Geological CO2 Storage as a Climate Change Mitigation Option

Carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ capture and storage is increasingly being considered as an important climate change mitigation option. This paper explores provisions for including geological CO₂ storage in climate policy. The storage capacity of Norway's Continental Shelf is alone sufficient to store a large share of European CO₂ emissions for many decades. If CO₂ is injected into oil reservoirs there is an additional benefit in terms of enhanced oil recovery. However, there are significant technical and economic challenges, including the large investment in infrastructure required, with related economies of scale properties. Thus CO₂ capture, transportation and storage projects are likely to be more economically attractive if developed on a large scale, which could mean involving two or more nations. An additional challenge is the risk of future leakages from storage sites, where the government must take on a major responsibility. In institutional and policy terms, important challenges are the unsettled status of geological CO₂ storage as a policy measure in the Kyoto Protocol, lack of relevant reporting and verification procedures, and lack of decisions on how the option should be linked to the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. In terms of competitiveness with expected prices for CO₂ permits under Kyoto Protocol trading, the relatively high costs per tonne of CO₂ stored means that geological CO₂ storage is primarily of interest where enhanced oil recovery is possible. These shortcomings and uncertainties mean that companies and governments today only have weak incentives to venture into geological CO₂ storage.     

21世纪可替代脊椎动物进行生态毒性测试的方法：过去二十年的发展和现状综述

替代脊椎动物进行化学物质和污染物危害评估的方法已成为越来越重要的需求。现在首先要考虑的是当启动一个脊椎动物生态毒性测试,必须确保不必要的脊椎动物生物的使用尽可能最小化。对于一些监管目的,脊椎动物的使用对环境风险评估(ERA)已经被禁止,而在其他情况下生物测试的数量已经大大减少了,或者测试程序严格精简了。然而,想要获得能够完全替代脊椎动物提供环境危害数据的方法仍有很长的路要走。动物替代品的发展不仅仅是基于道德的考虑,也可以降低执行脊椎动物生态毒性测试的成本以及在某些情况下能够提供更好的信息旨在改进环境风险评估。本文集中综述了在过去的几十年里生态毒性评估替代方法所发生的重大的进展。
精选自Adam Lillicrap, Scott Belanger, Natalie Burden, David Du Pasquier, Michelle R. Embry, Marlies Halder, Mark A. Lampi, Lucy Lee, Teresa Norberg-King, Barnett A. Rattner, Kristin Schirmer, Paul Thomas. Alternative approaches to vertebrate ecotoxicity tests in the 21st century: a review of developments over the last two decades and current status. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 35, Issue 11, pages 2637–2646, November 2016. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3603
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3603/full
     

Temporal and Spatial Relationships Between Watershed Land Use and Salt Marsh Disturbance in a Pacific Estuary

Historical and recent remote sensing data can be used to address temporal and spatial relationships between upland land cover and downstream vegetation response at the watershed scale. This is demonstrated for sub-watersheds draining into Elkhorn Slough, California, where salt marsh habitat has diminished because of the formation of sediment fans that support woody riparian vegetation. Multiple regression models were used to examine which land cover variables and physical properties of the watershed most influenced sediment fan size within 23 sub-watersheds (1.4 ha to 200 ha). Model explanatory power increased (adjusted R(2) = 0.94 vs. 0.75) among large sub-watersheds (>10 ha) and historical watershed variables, such as average farmland slope, flowpath slope, and flowpath distance between farmland and marsh, were significant. It was also possible to explain the increase in riparian vegetation by historical watershed variables for the larger sub-watersheds. Sub-watershed area is the overriding physical characteristic influencing the extent of sedimentation in a salt marsh, while percent cover of agricultural land use is the most influential land cover variable. The results also reveal that salt marsh recovery depends on relative cover of different land use classes in the watershed, with greater chances of recovery associated with less intensive agriculture. This research reveals a potential delay between watershed impacts and wetland response that can be best revealed when conducting multi-temporal analyses on larger watersheds.     

Microenvironmental time-activity patterns in Chongqing, China

An investigation using recall questionnaires was conducted in winter and autumn 2006 to evaluate the time-activity patterns in Chongqing, China. The average time spent in seven microenvironments (MEs) including outdoors, transit, living room, bedroom, kitchen, classroom/office, and other indoors were found to be about 3.5, 1.1, 2.5, 9.7, 1.4, 4.2, and 1.7 h per day, respectively. According to the results of a nonparametric test, the sampling period and day of week were significant for the variation of the time spent in all MEs except for transit and outdoors. The time budget was analyzed using a general linear model (GLM), which exhibited significant variability by demographic factors such as gender, age, residence, education, and household income.     

Farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and barriers to adaptation: lessons learned from an exploratory study in Vietnam

Southeast Asian countries are confronting climate variability, challenging agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods. However, little research effort has been devoted to exploring how farmers in those countries perceive climate variability and how the perceptions link to adaptive responses. This paper deploys information from three focus group discussions with 30 male farmers; and six in-depth interviews with one female and five male agricultural officers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Recorded 34-year meteorological data in the delta from 1978 to 2011 is also incorporated to demonstrate the actual climate variability of the region. We find that farmers are becoming increasingly conscious of local climate variability issues. However, they have limited understanding of the importance of adaptation to their livelihoods. They also have limited knowledge of where and who to contact for appropriate climate change adaptation information. No opinions about the link between global warming and local climate variability and change were observed. Casual observation via public media and personal experience dominated farmers’ sources of information. Barriers to farmers’ adaptation are not exclusively restricted to socio-economic factors and resource constraints; e.g. land tenure, technical knowledge, market, social relationship, credit, information, health care, and demographics. Maladaptation, habit, and the perception of the importance of climate variability and adaptation are found as additional constraints. Observed differences in farmers’ and agricultural officers’ perspectives regarding barriers to farmers’ adaptation suggest important policy implications.     

Assessment of population exposure to particulate matter pollution in Chongqing, China

To determine the population exposure to PM(10) in Chongqing, China, we developed an indirect model by combining information on the time activity patterns of various demographic subgroups with estimates of the PM(10) concentrations in different microenvironments (MEs). The spatial and temporal variations of the exposure to PM(10) were illustrated in a geographical information system (GIS). The population weighted exposure (PWE) for the entire population was 229, 155 and 211 microg/m(3), respectively, in winter, summer and as the annual average. Indoor PM(10) level at home was the largest contributor to the PWE, especially for the rural areas where high pollution levels were found due to solid fuels burning. Elder people had higher PM(10) exposure than adults and youth, due to more time spent in indoor MEs. The highest health risk due to particulate was found in the city zone and northeast regions, suggesting that pollution abatement should be prioritized in these areas.     

Taboos and forest governance: informal protection of hot spot dry forest in southern Madagascar

In the dry forest of southern Madagascar, a region of global conservation priority, formally protected areas are nearly totally absent. We illustrate how the continued existence of unique forest habitats in the Androy region is directly dependent on informal institutions, taboos, regulating human behavior. Qualitative interviews to map and analyze the social mechanisms underlying forest protection have been combined with vegetation analyses of species diversity and composition. Of 188 forest patches, 93% were classified as protected, and in Southern Androy all remaining forest patches larger than 5 ha were protected. Eight different types of forests, with a gradient of social fencing from open access to almost complete entry prohibitions, were identified. Transgressions were well enforced with strong sanctions of significant economic as well as religious importance. Analyses of species diversity between protected and unprotected forests were complicated because of size differences and access restrictions. However, since, for example, in southern Androy >90% of the total remaining forest cover is protected through taboos, these informal institutions represent an important, and presently the only, mechanism for conservation of the highly endemic forest species. We conclude that social aspects, such as local beliefs and legitimate sanctioning systems, need to be analyzed and incorporated along with biodiversity studies for successful conservation.     

Household behaviour and attitudes with respect to recycling food waste--experiences from focus groups

It is a challenge to reduce the ever-increasing flow of waste. In Norway the systems for recycling of organic waste, paper, glass, metals, etc. differ between municipalities, both with regard to organizational and to technological structures. Our hypothesis is that people's attitudes and behaviour may differ with different systems of waste management. People's behaviour and attitudes regarding (organic) waste recycling were investigated in two municipalities with differing technical and organisational systems. Data came from interviews with municipal employees, questionnaires, focus groups and multi-criteria mapping. People seem to be better informed and more positive about organic waste recycling in one of the municipalities (MH, which has recycling of organic waste) than in the other (MS, which has no such recycling). The two municipalities had similar sets of important criteria for waste management (price, environmental friendliness, easy solutions, information). Many participants stated that they had learned from the group process, though only a few reported changed preferences. The institutional context seems to be important for people's behaviour and attitudes towards waste management. This implies that people's recycling behaviour does not only depend on technical and organisational aspects, but also on institutions. These are important messages for policy makers. On an individual basis, the different systems in the two municipalities seem to affect people's stated attitudes. These differences diminish when they are in a common setting where process and dialogue stimulate new thoughts and encourage people to act more altruistically.     

Urinary 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine concentrations after frying of bacon,a pilot study

Cooking fumes contain compounds that may give rise to oxidative stress and mutations when inhaled. The aim of this study was to evaluate if cooking fumes from frying of bacon induce oxidative stress by measurement of urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, a marker of oxidatively damaged DNA. Three non-smoking women fried bacon for 3 h. Urine samples were taken as early morning void at the same time on four days; the morning before frying, the morning after first frying, the morning after three days of frying and one week after first urine sample. 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine, 1-hydroxypyrene and 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine correlated weakly with concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene (r = 0.31, p = 0.042), but it did not correlate with 2-hydroxyphenanthrene (r = ?0.074; p = 0.64). Average urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 deoxyguanosine concentrations increased from the day before frying (16.3 ± 4.2 nmol/L) to the third day of frying (26.2 ± 10.2 nmol/L), although not statistically significantly. Our pilot study shows that frying of bacon may result in increased oxidative stress which further emphasises the possible carcinogenic potential of cooking fumes.     

SAMPLING FRAME FOR IMPROVING PEBBLE COUNT ACCURACY IN COARSE GRAVEL‐BED STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: Improved sampling techniques are needed to increase the accuracy of pebble‐count particle‐size distributions used for stream studies in gravel‐bed streams. However, pebble counts are prone to operator errors introduced through subjective particle selection, serial correlation, and inaccurate particle‐size measurements. Errors in particle‐size measurements can be minimized by using a gravel template. Operator influence on particle selection can be minimized by using a sampling frame, 60 by 60 cm, in which sampling points are identified by the cross points of thin elastic bands. Serial correlation can be minimized by adjusting the spacing between the cross points and setting it equal to the dominant large particle size (=D₉₅). In a field test in a cobble‐bed stream, the sampling frame developed in this study produced slightly coarser size distributions, particularly in the cobble range, than the traditional heel‐to‐toe walk that selects particles with a blind touch at the tip of the boot. The sampling frame produced more similar sampling results between two operators than heel‐to‐toe walks. The difference between the two sampling methods is attributed to an unbiased selection of fine and coarse particles when using the sampling frame.