scholarly journals Science and commercialism in Antarctica

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-129
Author(s):  
Clive Howard-Williams

There are increasing commercial pressures to send more people to the Antarctic. Visitor numbers each summer now exceed scientist numbers on the continent. The commercial operators working through IAATO have, to date, been largely acting in an environmentally responsible manner, realising that there is no point killing the goose with the golden egg. In fact, it has been argued that visitors to the Antarctic, many of whom are wealthy or influential, have played a significant role in increasing environmental awareness of the continent and its wildlife to politicians and to the public.

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Harvie ◽  
P. Jaques

This paper examines:• the relationship between environmental action and knowledge of the environment;• political, social and economic factors influencing the ability of individuals and societies to act in an environmentally responsible manner;• the possible motivations and contexts for encouraging greater responsibility toward the environment in various communities. The annual National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF) Survey reveals that many US residents subscribe to environmental myths which may interfere with their efforts to act or agitate for environmental responsibility. Conventional wisdom might suggest that people in developing nations such as China would have a lower environmental awareness. In fact, when Shanghai residents were recently asked comparable questions to those in the NEETF Survey (part of an Asian Development Bank project), they often outperformed their American counterparts in their knowledge of environmental issues and in willingness to participate in activities such as recycling. - However in countries like China, changes are also required at an institutional level to make serious inroads into the problem of environmental degradation. In these circumstances, public awareness is a powerful tool only if the public has the power to drive institutional change. In many countries political influence constrains implementation of environmental projects with insufficient short-term political accolades. Similarly there are short-term economic and social goals that can dominate over the environment in the decision making process for both communities and individuals. This paper draws on USA, Australia and China survey data and the international experience of its authors in public awareness campaigns. The paper will discuss how environmental communicators can possibly change environmental attitudes and behaviour by understanding the contexts and the motivations for this change.


Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
George Xydis ◽  
Luca Pagliaricci ◽  
Živilė Paužaitė ◽  
Vygintas Grinis ◽  
Gyula Sallai ◽  
...  

In an aim to contribute to already existing knowledge upon the subject of smart cities and the public sector’s wider knowledge in Europe, this study investigates the perception by the municipalities and the wider public sector, responsible for implementing smart solutions in the environment. The understanding of the concept of smart cities/villages by municipalities is on a low level due to the fact that the problem is too wide, not well described, solutions even wider, accompanied by the lack of experts able to offer comprehensive solutions to municipalities. The study presents factors according to the current municipalities’ knowledge (environmental awareness, knowledge and prior experience) and the existing market, of whether these factors can be said that affect the acceptance of smart cities. The public is already aware of the smart cities as a general concept, however, the study sheds light upon the established knowledge that the decision makers have in five countries, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania, and Denmark.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Suzanne Marie Godin

This research paper is a qualitative study of how urban and rural children (6-8 years) experience the natural environment. The literature exploring how place of residence can influence environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviour among children has been contradictory. This study attempted to explore this question in order to establish any differences between the two sample groups. Semi-structured interviews and drawing analyses were used to examine the children's view of the natural environment and their knowledge of environmentally responsible behaviours. The results indicate that the urban children were more knowledgeable of environmentally responsible behaviours and displayed higher levels of environmental advocacy. These findings support the use of area-specific environmental teaching strategies that may serve to promote environmental awareness and advocacy among children residing in any location.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 356-368
Author(s):  
Beata Kuziemska ◽  
Agata Grużewska ◽  
Andrzej Wysokiński ◽  
Krzysztof Pakuła ◽  
Krystyna Pieniak-Lendzion

The problem of municipal waste management is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Its solution requires the integrated involvement of central and local authorities as well as the public. For their actions to be fully effective, they must be accompanied by an increase in environmental awareness. The aim of the study was to assess the environmental awareness and knowledge of inhabitants of eastern Mazovia regarding municipal waste management. A survey study was carried out on a group of 262 individuals using a questionnaire. Analysis of the results showed that the surveyed inhabitants of eastern Mazovia were aware of problems associated with municipal waste management, but some of them were critical of the actions taken by central and municipal authorities to solve them. Their high level of environmental awareness and knowledge was evidenced by the fact that most of those surveyed were familiar with the principles of selective collection of municipal waste, including green and hazardous waste.


J ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Chen ◽  
Danqing Cai

Increasing energy consumption and growing pollutant emissions speak volumes about the environmental challenges in various countries and regions. As one of the fastest-developing countries, China has been facing a serious environmental crisis, with many parts of the country constantly shrouded in a heavy haze. In order to improve the public’s pro-environmental awareness and encourage people to take action to contribute to energy conservation and emissions reduction, Ant Forest, a gamified participatory communication program, was launched on the top mobile payment service Alipay. This innovative approach links people’s low-carbon lifestyles with afforestation and haze control in the real world through virtual gaming experiences. This case study explains the working mechanism of Ant Forest in pro-environmental communication and investigates its effectiveness in motivating the public to engage in pro-environmental activities. Focus groups and interviews were adopted in this study to collect qualitative data. The results indicate that Ant Forest plays an encouraging role in Chinese users’ pro-environmental awareness and behaviors, but improvements in user experiences are still needed in some aspects. By introducing the haze problem in China and the practice of gamified participatory pro-environmental communication, this paper is expected to provide inspiration and reference for future efforts to promote public participation in environmental protection.


Polar Record ◽  
1946 ◽  
Vol 4 (32) ◽  
pp. 394-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Gould

The following short account of this little-known voyage is mainly based on some letters from Messrs Enderby to the Admiralty, which are now in the Public Record Office (IN letters to Secretary, 1/4308).Immediately on Biscoe's return from his Antarctic circumnavigation (January 1833) his employers, Messrs Enderby Bros., planned a voyage which should follow up his discoveries. On the previous voyage, however, the cutter Lively, Biscoe's consort, had been wrecked at the Falklands, and while the loss was partly covered by insurance it had been sufficiently heavy for her owners to look round for financial assistance in the new enterprise.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1871-1900
Author(s):  
Patrick O'Brien

AbstractAlthough Ireland is often cited as part of the vanguard of countries adopting forms of judicial self-governance in the 1990s, this appearance can be misleading: the Irish judiciary are self-governing only in limited respects. The judge-led Court Service is in charge of court estate, non-judicial personnel and provision of information on the court system to the public. Many key matters – discipline, promotions and deployment – remain largely out of the control of the corporate judiciary. Judicial appointments are significantly at the discretion of the government. In the last decade, there have been significant moves towards a more corporate judiciary and these are reflected in the creation of a judges’ representative body, the Association of Judges of Ireland, and a shadow Judges Council. There are currently proposals to create a new independent mechanism for appointing judges and to create a Judicial Council with a significant role in disciplining the judiciary.The Irish experience highlights the importance of political and cultural factors in establishing and maintaining judicial independence and self-governance. Despite the significant role for the government in judicial appointments, and the presence of a culture of political patronage in these appointments, there is nonetheless a robust culture ofindividualjudicial independence once judges have been appointed. The creation of the Courts Service in 1999 was a significant transfer of administrative power to the judiciary but it was approved without demur by the political branches, who welcomed the depoliticization of controversial decisions about court estate. Conversely, reforms to judicial appointments have been weak because politicians saw value in maintaining a relatively harmless form of political patronage, and proposals for a Judicial Council that have agreed in outline for two decades have yet to be enacted, apparently because they lack sufficient political salience. The defence of judicial independence, and the creation of robust institutional mechanisms for defending it, ultimately requires the goodwill of politicians.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ingram

While the turn towards materiality over the course of the last decade has enriched studies of security in a variety of ways, the security field continues to pose challenges for materially oriented thinking. This article argues that while recent materially oriented work on security has been concerned with events, working through the question of the event as a central analytical strategy is a promising way of addressing such challenges and developing broader insights. The article develops this argument by working through a particular event, the killing of the former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 by means of the radioactive element polonium 210. Approaching the event via the archive and report of the public inquiry that subsequently took place into it, and reflecting further on the utility of Bruno Latour’s idea of dingpolitik for materially oriented work on security, the article explores transformations of materiality, politics and publicity, and draws out how polonium 210 came to figure in the killing and the inquiry as actant, trace and evidence. In conclusion, the article reflects on the conceptual value of working through events and the methodological issues raised in the analysis.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-217
Author(s):  
DAVID WALTON

One of the most important elements of the Antarctic Treaty is the requirement to provide open and free access to all information collected south of 60° S. For this reason the current focus on making all published science free for everyone strikes a sympathetic cord. Led by various institutions promoting web posting of published material and the Public Library of Science enthusiasts proposing open access through the author-pays model there is a ferment of activity at present around the world to convert scientists and librarians to this new religion.


Gentlemen, The time has again come round for my addressing you, and for ex­pressing my own gratitude, as well as yours, to your Council for their constant and zealous attention to the interests of the Royal Society. We have been compelled during several late years to have recourse to legal proceedings on the subject of the great tithes of Mablethorp, a portion of the Society’s property, and I rejoice to say with success. In my last address, I was required to give our thanks to Mr. Watt and to Mr. Dollond for the valuable busts which they had kindly presented to us. That of Mr. Dollond is placed at the commence­ment of the staircase leading to our apartments, and serves to indi­cate that his valuable improvements in the construction of our tele­scopes have been so many steps to the acquisition of higher and higher knowledge of the great universe of which this globe forms so insignificant a part. By the liberality of Mr. Watt we shall soon be furnished with handsome pedestals for the busts of his father and of Sir Isaac Newton, the two great lights of British mechanical genius and British philosophical science. Mr. Gilbert has kindly undertaken to furnish a similar pedestal for the bust of his father, and we have thought it right to provide one for that of Sir Joseph Banks. These will shortly form a conspicuous ornament of our place of meeting. The magnetical observatories are still carrying on their observa­tions, both in Her Majesty’s dominions and in foreign countries, and another naval officer, Lieut. Moore, has proceeded to the Antarctic Seas to complete a portion of the survey of Captain Sir James Ross, which was interrupted by stress of weather. That gallant and enter­ prising officer will, I hope, ere long give to us and to the public his own narrative of his important discoveries. Detailed accounts of the botany and zoology of the regions visited by him are preparing under the patronage of the Government, while Colonel Sabine is proceeding with the raagnetical observations, which were the more immediate objects of this, one of the most important voyages of discovery ever undertaken.


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