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China represents the third largest economy and the highest level of national carbon dioxide emissions when compared to other nations across the globe. Yet, little social science research has focused on the environmentally oriented behaviors of Chinese nationals, key to understanding levels of environmental impact. This study examines, in China, gender differences in environmentally oriented behaviors, environmental knowledge, and general environmental concern. Making use of path analyses, we identify a pattern of gender differences similar to common findings in the West: women demonstrated greater participation in environmental behaviors inside of the home (e.g., recycling), while outside of the home (e.g., environmental organization donations) no gendered patterns were exhibited. However, Chinese women expressed lower levels of concern than men—a finding opposite of most Western studies. Also distinct from other settings, in China, higher levels of knowledge regarding environmental issues did, indeed, translate into pro-environmental behaviors—thereby not exhibiting the knowledge-behavior gap demonstrated elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

large number of ‘environmental justice’ studies show that wealthier people are less affected by environmental burdens and also consume more resources than poorer people. Given this double inequity, we ask, to what extent are affluent people prepared to pay to protect the environment? The analyses are couched within the compensation/affluence hypothesis, which states that wealthier persons are able to spend more for environmental protection than their poorer counterparts. Further, we take into account various competing economic, psychological and sociological determinants of individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for both public environmental goods (e.g., general environmental protection) and quasi-private environmental goods (e.g., CO-neutral cars). Such a comprehensive approach contrasts with most other studies in this field that focus on a limited number of determinants and goods. Multivariate analyses are based on a general population survey in Switzerland ( N = 3,369). Although income has a positive and significant effect on WTP supporting the compensation hypothesis, determinants such as generalized interpersonal trust that is assumed to be positively associated with civic engagement and environmental concern prove to be equally important. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that time preferences can considerably influence survey-based WTP for environmental goods; since investments in the environment typically pay off in the distant future, persons with a high subjective discount rate are less likely to commit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global chemical industry has a rich history of investment in campaigns to educate the public about what it does. Beginning in the 1930s, first Dupont then the industry overall promised ''Better Living Through Chemistry.'' In the 1990s, the industry promoted its own environmentalism. The 2005 launch of the American Chemistry Council's essential2life campaign was yet another update. This essay examines the shifting logics of chemical industry public education campaigns, focusing particularly on the disavowals of the essential2life campaign. The essay also raises questions about forms of collective deliberation-among scientists, among activists and within industry-that reduce vulnerability to what Kirsch and Benson call ''corporate oxymorons,'' facilitating critical awareness of ways vested interests shape articulations of history and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overintensification and subsidies have long made American commodity farmers the enemy of conservationists. Yet, environmental conditions are improving in the Mississippi Delta where farmer-based groups, water management districts and conservation organizations have improved environmental quality and redefined the role of agriculture in environmental preservation. This work is all the more remarkable given the region’s deeply conservative politics that discourage regulation. This paper examines this mainstreaming of environmental values in light of debates on the role of the state in fostering environmental subjectivities. Following cultural examinations of the state, we caution that the presence or retreat of the state is insufficient to understanding environmental subjectivities. Instead, an ethnographic focus is necessary to identify connections between the state and particular human-environment relations. In the Delta, this focus shows that local environmentalism is consonant with a politics of unsustainability, one that simultaneously advances radical ecological change and defense of the region’s social hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Balaton, one of the largest lakes in Europe, is an important centre for summer tourism in Hungary. The appearance of the water is, however, influenced by a number of physical and biological factors such as the frequency of storms, the hydrological balance, the water level and the growth of algae. Here we report the results of a survey designed to test the reaction of the local population to these seasonal and inter-annual variations. This survey was based on a questionnaire completed by 960 permanent inhabitants of the shoreline villages and was designed to explore their awareness of the local and regional factors responsible for the changes. About one-quarter of the respondents considered that the drying effects of global climate change had already had an effect on the Lake Balaton area. Although younger (16–26) and middle-aged (27–50) respondents benefit most from good water quality, those in the oldest age group (51–92) were more concerned about the quality of the water and broader issues such as biodiversity and the conservation of the landscape. Considering that the future of the lake depends on the youngest generation, this suggests that their environmental education could be improved to strengthen their understanding of environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nomadism has received surprisingly little attention in the ecological literature, and further work in this area is needed. The results of Woinarski’s reanalysis of our research findings are broadly similar to our own, and they support our original interpretation. However, his presentation is confusing and difficult to interpret.We used an information-theoretic approach to multimodel selection. We a priori defined plausible candidate models relating the variables described in our original paper or Woinarski’s reanalysis to the phenomenon of nomadism. We tested models that investigate nomadism as a function of nectivory, granivory, diet diversity, mixed diet, distance to body mass aggregation edge, mass, interactions between distance to edge and nectivory, distance to edge and mass, mass and nectivory, or mass and the interaction of edge and nectivory. There is consistency in our results across all sets of models, suggesting that mass, distance to body mass aggregation (scale breaks), and diet (nectivory) are all important factors in determining nomadism. In no case was nectivory or any other diet variable supported in a single-variable model. Given the same data and similar results, we and Woinarski reach fundamentally different conclusions. Woinarski views nomadism as an easily understandable result given knowledge of the proper single mechanistic variable, and he discounts interactions with structural features of the landscape and scaling. We conclude that nomadism is a fundamentally complex phenomenon without a single source of causation, and that it is the interaction of species, species attributes, and landscapes that is responsible for nomadic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of climate change and the need for sustainable water systems, water management has changed considerably in recent years, from river management to basin management. This change is illustrated for both the main Dutch river system and a small, representative regional water system in the Netherlands. This change results in four major challenges, (1) creating an effective regional administration which functions as a network authority, (2) increasing collaboration with other water managers, (3) increasing efficiency and achieving goals at minimum cost, and (4) communicating in an open manner with stakeholders. The article outlines the way in which water managers try to address these challenges. Special attention is given to the need for increased coordination between environmental policies and water policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of studies examining racial and socioeconomic disparities in the geographic distribution of environmental hazards and locally unwanted land uses has grown considerably over the past decade. Most studies have found statistically significant racial and socioeconomic disparities associated with hazardous sites. However there is considerable variation in the magnitude of racial and socioeconomic disparities found; indeed, some studies have found none. Uncertainties also exist about the underlying causes of the disparities. Many of these uncertainties can be attributed to the failure of the most widely used method for assessing environmental disparities to adequately account for proximity between the hazard under investigation and nearby residential populations. In this article, we identify the reasons for and consequences of this failure and demonstrate ways of overcoming these shortcomings by using alternate, distance-based methods. Through the application of such methods, we show how assessments about the magnitude and causes of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of hazardous sites are changed. In addition to research on environmental inequality, we discuss how distance-based methods can be usefully applied to other areas of demographic research that explore the effects of neighborhood context on a range of social outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the impact of the international institutional framework embodied in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Canada's response to climate change. Norms of liberal environmentalism in the compromise of the Kyoto Protocol; International and domestic institutional context for Canada's climate change policy; Evolution of Canada's global role in addressing climate change.

The article reports on the U.S. Congress legislative bill concerning the protection of coral reefs, damaged by divers, pollution and climate change in the U.S. The bill, Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act of 2007, would cancel foreign debt in developing countries in exchange for coral reef and rainforest conservation. U.S. Congress passed a similar bill in 1998 that has channelled $137 million to protect rainforests in developing countries such as Panama, Bangladesh and Botswana. Under the deal, countries in debt to the U.S. Agency for International Development give money to local conservation groups. In return, the U.S. cancels the same amount of debt.

The article presents that policy decisions on science and environment need contributions from official bodies, pressure groups, the media and scientists in all countries. The Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) based in New Delhi is concerned with environmental issues. The Indian scientists do not agree to CSE's stance on environmental issues and refrain from policymaking discussions. It is suggested that the Indian scientists must join in policy preparation on environmental regulation.

Focuses on the plans surrounding the five year anniversary of the Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The event planned for March 1997 called RIO+5; Comments from Maurice Strong, the secretary-general of the Earth Summit; The track records of developed countries in terms of their environmental programs in 1997.