Measurement of public awareness of climate change in China: based on a national survey with 4,025 samples

Just before the new round of UN climate change conference in Bonn, a survey report, named as the Climate Change in the Chinese Mind 2017, was released in Beijing. The investigation was conducted in the form of a computer-assisted telephone survey with a sample size of 4,025 samples, covering 332 prefecture-level administrative units and four municipalities in China. Urban-rural proportion and sex proportion were specially taken into account, so as to demonstrate the Chinese public awareness objectively. The investigation measures the public awareness from six aspects, which includes climate change beliefs, impacts, response, policies, actions, and the assessment of the effectiveness of climate communication. This article presents the key findings of the survey and provides further insights behind the data.     

Adaptation policy and community discourse: risk,vulnerability, and just transformation

How can public engagement assist in the development of just processes and outcomes in adaptation discourse and policymaking? A concern with justice is at the center of thinking about adaptation that is not only resilient, but also public, engaging, and transformative. Theoretically, the intersection of adaptation, transformation, and environmental and climate justice is examined, before exploring the specific concerns and normative foundations for adaptation policy articulated by local governments, environmental groups, and local residents engaged in adaptation planning in Australia. Despite a discursive disconnect between governmental focus on a risk or resilience-based approach and a community concern with the vulnerability of basic needs and capabilities of everyday life, deliberative engagement in adaptation planning can both address issues of justice and represent a transformative practice.     

Elite cues,media coverage,and public concern: an integrated path analysis of public opinion on climate change, 2001–2013

To analyze the factors affecting US public concern about the threat of climate change between January 2002 and December 2013, data from 74 separate surveys are used to construct quarterly measures of public concern over global climate change. Five factors should account for changes in levels of concern: extreme weather events, public access to accurate scientific information, media coverage, elite cues, and movement/countermovement advocacy. Structural equation modeling indicates that elite cues, movement advocacy efforts, weather, and structural economic factors influence the level of public concern about climate change. While media coverage exerts an important influence, it is itself largely a function of elite cues and economic factors. Promulgation to the public of scientific information on climate change has no effect. Information-based science advocacy has had only a minor effect on public concern, while political mobilization by elites and advocacy groups is critical in influencing climate change concern.     

Why does the United States lack a global warming policy? The corporate inner circle versus public interest sector elites

Why has the United States not adopted global warming policies? Because the inner circle of the corporate elite has opposed these policies despite some corporate support for cap-and-trade and other policies. Pro- and anti-positions taken by think tanks that have led the policy debate in the post-Kyoto period are analyzed in order to demonstrate this. The corporate and upper class social ties of the directors of these pro- and anti-think tanks are examined, revealing a corporate elite split between the inner circle opposing these policies, and a ‘public interest sector’ of corporate law and media corporations along with top executives from higher education and other nonprofits that is supportive of policies addressing global warming. To enable adoption of major global warming policies, the corporate inner circle will need to become supportive and forge a class-wide corporate consensus on the need to address global warming.     

Public participation in municipal solid waste source-separated collection in Guilin,China: status and influencing factors

Currently, China is facing critical problems regarding the management of municipal solid waste (MSW). The failure of existing pilot programs in implementing MSW source-separated collection highlights the need to analyze the factors significantly influencing public participation in this activity. To this end, a comprehensive analysis of MSW source-separated collection in Guilin, which is representative of wider areas located in inland China and with a GDP around the national average, was conducted. The research consisted of in-person interviews involving a questionnaire and theoretical analyses in terms of public perception, public awareness, public attitude, and willingness to pay. The analytical results identify the status of waste source-separated collection and influencing factors in implementation, and provides exercisable suggestions for decision makers in both China and more generally in industrializing countries to design promotion programs and education campaigns.     

环境公害的本土化解读与法律应对——以四川藏区矿产资源开发公害为对象

以四川藏区矿产资源的开发利用为研究对象,一方面,从环境公害本土化的视角解读四川藏区的资源开发公害问题;另一方面,从法律的价值和应对的视角对资源开发公害问题进行法律规制,以期对四川藏区生态环境的保护有所裨益。     

Perceiving the Environment from the Lay Perspective in Desertified Areas,Northern China

Investigating local people’s environmental perceptions can produce useful information that could be incorporated into decision making processes that help resolve environmental problems. Although China is undergoing severe desertification, the perceptions of the local people toward their degraded environment and the related issues have so far not been actively solicited. This article, which is a supplement to Lee and Zhang’s (2004, 2005) studies, seeks to further investigate the lay public’s general environmental attitudes, perceptions of desertification, interpretations of land-degrading activities, and particularly their interrelations in severely desertified areas. Minqin County in Gansu Province, northern China, was chosen to be the study area. Data was collected via a questionnaire survey (n = 1138) administered in December 2002. Major findings were: (1) Most respondents had only weak altruistic environmental attitudes, with educational level to be a significant determinant. (2) Respondents’ perceptions of desertification and interpretations of land-degrading activities were contingent on personal attributes, general environmental attitudes, and other conceptions related to desertification. It is recommended that the interrelations between the various aspects of the public’s environmental perceptions should be thoroughly examined to facilitate their participation in environmental management.     

Protecting people and property: the influence of land-use planners on flood hazard mitigation in New Urbanist developments

Research suggests that characteristics of local government land-use planners help determine the priority that local communities place on flood hazard mitigation. However, research has not examined the significance of land-use planners' values and role orientations for flood hazard mitigation. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the influence that land-use planners' values and role orientations have on flood hazard mitigation in a national sample of New Urbanist development projects. Findings indicate that land-use planners' values and role orientations have significant implications for flood hazard mitigation in these projects. The paper recommends that local governments adopt a land-use planning approach to flood hazard mitigation that relies on land-use planners to help direct development away from hazardous portions of development sites.     

重构煤炭主体专业教育的公益性

从煤炭主体专业教育具有的公益性属性分析入手,指出煤炭主体专业的办学经费日紧和煤炭主体专业边缘化与去煤化,公益性日渐式微。建议从国家、高校、企业、个人家庭等各个层次全方位重构煤炭主体专业教育的公益性,加强国家利益至上,强化政府主渠道作用,在政策与教育投入要向其倾斜,优先发展与保障煤炭主体专业的教育,制定相关法规确保煤炭专业生源与人才培养质量,并在该领域就业。国家、企业、高校与个人家庭利益相关者都应在制度上强化各自应有的责任,从而形成一个多层次全方位良性互动发展的培养与吸纳人才的机制,确保煤炭主体专业教育的公益性,促进煤炭主体专业健康发展,满足安全生产的人才需求的供给,从而为煤炭安全生产提供重要保障。     

大型公共场所动态引导人移动路径设计方法

针对方向式动态引导在大型公共场所安全疏散中的重要作用,以及对动态引导人移动路径研究不足的现状,提出利用比值函数设计动态引导人移动路径的方法。并借鉴TSP(旅行商问题)方法的求解思路,提出可用于动态引导人移动路径优化的禁忌搜索算法。以一个内部布局较为复杂的大型公共场所模拟场景为例,利用MA-ESM疏散模型,分别模拟了引导人最优移动路径、最短移动路径和影响面积最大路径3种不同情景下疏散效果。结果表明,利用影响面积和路径长度比值最大的优化算法计算得出的引导人移动路径,既可满足在相同时间内引导更多的人员进行疏散,又可节省总体的疏散时间,充分保证疏散效果,验证了笔者所提出的动态引导人移动路径优化算法的合理性。