Enhancing consultation practices on Air Quality Management in local authorities

Schedule 11 of the Environment Act 1995 underpins the requirement for consultation on air quality issues. The ongoing air quality review and assessment process represents one of the largest locally based science policy and communication initiatives ever undertaken in the UK. This paper outlines the practice of consultation and communication for Air Quality Management (AQM) and reviews the interaction between Environmental Health professionals, as the leading actor in the AQM process and other stakeholders involved in air quality consultation, including the public. Results are presented from a widespread questionnaire survey of English local authorities. Data indicate that the majority of air quality consultation has been carried out with statutory consultees (by sending the review and assessment reports) and the public (via websites and leaflets) in the form of information dissemination.     

Integrating Media Studies of Climate Change into Transdisciplinary Research: Which Direction Should We Be Heading?

Research in the area of media coverage on climate change communication represents one of the most prolific areas of inquiry within communication and mass communication studies. This body of literature, which ranges from empirical to critical studies, continues to expand. Much research has focused on representations of climate change causes, effects, and human actions, while some has assessed the impacts of these representations. What is broadly missing from this literature, however, is a discussion of how we might integrate media analysis into transdisciplinary collaborative research aimed at creating solutions to the social, environmental, and economic issues intertwined with climate change. Given the magnitude of problems the society and science are currently grasping with, it behooves us to understand how media studies can contribute most effectively to characterizing and solving problems. We maintain that the move toward integrating media studies into transdisciplinary collaborative research marks an essential transition for environmental communication in general, but climate change communication in particular, given the urgency and magnitude of creating meaningful adaptation and mitigation strategies to address this pressing, complex challenge. Drawing on our work as part of a large transdisciplinary sustainability science team, we provide a case study for understanding what collaborations are key to moving media studies into a transdisciplinary context and the key opportunities and barriers that come along with that move. We argue that media studies must increasingly engage directly in collaboration with other researchers, stakeholders, and communities to serve on-the-ground decision-making and enhance society's ability to take action.     

中国战略性海洋新兴产业的发展对策探讨

海洋经济已跨入以高新技术引领的新时代,以海洋高新技术为首要特征的战略性海洋新兴产业成为各国争相抢占的科技制高点.本文在界定战略性海洋新兴产业内涵的基础上,分析我国战略性海洋新兴产业发展的现状,找出其在公众认识、政策体系、自主创新能力、资金投入以及人才储备等方面存在的主要问题,进而提出通过提高公众对战略性海洋新兴产业发展重要性的认识,营造促进其发展的良好氛围;建立和完善战略性海洋新兴产业发展的政策体系和协调机制,形成支持战略性海洋新兴产业发展的长效机制;提高海洋科技的自主创新能力,加速科技成果的转化,打造一批具有国际竞争力的战略性海洋新兴产业开发区;加大对战略性海洋新兴产业的资金投入,建立多渠道的有效的投融资体制以及着力培养和引进具备较强适应能力、创新能力和竞争力的高层次人才,使其成为发展战略性海洋新兴产业的生力军等措施促进我国战略性海洋新兴产业的发展,借以推动我国海洋经济实现跨越式发展.     

服务江苏环保,投身污染减排——论省环科院在江苏省污染减排中的作用

文中从江苏省环科院的职能出发,阐述了省环科院在江苏省污染减排工作中的地位和作用,指出省环科院应在污染减排工作中做出更大贡献。     

From land cover change to land function dynamics: a major challenge to improve land characterization

Land cover change has always had a central role in land change science. This central role is largely the result of the possibilities to map and characterize land cover based on observations and remote sensing. This paper argues that more attention should be given to land use and land functions and linkages between these. Consideration of land functions that provide a wide range of goods and services makes more integrated assessments of land change possible. The increasing attention to multifunctional land use is another incentive to develop methods to assess changes in land functions. A number of methods to quantify and map the spatial extent of land use and land functions are discussed and the implications for modeling are identified based on recent model approaches in land change science. The mixed use of land cover, land use and land function in maps and models leads to inconsistencies in land change assessments. Explicit attention to the non-linear relations between land cover, land use and land function is essential to consistently address land change. New methods to map and quantify land function dynamics will enhance our ability to understand and model land system change and adequately inform policies and planning.     

Gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs in a satellite town in Eastern China

Gas/particle partitioning of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in ambient air was investigated in a satellite town in Eastern China from April 2007 to January 2008 comprehending large temperature variations (from 3 to 34 °C, daily average). Molecular weight, molecular structure and ambient temperatures are the three major factors that govern the gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric PCDD/Fs throughout the year. Generally, good agreements were obtained (except for winter) between measured particulate fractions and theoretical estimates of both the Junge–Pankow adsorption model and Harner Bidleman absorption model using different sets of subcooled liquid vapor pressure and octanol–air partition coefficient (K_oa), respectively. Models utilizing estimates, derived from gas chromatographic retention indices (GC-RIs), are more accurate than that of entropy-based. Moreover, during winter, the K_oa-based model using the GC-RIs approach performs better on lower chlorinated PCDD/Fs than that of -based. Furthermore, possible sources of mismatch between measured and predicted values in winter (3–7 °C) were discussed. Gas adsorption artifact was demonstrated to be of minor importance for the phenomena observed. On the other hand, large deviations of slopes (m_r) and intercepts (b_r) in logK_p vs. plots from theoretical values are observed in the literature data and these are found to be linearly correlated with ambient temperatures (P<0.001) in this study. This indicates that the non-equilibrium partitioning of PCDD/Fs in winter may be significantly influenced by the colder temperatures that may have slowed down the exchange between gaseous and particulate fractions.     

论“安全”及“安全性”的概念

对当前有关安全概念的多种定义均存在内涵或外延不准确的问题进行研讨;将与安全问题相关的客观事物区分为"可遭受损害事物"和"可导致损害事物",并分别对应于"安全"概念和"安全性"概念;在明确所涉及对象事物的基础上,对安全概念与安全性概念准确把握各自的内涵和外延,分别给出用"属加种差"方式描述的定义。笔者认为:安全是"具有特定功能或属性的事物,在内部和外部因素及其相互作用下,足以保持其正常的、完好的状态,而免遭非期望损害的现象";安全性是"某事物在一定的条件下和一定的时间内,导致其他事物或其自身发生非期望损害的能力"。     

Determinants of workers’ attitude toward low-carbon technology adoption: empirical evidence from Chinese firms

As the main contribution of China’s carbon emissions, low-carbon production in industrial firms becomes an inevitable choice, and industrial firm employees’ attitudes on low-carbon new technology directly influence the results of low-carbon production. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, structural equation modeling was used to analyze the main factors influencing firm staff to accept low-carbon new technology. The study reveals that the employee’s social impact, performance expectation, effort expectations and convenient conditions, and employee characteristics are all main factors affecting their acceptance attitudes on low-carbon new technology. And social influence has the largest effect on employees’ acceptance attitudes toward low-carbon new technology. Accordingly, relevant policy recommendations are put forward for the future research direction.     

The varying effects of left–right ideology on support for the environment: Evidence from a Swedish survey experiment

Years of research show that left-leaning individuals are more supportive of environmental policies than right-leaning individuals. The explanation for the lower level of support among right-leaning individuals is their stronger preference for economic growth and lower acceptance of intervention in markets. However, recent cross-national studies have questioned whether the effect of ideology on environmental support is universal. A Swedish survey experiment shows that the effect of ideology varies greatly depending on how individuals think about the environment. Specifically, it demonstrates that if environmental support is contrasted with economic growth, then the effect of ideology is stronger as opposed to when environmental support is not juxtaposed with economic growth. Furthermore, among people who strongly perceive the environment as a left–right issue, there is a larger divide between left and right.     

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.