Knowledge making and corporate environmentalism from the perspective of the egg tray

ABSTRACT

In the 1990s, there was a change in capitalist thinking on environmental issues in many global settings, which materialised in what has been termed corporate environmentalism. Beginning with a history of the moulded fibre egg tray and one of its primary manufacturers, this is a case study of how corporate environmentalism came about and was enacted as a confluence of corporate priorities, environmental concerns, production processes, materials, and the development of new measuring tools. Unlike the many environmental history studies that emphasise the role of NGOs and policy developments, this study begins in the business world. More specifically, it is based in the making of environmental knowledge in the form of life cycle assessments and environmental accounts and in the environmental reframing of materials like moulded pulp and plastic. In this way it is the story of how it became reasonable for a manufacturer of egg trays to choose the slogan, ‘Choose Fibre. Save Nature’.     

Collapse,Sustainability, and the Environment: How Authors Choose to Fail or Succeed

Collapse is a perennial topic among historical scholars, and a favorite source of lessons for our future. Collapse literature often reflects contemporary fears and aspirations. The four books discussed here mirror today's concern with anthropogenic environmental degradation and climate change, and for better or worse, influence a reading public far beyond the academy. Two books focus on an individual collapse—the Classic Maya—and two aspire to a broader treatment. They are unequally successful in their outcomes.     

Ecosystem Management Research: Clarifying the Concept of Interdisciplinary Work

Abstract

Ecosystem management (EM) is a process for addressing environmental problems. It draws on research from multiple disciplines in order to ensure long-term maintenance of socio-ecological systems. The present study evaluates the definition of interdisciplinary work among researchers involved in generating data use (EM). The goal is twofold: to generate further discussions in research supporting EM, and to better situate this research in the broader context of interdisciplinary science. Using an online questionnaire, data was collected from 119 researchers. A cluster analysis identified both distinct and shared understandings of the concept. A logistic regression analysis identified the extent to which personal characteristics and researchers’ understandings of interdisciplinary theory determine definitions of interdisciplinary work. Researchers differ on the terminology but share an understanding about what it is: both a ‘way to do research’ and a ‘way of thinking about research’. Differences between researchers suggest a growing interest in developing deeper engagements with theoretical discussions of interdisciplinarity. Results are discussed in the context of the current state of development of research for EM and its contributions to sustainability.     

Quo vadis,Delhi? Urban heritage and gender: towards a sustainable urban future

Historic architectural heritage is important to sustainable urban planning policy, particularly in cities that have heritage sites and/or themselves have ancient archaeological value. Delhi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. However, the vision of its planning policy is limited to valuing heritage for itself and for its economic value instead of also exploring the ways in the city’s heritage might contribute to the social organisation and utilisation of the urban public space. Particularly, like most national policy documents on heritage, it ignores the heritage/gender nexus, which has implications for the identity and status of women in Delhi, community development and ecological preservation. But twenty women practioners and scholars of development in Delhi referred to heritage as a challenge as well as opportunity for gender and urban sustainability when asked for their perspectives on the most important sustainability issues in the city. I argue that Delhi’s urban planning strategies must acknowledge the gender/heritage nexus to enable holistic and gender-inclusive urban development for the present and future generations of its citizens, which is an important thrust of the sustainability agenda.     

Heritage,identity and community engagement at Dunluce Castle,Northern Ireland

As Northern Ireland transitions out of conflict, increased attention is being paid to the role heritage can play in building peace across society and developing a more sustainable future. Recent archaeological investigations at Dunluce Castle have uncovered elements of the site’s Gaelic past and the remains of an early seventeenth-century town built immediately prior to the Crown-sponsored Plantation of Ulster. The project included a dynamic programme of community engagement and outreach that created opportunities to work as a group in the embodied act of recovering the physical past. This formed a space in which to challenge aspects of the region’s contested past and facilitated the renegotiation of accepted local histories and existing identity constructs.     

宁夏南部回族社区人地关系及可持续发展研究

本文运用区域可持续发展基本理论,全面分析了宁夏南部回族社区人地关系由掠夺式向互为报复式演进的过程、原由及危害,剖析了回族社区可持续发展的四大制约因子,即:生活贫困及生产方式的落后性,人类自身生产及人口素质的低层次性,区域文化的封闭性,生态环境的逆展性。并针对上述因子,提出了改善人地关系,实现可持续发展的举措是:加快区域经济建设,深化生态环境建设,加强地域文化建设,积极进行社区建设。     

Skiing Less Often in a Warmer World: Attitudes of Tourists to Climate Change in an Australian Ski Resort

Climate change will affect tourism destinations that are dependent on natural resources, such as snow. Currently there is limited research into attitudes, intentions and actual visitation patterns of skiers in response to reduced snow cover. Therefore the awareness of, and attitudes towards, climate change of 351 ski tourists were assessed in the largest ski resort in Australia in 2007, repeating a survey conducted in 1996. Ninety percent of skiers in 2007 would ski less often in Australian resorts if the next five years had low natural snow, up from 75% of skiers surveyed in 1996: 69% would ski less often, 5% would give up and 16% would ski at the same levels but overseas. Nearly all skiers thought that climate change would affect the ski industry (87% compared with 78% in 1996), and that this would occur sooner than in the 1996 survey. Visitation in a poor snow year (2006, +0.85°C average annual temperature, 54% less natural snow) was −13.6% of the long-term average, indicating poor natural snow resulted in decreased visitation, despite extensive use of snow making. The implications of changes in climate conditions and tourist attitudes for Australian ski resorts are assessed including for snow making and summer tourism.     

Reflections on Collaborative Archaeology and Large-Scale Online Research Infrastructures

ABSTRACT

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is an archive working at a national level in the UK, ensuring that archaeologists have access to high quality and dependable digital resources, including openly licensed legacy data for reuse. The ADS acts as a metadata aggregator for archaeological data held by larger heritage agencies and smaller regional organizations and participates in international aggregation infrastructure projects such as ARIADNE, which allows users to access archaeological resources held in many countries from a single interface. Large-scale infrastructures can facilitate the building of long-term, complex relationships and active collaborations, not just technical solutions. This paper reflects on the roles of stewardship and equity within ARIADNE and the ADS, two large-scale online research infrastructures, and how these types of infrastructures may help to create a more collaborative archaeology, including lessons learned, challenges and opportunities, and thoughts for the future.     

Understanding socio-economic sustainability drivers of sustainable regeneration: an empirical study of regeneration practitioners in UK

The construction industry has been recognized as a major driver towards the delivery of UK sustainable regeneration objectives. Several construction organizations have played various roles in their quest to deliver sustainable regeneration projects in line with sustainable development objectives. Yet, to-date the delivery of such sustainable development objectives has continued to be an on-going challenge for these organizations involved in the delivery of regeneration projects. The study adopted an exploratory research approach, using a questionnaire survey to collect data from 193 construction organizations/practitioners involved in the delivery of sustainable regeneration projects in the UK. The findings revealed that the majority of construction organizations were promoting socio-economic sustainability principles to meet their own corporate business objectives. The findings further revealed that the majority of practitioners’ organizations were integrating socio-economic sustainability principles into their business practices because they believed doing so was the best way to gain advantage over their competitors and remain relevant in their market place.