Environmentally Aware Research Articles

Consumer environmental awareness and privatization

Resource shortages, environmental degradation, and pollution have forced businesses to change their business practices to become more sustainable. In addition, consumers increasingly demand eco-friendly products. This paper examines whether governments should privatize a company whose production process generates environmental pollution. We assume that the firm is in competition with a foreign private firm, that the firm invests in eco-friendly programs, and that consumers are environmentally aware. We find that: (a) Consumers' environmental awareness influences firms' decisions regarding production levels and environmental investments. (b) As the government increases the degree of privatization, the public firm decreases its eco-friendly level and the level of its production. In contrast, if the government deceases the level of privatization, the public firm increases its eco-friendly level and its level of production. The private firm subjected to change in the extent of privatization, both its eco-friendly level and the level of its production are determined by the magnitude of the consumer environmental awareness. (c) The optimal privatization policy that maximizes the social welfare is partial privatization.

Identifying and Mapping Groups of Protected Area Visitors by Environmental Awareness

Protected areas worldwide receive billions of visitors annually. The positive impact of nature on health and wellbeing, in addition to providing opportunities for cultural activities such as recreation and aesthetic appreciation, is well documented. Management to reduce negative impacts to biodiversity and conservation aims whilst providing amenities and access to visitors is important. Understanding environmental awareness of visitors and their on-site spatial patterns can assist in making effective management decisions within often constrained resources. However, there is a lack of strategies for site-specific identification and predictive mapping of visitors by environmental awareness. Here, we demonstrate a method to map on-site visitation by latent groups of visitors based on their environmental awareness of on-site issues. On-site surveys and participatory mapping were used to collect data on environmental awareness on bird nesting and spatial visitation patterns in an upland moor in northern England. Latent class analysis (LCA), a structural equation model, was used to discover underlying groups of environmental awareness, with random forest (RF) modelling, a machine learning technique, using a range of on-site predictors (bioclimatic, land cover, elevation, viewshed, and proximity to paths and freshwater) to predict and map visitation across the site by each group. Visitors were segmented into ‘aware’ and ‘ambiguous’ groups and their potential spatial visitation patterns mapped. Our results demonstrate the ability to uncover groups of users by environmental awareness and map their potential visitation across a site using a variety of on-site predictors. Spatial understanding of the movement patterns of differently environmentally aware groups of visitors can assist in efficient targeting of conservation education endeavours (i.e., signage, positioning of staff, monitoring programmes, etc.), therefore maximising their efficacy. Furthermore, we anticipate this method will be of importance to environmental managers and educators when deploying limited resources.

Is There Progress towards Environmental Sustainability among Road Haulage Companies?

Road freight transport contributes to a significant and growing share of greenhouse gas emissions. This study analyses the development of environmental practices and awareness of road freight hauliers and whether hauliers witness an interest from their shippers towards energy efficiency. Results of an original survey (N = 256) conducted in 2019 among Finnish hauliers are presented and compared with those from a similar survey completed in 2011 (N = 295). The results highlight the lack of improvement in hauliers’ environmental practices during a decade when ambitious climate goals were set. Even though hauliers share the view that emissions from road freight transport must be reduced in future, their environmental practices did not change much during the 2010s. The hauliers rarely perceive an interest from their shippers towards energy efficiency. The results show that hauliers should be supported and encouraged to pursue more environmentally aware practices. Shippers in the supply chain should be a driver, not an obstacle, to increasing road hauliers’ sustainability. There should be more communication between hauliers and supply chain actors, and environmental sustainability should gain more importance when selecting carriers.

Maju Mundur Transformasi Aturan Mengenai Analisis Mengenai Dampak Lingkungan Hidup di Indonesia

Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation has been legally enacted. The government claims that Law Job Creation is to improve the investment climate, especially in the global conditions that are being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and are predicted to have a correlation with job creation for the peoples. However, from the time the law was proposed, discussed, endorsed, until it was signed, this law has resulted in problems, one of which is about Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The research questions formulated are: First, what is the historical trail of the birth and development of the EIA instrument? Second, based on the historical traces of its birth and development, is Law Job Creation a forward movement or is it a backward movement on the discourse of environmental protection? By focusing on the legal history side of EIA, using a socio-legal approach method, it can be conveyed that the traces of regulation on EIA from global discourse to national regulations are actually capable of capturing a value-based transformative vision of environmental awareness and justice. However, the transformation process was mostly carried out by the interests of foreign funding institutions that carried a vision of economic interests that reduced a value-based transformative vision. Law Job Creation is the next milestone in the transformation of regulations regarding EIA and environmental permits. If the vision for the transformation of environmental regulations is about a value-based vision towards a more environmentally aware and environment justice, it is clear that Law Job Creation is like bringing back to the starting point again.

Environmental Awareness in Different European Cultures

Abstract The 28 countries of the European Union represent a rather heterogeneous group regarding their geography, history, and national cultures. Their response to the current global challenges depends on their way of viewing the world, and that is largely influenced by their national values and beliefs. The research compares the environmental awareness in distinct country groups and identifies the components of national culture, which, by their different approaches to the environmental sustainability, influence the most. The time span of the analysis is seven years from 2012 to 2018. National culture is defined by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, and the environmental awareness data were collected from the Eurobarometer surveys of the EU. The main findings show that the environmental awareness in the EU increases with time and is higher in indulgent, more individualistic, and more long-term oriented countries, while the level of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance or power distance did not matter. The Scandinavian countries are remarkably environmentally aware, while the other groups of countries do not differ in this respect.

“[A]n Exterior Air of Pilgrimage”: The Resilience of Pilgrimage Ecopoetics and Slow Travel from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road

While the Beats can be seen as critical actors in the environmental humanities, their works should be seen over the longue durée. They are not only an origin, but are also recipients, of an environmentally aware tradition. With Geoffrey Chaucer and Jack Kerouac, we see how a contemporary American icon functions as a text parallel to something generally seen as discrete and past, an instance of the modern embracing, interpreting, and appropriating the medieval. I argue that The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer influenced Kerouac’s shaping of On the Road. In the unpublished autograph manuscript travel diary dating from 1948–1949 (On the Road notebook), Kerouac imagines the novel as a quest tale, thinking of pilgrimage during its gestation. Further, Kerouac explicitly cites Chaucer. His novel can be seen not only in the tradition of Chaucer, but can bring out aspects of pilgrimage ecopoetics in general. These connections include structural elements, the spiritual development of the narrator, reliance on vernacular dialect, acute environmental awareness, and slow travel. Chaucer’s influence on Kerouac highlights how certain elements characteristic of pilgrimage literature persist well into the modern period, in a resilience of form, language, and ecological sensibility.

Environmental Education for Children in Taiwan: Importance, Purpose and Teaching Methods

There is an increase in social issues in terms of the use of technology for environmental protection, energy, reproduction, food, ethics and morality. It is necessary to take advantage of the positive benefits of technological development and decrease its negative impact on the environment. In this regard, children must be taught appropriate responses to the environment. This should be taken as a key element of environmental education. Furthermore, environmental ethics is a core concept in environmental education for children. Environmental education seeks to teach children ethical environmental beliefs so that future citizens are environmentally aware. This paper uses a documentary analysis to show the importance and purpose of environmental education and explores the teaching methods for environmental education for children in Taiwan. The teaching methods of learning environmental awareness to children in environmental education lessons are: (1) using picture books, (2) watching eco-related films, (3) drama teaching and learning, (4) visiting environmental sites, (5) inviting experts to give presentations, (6) assigning homework that has environment-related topics, (7) cultivating critical thinking about the use of learning strategies in environmental education and (8) learning strategies that involve problem-solving.

Environmentally aware households

The rising environmental awareness induces a changing landscape for policymakers and real economic prospects. We examine the properties of a general equilibrium model with endogenous household preferences (for labor, consumption, and environmental quality) and a negative environmental externality. The endogeneity of labor creates an additional channel of substitution between environmental quality and labor, besides the channel of substitution between environmental quality and consumption. We show that a key requirement for improved output following a positive shock in the weight of environmental quality (household environmental awareness) is that environmental awareness trades off the weight on labor and not the weight on consumption. An interesting feature of the model is that the existence of the environmental externality gives a non-zero capital tax in the long run.

Modelling transport-related pollution emissions for the synthetic baseline population of a large Canadian university

ABSTRACTLarge universities can be considered as special trip generators requiring special Traffic Demand Management (TDM) policies. Due to their unique accessibility, mixed land-use, and welcoming environment for alternative modes, they are well placed to promote active transportation, carpooling, parking management, and shuttle buses. These have direct effects on regional traffic, as well as on the total vehicular emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and other pollutants. This paper estimates transport-related pollution emissions for university population segments at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, comprising undergraduate-students, graduate students, faculty members, and staff. The data used for this study are derived from the Environmentally Aware Commuter Travel Diary Survey (EnACT) conducted in spring 2016. Initially, we generate a 100% synthetic population for the entirety of university commuters. Then, we model transport-related polluting emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), total hydrocarbon (THC), and volatile organic compounds (VOC), based on the population features and their living zones in relation to campus areas. In this study, five zones are described for emission estimation: on-campus, inner city, suburban area, inner commuter belt, and outer commuter belt. In addition, two emission scenarios are tested, which consider the impacts of changes to transit ridership and auto driving. These scenarios demonstrate how changing the primary travel mode can greatly influence emissions volume. The empirical models provide useful insights that can be utilized to improve TDM policies of university campuses, as well as to analyze environmental mitigation scenarios.

Energy use and saving in residential sector and occupant behavior: A case study in Athens

In Greece, energy use in the residential sector corresponds to 24.4% of the total energy use in 2014, showing an increase of 13.8% in the period 1995–2014. Although the technical characteristics of a building have a significant impact on residential energy use, the behavior of the occupant is also crucial. Our aim is to investigate the interrelationships between the energy use behavior of occupants and their socio-demographic characteristics.The data used for this study were collected through a structured questionnaire. The survey was conducted during the spring of 2016 in the city of Athens. 451 people responded. The questionnaire comprised three parts: (a) building characteristics, (b) occupants' behavior, and (c) socio-demographic profile of occupants. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the behavioral patterns (components) of occupants.Six energy behavioral patterns are identified: (a) environmentally aware, (b) environmentally friendly, (c) adopting energy saving practices, (d) having economic motivation behind energy saving practices, (e) environmentally uninvolved, and (f) environmentally unaware. These types are correlated with the socio-demographic profile of occupants highlighting the importance of gender, age, educational level, number of members per household and income in energy use and saving. In conclusion, energy behavior is quite complex and it is strongly associated with the socio-demographic characteristics. Within this context, policies regarding the improvement of energy use in residential sector should be tailored to specific needs of the target population groups. The three main axes are the increase of education level, the increase of environmental awareness of young people and the provision of financial incentives for the retrofit of energy saving devices for the citizens with lower income.

The roles interpretative programmes in supporting the sustainable operation of the nature-based activities

This study assesses the role of interpretative dolphin-watching activities in enhancing participants’ ecological knowledge, environmentally responsible behaviour intention, revisit intention and satisfaction with the experience. An on-site questionnaire survey was administered to participants of both an interpretative (experimental) and a noninterpretative (control) dolphin-watching group. The survey results revealed that participants who joined the interpretative dolphin-watching activities exhibited significantly better ecological knowledge, environmentally responsible behaviour intention, satisfaction and revisit intention than their counterparts. In addition, a regression test indicated a significant association between ecological knowledge and environmentally responsible behaviour intention as well as satisfaction and revisit intention. The findings highlighted the importance of interpretative programmes for nature-based activities, suggesting that the relevant service providers and managers of protected areas should implement such programmes to attract visitors and improve the environmental performance of the activities to achieve sustainability. The interpretative programme can also be an effective tool for environmental education to enhance the environmental conservation awareness of both tourists and local residents to nurture environmentally aware citizens.

Environmental Knowledge, Awareness, and Business School Students’ Intentions to Purchase Green Vehicles in Emerging Countries

Environmental awareness and changing attitudes toward “green consumption” are becoming evident in emerging countries’ markets. Using an extended theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to examine emerging countries’ business students’ intentions to purchase green vehicles. Stratified random sampling was used to select study participants, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Results revealed that environmental knowledge and awareness have a significant influence on business students’ favorable attitudes toward green vehicles. Further, a significant association between attitudes toward green vehicles, perceived behavioral controls, and intentions to purchase green vehicles was observed. Findings serve to inform managers and policy makers who are formulating strategies for maximizing value creation in an era of increasingly environmentally aware consumers in emerging markets. Ultimately, this policy will help to promote green technology initiatives, and encourage higher rates of adoption of eco-friendly vehicles in emerging countries.

Daily activity and travel sequences of students, faculty and staff at a large Canadian university

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the activity engagement, sequencing and timing of activities for student, faculty and staff commuter groups at the largest university in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The daily activity patterns of all university community groups are modeled using the classification and regression tree classifier algorithm. The data used for this study are derived from the Environmentally Aware Travel Diary Survey (EnACT) conducted in spring 2016 at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. Results show that there are significant differences in activity and travel behavior between university population segments and the general population in the region, and between campus groups. For example, students participate in more recreation activities compared to faculty and staff. They also take more trips to and from campus, and are more flexible in their scheduling of trips. The insights gained from this study will provide helpful information for promoting sustainability across university campuses, and for development of campus-based travel demand management strategies.

Product design in the circular economy: Users' perception of end-of-life scenarios for electrical and electronic appliances

In previous years, numerous firms have established environmentally aware strategies with regards to product design, manufacturing and end-of-life (EoL) product management (Cheung et al., 2017). Product developers can choose to design products according to an environmentally favorable EoL scenario. Such strategies may also assist societies in the transition to a more circular economy. However, at the end of a product's useful life, it is uncertain whether the end users will handle the product according to the original intention of the product developers. Situated within this context, this research investigated how end users perceive three EoL scenarios (reuse, recycling and remanufacturing) and two disposal methods (door-to-door collection and delivery at point of purchase) for eight household electrical and electronic products (e-products) spanning a representative range of product categories. To this end, a quantitative Kano survey (N = 146) was used to classify product features related to EoL and disposal methods according to users' preferences. An extension developed by the authors was also deployed to identify differences within user segments in terms of demographic (e.g., age, gender, education level) and relevant psychographic variables (e.g., environmental awareness). Taken collectively, the results showed that the majority of EoL scenarios were actually regarded as attractive features in the Kano framework, meaning that users would be very satisfied with a product that can be disposed of according to a favorable EoL scenarios, but may not have any prior expectations at point of purchase. Reuse potential emerged as the most attractive EoL scenario, suggesting that users' preferences are largely aligned with the concept of circular economy. Interestingly, women were found to prefer all EoL scenarios more than men, and were also more willing to pay a premium price for environmentally friendly e-products. These results suggest that gender may be the most important basis for user segmentation (e.g. in the context of product development), and that products targeted towards women are more likely to enter favorable EoL scenarios.

Lack of Stakeholder Influence on Pollution Prevention

In a developing country context, this study explores environmental awareness, stakeholder influence strategies, and pollution prevention roles among 11 local, civil society groups (e.g., environmental nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] is one grouping; media and press is another grouping). A theoretical framework that builds on the social movement literature and is more inclusive of a developing country context is offered. In essence, awareness-raising is also considered a stakeholder influence strategy. Based on surveys conducted in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the results of this empirical study show that 10 of the 11 groups were environmentally aware; however, only the environmental NGOs were willing to influence the other groups. The environmental NGOs were actively raising awareness, but they were not directly influencing firms or the federal government on pollution prevention. These findings challenge the generalization of current stakeholder influence theory to a developing country context and raise concerns about the capacity of local civil society to encourage pollution prevention.

Environmental awareness, consumption, and labor supply: Empirical evidence from household survey data

What is the effect of environmental awareness on the households' consumption of polluting goods and labor supply decisions? We answer this question using household survey data from the United States and measuring environmental awareness with the decision to make environmental donations. We find that environmental awareness has a negative and economically significant effect on labor supply. The respective impact on the consumption of polluting goods is also negative, but less robust in terms of statistical significance. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the foundations of household behavior related to environmental quality. Indeed, environmentally aware households are willing to tradeoff work hours with improved environmental quality and less so to change their consumption habits.

Sustainable Thinking and Environmental Awareness through Design Education

Environmentally aware design aims to convert global socio-environmental concerns to investigate ecological principles and interactions with design decisions, which determine levels of sustainable usage of environmental resources. The aim of this study is to analyze the changing role and responsibility of designers and the importance of environmentally aware design education as crucial factors to acquire knowledge through the viewpoint of sustainability. The outputs and findings of the workshop conducted with design professionals and educators will be analyzed to consider the obstacles and fundamentals of sustainable design education for developing countries to create environments, buildings and products in a sustainable way.

Coordinating a two-echelon supply chain with environmentally aware consumers

A two-layer supply chain with a single manufacturer and a single retailer is studied in the context of the consumers' environmental awareness. We aim at determining joint pricing and the environmentally-friendliness level of a product under a deterministic demand pattern. Models under both linear and iso-elastic demand patterns have been studied. A centralized system is studied as the benchmark case. The popular price-only contract is studied, assuming the manufacturer to be the Stackelberg leader, and a wholesale-price-discount contract is developed on the decentralized system to coordinate the chain. The outcome of the proposed model is further illustrated through a numerical example.

Taking Space to Grow Food and Community: Urban Agriculture and Guerrilla Gardening in Vancouver

City planners and citizens often see gardens as spaces for urban beautification projects. However, urban agriculture and growing food in cities is becoming an increasingly accepted use of public green spaces. This article examines how gardeners and the City of Vancouver negotiate space while trying to create green cities, greater awareness of food security issues, and community in urban environments. These gardens show how local discourses of health, environment, and food production are created through this process of appropriating urban spaces for horticultural activities. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the development of spontaneous and grassroots urban agriculture movements in Vancouver. This research was carried out from 2006 to 2008 while the city was preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. At this time, Vancouverites, local officials, and Games organizers were concerned about putting on a “green” Games. As the media spotlight began to fall on Vancouver, urban agriculture became a very public demonstration of the city’s environmental awareness. This article looks at how, at a particular historic moment, grassroots gardening movements gained mainstream acceptance and played a role in constructing the city’s image as an environmentally aware urban place with a high standard of living.

Consumer Preferences for Alternative Fuel Vehicles: A Discrete Choice Analysis

In this paper we analyze the potential demand for privately used alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), based on a nationwide survey in Germany among (potential) car buyers. For this purpose, we applied a stated preference discrete choice experiment, using a wide range of vehicle alternatives (gasoline/diesel, natural gas, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, biofuel, hydrogen) and vehicle attributes. By applying both a multinomial logit model and a mixed (error components) logit model, we estimate the attributes’ influence on vehicle choice and calculate consumers’ willingness-to-pay for the improvement of these attributes. Furthermore, in a scenario analysis, we simulate the impact of monetary and non-monetary policy measures on vehicle choice probabilities. We find that the most promising target group for the adoption of all kinds of AFVs is that of younger, well-educated, and environmentally aware car buyers, who, in the case of electric vehicles, also have the possibility to plug-in their car at home, and who have a high share of city trips and thus need a small car. Moreover, we find that, depending on the vehicle alternative, environmental awareness, and budget constraints for the next vehicle purchase, households are willing to pay substantial amounts for the improvement of fuel cost, driving range, charging infrastructure, CO2 emissions, vehicle tax exemptions, and free parking or bus lane access. Furthermore, the scenario results suggest that conventional vehicles will maintain their dominance in the market, whereas electric and hydrogen vehicles will remain unpopular. The market share of the latter is only expected to rise markedly if massive and multiple policy interventions are implemented. Finally, we find evidence that an increase in the fully electric vehicle’s driving range to a level comparable with all other vehicle alternatives has the same impact on its choice probability as would a market-based, multiple measures policy intervention package.