Complexity Of Environmental Issues Research Articles

Implementation of Environmental Pollution and Damage Prevention Instruments in Indonesia: Issues and Challenges

This paper delves into the implementation of environmental pollution and damage prevention instruments in Indonesia, highlighting the inherent issues and challenges. It scrutinizes the efficacy of existing measures in curbing environmental degradation and explores the obstacles hindering their successful execution. The findings underscore a myriad of challenges confronting the implementation process, ranging from regulatory gaps and enforcement deficiencies to institutional capacity constraints. Despite the presence of legislation aimed at safeguarding the environment, enforcement mechanisms often fall short due to inadequate resources, corruption, and lack of coordination among relevant stakeholders. Additionally, the complexity of environmental issues, coupled with rapid industrialization and urbanization, exacerbates the challenges faced in mitigating pollution and preserving natural resources. Addressing these challenges necessitates a multi-faceted approach that encompasses legislative reforms, capacity building initiatives, and enhanced collaboration between government agencies, civil society, and the private sector. Strengthening regulatory frameworks, improving monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and promoting public awareness are crucial steps towards achieving sustainable environmental management in Indonesia. Moreover, integrating environmental considerations into broader policy agendas and fostering international cooperation are vital for addressing cross-border environmental challenges and ensuring long-term environmental sustainability. In conclusion, while Indonesia has made strides in formulating environmental policies, effective implementation remains a pressing issue. By identifying and addressing the challenges impeding the execution of pollution prevention instruments, Indonesia can bolster its environmental governance framework and pave the way for a greener and more sustainable future.

Environmental communication research

Climate change and its anticipated dangers have become imminent and face us repeatedly while the philosophy of infinite economic growth and technological triumphalism is promoting a complicit approach towards environmental issues. In the light of this environmental communication (EC), research needs to promote a broader message which would include larger public awareness and engagement. But the EC research is found to be mere academic and media-centric. Given the urgency and complexity of environmental issues, this article presents an overview of the need for a praxis of EC research that is broader and action-centric from social, political and economic perspectives, safeguarding human rights and climate justice and promoting local community actions and comprehensive sustainable living.

Geography Education Students' Experiences with a Problem-Based Learning Fieldwork Activity

This article reports on a problem-based learning (PBL) fieldwork activity carried out by geography education students on the Mooi River in the North West province of South Africa. The value of doing practical fieldwork using a PBL approach in the training of geography teachers was researched by means of an interpretative multimethods approach. Findings indicated that students experienced this approach positively as a teaching and learning strategy and expanded their view on the complexity of environmental issues. PBL fieldwork should be part of the training program of geography teachers and can add to the growth of ecologically literate citizens.

The DPSIR framework in support of green infrastructure planning: A case study in Southern Italy

Human activities such as urban densification, soil sealing and the spread of service infrastructure are altering the quality and quantity of ecosystems. They are depleting natural capital, like water supply and air quality, on which society depends. To preserve natural capital, the European Commission is promoting new land-use policies, one of which is Green Infrastructure (GI). It has been postulated that GI planning can promote sustainable land-use by supporting a wide range of ecosystem services. Research conducted in the GREEN SURGE project (FP7-ENV.2013.6.2-5-603567) has suggested that a number of tangible benefits accrue when GI planning is implemented at different spatial scales. In support of this, GI has been conceptualized in a case study in Southern Italy using the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework. This framework was employed to promote the GI approach with the aim of ensuring sustainable land development without compromising natural capital. In fact, the DPSIR framework used in the case study shows how GI, through the provision of ecosystem services, is a response to various critical environmental issues. Despite known limitations as reported in the literature, the DPSIR framework was selected for its simplicity in representing and reporting the interactions between the environment and society. Given the complexity of environmental issues and the presence of various stakeholders involved in decision-making processes, DPSIR provides planning professionals with a streamlined tool to develop strategic solutions for sustainable land-use and for promoting societal wellbeing.

Analysis on Environmental Journalism and the Challenges of Journalists in Sri Lanka

This research seeks to explore the challenges of environmental journalists in Sri Lankan newspapers. To carry out the objectives of the research, qualitative methodology was employed. Primary data were collected through in-depth interview method. The research concluded that journalists are facing a plethora of challenges such as editors’ lack of knowledge about environmental issues and science, lack of support from editors, lack of facilities such proper professional training for journalists, pressures from management of the newspaper with the space allocation, influences of advertisers and politicians, and complexity of environmental issues, and problems of getting information from the sources. In addition, according to responses of the participants, it is concluded that environmental journalism is not well-established in Sri Lanka, not having in-depth analysis on the environment. Comparing with Sunday Times newspaper, it is shown that Irida Lankadeepa newspaper and editors are not interested in the environment, and they have not allocated specific space for the environment. Furthermore, they pointed out that the reason for not to grant priority for the environment is environmental journalism is created by non-government organisations and their hidden intentions.

Going to action? A literature review on educational proposals in formal Environmental Education

The current state of the planet’s environmental deterioration calls for formal educational contexts to implement effective environmental proposals which nurture action competence. The aim of this paper is to examine the educational proposals in formal contexts that have been published in the two research journals of greatest impact on Environmental Education during the period 2008–2013, and to analyse how they contribute to the development of action competence. Special attention is paid to research (i) based on real participation by students; (ii) promotes reflection on the complexity of environmental issues; (iii) facilitates critical thinking; (iv) encourages autonomous and responsible decision-making and (v) involves communities. Our results show that these approaches can help improve the development of action-focused environmental education and bring to light a series of challenges for future research.

An Action Research to Facilitate Science Teacher Educator in Infusing Environment Education Themes

This paper reports the findings of a study that has attempted to find out the perceptions and classroom teaching practices of Science teacher educator about environmental education (EE) infusion. The study also looked at the process of environmental infusion in Science and associated challenges emerging from it.The research was designed in a qualitative paradigm, within this paradigm, action research model proposed by Retallick (2003) was used. The purposive sampling strategy was used to select research participant. The research participant of this study was a Science teacher educator. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observation were major data collection tools. Thematic approach was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study have been based on pre-intervention, intervention and post- intervention stage. The major findings revealed that at pre-intervention stage, Science teacher educator’s understanding about environmental education was limited. This takes into account only knowledge dimension of environmental issues. Other aspects for discussing environmental issues such as skill development, attitude formation and taking informed action for the solution of environmental problems were missing from his teaching. The research study enabled research participant to develop his capacity in delivering EE concepts confidently. However, environmental infusion was challenging for Science teacher educator because of the nature and complexity of environmental issues. For discussing environmental issues, sound knowledge base is very essential. In the light of the findings, some recommendations for Science teacher educators, curriculum developers and textbook writers have been made.

The Role of Policy Champions and Learning in Implementing Horizontal Environmental Policy Integration: Comparative Insights from European Structural Fund Programmes in the U.K.

This paper examines attempts to integrate environmental sustainability goals into the design and implementation of projects funded by the EU Structural Funds programmes in the U.K. between 2000 and 2006. It does so by comparing how the two “horizontal priorities” (environmental sustainability and gender equality) fared in terms of understanding and acceptance by project applicants. It places this material within the wider context of literature on environmental policy integration and inter-agency cooperation. A “policy coordination” framework is used as a heuristic device to construct an account of the ways in which the two themes were handled through the interplay of the myriad of actors and organisations involved in the process. A key part in this involved the deployment of “policy champions” to work with external organisations bidding for funding to support projects that formed the core of programme implementation. The paper also examines the variable reactions on the part of project designers to the requirement to incorporate environmental and gender goals and the greater inter-professional networking that these implied. The comparison between the two priorities clearly demonstrates the difficulties inherent in the breadth and complexity of environmental issues and the need in the first instance to link them to relatively simple actions directly associated with economic development activity. The study concludes that this is essentially the first step in a more protracted “policy learning” process.

Professional discourse in winning images: objectivity and professional boundaries in environmental news images in the World Press Photo contest, 1992–2011

This article applies the ecological theory of professions to analyze professional discourse in the World Press Photo (WPP) contest, an international photojournalism contest held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The article analyzes the content of 148 photojournalism works that received environmental awards in the period 1992 to 2011, the two decades after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The article seeks to understand the representation and negotiation of objectivity and the claims of professional boundaries by the media of both developed and developing countries as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It also seeks to interpret the professional discourse of the WPP in relation to ideologies and power dynamics in both journalism and global environmental politics. The results suggested that the media of developed countries dominated the discourse, and the conventional notion of journalistic objectivity remained intact. However, the results also showed that global environmental politics and the situation of journalism created openings for the media of developing countries and NGOs to enlarge jurisdictional claims in the area of natural disaster reporting and to challenge the conventional notion of objectivity. The results also showed that the conventional notion of objectivity did not necessarily hinder explanations of the complexity of environmental issues, which was made possible by choosing unique angles of storytelling, planning multiple shots, and using richly suggestive, naturalistic images.

Improving Green Product Design with Closed-Loop Product Recovery Information

It is widely agreed that environmental issues, from climate change to energy and water scarcity, to over exploitation of natural resources, represent critical challenges for the society. Thereby, industry has progressively adopted lean manufacturing by reducing amount of energy and materials used in the production. However, manufacturer has limitation towards improving product efficiency without feedback from user as a close loop. Knowing the complexity of environmental issues and economy changes, this paper introduces a new system framework that takes the holistic approach by capturing information at end-of-life (EoL) and feeding back to design or manufacturing in making a greener product. With complete understanding of EoL product status, it enables OEMs to develop technology diversely and at the same time rapidly incorporating environmental concept in part of the product chain. For instance, the valuable knowledge learned in EoL product put forward a more efficient way for product maintenance by cutting down time, cost and negative impact to the environment. Moreover, a greater reliable product could be achieved by utilizing appropriate material or design in particular product. This resulted in improved product design as an inherent loop in product life cycle, therefore producing greener product for better reusability, remanufacturability and recyclability. Overall, efficient EoL product recovery system enables sustainable and competitive manufacturing, and thus drives the economy growth.

The ethics in balancing control and freedom when engineering solutions for sustainable behaviour

Research suggests that to allow for sustainable development, consumption patterns must be changed. Individual behaviour is central to society's impact on the environment. However, due to the complexity of environmental issues, much of the political debate and technology development is inaccessible to consumers and based on the values, interpretations and priorities of experts. User‐centred, user‐involved and participatory processes are fundamental in design disciplines such as interaction design and participatory design. Research into the possibilities for cross‐pollination of design for sustainability and user‐centred design has distinguished several strategies for design‐led behavioural change. The strategies differ with regard to the levels of control and responsibility that users are left with, ranging from empowerment through information about consequences of behaviour to blocking behaviour or forcing sustainable practices upon individuals. By considering technological behaviour‐steering strategies in the light of science and technology studies and theory on technological mediation, the paper addresses the ethical issues that arise and discusses how designers can contribute to more sustainable consumption patterns without compromising quality of life, individual freedom and democratic rights.

環境保全への国際的取り組み

To reduce damage to the environment, both locally and globally, while meeting the rising demand for oil is a big challenge for oil companies. This presentation explores what has been done to protect the environment in Sakhalin II and Canadian oil sands projects, touching on the complexity of environmental issues and important roles which oil companies should play.Of the many environmental issues faced today, the risk of global climate change is now growing and generates enormous public interest. In the meantime, oil is projected to maintain a major position in supplying primary energy for a long time to come. To tackle this problem, increases in energy efficiency and a shift to non-fossil fuels are of utmost importance.Along with these measures, gas flaring reduction and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are also very effective ways to reduce global warming gas emissions.In spite of the efforts taken by individual oil companies, the amount of global gas flaring still remains at a high level because of several constraints encountered in flaring countries. While CCS is a very promising option for drastically reducing emissions if applied at large power plants which burn fossil fuels, there is still a long way to go for this option to be accepted as a reliable and affordable means.This presentation reviews international efforts to promote these two measures and provides information on how they are progressing in Russia, Nigeria, Canada and the EU.Lastly, the presentation highlights some specific topics in related international carbon reduction efforts including CDM, CCS EOR, emissions trading and increasing public awareness in environmental issues.The concluding message is that the challenge for sustainable energy development in the new century has already started, and the roles of oil companies are essential as a main player in the high energy society.

Education, Environment and Sustainability

The appearance of environmental issues in the epistemological horizon of scientific disciplines has constituted a veritable revolution, in the same way as linguistics gave a new sense and created new subject matter in the social sciences in the middle of the 20th century. The study of the environment in its connotation of ‘Nature’ has been part of school curricula and scientific research for a very long time. The qualitative difference in how environmental issues are now dealt with in education and scientific research has been influenced by, on the one hand, the momentum gained by environmental issues resulting from industrialisation, followed by globalisation. Industrialisation and globalisation have revealed a previously unheard of magnitude and complexity of environmental issues, two aspects that due to the type and depth of knowledge available previously, had not been adequately pondered. On the other hand, the political, economic, social and even philosophical (ethic, aesthetic, epistemological, ontological, etc.) dimensions now associated with environmental phenomena have gone way beyond what could have been expected when the first critiques and cries of alarm about environmental issues were raised. These early warnings on the methods of increasing productivity (Rachel Carson); the models of industrial production and occidental lifestyles (Barry Commoner and Fritz Schumacher); the loss of and tragedy of the commons (Garrett Hardin); and exponential demographic growth (Paul Ehrlich and Donella Meadows), are only a few of the better known (not in chronological order).

Environmental taxes and politics—the dispute over nitrogen taxes in agriculture

AbstractFrom the late 1980s we observe an increased interest in environmental taxes. Still, such taxes do not seem to be much used. The present paper offers some explanations for this. Its empirical basis is a debate over nitrogen fertilizer taxes in Norway. The study illustrates the difficulties involved when introducing the logic of economic efficiency into environmental policy. The problems seem to be an effect of the complexity of environmental issues, the character of the interests involved and the way decisions are instituted. Thus, we found disagreement across disciplines about the effects of a tax. In turn, this influenced the policy‐making process. Furthermore, we found that the way in which the decision‐making process was instituted and costs of taxing were distributed among agents distinctively influenced outcomes. Finally, our study demonstrates the vulnerability of environmental policy to confrontations across sectors of responsibility and how it is exposed to lack of institutionalized continuity. Our advice to experts working with policy instruments is to engage more deeply in understanding the institutional and distributional issues as they appear in specific cases. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Balancing Teaching and Learning Geology on the Writing Fulcrum

Incorporating writing into the geology curriculum is beneficial not only because writing is an essential skill for geologists, but also because writing is a process that promotes learning. The use of a variety of writing assignments emphasizing critical-thinking skills is important. In one assignment that encourages productive study habits, our students are asked to write questions and corresponding answers for collation into a class study guide for exams. Reaction papers following guest lectures heighten awareness of research and service in the field of geology. In short papers, students describe and interpret rock samples and outcrops and summarize a journal article. Position papers on controversial issues stimulate class discussion and increase student awareness of the complexity of environmental issues. To promote more effective student learning about writing, several short assignments are given and students turn in multiple drafts and use peer review. Writing several times during the term allows stud...