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There is a growing interest in addressing moral aspects in the research and education of socio-scientific issues. This paper investigates students' interpretations of climate change from a moral perspective. The students were 14 years old, studying at Green Schools in the Beijing area, China. The study was based on semi-structured group interviews and the data were analysed from an intentional perspective, which means that both cognitive and situational aspects were taken into consideration in the analysis. Previous research has revealed a close relation between morality and socio-scientific issues and also advocated the need for addressing ethical aspects in science education. However, empirical studies exploring the question of what students' moral reasoning might look like at the individual level have not yet generated enough attention. In this study this is the core focus of interest. The findings show that the students conceptualise the solutions to mitigating climate change in relation to two different stances. That is, they contextualise the problems and solutions by addressing the individual, where the individual is either 'myself' or 'someone else'. The different notions of the individual become crucial as the students' views and considerations for the environment, as well as society, change according to the different contexts. From a moral point of view, the students seem quite unaware of their varying consideration for others, the environment and society. The paper ends with a discussion of implications for practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing has long sought to shape global narratives about China. The Xi Jinping administration not only continued that effort but also added an entirely new dimension: it now seeks to use discourse power, particularly through formulating and promoting strategic narratives, to reshape the international system itself. Drawing upon social identity theory (SIT) and strategic narratives framework, this study shows that Beijing employs a multifaceted narrative strategy to redefine existing norms or create new ones in varied global governance domains. A theoretical framework is presented to explain the strategy and subsequently applied to illustrate China's strategic narratives at the international system level and in three global governance areas, i.e., climate change, human rights, and Internet governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing emission of transport-related pollutants has become a key issue in relation to climate change mitigation and the improvement of air quality in China's cities. This article aims to examine the effects of changes in the built environment on transportation by examining the case of Beijing. Looking at household survey data, the analysis found that individual workers’ commuting behavior (concerning travel destination, mode choice and travel time) is significantly related to some aspects of the built environment when socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are taken into account. There are obvious differences in the effects of the built environment on commuting across income groups, occupations and industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to examine the impact of vehicular traffic on the contamination status of urban traffic sites in Beijing with respect to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The soil and Pinus pinea needle samples were collected at 12 sites on Three Ring Road in Beijing, China, from July 2009 to March 2010. Total PAH concentrations at traffic sites ranged from 113.86 to 2226.24 ng g-1 with an average value of 658.71 742.41 ng g-1 in soil samples and 112.03 to 2016.80 ng g-1 with an average value of 680.29 485.61 ng g-1 in needle samples. The PAH pattern was dominated by two- and three-ring PAHs (contributing > 80% to the total PAHs) at all the 12 traffic sites. Seasonal variations of PAHs compounds indicated the PAHs concentrations in autumn and winter were higher than those in spring and summer due to temperature effects. This work indicates that the low ring PAHs were the major profile at the roadside of a busy street with heavy traffic in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]