The Exchange of Matter “Nature—Society—Nature” and some Problems of Optimization

The metabolism of the man-nature relationship is analyzed in terms of resource cycles, defined as the sum of the conversions and movements of particular natural substances (or groups of substances) in the course of their extraction, processing and consumption, and their return to the environment. Six resource cycles are distinguished: an energy resource cycle, with a chemical subcycle; an ore-metal resource cycle, with a chemical subcycle; a nonmetallic mineral cycle; a forest resource cycle; a soil and climate resource cycle, and a fauna and flora resource cycle. The first three cycles, based on mineral resources, are treated in detail. Under each heading, the author discusses present and expected levels of extraction and processing in the USSR and in the United States and related problems of waste disposal and pollution of the environment. Further research on regional and local metabolisms is suggested.     

Banking Nature? The Spectacular Financialisation of Environmental Conservation

Abstract: In this paper I emphasise the financialisation of environmental conservation as 1. the turning of financiers to conservation parameters as a new frontier for investment, and 2. the rewriting of conservation practice and nonhuman worlds in terms of banking and financial categories. I introduce financialisation as a broadly controlling impetus with relevance for environmental conservation. I then note ways in which a spectacular investment frontier in conservation is being opened. I highlight the draw of assertions of lucrative gains, combined with notions of geographical substitutability, in creating tradable indicators of environmental health and harm. I disaggregate financialisation strategies into four categories—nature finance, nature work, nature banking and nature derivatives—and assess their implications. The concluding section embraces Marx and Foucault as complementary thinkers in understanding the transforming intensifications of late capitalism in environmental conservation, and diagnosing their associated effects and costs.     

Nature Conservation in Tibet──The Present Status and Its Outlook

The world-renowned American con-temporary artistRobert Rauschenberg has once said: "You spoke of the mys-teries of Tibet. Secrets are kept more securely in high places and this is the highest. The life of a true artist is a constant exploration of mys-teries and the unknown."Like Rauschenberg, sci-entists, adventurers, busi-nessmen and others who have visited here, all have treasured their experiences in Tibet and marveled its beauty and people.According to the pub-lished data in September…     

A Hostile Takeover of Nature? Placing Value in Conservation Finance

Conservation finance is a nascent field that claims to “deliver maximum conservation impacts, while, at the same time, generating returns for investors” (Credit Suisse/WWF). While geographers have questioned the ability of conservation finance to play a significant role in international biodiversity conservation, an emerging cohort of boutique private equity firms are actively generating returns on North American conservation projects. This raises the question: how are these firms generating profits, and in turn, returns for their shareholders? Drawing from a Marxian understanding of finance as redistributive, I argue that these firms are generating profits through a process similar to a corporate hostile takeover. Using the examples of ranchland and timberland investment in the United States, I show that (1) the materialities and historical geographies of these landscapes play a crucial role their monetization, and (2) shareholder returns are generated through a combination of traditional real estate sales and revaluations, public monies, and commodity production.     

Pietro Pomponazzi and the Rôle of Nature in Oracular Divination

Since the early decades of the sixteenth century, Pomponazzi has been a name to conjure with: to some, the first of the modern atheists; to others, a hero of the new philosophy. But how much direct influence did his work have? This question is explored in terms of the way in which oracular divination is treated. In the sixteenth century, the range of conceptual categories available to explain such phenomena was threefold: natural, supernatural or simply unreal. In some cases, such as those of demonic possession, the person was able to be examined directly. But the same conceptual triad was also applied to another kind of case, one whose subject could not be examined, since she had long been consigned to history – the Pythia or priestess of the ancient Delphic oracle, who had famously foamed and babbled during her prophetic frenzy. For some writers on divination, this subject was of particular interest, since it had been explicitly discussed by ancient sources: whether the Pythia's ravings were real or invented, natural or supernatural, could be analysed with categories borrowed from Cicero, Plutarch and, above all, Aristotle. Within the sixteenth‐century territory disputes over Aristotle's corpus, the pagan oracles, represented above all by the Pythia, offered a test case for the broader problem of the place of divination within the natural world. The central antagonist in this tussle was Pietro Pomponazzi, whose treatment of the ancient oracles, although brief, played an important part in his radical interpretation of Aristotle. For many of his contemporary readers, it was this subject, with its specific historical dimension, that highlighted the faults in his positions on nature and divination.     

The New Nature of Things? Canada's Conservative Government and the Design of the New Environmental Subject

Since coming to power in 2006, Canada's government under Stephen Harper has worked to recalibrate federal regulatory, legislative and economic development frameworks as they overlap in the littoral zone of the environment. We argue that Harper's Conservative government is pursuing a totalizing strategy in reconfiguring the desired Canadian environmental subject. This strategy approaches an integrated design that eclipses the incremental strategic options most Canadian federal governments have understood themselves to be constrained by. This design's basic features include the discursive strategies employed to collapse “the environment” into a singular resource extraction paradigm, a programmatic concentration of power to the executive branch of the Canadian government, and a classical conservative ideology that associates environmental regulation and management with dominion over and improvement of national territory, to the exclusion of other frames and relations. We query the articulation of consent and certainty in relation to the environment and extractive economies in Canada.     

The marginalisation of nuclear weapons in world politics? The case of flexible response

This paper illuminates some of the nuclear weapons related issues raised by developments in world politics. Three overlapping points emerge. First, US nuclear weapons will probably have a diminishing place in the evolving world order. Second, the details of US nuclear strategy are likely to become even less relevant to American diplomacy than they were during the cold war. Third, the prospects for the nuclear weapons non‐proliferation regime are probably brighter than is often assumed. This prognosis needs to be qualified, however, by an acknowledgment that it is contingent on the continuation of particular trends in international relations.     

The Temporality of Eternal Prosperity: Prospero’s Labors of Love in The Tempest

In this essay, I examine the role of providence in Shakespeare’s The Tempest alongside the concept of history that Kierkegaard develops in Philosophical Fragments. I argue that the art of the play is contained in Prospero’s historical and loving engagement with the past. In short, I undertake to show that, in stark contrast to the Greek and Roman conception of time as fate, it is in viewing love as both the temporal origin and the eternal goal of existence that the time of our lives is rendered providential, that is, meaningful and historical.     

The Stones of Contention: The Role of Archaeological Heritage in Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

Archaeology plays a fundamental role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The practice of archaeology in Israel is embedded in the national identity construction discourse and has severe repercussions on domestic politics. From archaeological remains it is demanded to give proof of precedence and legitimate claims over land. The relation between nationalism and archaeology is a topic that became increasingly popular in scholarly works of the past 20 years. The full UNESCO membership of Palestine is projecting the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in a globalized dimension, but at the same time the heritage of humanity’s politics reinforces the nation-states concept and could pave the way to new political scenarios.     

The Digital Generation?: Children,ICT and the Everyday Nature of Social Exclusion

In this paper we explore the potentially inclusionary and exclusionary implications of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for children through an examination of ICT policies and practices within UK schools. We begin by outlining the rhetoric of inclusion evident in UK government policy and by reflecting on how these discourses are mobilised in three case-study schools. We go on to consider issues of social exclusion, demonstrating that both material and social factors can prevent access to appropriate computer technology. In particular, we emphasise the importance of the way that children negotiate the meanings and use of computers through their everyday practices within the classroom. The paper concludes by arguing that only when we recognise that children's use of computers is about not only the broad-scale distribution of resources but also children's everyday social relations can we hope to institute policies that promote an inclusive 'information society'.     

The development of ∂/interconsonantal laryngeal in Iranian

Conclusion The examination of the material has shown that the only indisputable counter-example against Meillet's theory is Av. (p)tar- and its derivatives -fr and tirya-. All the other examples have been shown to be wrong, or at least to have other and in my opinion better explanations. Other theories beside Meillet's have been rejected, either because they are based upon such presuppositions as make them objectionable from a methodological point of view, or because they do not explain the actual facts as they stand. Even though no convincing explanation has been found to make ptar- fit in with Meillet's theory, I do not think that this word alone is justification enough for abandoning this otherwise well-founded theory and replace it with one which can perhaps account for this word, but is in other respects inferior to Meillet's.This article is an adaption of a part of my thesis for the degree of Magister Artium in Comparative Indo-European linguistics at the University of Oslo. I thank Professor F. O. Lindeman and Research fellow P. Skjærvø for their assistance in the preparation, and Professor F. B. J. Kuiper for valuable comments on some points in the article.     

The geopolitics of peacemaking in Israel–Palestine

The study of the Israel–Palestine conflict is a live laboratory for political geographers and this is reflected in a number of studies undertaken by Saul Cohen during his career. Despite the recent collapse of the Israel–Palestine peace process, the ongoing attempts at conflict resolution continue to focus on the territorial dimensions of the conflict. All attempts to configure State territories which are acceptable to both sides must take account not only of the tangible dimensions of boundary demarcation and strategic sites, but also the symbolic aspects of territory and the way in which such territories are part of the process through which national identities are constructed and maintained. Notions of territorial partition remain much the same as they were prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. However, the changing demographic and settlement realities that have emerged during this period have resulted in the creation of new facts on the ground which must constantly be re-fed into the negotiation process at any given time.     

The Definition of＂Style＂in Linguistics

在语言学中,针对理解他人和被他人理解,文体或语言表达的风格都扮演着一个非常重要的角色。合理正确的使用各种风格可以使我们的交流更加顺畅。为了能够使我们的写作和语言表达更加清楚,有效力及合理,学习不同的文体风格是非常必要的。