Environmental Awareness Of People Research Articles

Assessment of ecological security based on soil and water conservation: a case study from Gansu Province, China

In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (ahp), ecological security index(S) and PSR model were used to evaluate Gansu's ecological security based on the large number of survey data. The results indicated that Gansu's ecological security index increased from 0.31 in 1986 to 0.66 in 2013, which reflected ecological security was in sensitive state (0.7༞S≥⃒0.5). The main reason was that national policy on protecting the ecological environment has played a crucial role, especially the national project of returning farmland to forest and grass carried out in recent years. Moreover, the environmental issues such as the higher PM2.5, sand storms and climate extremes, had significantly improved people's environmental awareness in the study area. The regional difference of ecological security index was significant in Gansu Provinces, and the part of Yangtze river basin was higher than the part of Yellow River basin, whiles the in-land river basin was the lowest value. In a world, Gansu's ecological security had improved in recent years, but there was strong need for paying more attention to policy for ecological environment protection and increasing the propaganda to ensure the Gansu's ecological security in the future. This study will provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of regional social economy and ecological environment.

Decreasing environmental impacts of cropping systems using life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-objective genetic algorithm

The environmental awareness of people has increased in recent decades, and the demand for environmentally friendly products has caused agro-scientists to give more attention to cleaner production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been identified as a suitable tool for assessing environmental impacts associated with a product over its life cycle. The implementation of LCA with other management tools can help LCA practitioners to evaluate agri-food systems from different viewpoints. In this study, LCA, multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), and data envelopment analysis (DEA) were combined, and the pros and cons of their application were investigated. Three impact categories – global warming (GW), respiratory inorganics (RI) and non-renewable energy use (NRE) – were selected to be evaluated. The results revealed mean RI, GW and NRE in a case study of watermelon production of 10.3 kg PM2.5 eq ha−1, 9485.5 kg CO2 eq ha−1 and 186,432 MJ primary energy ha−1 respectively. The results of LCA + MOGA showed that a reduction of 27% in RI and 35% in GW and NRE can occur if an appropriate combination of resources is used in watermelon production. The use of LCA + DEA revealed that if all farmers operate on the efficient frontier (suggested values) impacts in all three categories can be reduced by 8%.

Percepções e conhecimentos de moradores de Urutaí-GO sobre o Córrego Palmital

Currently the water resources have been extensively degraded due to unsustainable human activities. Thus, many studies have investigated aspects of environmental perception of the population, to better planning and understanding of the vision of the population about the environment and its problems. This study aimed to analyze the perceptions and knowledge of residents in the municipality from Urutaí, GO about the Palmital stream, watercourse of great ecological and economic importance to the region, but nowadays has been the target of several degradative processes. Data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire for objective questions and discursive, being interviewed a total of 420 people living in different areas of the urban zon of Urutaí. The results show the existence of perceptions and knowledge that recognition of the importance of the mixed Palmital stream (this being related almost exclusively to a utilitarian discourse) and absence of specific knowledge about its current environmental situation. In addition, there was a tenuous community participation in conservation and preservation of the appeal, though they demonstrated great interest in it, and only a portion of the population recognizes its responsibility to the Palmital stream. Thus, highlights the need to develop actions aimed at social and environmental awareness of people about its importance in the maintenance and preservation of natural resources and the construction of values and behavioral changes in favor of the region's water resources, especially Palmital stream.

Research on the Method of Odor Pollution Classification

In recent years, the numbers of odor pollution sources and odor pollution events are increasing rapidly, along with the high growth of life quality and the growing of people's environmental awareness. Odor pollution has been one of the hottest and most difficult problems that the environmental management department is facing. Evaluating and classifying the odor pollution is important basis for analyzing the odor pollution. This article has discussed the classification of odor pollution preliminary.

Luminous flux improvement of xenon fluorescent lamps by applying synchronized high-voltage pulse to the auxiliary external electrode

As the environmental awareness of people becomes stronger, the demand for mercury-free light sources also becomes stronger. The authors have been developing cold cathode fluorescent lamps in which xenon gas is filled as an ultraviolet radiator instead of mercury. Previously the authors reported the luminous flux enhancement method using a grounded auxiliary external electrode (AEE). In this paper, in order to improve the luminous flux much more, a positive voltage pulse which was synchronized to the main driving negative voltage pulse was applied to the AEE. As a result, the maximum input power increased under which the positive column did not constrict and the luminous flux improved by 70% at the xenon filling pressure of 6.7 kPa. It is proved that the positive voltage pulse application to the AEE with the amplitude of more than 2 kV expands the positive column in the radial direction. It is attributed to the phenomenon that the residual ions and electrons, which are generated by dielectric barrier discharge between the AEE and the anode during the falling edge of the negative pulse to the cathode, spread the discharge path from the anode towards the AEE during the cold cathode discharge mode. By increasing the xenon filling pressure, luminous efficacy was improved to 25 lm W−1.

People’s awareness on effects of open burning of household waste in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar-es-Salaam

INTRODUCTION Open burning is the burning of any matter in such a manner that its products are emitted directly into the ambient air without passing through an adequate stack, duct or chimney. The materials burnt include paper, trees, trash, brush, leaves, cans, leather, plastics, grass, and other debris where smoke and other emissions are released directly into the air the contents of which results into health and environmental effects such as bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, immune system repression, reproductive system disorders, birth defects and others. OBJECTIVE To assess people’s knowledge on the health and environmental effects associated with open burning of household wastes at Kinondoni Municipality in Dar es Salaam City. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a cross sectional descriptive study that involved 300 respondents. Structured closed and open ended questionnaire were used in data collection and the study was carried in between February to May, 2007. Data coding was done during data collection & quantitative data analysis was done through SPSS Version 12, a computer package programme, whereas qualitative data sociological/anthropological methods in data analysis were used. RESULTS Health and environmental awareness of people on effects of open burning practice was high (61.7%). However, out of 300 respondents, 213(71.0%) reported to continue using open burning as their final disposal mechanism due to poor existing infrastructure (76.0%), cost implication ( 94.8%). Low frequency of waste collection (94.3%) and as normal practice habit (46%). CONCLUSION The results from this study showed that people are aware of the health and environmental effects associated with open burning of household wastes. However the existing infrastructure, low frequency of waste collection and refuse collection fee becomes the major barrier hence need thorough considerations

Luminance and efficacy improvement of low-pressure xenon pulsed fluorescent lamps by using an auxiliary external electrode

As the environmental awareness of people becomes stronger, the demand for mercury-free light sources also becomes stronger. The authors have been keeping their interest in developing mercury-free discharge lamps, especially in low-pressure xenon as the most promising UV sources to substitute mercury. In this paper the authors report the effect of auxiliary external electrode (AEE) on the pulsed xenon fluorescent lamps. In this research two types of structures are used. One is the standard type, which has one anode and one cathode inside the lamp. The other is the double anode type, which has two anodes and one cathode inside the lamp. By using the AEE the luminance and the efficacy are improved simultaneously. The luminance is improved by about 129% for the standard structure type and 20% for the double anode type. The efficacy is improved by 60% for the standard type and by 63% for the double anode type. We call this effect/method the Jinno–Motomura effect/method (JM-effect/method). Regarding the result of the xenon metastable atom distribution, measured by LIF, this effect is attributed to the plasma potential control and enlargement of the positive column by AEE.

Greening of the Chinese mind: Environmentalism with Chinese characteristics

Due to its enormous population, spectacular economic growth, and severe environmental degradation, China's environmental impact on the country and the world is difficult to assess. Knowledge of the environmental awareness and the growth of the environmental movement in China are critical to the understanding of the country's environmental future. Firstly, this paper examines the environmental awareness of Chinese people based upon two major surveys conducted in 1998. The findings contributed to our understanding of the environmental awareness of people in the following aspects: environmental literacy, prioritization of environmental problems, environmental governance, environmental ethics, and participation in environmental protection campaigns. Secondly, the paper scrutinizes the emergence of green NGOs in China in the 1990s. Chinese green NGOs possessed particular “Chinese characteristics” which distinguished them from those in the West. To date, the Chinese government is willing to allow more political space for citizen participation in environmental protection. Increasingly, green NGOs gained support not only from international communities but also from Chinese citizens who value a clean environment. Finally, the paper argues that the emergence of green NGOs offers a breakthrough in the conventional “government-reliance” attitude towards environmental protection. If these eco-activists can target non-sensitive issues, they may make profound contributions in enhancing environmental policy implementation.

Influence of socio-economic characteristics of beach users on litter generation

Marine litter is now recognized as a major form of marine pollution and key factor for coastal managers. The aims of this paper are to: (a) investigate the perception of beach users on aspects related to solid waste pollution and (b) quantify the input of tourism-related litter to the southern Brazilian coastal ecosystem in areas occupied by beach users with different socio-economic characteristics. Interview results indicated that beach users normally do not admit littering on the beach; believe that hazards to humans are the main problem caused by litter; suggest the conduction of education activities and more trash bins for reducing beach contamination. Results indicated that daily litter input to the beach was higher ( p < 0.01 ) in the region frequented by people with lower annual income and literacy degree, evidencing the influence of educational level on people environmental awareness and behavior in relation to its own residues. Cigarette butts, followed by plastics are the main kind of litter generated. Strong correlations between beach visitor density and litter generation showed that (1) tourism is the main source of marine debris and (2) beach contamination depends on beach visitor density. The use of southern Brazilian coastal zone has increased very quickly, but environmental awareness of people has not accompanied it. It is evident that litter input and impacts in the oceans will increase if no preventive actions were taken.

Possibility and Limit of Citizens' Environmental Networking

In Japan, local government has hitherto been entrusted with planning procedure including decision making related to arbitrary power and responsibility, especially when waste disposal plan is concerned. On the other hand, the information infrastructure initiative aided by high-technology development has not yet ascertained the people's environmental awareness and behavior patterns in its scope of current discussion.This paper will deal with a method of citizens' environmental network formation aimed at their policy making of the NGO-style, taking the both views above into account. Simple-minded classification of network-bulletin board system and internet type-, and information-formal and semantic-is firstly hypothesized in order to realize the present issue on citizens' participation. Secondly, a preliminary social experiment using “chain letter method” is applied in Suita and Kyoto areas, to find out the hidden personal attributive network.As the result, it can be concluded that an environment-oriented information network of the rhizome type will be progressively constructed when women's voluntary chains are activated but certain possibility to leave the network to be an intimate friendship club with only a few members is also suggested so far as the “environmental sphere” remains in the sub-culture scheme.