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.     

Transboundary air pollution balance in the new integrated European environment

Ten out of the 12 new EU members, used to belong to the so-called “former eastern block”, with a post WWII environmental policy radically different from the tendencies followed in Western Europe. The lack of conservation regulations has resulted in a rather harmful industrialization, regarding natural resources and environmental quality. While air pollution transfer is a phenomenon of transboundary level, there is a particular interest in examining the contribution of the new EU member states to the environmental pressure faced by the older member states and vice versa. The current study utilises the official data for almost 20 years published by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program concerning the transboundary transfer of NO_x and SO₂ in order to analyse the situation and discuss the present and future environmental policy regarding air pollution.     

人工神经网络模型和公路复垦土地适宜性评价

提出了人工神经网络用于公路临时用地复垦土地适宜性评价，利用该模型对京大高速公路山西段复垦山西段复垦土地进行了适宜性评价，探讨了人工神经网络在土地复垦适宜性评价时的特点和注意问题。     

区域土地可持续利用与环境政策-体化

可持续发展应分阶段、分层次地进行，为增强区域土地可持续利用，相关环境政策的制定遵循可持续发展的原则，提出了区域土地可持续利用的评价流程与环境政策形成的循环模式；介绍了国外区域开发环境影响评价的研究进展及区域环境管理规划的主要内容；分析了这一领域的相关法律问题并提出了建议。     

南水北调中线不同调水方案下的汉江水华发生概率分析

为评估南水北调中线工程对汉江中下游水华的影响，从汉江水华的成因机理分析入手，提出了汉江水华发生概率的计算模型．该模型由河流一维水动力学模型、水体富营养化模型以及随机数生成模型组成，它不仅可以模拟汉江水华的发生机理，而且可以对诱发水华的各种因子进行随机抽样组合，从而求出中线调水不同方案实施后汉江水华的发生概率．计算结果表明，在现状情况下汉江水华的发生概率为9．2％，南水北调中线各调水方案（无引江济汉工程）实施后，汉江水华发生的概率将有一定程度的增加，而如果调水方案与引江济汉工程同时兴建将大大减少汉江水华发生的概率．最后提出建议，汉江自身的水污染治理是减少水华发生概率的最根本措施，而丹江口水库和引江济汉工程的联合调度将会减小汉江水华发生的概率．     

湛江市土地资源的可持续利用

湛江市位于祖国大陆的最南端，地形以平原、台地为主，土地资源利用受台风、干早等自然因素的影响。作者对湛江市土地资源可持续利用的限制因子进行了分析，提出了滋江市土地资源可持续利用的对策和措施。     

SIMULATION OF TEMPORAL CHANGES IN RAINFALL-RUNOFF CHARACTERISTICS,COON CREEK BASIN,WISCONSIN1

ABSTRACT: Streamflow for 67 years was simulated for Coon Creek at Coon Valley, Wisconsin, for three conditions in the drainage basin: (1) conditions in the 1930s; (2) conditions in the 1970s, excluding flood-detention reservoirs; and (3) conditions in the 1970s, including flood-detention reservoirs. These simulations showed that the changes in agricultural practices over 40 years (1940–80) reduced the 100-year flood by 53 percent (from 38,900 to 18,300 cubic feet per second). The flood-detention reservoirs reduced the 100-year flood by an additional 17 percent (to 15,100 cubic feet per second). The simulation was accomplished by calibrating a precipitation-runoff model to observed rainfall and runoff during two separate periods (1934–40 and 1978–81). Comparisons of model simulations showed that differences between the model calibrations for the two periods were statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level.     

城市地下空间与节约型和谐社会建设——论中国城市地下空间的发展战略选择

进入“十一五”规划期,中国的大城市正面临着“建构资源节约型、环境友好型和谐社会”的重大战略转型。城市地下空间资源的综合开发利用是实现这一伟大战略目标的重要保障之一。作者在研究总结国外大城市地下空间资源综合开发利用成功经验与教训的基础上,分析未来中国城市发展趋势,论述城市地下空间资源综合开发利用的发展方向与战略目标,创造性的提出了实现这一伟大战略目标应该创建的中国式综合管理的体制、机制与法制。本文可供政府决策参考。     

BASE FLOW TRENDS IN URBANIZING WATERSHEDS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN1

Rapid land development is raising concern regarding the ability of urbanizing watersheds to sustain adequate base flow during periods of drought. Long term streamflow records from unregulated watersheds of the lower to middle Delaware River basin are examined to evaluate the impact of urbanization and imperviousness on base flow. Trends in annual base flow volumes, seven‐day low flows, and runoff ratios are determined for six urbanizing watersheds and four reference watersheds across three distinct physiographic regions. Hydrograph separation is used to determine annual base flow and stormflow volumes, and nonparametric trend tests are conducted on the resulting time series. Of the watersheds examined, the expected effects of declining base flow volumes and seven‐day low flows and increasing stormflows are seen in only one watershed that is approximately 20 percent impervious and has been subject to a net water export over the past 15 years. Both interbasin transfers and hydrologic mechanisms are invoked to explain these results. The results show that increases in impervious area may not result in measurable reductions in base flow at the watershed scale.