Ethics,animals and the environment: A review of recent books

Animal liberation ethics and environmental ethics have recently come of age. Concerning concrete moral rules considered by researchers in these areas there is much consensus. Highly general theories formulated to justify the rules are more problematic. However, the search for such theories may well be misguided.     

An Ecological Basis for Integrated Environmental Management

Historically, approaches to environmental management activities have been reactive rather than proactive. Environmental laws and regulations have been generated primarily in response to particular issues (e.g., chemical contamination), creating a piecemeal approach for managing the environment. Responsibilities for managing different resources (e.g., water, air, forests, wildlife) have been assigned to different agencies or groups within government, further fragmenting environmental management. Proactive approaches that recognize the interconnectedness of environmental components are necessary to address complex and long-term environmental management issues. This Perspective proposes an environmental management approach that is comprehensive and systematic, while still being comprehensible to decision-makers and other stakeholders. The proposed approach is based on ecology and environmental values related to decision-making. It considers interrelationships among and between living organisms (including humans) and their physical environment. The proposed approach builds on the ecological risk assessment (ERA) paradigm, including goal (or problem) identification, values identification (ecological and human) for the environment being managed, and data collection and analysis focused on management decision-making. Stakeholder involvement and active participation are essential elements. As demonstrated herein, application of the proposed framework has enabled environmental managers to achieve workable solutions and to avoid or resolve environmental conflicts at both local and regional scales. The proposed framework is demonstrably transportable across political boundaries, applicable to all environments involving natural resources, independent of any particular ideology, and applicable to environmental management activities at all scales.     

Mars, Materials, and Three Morality Plays: Materials Flows and Environmental Policy

Although industrial ecology represents a captivating metaphor and rich repertoire of analytical tools, its impact on environmental policy has been marginal at best. This article examines the insights provided by the studies of three common materials in the US. economy-lead, arsenic, and silver-and the abilrty of such studies to illuminate some larger and looming challenges for future environmental policy. Three specific challenges are explored: the flow of materials across national borders, the increasing embodiment of emissions in products, and the dangers of unchallenged assumptions about the drivers of material flows. The article argues that industrial ecology can inform public policy but that it is time for the practitioners of industrial ecology, an applied science, to apply it in the often messy world of environmental policymaking.     

Global Environmental Change and Population Health: Progress and Challenges

Escalating global environmental change (GEC) over the past century has been driven largely by rapid industrialization, population growth, overconsumption of natural resources, and associated waste disposal challenges, as well as the inappropriate uses of technology. These changes are already having and will increasingly continue to have significant impacts on human health and well-being. How to tackle these issues is an important challenge to scientists, policy-makers, and the general public. Scientific consensus now exists that GEC and population health are linked, even though the details and mechanisms underlying this link remain to be both explicated and quantified. In this article we provide an overview of progress and challenges in the area of GEC and population health since the late 1980s, highlighting some of the main landmarks in this area and recommending directions for future research.     

Political ecology: a synthesis and search for relevance to today's ecosystems conservation and development

Africa is facing problems of deforestation, desertification, loss of soil fertility, loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems and lack of accessible, good quality water. Governments have formulated policies, enacted legislation and established various institutions addressing these issues. African countries are yet to arrest the environmental problems they are facing, due to, among others, the ineffectual theoretical analysis of the problem of ecosystems degradation. This study argues for the adoption of the political ecological framework in the analysis of sociopolitical sources, conditions and ramifications of ecosystems change and also highlights the explanatory power of this conceptual framework as far as the explanation of the problem of ecosystems degradation is concerned, and shows how it can enable us deal with the multi-layered causality rather than the symptoms of the problem of ecosystems change.     

A system for lake ecosystem indices

There is a growing awareness of the need to develop a more rational structure for scientific decision-making in the environmental sphere. The aim of this paper is to present an outline to a system for ecosystem indices (or indicators). This work is based on a holistic ecosystem perspective and the aim is to present an overall concept rather than practical results. One of the purposes of ecosystem indices is to give politicians and the general public a more easily understandable account of the environmental status and how it changes. An ecosystem index should be not only simple and concise, scientifically relevant and practical, but also economically feasible. This approach uses several important concepts, like target organisms, target ecosystems, environmental sensitivity, and environmental cost/benefit analyses related to remedial measures. Some of the ideas brought forward in this work may be unrealistic because of the complexities involved in establishing simple, practical and meaningful ecological indices. Still, the benefits of establishing even crude environmental indicators for certain ecosystems are so great, that this path is well worth pursuing.     

高通量蛋白质组学研究中一种基于 GO 的蛋白质功能分析策略

挖掘高通量实验数据蕴含的生物学意义是蛋白质组学研究面临的一大挑战 . 基于等级化结构化的词汇表 GO (Gene Ontology) 和相关数据库中的蛋白质功能注释,发展了一种对蛋白质组学研究中得到的表达谱 (Expression profile) 进行功能分析的策略 . 在对蛋白质表达谱进行功能注释的基础上给出蛋白质表达谱中蛋白质功能的分布,同时给出感兴趣功能类别的统计信息 . 这有助于对表达谱蛋白质功能的整体理解和深入的生物信息学分析 . 该策略已经成功应用胎肝蛋白表达谱研究中,用户可以通过访问网址 http://www.hupo.org.cn/GOfact/ 使用或者下载我们的程序 .     

Evolutionary Ethics: An Irresistible Temptation: Some Reflections on Paul Farber‘s The Temptation of Evolutionary Ethics

In his recent The Temptation of Evolutionary Ethics, Paul Farber has given a negative assessment of the last one hundred years of attempts in Anglo-American philosophy, beginning with Darwin, to develop an evolutionary ethics. Farber identifies some version of the naturalistic fallacy as one of the central sources for the failures of evolutionary ethics. For this reason, and others, Farber urges that though it has its attraction, evolutionary ethics is a temptation to be resisted. In this discussion I identify three major, historically relevant forms of the naturalistic fallacy, the (1) the deductive, (2) genetic, and (3) open question forms and argue that none of them pose an intrinsic problem for evolutionary ethics. I conclude that on this score at least there is no reason to resist temptation.     

Relationship between Positive Environmental Disclosures and Environmental Performance: An Empirical Investigation of the Greenwashing Sin of the Hidden Trade‐off

Firms make positive discretionary disclosures about their environmental efforts in order to signify attention to the environmental impacts of their operations. On the one hand, firms may choose to make these disclosures to deflect attention away from other activities that may contribute negatively to their environmental performance (i.e., greenwashing in the form of the “sin of the hidden trade‐off ”). On the other hand, firms making these disclosures may legitimately improve their overall environmental performance. Our study empirically addresses the following question: Do firms that make positive discretionary environmental disclosures improve their overall environmental performance more than the firms that do not make such disclosures? Specifically, because press announcements have been shown to be a popular medium for positive discretionary disclosures, we examine the relationship between announcements in the press of firms’ environmental efforts beyond compliance, and suitably weighted‐aggregated firm‐level releases of the range of pollutants reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). We employ matching methods (coarsened exact matching and propensity score matching) that account for potential sources of endogeneity, including the relationship between firms’ prior environmental performance and their propensity to disclose environmental information. Our findings from the matching methods provide encouraging evidence that greenwashing in the form of the sin of the hidden trade‐off does not appear to be prevalent. Additionally, our post hoc analysis explores factors based on the content of disclosures and industry, that may help explain differences in environmental performance among the firms making the disclosures.     

An Approach to Integrating Environmental Considerations Within Managerial Decision‐Making

Recent environmental trends, including (1) an expansion of existing command and control directives, (2) the introduction of market‐based policy instruments, and (3) the adoption of extended producer responsibility, have created a need for new tools to help managerial decision‐making. To address this need, we develop a nonlinear mathematical programming model from a profit‐maximizing firm's perspective, which can be tailored as a decision‐support tool for firms facing environmental goals and constraints. We typify our approach using the specific context of diesel engine manufacturing and remanufacturing. Our model constructs are based on detailed interviews with top managers from two leading competitors in the medium and heavy‐duty diesel engine industry. The approach allows the incorporation of traditional operations‐planning considerations—in particular, capacity, production, and inventory—together with environmental considerations that range from product design through production to product end of life. A current hurdle to implementing such a model is the availability of input data. We therefore highlight the need not only to involve all departments within businesses but also for industrial ecologists and business managers to work together to implement meaningful decision models that are based on accurate and timely data and can have positive economic and environmental impact.     

Labrador Inuit Subsistence in the Context of Environmental Change: An Initial Landscape History Perspective

In this article, I examine the subsistence economy of the contact-period Labrador Inuit (17th to 19th century) to investigate the relationships of elements of specific cultural changes to environmental change, the effects of cultural interactions, and internal social processes. I apply paleoclimate and sea-ice records and zooarchaeological studies of life history and seasonality of ecologically sensitive species to reconstruct histories of change in particular elements of the physical landscape and of their use. I associate the use of communal houses by the Labrador Inuit and their modification of settlement patterns during the 18th century to a limited phase of environmental moderation and stability during the Little Ice Age and suggest that these changes reflect, in part, economic strategies oriented toward surplus production.     

环境投入产出分析在产业生态学中的应用

综述了环境投入产出分析的基本知识及其在产业生态学领域的应用。环境投入产出分析的核心是投入产出模型,包括价值型投入产出模型、实物型投入产出模型和混合型投入产出模型。环境投入产出分析在产业生态学领域主要用于环境压力核算、生命周期评估、社会经济因素相对贡献分析、产业链路径分析、风险影响分析和环境网络分析。同时,相关学者进行环境投入产出数据库开发,给环境投入产出分析提供便捷、标准化的数据渠道。讨论了环境投入产出分析的若干发展趋势。     

The use of Ethics Decision‐Making Frameworks by Canadian Ethics Consultants: A Qualitative Study

In this study, Canadian healthcare ethics consultants describe their use of ethics decision‐making frameworks. Our research finds that ethics consultants in Canada use multi‐purpose ethics decision‐making frameworks, as well as targeted frameworks that focus on reaching an ethical resolution to a particular healthcare issue, such as adverse event reporting, or difficult triage scenarios. Several interviewees mention the influence that the accreditation process in Canadian healthcare organizations has on the adoption and use of such frameworks. Some of the ethics consultants we interviewed also report on their reluctance to use these tools. Limited empirical work has been done previously on the use of ethics decision‐making frameworks. This study begins to fill this gap in our understanding of the work of healthcare ethics consultants.     

Hawai‘i’s Mountain-to-Sea Ecosystems: Social–Ecological Microcosms for Sustainability Science and Practice

There is an urgent need to develop the underlying theory and principles of “sustainability science,” based on an understanding of the fundamental interactions between nature and humans. This requires a new research and education paradigm that embraces biocomplexity, integrates the physical, biological, and social sciences, and uses a coupled, human–natural systems approach. An initiative aligned with this paradigm and approach, and centered on the Hawaiian Island’s unique mountain-to-sea ecosystems, is developing at the University of Hawai‘i. These ecosystems, extending from upland tropical forests to the fringing coral reefs, correspond to the roughly wedge-shaped catchments, traditionally called ahupua‘a in the Hawaiian language. Despite the collapse of the ahupua‘a system and, tragically, the Native Hawaiian population, its legacy of ecological and cultural stewardship remains. This legacy, and the potential of these ecosystems as microcosms for addressing the core questions of sustainability science, has provided the impetus for a growing number of projects employing a social–ecological systems perspective. An overview of three projects that employ a “learning community” approach and cultural stewardship perspective inspired by the ahupua‘a system is provided. These include the Ecosystems Thrust Area of Hawai‘i EPSCoR, a U.S. National Science Foundation research infrastructure program, focused on ecosystem research and monitoring activities; a sustainability curriculum program, Mālama I Ka ‘Āina, of the College of Education; and a project that builds on programs of the Division of Ecology and Health and its affiliated Asia-Pacific Center for Infectious Disease Ecology, linking ecosystem resilience and infectious diseases.     

Alternative Scenarios for Managing the Environmental Performance of a Service Sector Company

This article presents a scenario analysis for a life-cycle model of service sector companies. The model is based on six case companies and it is applied to test the influence of 32 management scenarios. The scenarios simulate feasible options for environmental management measures in companies, and the life-cycle assessment method is used to model their relevance in terms of the total environmental impact of the company. The study found that the bulk of tested scenarios had only a minor influence on the total environmental impact of the company. Some individual management scenarios, though, turned out to have a major influence on the organization's environmental performance. The scenarios with greatest influence were those related to the procurement of electricity, building energy consumption, commuting vehicle mix, space usage efficiency, and refurbishment periods of the building. All of these management scenarios had an influence of more than 10% on the environmental impact of the model organization.     

Environmental Security as a Case Study in Industrial Ecology

Environmental security is the integration of environmental and national security considerations at a national policy level. It is a relatively new and still somewhat contentious concept, although in some countries, such as the United States, it is increasingly being embedded in traditional security and foreign policy institutions. It is of interest to the industrial ecologist for several reasons. First, from the methodological perspective, environmental security issues are frequently complex, multidisciplinary, and multiscalar in both temporal and geographic dimensions. They are thus good opportunities to apply existing industrial ecology tools such as industrial metabolism stock and flow studies, as well as to support the development of new industrial ecology methods. Second, environmental security offers an important case study of an important fundamental industrial ecology dynamic: the movement of environment from overhead to strategic for society. This process occurs at many different scales, from implementation of design for environment methodologies within firms to integration of environmental and trade considerations in the World Trade Organization; and it is important for the industrial ecologist to begin to understand its underlying dynamics. Finally, national security is the quintessential raison d'etre of the national state. Accordingly, the integration of environmental considerations into national security policies and institutions, using industrial ecology methodologies and patterns of analysis, is a significant validation of the field.     

Transforming the Cement Industry into a Key Environmental Infrastructure for Urban Ecosystem: A Case Study of an Industrial City in China

Under the dual pressure of environmental constraints and increasingly thin profit margins, the cement industry in China is in a predicament. To alleviate the environmental and the economic pressure of the cement industry and to tackle the problem of delayed environmental infrastructure construction, this article introduced an urban ecosystem in which the cement industry was transformed into an effective complement to environmental infrastructure. The Xinfeng Cement Industrial Park in China, which has a production capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum (Mt/a) of clinker, was chosen as a case study. Our methodology involved proposing technologies to develop an efficient cement plant‐centered urban ecosystem; evaluating its environmental and economic performance; identifying barriers in its promotion; and proposing supportive policies. Results showed that the city's waste recycling ratio rose from about 50% to 70%, saving 0.6 Mt/a of coal equivalent and reducing about 3.0 Mt/a of resulting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The life span of the city's landfill site was extended by about 30 years. The total investment was 3.2 billion yuan (about US$480 million), 1 with an average payback period of 3 years. The Xinfeng Cement Industrial Park was transformed from an energy‐intensive consumer and a significant CO₂ emitter to a key industrial waste recycler, a crucial municipal waste co‐processor, an important new building material supplier, and a potential energy producer. Last, the “not‐in‐my‐back‐yard” (NIMBY) effect from constructing new environmental infrastructure was also avoided.