Problem Characteristics

Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. DeSombre

Problem characteristics and social structures make environmental problems easy to create and difficult to address. Environmental problems are externalities—unintended consequences of other goals and activities people pursue. Because people don’t individually experience much, if any, of the harm they create (which is likely to affect others distant in time and space), it is difficult and costly for them to prioritize avoiding it. Collective action, necessary to make a difference environmentally, is difficult. These characteristics of environmental issues themselves are embedded in broader social structures—infrastructure and economic choices we do not directly or immediately control. These problem aspects suggest strategies: people are happy to accomplish their goals in a way that does not harm the environment if it can be made convenient for them to do so. In some cases aspects of an issue’s characteristics, or even social structures, can be changed.

Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. DeSombre

We all behave in ways that cause environmental harm whether we intend to or not. This book looks at how social structures, incentives, information, habits, attitudes, norms, and the inherent characteristics of environmental resources explain and influence how we behave, and how those causes influence what we can do to change behavior. It is essential to understand why bad environmental behavior makes sense, especially from an individual perspective, in order to figure out how to change that behavior. Environmental activists often focus on providing information or raising concern about environmental problems; these approaches are ultimately less effective than systematic and institutional approaches. We should restructure incentives to reward good behavior and penalize action that causes environmental harm, change social norms so that environmental behavior is seen as a community expectation, and develop habits, defaults, and business routines so that people engage in better environmental behavior without having to make active decisions to do so. Environmental problems are serious, and we need to change our collective behavior to prevent or address them. Because this action is important, it is worthwhile to figure out what works, or doesn’t work, to change behavior. To do that, we have to understand why even good people do bad environmental things.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 881-890
Author(s):  
Michal Kozderka ◽  
Bertrand Rose

AbstractDuring the last three decades we observe growing use of ecodesign, but we observe also misuse of ecodesign methods, leading often to time and financial loss. In coherence with several failure analysis and with our observation, we base our work on a hypothesis: Misuse of ecodesign is often caused by lack of basic comprehension of environmental issues: Non linearity of the processes, their inertia and their excessive costs.Building on this hypothesis, we decided to enhance our education program with an innovative serious game. The goal is to achieve comprehension of the basic environmental issues. Innovation of the game lies in revealing to students at the end of the game, that the fictive initial situation of the game corresponded to a starting point of a real catastrophe. Students can thus not only compare their decisions with those of real leaders, but also to understand how and why bad decisions were taken.Experiments indicate that students who played the game tend to evaluate environmental problems, while those who followed a lecture tend to describe them. This trend (going further than to a description) seems to be useful in decision making and in deployment of ecodesign methods.


Author(s):  
Jun Zou ◽  
Yifan Tang ◽  
Ping Qing ◽  
Han Li ◽  
Amar Razzaq

Environmental issues are still challenging and of global concern. To improve the environmental consumption behavior of consumers, this study investigates whether the match between the promotion mode and product type can improve the conceptual fluency of consumers, so as to increase their purchase intention for green products. The results of three experiments reveal that the interaction between promotion mode and product type has a certain impact on the conceptual fluency of consumers, which can, in turn, promote their purchase intention. This research theoretically contributes to the research on green consumption by introducing promotion mode and revealing the mediation effect of conceptual fluency, it also provides some practical implications for alleviating environmental problems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-515
Author(s):  
Tom Lindström ◽  
Folke Österberg

AbstractThis review deals with the evolution of bio-based packaging and the emergence of various nanotechnologies for primary food packaging. The end-of life issues of packaging is discussed and particularly the environmental problems associated with microplastics in the marine environment, which serve as a vector for the assimilation of persistent organic pollutants in the oceans and are transported into the food chain via marine and wild life. The use of biodegradable polymers has been a primary route to alleviate these environmental problems, but for various reasons the market has not developed at a sufficient pace that would cope with the mentioned environmental issues. Currently, the biodegradable plastics only constitute a small fraction of the fossil-based plastic market. Fossil-based plastics are, however, indispensable for food safety and minimization of food waste, and are not only cheap, but has generally more suitable mechanical and barrier properties compared to biodegradable polymers. More recently, various nanotechnologies such as the use of nanoclays, nanocellulose, layer-by-layer technologies and polyelectrolyte complexes have emerged as viable technologies to make oxygen and water vapor barriers suitable for food packaging. These technological developments are highlighted as well as issues like biodegradation, recycling, legislation issues and safety and toxicity of these nanotechnologies.


2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rev Dave Bookless

AbstractIt remains true that an objective overview of Christian environmentalism – both theologically and practically – would see the contribution of evangelical mission agencies as fairly peripheral (a notable exception being an organisation called A Rocha). However, this paper argues that in terms both of a biblical theology of "five acts" (creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, and the present and future age) and also of evangelical culture (characterised by the "Bebbington quadrilateral" of biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism and activism) there are good reasons why evangelicalism should engage with environment, and growing evidence that it is beginning to do so. Some of the most significant thinkers and some of the largest mission agencies have begun asking key questions about God's mission towards the whole creation and ours. The next few years will be critical as to whether evangelicals accept the challenge to rethink and rework mission to take God's creation seriously, or whether they choose to remain in an other-worldly sub-culture. Il est vrai qu'un survol objectif du point de vue chrétien sur l'environnement – à la fois théologique et pratique – considérerait l'apport des organismes missionnaires évangéliques comme assez périphérique (à l'exception notable de celui de l'Association A Rocha). Cet article soutient cependant que du point de vue des « cinq actes » (la création, la chute, Israël, Jésus et l'âge présent et à venir) comme de celui de la culture évangélique (caractérisée par le « quadrilatère de Bebbington » que sont l'axe biblique, l'axe de la Croix, l'axe de la conversion et celui de l'engagement) il y aurait de bonnes raisons pour que les évangéliques s'engagent dans les questions d'environnement et des preuves que c'est en fait de plus en plus le cas. Quelques-uns des principaux penseurs et certains des organismes les plus importants ont commencé à poser des questions cruciales sur la mission de Dieu pour la création tout entière et la nôtre. Les années à venir vont être décisives pour voir si les évangéliques acceptent ce défi de repenser et de refaire la mission en prenant au sérieux la création de Dieu, ou s'ils choisissent de se cantonner dans une subculture de l'autre monde. Es ist immer noch richtig, dass ein objektiver Überblick über das christliche Engagement in Umweltfragen – sowohl theologisch wie auch praktisch – den Beitrag der evangelikalen Missionsgesellschaften für ziemlich unbedeutend einschätzen würde (eine Organisation, die A Rocha heißt, ist eine bemerkenswerte Ausnahme). Dieser Artikel behauptet, dass es sowohl von Seiten der biblischen Theologie der "fünf Akte" (Schöpfung, Sündenfall, Israel, Jesus, Gegenwart und Zukunft) als auch der evangelikalen Kultur (die sich im ,,Bebbington Ring" von Biblizismus, Konzentration auf das Kreuz, Bekehrung und Aktivismus ausdrückt) gute Gründe gibt, warum sich der Evangelikalismus in Umweltfragen engagieren sollte; es gibt auch immer mehr Anzeichen, dass das tatsächlich schon geschieht. Einige der bedeutendsten Denker und der größten Missionsgesellschaften haben begonnen, grundlegende Fragen über die Mission Gottes der ganzen Schöpfung gegenüber und unsere Mission zu stellen. Die nächsten paar Jahre werden bedeutend sein für die Akzeptanz der Evangelikalen, diese Herausforderung anzunehmen, die Mission neu zu überdenken und auszuarbeiten, um so die Schöpfung Gottes ernstzunehmen – oder sich dafür zu entscheiden, eine Subkultur zu bleiben, die auf die andere Welt ausgerichtet ist. Sigue siendo cierto que un resumen objetivo de una ecología cristiana – tanto teológica como prácticamente – vería el aporte de agencias misioneras evangelicales como bastante marginales (una excepción importante sería una organización que se llama A Rocha [La Roca]). Sin embargo, este artículo propone que en términos tanto de la teología bíblica de los "cinco hechos" (creación, pecado, Israel, Jesús, el tiempo presente y el futuro) como de una cultura evangelical (caracterizada por el "cuadrilátero de Bebbington": centrado en la Biblia, en la cruz, en la conversión y el activismo) existen buenas razones por qué el evangelicalismo debería comprometerse con el ambiente, y que hay crecientes pruebas de que esto comienza a ser realidad. Algunos de los pensadores más significativos y algunas de las agencias misioneras más grandes han comenzado a plantearse preguntas claves sobre la misión de Dios hacia la creación entera y nuestra misión. Los próximos años serán decisivos para que los evangelicales acepten la tarea de repensar y retrabajar la misión para tomar en serio la creación de Dios, o para que opten a quedarse como una subcultura orientada hacia el otro mundo.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-134
Author(s):  
Yulia Indahri

Environmental education (EE) is an integration of environmental understanding with formal or informal education. EE is expected to help students gain understanding on the awareness and knowledge about the environment to further shape student attitudes. From these understanding, skills and abilities will emerge so that students can actively participate and become agents in solving environmental problems. The concept of EE itself can be traced back to the 18th century, although globally, those engaged in the environmental sector began to strive to develop a more measurable EE concept since the 1970s. The legal basis also varies, with application models that adapt to each distinctive environment. Adiwiyata is a form of EE managed by the government through the integration of two important ministries, namely the ministry that deals with environmental issues and the ministry that deals with education. This study was intended to find out whether Adiwiyata was in accordance with the EE concept that was agreed upon globally. In particular, the implementation of the Adiwiyata Program in Surabaya City is the focus of this paper based on the results of research on the environment in 2019 which have been published. The environmental awareness of Adiwiyata School in Surabaya City is quite high and the concept developed by the Surabaya City Government is very solid that involves all parties.AbstrakPendidikan lingkungan hidup (PLH) merupakan pengintegrasian pemahaman lingkungan hidup dengan pendidikan formal atau pendidikan informal. PLH diharapkan dapat membantu siswa memperoleh kesadaran dan pengetahuan mengenai lingkungan hidup untuk selanjutnya dapat membentuk sikap siswa. Dari pemahaman tersebut akan muncul keterampilan dan kecakapan sehingga siswa dapat berpartisipasi aktif dan menjadi agen dalam memecahkan masalah lingkungan. Konsep PLH sendiri dapat ditelusuri sampai abad ke-18, walaupun secara global, mereka yang bergerak di bidang lingkungan hidup mulai berupaya untuk menyusun konsep PLH yang lebih terukur sejak tahun 1970-an. Dasar hukumnya pun beragam, dengan model penerapan yang menyesuaikan dengan lingkungan masing-masing. Adiwiyata merupakan salah satu bentuk PLH yang dikelola pemerintah dengan mengintegrasikan dua kementerian penting, yaitu kementerian yang menangani masalah lingkungan hidup dan kementerian yang menangani pendidikan. Kajian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui apakah Adiwiyata sudah sesuai dengan konsep PLH yang disepakati secara global. Secara khusus, pelaksanaan Program Adiwiyata di Kota Surabaya menjadi fokus dari tulisan ini berdasarkan hasil penelitian tentang lingkungan di tahun 2019 yang telah dibukukan. Kesadaran lingkungan Sekolah Adiwiyata di Kota Surabaya sudah cukup tinggi dan konsep yang dikembangkan oleh Pemerintah Kota (Pemkot) Surabaya sangat solid dengan melibatkan semua pihak.


Author(s):  
Linda L. Brennan

While many organizations and individuals use social media and information technologies (IT) to overcome the limitations of time and space, they often experience unintended consequences from increased immediacy and access. How can they achieve the desirable changes and address the negative effects that can result? This article presents a systematic framework that managers can use to proactively identify ways to either leverage or mitigate the increased immediacy and access. Specific examples are used as illustrations to demonstrate how these issues can be anticipated and used for competitive advantage. They are not offered as specific “prescriptions” for any one organization. Rather, they show how the framework can inform managers as they evaluate proposals for, and implementation plans of, new information systems in their organizations.


Author(s):  
Bruce K. Rutherford ◽  
Jeannie L. Sowers

How Do Environmental Problems Affect Egypt? Egypt faces grave environmental problems that negatively impact the health and well-being of its citizens and threaten the country’s unique natural and cultural heritages. Like many middle and low-income “developing” countries, Egypt must grapple with environmental problems associated with...


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