点源污染;Hg主要源于农业面源污染;As和Ni主要源于自然土壤侵蚀.     

铅锌矿周边岩溶流域重金属污染及健康风险评价

水质是岩溶区可持续发展中最重要的环境问题之一.为探讨铅锌矿周边岩溶流域重金属污染及健康风险,采集了思的河岩溶流域河水和地下水样品18组,测定了9种重金属的浓度（Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Mn、Fe、As、Cr和Sr）,采用了主成分分析、相关分析、水质指数、内梅罗综合污染指数、危害商和危害指数进行分析.结果表明,思的河水呈微碱性,河水中Cu、Pb、Zn、Cd、Mn、Fe、As和Sr浓度距离尾矿库越远其浓度越低.主成分分析和相关分析表明,思的河岩溶流域的重金属主要来自矿山废水的排放（55.42%）、碳酸岩风化溶解（21.41%）和人类活动（14.72%）.河水中82%的样品为优质水,地下水样均为优质水,河水中内梅罗综合污染指数为4.12,属于强污染级,所有危害指数均在1以下.Pb、Zn、As、Cd和Cr是思的河岩溶流域内有潜在威胁的金属.重金属进入岩溶管道后浓度发生了明显变化,表明岩溶含水层特有性质影响着重金属浓度的空间变化.研究结果可为思的河流域和类似岩溶水流域的水资源污染防治和人类健康保护提供数据参考.     

西昌邛海沉积物重金属含量时空变化与污染评价

通过对四川省西昌市邛海沉积岩芯10种金属元素全量与表层沉积物7种重金属元素全量和赋存形态的分析,研究了近百年来重金属累积和污染的时空特征及其在表层沉积物中的潜在生态风险.20世纪70年代之前,沉积岩芯中金属元素含量均较为稳定;70年代沉积物中Al、Fe、K和Cr含量呈明显的峰值,与流域降水量增加及围湖造田和毁林开荒等导致的细颗粒表土侵蚀输入有关;90年代以来,随着流域土壤侵蚀强度降低,Al、Fe、K和Cr等含量总体呈下降趋势,而As、Cd、Cu、Pb和Zn含量逐渐升高或较为稳定.富集系数结果表明,沉积岩芯中Cd、Pb和Zn受到不同程度的人为污染;其中Cd污染最重,污染开始于20世纪60年代,90年代以来保持在中等污染水平.表层沉积物中,Cd在西北部湖区含量较高,其余重金属含量空间变化趋势不明显;Cd、Pb和Zn的有效态质量分数平均分别为95%、63%和48%,其中Cd以酸可提取态为主,Pb和Zn主要赋存于可还原态和可氧化态中;其余重金属有效态质量分数平均值小于27%.重金属全量与有效态含量结果均表明,表层沉积物中Pb和Zn为轻度污染或中度污染水平,Cd平均为中度污染水平,但在西北部湖区达到了重度污染水平.基于重金属全量与有效态含量分别估算的表层沉积物中人为源Cd、Pb和Zn的含量较为接近（P>0.05）,说明人为输入的重金属在沉积物中主要赋存于有效态中.综合沉积物质量基准、潜在生态风险指数评价结果及重金属赋存形态,表层沉积物中Cd具有较强的潜在生态风险,其余重金属表现为低生态风险.