Environmental Protection Practices Research Articles

Environmental Justice Across the Lithium Supply Chain: A Role for Science Diplomacy in the Americas

While climate change mitigation is a global concern that all countries must play a role in curbing, the costs and benefits of various strategies across geographic boundaries must be examined from a full supply chain perspective. In countries such as the United States (US) where the transportation sector is a leading source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, switching from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV) to electric vehicles (EV) has emerged as one strategy to combat climate change. However, these EVs rely on critical minerals in their batteries, which are sourced largely from the global south, where there are not as many environmental and social protection regulations and practices. One such mineral, Lithium is found mostly in the Lithium Triangle (LT) in the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. Lithium mining is negatively affecting natural resources and ecologies in the LT, in turn creating challenges for nearby communities including indigenous people in the area. Science diplomacy could strengthen relationships and communication between Northern and Southern American countries and more equitably distribute the social and environmental costs and benefits of lithium extraction and EV sales and operations. This paper explores how science diplomacy can foster the governance processes and scientific inputs needed to support more sustainable and just supply chains. It demonstrates higher benefits at the use stage of the EV supply chain in North America, and higher costs at the raw materials extraction for lithium in the EV supply chain in South America. This paper also calls attention to standards and measures that could be applied to sustainable mining. We document best practices, lessons learned, and gaps in collaborative potential between interdisciplinary and transitional stakeholders to develop definitions, measures, and goals across the entire supply chain of lithium for EV batteries.

Assessing industrialized countries' environmental sustainability performances using an integrated multi-criteria model and software.

This study seeks to identify and highlight the differences in the environmental sustainability and environmental protection practices of industrialized countries. For this purpose, thirty industrialized countries were examined using a multi-criteria integrated decision model based on fourteen environmental sustainability performance criteria. An open-source software based on the Python that allows different multi-criteria decision-making methods to be used through a user-friendly interface was developed for evaluations. The results from the developed software rank Sweden first and India last in their environmental sustainability performances. Sweden stands out notably in terms of negative greenhouse gas emission technologies, afforestation, reforestation, environmental laws, carbon tax, bioenergy, and national consciousness. India, on the other hand, does not appear to handle environmental problems in a timely and appropriate manner considering its large population and development needs. Development, utilization, and expansion of renewable energy sources, waste recycling, waste reduction, proper waste disposal, and prioritization of the development of technologies with zero or negative greenhouse gas emissions have emerged as significant factors for environmentally friendly industrialization.

Monitoring impacts of soil bund on spatial variation of teff and finger millet yield with Sentinel-2 and spectroradiometric data in Ethiopia

Data from remote sensing devices are essential for monitoring environmental protection practices and estimating crop yields. However, yield estimates in Ethiopia are based on time-consuming surveys. We used Sentinel-2, spectroradiometeric, and ground-truthing data to estimate the grain yield (GY) of two major crops, teff, and finger millet, in Ethiopia's Aba Gerima catchment in 2020 and 2021. At the flowering stage, we performed supervised classification on October Sentinel-2 images and spectral reflectance measurement. We used regression models to identify and predict crop yields, as evaluated by the coefficient of determination (adjusted R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). The enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and normalized-difference vegetation index (NDVI) provided the best fit to the data among the vegetation indices used to predict teff and finger millet GY. Soil bund construction increased the majority of vegetation indices and GY of both crops. We discovered a strong correlation between GY and the satellite EVI and NDVI. However, NDVI and EVI had the greatest influence on teff GY (adjusted R2 = 0.83; RMSE = 0.14 ton/ha), while NDVI had the greatest influence on finger millet GY (adjusted R2 = 0.85; RMSE = 0.24 ton/ha). Teff GY ranged from 0.64 to 2.16 ton/ha for bunded plots and 0.60 to 1.85 ton/ha for non-bunded plots using Sentinel-2 data. Besides, finger millet GY ranged from 1.92 to 2.57 ton/ha for bunded plots and 1.81 to 2.38 ton/ha for non-bunded plots using spectroradiometric data. Our findings show that Sentinel-2- and spectroradiometeric-based monitoring can help farmers manage teff and finger millet to achieve higher yields, more sustainable food production, and better environmental quality in the area. The study's findings revealed a link between VIs and soil management practices in soil ecological systems. Model extrapolation to other areas will necessitate local validation.

Multi-spatiotemporal AOD trends and association with land use changes over the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area during 2001-2021.

Analyzing long-term variations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) is beneficial for determining high-pollutant-risk areas and formulating mitigation policies. In this study, multi-spatiotemporal trends and periodicity of AOD, as well as the persistence over the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from 2001 to 2021, were investigated by the extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition (ESMD), Theil-Sen Median trend analysis and Hurst exponent. The results elucidate that AOD exhibits fluctuant variations during the 21-year period with the year 2012 as the turning point. There is a slight upward tendency (0.009year-1) in the pre-2012 period but a pronounced downward trend (- 0.03year-1) in the post-2012 period, suggesting an overall declining trend in the study area. The northern cities in the area present an increasing-stable-decreasing trend of monthly average AOD, whereas other cities have an increasing-fluctuating-decreasing trend over the study period. The decreasing rate in the western parts is higher than that in the eastern parts, like Zhaoqing, Jiangmen and Foshan city. A continuous decline of AOD is dominated over the study area, whereas an anti-persistence tendency is accumulated in the northeastern parts. Additionally, elevated AOD can be observed in unused land, water bodies and construction land, while grassland, cropland and woodland have lower AOD. The decreasing rate is larger when land-use types with high AOD are converted to those with low AOD; otherwise, the decreasing rate is smaller. The results have a great significance for improving the understanding of long-term variations of AOD, as well as providing a scientific basis to formulate environmental protection and mitigation practices.

Social sustainable development green brand value in education impact strategic alliance investment decision evaluation

The green brand is a consumer experience. Educational hospitality attaches importance to green brands, and consumers’ preference for green brands has become the current business practice of environmental protection and sustainable development. Strategic alliances drive competitiveness and exert multiplier effects. Commodity diversification is an important key factor in enhancing competitiveness and sustainable development. This study uses the real options approach to construct a dynamic strategy model, which explains the optimal occupancy pricing threshold and optimal green brand value investment strategy threshold on different influence variables and evaluates the difference between hospitality alliances with green brand restaurants and hospitality providers that create their own brand specialty restaurants. This study provides corresponding strategies for the development of a larger consumer market and market share for hospitality and the feasibility of sustainable development. The results show that the threshold of hospitality alliances with green brand restaurants is lower and will gain higher returns. However, if the economy is booming, it is more advantageous for hospitality alliances to adopt their own innovative brand specialty restaurants. It is recommended that managers consider developing innovative catering services and quality when hospitality faces strong competition. The choice is to form an alliance with a green brand restaurant or create its own brand specialty restaurant to enhance the popularity of hospitality to attract more customers. This will contribute to the sustainable development of hospitality. The results of the analysis provide a reference for managers to make appropriate investment decisions for restaurant management at an appropriate time.

The Institutional Positioning of Environmental Tort Remedy in China: Executive-Led or Judicial-Led?

There are two options for environmental tort remedy in China: resorting to environmental administration or environmental justice, with an ongoing debate over which of the two should lead. Firstly, it compares the structure of China's environmental tort remedy system and the two types of power: administrative power and judicial power, concluding that administrative power is dominant. Then, it argues for the indispensability of judicial power, attempts to find a clear boundary between the two sides, and justifies their mutual division of labor and collaboration. Through sufficient demonstration, it clarifies why the dominant position of environmental administrative power must be guaranteed. Then, it summarizes the experience of other countries and the practice of environmental protection in China; and provides three innovative paths of the future environmental rights remedy system. These three aspects are setting up a review procedure for administrative priority judgment before filing an environmental lawsuit, establishing the independent position of experts in environmental litigation, advocating a risk communication mechanism other than litigation, and providing a richer institutional guarantee for the relief of environmental rights.

Environmental Protection Awareness and Practices of University College of MAIWP International (UCMI) Students

Environmental Protection Awareness and Practices of University College of MAIWP International (UCMI) Students

Veterinary Medicine and the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International, Interdisciplinary Study of a GlobalWicked Problem

Building on field research in Costa Rica and Belize, this study analyzes environmental and endangered animal protection policies, rights, and practices in Central America, and assesses impacts of veterinary science and conservation biology on animal welfare concerns. Informed by the recent surge in awareness regarding the spread of zoonotic diseases, given COVID-19, the study analyzes Manis javanica and the impact of illegal trafficking of this critically endangered animal. The project theorizes if awareness of zoonotic disease transmission, especially during a global pandemic, could be key to reducing sales, legal or illegal, of wild animals in order to mitigate zoonotic infection spread. Given nearly sixty percent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in nature, and seventy-one percent of those zoonotic diseases originate in wildlife, the project argues the current global pandemic could be instrumental in raising awareness of and encouraging policy development on reduction of illegal trafficking of critically endangered species.

The role of green human resource management in the translation of greening pressures into environmental protection practices

AbstractCorporate environmental sustainability requires two complementary types of green practices—environmental protection hardware (EPH) and environmental protection software (EPS). Stakeholder greening pressures drive implementation; however, corporate responses vary, often lacking the balance and intensity of EPS and EPH needed. This paper explores the role of green human resource management (GHRM) in explaining variations in the implementation of EPH and EPS in response to stakeholders' pro‐environmental pressures. Drawing on stakeholder theory and the ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) framework, a mediating role is hypothesized. Empirical findings from Brazil using structural equation modeling reveal that increased green pressure from stakeholders drives the adoption of both types of green practices through a partial mediating role of GHRM that is stronger for EPH than for EPS. The value of this study lies in the consideration of EPH and EPS practices in the same model and expanding stakeholder theory on how stakeholders can improve environmental protection through GHRM. Implications are that organizations can level the field for the balanced application of EPS and EPH with a system of green human resource management practices—training, assessment, rewards, and teamwork—to channel the translation of stakeholder pressures into workplace green outcomes. Limitations, future research ideas, and policy and practice implications are detailed.

A review of the system of “daily continuous penalty” in China's environmental protection practice—From the perspective of law and economics

The daily continuous penalty (DCP) in China's environmental legislation is regularly refined to improve enterprises' pollution discharge compliance rates, develop methods for assuming legal environmental responsibility, and advance the sustainable development of environmental law. Analyses of actual implementation and illegal rebound rates reveal that DCP exerts a deterrent effect, supporting pollution control and emissions reduction that is beneficial for the development of green and low-carbon industries. Notably, this measure is found to be strong and effective in the early stage but weakens over time and has not yet reached the ideal optimal deterrent effect. Maximizing utility and minimizing cost requires the development of an optimal DCP that can be adjusted to applicable circumstances, expanding the scope of deterrence to consider offenders' income capacity for individualized deterrence. Other policy recommendations include limiting the amount of daily fine unit to prevent over-deterrence, introducing a compliance model that focuses on cooperative law enforcement, and establishing a second-order daily fine mechanism based on offenders' corrective reporting and misreporting costs.

Organizational practices as drivers of societal change: contextual spillover effects of environmental management on employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior

PurposeThis study aims to draw on goal contagion theory to examine how organizations shape the pro-environmental behavior of their employees. It extends the scope of analysis beyond organizational boundaries and illustrates the external effects of organizational practices that support societal change. The fundamental research question is whether perceived environmental management practices strengthen employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior.Design/methodology/approachTo test the research hypothesis, the authors combined survey and quasi-experimental evidence from two independent field studies. Both studies were carried out in the tourist industry in Germany. In the first study, the authors used a cross-sectional research design with data from 206 employees to examine whether perceived environmental management practices are positively associated with employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior. For causal inference, the authors conducted a second study involving a natural pretest-posttest quasi-experiment with a treatment and control group.FindingsThe results of the cross-sectional study revealed that perceived environmental management practices are positively associated with employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior. The findings of the natural quasi-experiment confirmed the hypothesized causation and minimized the probability of alternative explanations.Practical implicationsThe study has important implications for policymakers, since the support and acceptance of public policies is a prerequisite for the realization of collective political action. By highlighting the potential of organizational practices to strengthen employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior, this research illustrates how rules and regulations that oblige firms to intensify their environmental protection practices might not only reduce the ecological footprint of organizations but also help cultivate societal acceptance of and support for environmental protection.Social implicationsThis study illustrates how employees that align their normative goals in accordance with the implicit goals of organizational practices can become agents for corresponding societal changes. This perspective highlights the integration of structure and agency and underscores the idea that societal change works across macro-, meso- and micro-social levels.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the investigation is the first that examines the relationship between perceived environmental management practices and employees’ public sphere pro-environmental behavior. Herewith, it sheds light on a thus far overlooked mechanism for how organizations stimulate societal change.

Promote pro-environmental behaviour through social media: An empirical study based on Ant Forest

With the increasing severity of environment problems, environmental protection has become an urgent issue for society. Therefore, the pro-environmental behaviour of individuals must be promoted. Meanwhile, the rapid development of social media has changed the lifestyle of individuals and imperceptibly influences their thoughts and behaviours. Ant Forest is a popular social media application that combines an environmental-protection-themed online game with offline low-carbon activities. By the end of May 2020, Ant Forest has reached more than 550 million users. Apparently, Ant Forest could exert far-reaching influence on users’ environmental protection practices. However, the research on Ant Forest and its influence on users’ pro-environmental activities is limited. To fill this gap, we draw from value theory and establish a research model to study how Ant Forest users’ values affect their pro-environmental behavioural intentions. The model is empirically tested through a survey with 596 valid responses. Results show that users’ perceptions of the hedonic, social, altruistic and biospheric values of Ant Forest have positive impacts on their attitudes toward it. Meanwhile, users’ perceptions of the altruistic and biospheric values positively affect their pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Moreover, attitude has a positive effect on the continued gameplay intention. Finally, continued gameplay intention positively influences the pro-environmental behavioural intention.

Comparison of the Sino-US prohibition order system in environmental protection

Environmental protection has become a hot topic today, environmental pollution, the awakening of environmental protection consciousness, lead to environmental protection innovation in the legal system, environmental protection prohibition system in recent years also on the hot plate of protecting the environment, but the prohibition system in our country is corresponding in the civil procedure law, but there are many defects compared with other countries. This paper mainly compares with the American environmental protection prohibition system to find out the system suitable for the further development and improvement of the Chinese environmental protection prohibition system. Mainly compare the environmental protection prohibition system and start subject, application conditions, audit procedures, the rights of the applicant, according to China's national conditions and environmental protection practice, suitable for the development of our country environmental protection prohibition specific system, in order to perfect the system and can well applicable to the field of environmental protection in our country.

Does supply chain matter for environmental firm performance: mediating role of financial development in China

The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of technological innovation on corporate social responsibility and corporate environmental performance, as well as the difference in the measurement of this impact between domestic and foreign companies. Supply chain management is an essential tool to promote environmentally sustainable manufacturing by owning green products, green supply chain management and green manufacturing processes, believes that companies should participate in inappropriate policies, assessments, practices and activities while achieving all components of economy, environment, charity and ethics. The hierarchical regression model is used to analyse 175 small and medium enterprises samples. The survey results show that technological innovation will affect environmental performance and will also have a positive impact on company performance. Efficient companies can bring greater financial success, which not only supports economic community projects but also supports social welfare. Innovating through the participation of management and employees in environmental protection practices can not only improve the company’s performance but also enhance the company’s image among stakeholders. The findings of this article strengthen existing theories and help establish sustainable practices in Chinese and other developing and developed countries.

From Passive to Active: The Paradigm Shift of Straw Collection

This paper takes the centralized biogas production project in the energy utilization of straw as a hypothetical item in investigation to discuss the straw collection mode based on the wishes of farmers. Through surveys of farmers in Shandong and Hebei provinces, under the current straw collection price, we found that 85% of farmers have the willingness to actively collect and transport straw, and the longest distance for active transportation is 3.22 km. The willingness of farmers to actively transport is not only affected by personal characteristics, family characteristics, and current energy consumption habits, but also the characteristics of behavioral intervention variables such as knowledge, attitude, and practice of environmental protection also significantly affect the distance of farmers’ active transportation. The behavioral intervention variables of these non-economic factors can be interfered and improved through multiple conventional propaganda tools. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a collection and storage point construction model based on the willingness of farmers to realize the transformation of the straw collection model from passive to active. This method also has an important reference value for most straw energy utilization projects. It will have an important impact on the planning, design, and operation of the project.

The Role of Payment Technology Innovation in Environmental Sustainability: Mediation Effect From Consumers’ Awareness to Practice

Based on the traditional internal factor model, high environmental awareness should bring higher engagement in environmental practices. In reality, however, many studies have found no significant correlation between the two. To explain this, frontier research is focusing on what external factors influence environmental sustainability. As a typical example of such external factors, this article focuses on the innovation of Internet payment technology. Based on a survey of 623 individuals living across mainland China, we conduct path analysis, stepwise regression analysis, and a mediation test on Internet payment technology, environmental awareness, environmental protection practices, and demographics such as age, income, and sex. We find that Internet payment technology plays a significant mediator role between environmental awareness and environmental behaviors, and that demographics also affect sustainability. Internet payment technology can expand the range of ways in which consumers participate in environmental protection and encourage them to put more green practices through emotional and physical incentives. We thus demonstrate the positive impact of technological innovation on environmental sustainability and unfold the underlying mechanism. Besides providing a reference for other researchers, our study also proposes some applications relevant to the scientific community.

Integrating Environmental Protection and Sustainable Waste Practices Among the Communities in Higher Education Institutions: Case Study in a Malaysian University

This work is reporting the advocation of a public Malaysia University for the environmental protection through sustainable waste practices ever since its ban on the use of the “White Coffin” initiative in circa 2008, a flagship for environmental activism on its different campuses targeting to get rid of polystyrene containers. This initiative was not halted but served as a spark of flare for a sustainability journey up to this very day. The effort to realise a sustainable tomorrow as the vision of higher education sector, including the studied Malaysian University has been integrating efforts from various parties. This includes the formation of “Kampus Sejahtera” (wellness campus), regional centre of expertise, sustainability course, and more recently the sustainability month, sustainability network, and most importantly, the local NGO-industrial-academia collaboration in the path toward a sustainable tomorrow. The work in this article delineates a case study in implementing sustainable waste practice from the start to the status, in one of the Malaysian public universities which is ranked 39th in Times Higher Education University in Global Impact Ranking 2021, and top in Malaysia. More emphasis will be placed on the current initiative of the local NGO-industrial-academia collaboration as case study in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How to Enhance Smart Work Effectiveness as a Sustainable HRM Practice in the Tourism Industry

With the development of information technologies and increasing interest in sustainability, many companies have adopted smart work as a sustainable human resource practice. Moreover, the outbreak of COVID-19 has further promoted smart work in the workplace. However, the benefits and disadvantages of smart work are still under debate. In this regard, this study attempted to delve into how to enhance smart work implementation by exploring employees’ subjectivity. Hana Tour, which is considered a good model of smart work in South Korea, was selected as a sample company. Q-methodology was employed to listen to employees’ subjective opinions about smart work that they experienced. This study identified five types of smart work perceptions, namely, “self-development and energy saving,” “quality of personal life,” “job satisfaction,” “work engagement,” and “work–life balance”. Based on these five types, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the last chapter. Interestingly, the results showed that employees were not well aware of smart work effectiveness as one of the environmental protection practices in sustainability management paradigms. Another notable result was that employees were not concerned about the potential penalties of their engagement in smart work. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the study’s findings are beneficial to the improvement of smart work implementation as a sustainable HRM practice in business.

Analysis of the Influence of Western Philosophy on the Development of Chinese Environmental Philosophy Theory and Its Future Direction.

Western environmental philosophy was born out of the environmental movement that emerged in the second half of the 20th century, and it is fundamentally practical in orientation. However, over the past 50 years, the study of environmental philosophy has become increasingly abstract and theoretical and seems to have drifted away from the practice of environmental protection. At the beginning of the 21st century, Western environmental philosophy began to take a policy turn, with an increasing number of philosophers actively participating in national and international environmental policy discussions. This turn is the latest development in environmental pragmatism. However, the philosophy embodied in this turn is still weak and lacks sufficiently strong theoretical roots. An environmental philosophy that truly achieves a policy turn, i.e., one that can exert a truly significant influence in environmental policy making, must be based on a unified and robust theoretical paradigm. This paper takes the goals and tasks of environmental philosophy research as an entry point, analyzes the deviation of the development of environmental philosophy in China to the problem of the intrinsic value argument, and explores the new direction of environmental philosophy research by focusing on the central argument of environmental pragmatism. In order to deeply explore this issue, this paper takes the Marxist concept of development as the theoretical guide and mainly adopts the methods of inductive research, comparative research, and theory to practice. This paper summarizes the foundation of contemporary environmental philosophy into four basic questions of center, value, ethics, and survival and seeks answers to these questions in philosophical thought. To construct the basic framework of modern Chinese environmental philosophy, through the comparative study of environmental ethics in different periods, this paper explores the relationship between environmental ethics in the perspective of Marxist concept of development, so as to further clarify the development direction of environmental ethics in China in the future.

Some Aspects of the Environmental Rights Protection

This note addresses some aspects of the basic principles of environmental rights protection and ECtHR practice. In particular, it analyses the new directions for environmental rights protection that the ECtHR gave us in Tătar v Romania. Some inconsistency of the ECtHR is highlighted since the case-law of environmental principles varies. Significant and important steps towards recognising the importance of procedural rights associated with public participation as this principle are indicated in international environmental law more generally. On the other hand, the Court’s more recent forays into the territory of other environmental principles – particularly that of the precautionary principle – suggests that the Court is less eager to develop its extensive environmental case-law considering the principle of precaution.