Is Greener Whiter? Voluntary Environmental Performance of Western Ski Areas

This study analyzes the initial implementation of the Sustainable Slopes Program a voluntary environmental initiative established by the U.S. National Ski Areas Association in partnership with federal and state government agencies. Our findings indicate that participation of western ski areas in the Sustainable Slopes Program is related to institutional pressures in the form of enhanced federal oversight and higher state environmental demands exerted by state agencies, local environmental groups and public opinion. The analysis also suggests that, despite these institutional pressures, participant ski areas appear to be correlated with lower third-party environmental performance ratings. This behavior seems to reflect the lack of specific institutional mechanisms to prevent opportunism in the current design of the Sustainable Slopes Program. That is, the program does not involve specific environmental standards, lacks third-party oversight, and does not have sanctions for poor performance.     

Voluntary Environmental Programs in the Public Sector: Evaluating an Urban Water Conservation Program in California

Solving conflictual environmental policy problems is increasingly falling under the purview of local governments and public agencies. Nonregulatory approaches, such as the development of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs), could offer a useful policy alternative as they often have greater political traction and flexibility. However, there has been little work examining the use of VEPs in the public sector. This article uses a new dataset from California to examine how political institutions affect decisions by local governments and public agencies to participate in a voluntary urban water conservation program and whether this program has improved the water conservation performance of its members. The results show that special district governments, private utilities, and water suppliers dependent on purchased water are more likely to participate in the program and to join early. However, urban water agencies that have joined the program have not reduced their per capita water use more than those that have not. These results underscore the influence of political institutions in public‐sector decision making and demonstrate that, as in the private sector, commitment to a VEP by local government and public agencies does not guarantee implementation or environmental improvements. While voluntary programs offer political and administrative advantages, in order for VEPs in the public sector to be effective they must be accompanied and supported by credible enforcement mechanisms, performance standards, and rigorous monitoring programs.     

Environmental Standards and Industrial Restructuring: the Case of the Australian Paper Industry

Environmental standards imposed on the Australian paper industry have emerged in response to public concern over the logging of native forests and the ‘greening’ of consumer demand. Such standards play an integral part in the paper industry's restructuring. Neo-classical theorists hypothesised environmental standards as encouraging the relocation of polluting industries to countries with lax regulations. An alternative hypothesis is that environmental standards encourage in-situ restructuring that can positively affect a company's competitiveness. In considering this alternative hypothesis the implications for state and federal policy are briefly considered.     

Assessing the Performance of Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does Certification Matter?

The promotion of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) as alternative approaches to traditional environmental regulation has fueled numerous researchers to evaluate VEP performance. However, these studies have focused on assessing the environmental performance of a single VEP. As yet, we know little about the overall environmental benefits of these programs. Moreover, questions remain about whether VEPs designed with different monitoring regimes—related to whether programs are self‐monitored or undergo external certification—vary in their ability to improve environmental conditions. Using meta‐analysis methodology, this article evaluates the aggregated environmental outcomes of U.S. VEPs drawing on data from nine studies and over 30,000 firms. We show that collectively VEP participants do not improve their environmental performance over nonparticipants. Rather, nonparticipants improve their environmental performance by 7.7 percent more than VEP participants. Additionally, nonparticipants improve the environment 24 percent more than participants in self‐monitored VEPs, whereas participants in International Standards Organization 14001 as a group exhibit inconclusive environmental performance improvements.     

Chinese engagement in Southeast Asian energy and mineral resources: motivations and outlook

Abstract

The energy and mineral resource base of Southeast Asia is relatively modest by international standards. Nevertheless, Chinese energy and mining companies have been investing heavily in the region over recent years, in comparison with multinational companies and state-backed companies from other Asian countries. This paper applies a framework derived from the field of business studies to analyze why the scale of China’s engagement in Southeast Asia has become so great and how the motivations vary between the different energy and resource industries. The motivations for these activities reflect a mix of corporate and state objectives. Corporate objectives include securing energy or resource supply chains, increasing or diversifying their asset base, and enhancing their profits or market share. The motivations of the government range from straightforward support of the companies for the purpose of industrial strategy and security of resource supply, to development assistance and regional strategic positioning. The different motivations of the oil and gas, hydropower, and mining industries arise from the particular character of each market, both within China and globally. Southeast Asia has the twin advantages of geographic and apparent cultural proximity to China. Nevertheless, inexperience and a desire to catch up with their international peers have resulted in companies applying low social and environmental standards in some high profile projects. The subsequent disputes, together with the current low level of resource prices, may constrain the further growth of Chinese investment in the near future.     

沧州铁狮子结构健康监测数据管理及集成系统的研究与应用

沧州铁狮子健康监测数据管理及集成系统是沧州铁狮子结构健康监测系统CILSS的一部分,,并成为该系统的核心组成部分之一。针对沧州铁狮子结构的数据类型及特点,运用SQL Server建立了中心数据库;运用Delphi开发了便于数据处理分析的人机交互界面;通过Delphi软件建立系统集成平台,统一协调沧州铁狮子健康监测各子系统共同运行,编制了包括结构分析软件ANSYS、MATLAB等在内的所有相应接口程序;本研究大部分成果已成功应用于沧州铁狮子结构健康监测系统现场试验,为将来沧州铁狮子结构的长期健康监测提供了重要支撑条件。     

ADMINISTRATIVE LOBBYING EFFECTIVENESS: WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN U.S. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE

This paper compares the administrative lobbying efforts of women's and environmental groups to nudge the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) to conform with Congressional mandates. In 1973, Congress mandated that AID involve women in its development programs, and AID responded with the establishment of a small, resource-poor monitoring office whose leader nurtured a wider constituency for the issue. In contrast, AID ignored its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act, but once established environmental groups initiated a suit against AID, its General Council joined the environmental monitoring office and other executive branch advocacy units to increase environmentally sound programming. The progress of these two issues is compared, focusing on interest groups, internal AID structure, and the issues themselves.     

Outsourcing Regulation: Analyzing Nongovernmental Systems of Labor Standards and Monitoring

A range of new nongovernmental systems for advancing labor standards and enforcement have emerged over the last 5 years. This article comparatively assesses these multistakeholder systems of codes of conduct and monitoring, discusses their underlying models of regulation, and proposes a set of criteria for evaluating their effectiveness, including their legitimacy, rigor, accountability, and complementarity. Critical issues are raised about the transparency of existing initiatives, independence of monitors, convergence of standards, and dynamics among nongovernmental regulation, unions, and state enforcement. The article concludes by arguing that with increased transparency, improved technical capacities, and new mechanisms of accountability to workers and consumers, nongovernmental monitoring could complement existing state regulatory systems.     

北约与跨大西洋的空气污染治理(1969-1976)

北大西洋公约组织以1969年组建的现代社会挑战委员会为载体,积极介入社会领域尤其是环保领域的事务,这被视为北约除防卫协作和政治协商功能之外的“第三维”。北约现代社会挑战委员会把空气污染治理列为第一批试点研究之一,围绕空气污染评估、空气质量标准、污染控制技术、空气质量模型、低污染动力系统开发等重大问题,开展了一系列的研讨、研究和推广活动,切实推动了跨大西洋的空气污染治理工作。北约现代社会挑战委员会通过积极举办空气污染治理专家会议或推动国际环保会议的召开,加强了各国空气污染治理的信息传播和经验交流,增进了跨大西洋社会的团结。其间,北约盟国特别是美国以试点研究的相关成果为依托,尝试推动同苏联在环保领域的合作,在一定程度上成为东西方政治缓和的重要副产品。但是,美苏之间的双边合作并没有全面地实现东西方、南北方之间的环保合作,全球范围的环保运动仍然任重而道远。     

“Bluewashing” the Firm? Voluntary Regulations,Program Design,and Member Compliance with the United Nations Global Compact

Voluntary programs have emerged as important instruments of public policy. We explore whether programs lacking monitoring and enforcement mechanisms can curb participants’ shirking with program obligations. Incentive‐based approaches to policy see monitoring and enforcement as essential to curb shirking, while norm‐based approaches view social mechanisms such as norms and learning as sufficient to serve this purpose. The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a prominent international voluntary program, encourages firms to adopt socially responsible policies. Its program design, however, relies primarily on norms and learning to mitigate shirking. Using a panel of roughly 3,000 U.S. firms from 2000 to 2010, and multiple approaches to address endogeneity and selection issues, we examine the effects of Compact membership on members’ human rights and environmental performance. We find that members fare worse than nonmembers on costly and fundamental performance dimensions, while showing improvements only in more superficial dimensions. Exploiting the lack of monitoring and enforcement, UNGC members are able to shirk: enjoying goodwill benefits of program membership without making costly changes to their human rights and environmental practices.     

Out from the (Green) shadow? Neoliberal hegemony through the market logic of shared urban environmental governance

Recent work in critical geography describes the neoliberalization of urban social service provision through a transition from state provision to civil sector delivery. The concept of a ‘shadow state’ is deployed by some social theorists to describe this process by which nonprofits with government contracts increasingly adopt a state-oriented agenda for the execution of social entitlement programs. Possible linkages between the neoliberalization of urban environmental service provision and a shadow state are lacking by comparison. I, therefore, use qualitative data concerning three organizations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to demonstrate that civil sector groups are stepping up as local government diminishes its markets for municipal environmental labor. However, the diverse compositions of these shared governances potentially complicate the efficacy of a shadow state thesis for describing environmental provision in inner-city Milwaukee. Instead, I argue that a Gramscian interpretation of shared governance better accounts for the neoliberalization of environmental service provision as government agencies and civil sector groups relate to one another through hegemonic market logic. I argue that this provides a more nuanced picture of how governance concerning the urban environment is constructed by the government, market, and civil sectors to further shape human social reproduction.     

How Do Different Types of Local Governments' Sustainability Programs Relate to Their Environmental Outcomes

Local governments worldwide have developed a suite of sustainability programs to improve environmental conditions within their jurisdictions. However, critics suggest that local governments' sustainability programs are more symbolic than substantial in that they are often developed to create the appearance of addressing environmental issues rather than actual environmental performance outcomes. Despite the skeptics, as yet, we have little empirical understanding of the environmental impact of local sustainability programs. This paper bridges the gap by considering how the design of 102 county governments' individual sustainability programs relates to improvement of their ozone quality between 2003 and 2013. After controlling for the spatial dependence of ozone quality among neighboring counties, this paper offers the evidence that local sustainability programs are related to improved environmental conditions. Moreover, the sustainability programs that are designed more comprehensively across environmental issues appear to have greater policy efficacy compared to those focusing on a few environmental issues. These findings provide optimistic views about the local, non-regulatory policy effort for improving collective environmental quality. This implication is particularly salient given the lack of strong national and international environmental regulatory regimes.     

Forecasting Change in Industry and the Economy with Restricted Resources

Abstract

The objective of this model study is to show how cost-conscious managers in the petroleum refining, electric power and basic chemical industries will respond to policy decisions limiting or not limiting the discharge of any major water or air pollutant and the availability of petroleum fuels for use in electric power generation. This is accomplished by an integrated model of the above industries with economic supply functions for crude oil natural gas and coal and with economic demand functions for important energy end-products. The results of this study show the critical importance of regulating fuel use in electric power generation to achieve within the United States in 1985 both energy goals of independence at acceptable price and environmental goals of clean air and clean water at minimum costs. Prohibition of the use of petroleum fuel in new electric power generating plants is practically mandatory according to the model studies to substitute coal for clean fuels in electricity generation. This prohibition minimize both the market price for natural gas and the capital investments in new plants and equipment. It maximizes the economic conservation of energy by end product consumers and the attainment of clean water and relatively clean air. Unfortunately, greater sulfur dioxide emission must be tolerated, although this may be reduced by 83% if environmental standards with air emission controls are met.     

Using online narratives to explore participant experiences in a residential environmental education program

Field-based, residential environmental education programs are immersive, science-rich learning experiences that aim to achieve educational, personal growth, and behavioral outcomes. Evaluations of such programs typically use pre- and post-surveys or interviews and, in some cases, participant observation. Understanding how participants respond to, and make meaning of, their experiences in the moment is an understudied facet that could improve program outcomes; thus, this study explored participant narratives of their experience through online journaling, or ‘blogging'. We piloted the blogging activity with students during their participation in a four-to-five-day program and conducted follow-up retrospective evaluation upon students' return to the classroom. Our findings demonstrate that connection to place, personal growth, and identity were critical aspects of the participant experience; these aspects may be conditioned by participants' previous nature experiences, as well as access to nature. We reflect on the utility of blogging in assessing intermediary and ultimate programmatic outcomes.     

Regulatory Federalism and Environmental Protection in the United States

In this paper we address two aspects of regulatory federalism in U.S. environmental policy. First, we suggest that environmental quality in U.S. states responds positively to increases in income. Second, we provide evidence that environmental quality did not decline when President Reagan's policy of new federalism returned responsibility for many environmental regulations to the states. Thus, state environmental quality appears to reflect more than just the dictates of federal policy. Additionally, we find that a "race to the bottom" in environmental quality did not materialize in the 1980s.     

Do Voluntary Programs Reduce Pollution? Examining ISO 14001's Effectiveness across Countries

Voluntary environmental programs have emerged as important instruments of environmental policy. Despite considerable scholarly scrutiny, there remain debates about whether they reduce pollution among participants, and their overall impact at the country level. We present a cross‐national analysis of the efficacy of ISO 14001, the most widely adopted voluntary environmental program in the world. While several single country studies have explored the effect of ISO 14001 participation on pollution reduction at the facility level, this is the first article to assess (i) national level pollution reduction effects of ISO 14001 participation levels, (ii) across a large number of countries, and (iii) across two pollutants. We examine whether all else equal, the national level uptakes of ISO 14001 are associated with reductions in air emissions (sulfur dioxide, SO₂) and water pollution (biochemical oxygen demand, BOD). Because firms, regulators, and environmental groups tend to focus more on visible types of pollution than less visible ones, we hypothesize that ISO 14001 uptake will be associated with more pronounced reductions in air pollution (visible) in relation to water pollution (less visible). Our analyses of pollution levels for a panel of 138 (72 for BOD) countries for the 1991–2005 period suggest that a 1 percent increase in aggregate levels of ISO 14001 adoption is associated with about a 0.064 percent reduction in SO₂ emissions, all else equal. In contrast, we do not find a statistically significant relationship between ISO 14001 adoption levels and changes in water pollution (BOD).     

关于博物馆环境的讨论

博物馆环境包括博物馆库房环境和展厅环境。环境选择的标准,既要有利于藏品也要有利于观众和研究人员。全文从博物馆内温湿度、照明、大气污染、生物侵害等方面着手,对博物馆环境的影响因素进行分析并提出相应对策。     

Directory of Learning and Research in Germany

Abstract

Impact assessment studies the effects on society of proposed projects, programs or policies. It is perhaps best known in the forms of technology assessment and environmental impact assessment. Here the institutionalization of impact assessment, the principal features of impact assessment and its performance are discussed, keynoting interdisciplinarity as a critical factor. Substantial progress in performance has occurred over the past decade, especially in environmental and social analyses, pointing to some critical issues for the decade ahead. Within studies, integration across disciplinary components, between contributions from professionals and parties-at-interest, and between producers and users must be improved. Across studies, practitioners of impact assessment need to intercommunicate to advance the state of their art.     

Smoggy with a Chance of Altruism: The Effects of Ozone Alerts on Outdoor Recreation and Driving in Atlanta

Metropolitan smog alerts are prominent public information campaigns designed to enhance public health and to curb driving and other emissions. Unlike many other voluntary information‐based environmental policies, air quality alerts target household behavior via forecast information about ambient concentrations rather than firm or product characteristics. This paper explores behaviors with high emissions (driving) and with high exposure (outdoor recreation) and underscores the difference between altruistic and risk aversion motivations. Behavioral impacts are identified using the threshold nature of daily air quality forecasts. A regression discontinuity (RD) design finds elderly users and exercisers tend to curtail their use of a major park following smog alerts. The RD design also reveals that households do not drive less on smog alert days. Juxtaposing high emissions behavior with high exposure behavior in the same study highlights how public forecast information may better trigger some responses and struggle to trigger others.