CLIMATE CHANGE, DEPLETION OF ENERGY RESOURCES , AND GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Protecting the green - clean - beautiful living environment is a matter of concern for the whole world. There are many global or regional conferences that have been held to discuss and find a way to solve that problem. In which, climate change, energy depletion and greenhouse effect are hot issues, this is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century because they are directly affecting to ecosystems, environmental resources and human life.

Participation of the foreign public in the site selection procedure: prerequisites and the question of informal participation

Public participation in the German site selection procedure is not only novel compared to previous sectoral legal regulations, but also significantly more complex. In addition to the usual participation in commenting procedures and discussion meetings (Section 7 of the German Repository Site Selection Act, Standortauswahlgesetz, StandAG), there are new formats for formal participation, such as regional conferences (Section 10 para. 2 sentence 2 StandAG). Informal participation (see Section 5 (3) StandAG) is also planned. In view of the numerous countries neighbouring Germany, the article concentrates on the question of the extent to which the non-German public is also to be involved in this process. The legal regulations are open to interpretation, and their requirements with regard to the non-German public are also largely unresolved in the literature. However, clarification is needed since these are mandatory formats and the German Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (Bundesamt für die Sicherheit der nuklearen Entsorgung, BASE) is responsible for ensuring compliance with these formats; moreover, complaints can be filed for non-compliance with the mandatory requirements. With regard to participation in commenting procedures and discussion meetings, the relationship between Section 7 StandAG and the requirements for cross-border participation in Sections 54 ff., 61 f. UVPG need to be clarified. This is due to the fact that Section 7 StandAG makes no provision for any restriction on the “public” to be involved, whereas under the German Environmental Impacts Assessment Act (Gesetz über die Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung, UVPG), participation is in part made dependent on “being affected”. The solution here is to seek that all people (in the world) are allowed in principle to participate. However, the facilitations specifically provided for only in the UVPG (e.g. translations) can be limited to certain states (or languages). For the regional conferences, provision is explicitly made in Section 10 para. 2 sentence 2 StandAG for the participation of the non-German public (“shall be given equal consideration”): If the siting region is in a border area, non-German citizens are to participate in the plenary meeting and are given equal consideration to those of the German regional authorities (bordering the siting region). However, the regional section, the concrete administrative entity, is not defined. Here, according to the researchers, the criterion of equivalence can be taken into account by selecting a geographical section that corresponds in its maximum extent to the largest German territorial community that borders on the siting region. The law also does not specify any further prerequisites for the appointment of the deputizing body and its important tasks. Here again, the requirement of “equal consideration” can be taken into account. The procedural rules must at least allow for the eligibility of non-German citizens for election (if necessary by means of proportional representation). Also of great relevance is the inclusion of non-German citizens in informal forms of participation. Complementary forms of participation are planned in order to further develop “the procedure of public participation”. The principles of public participation do not differentiate between the German and non-German citizens to be involved. Moreover, if the legislature establishes the obligation to involve the non-German public in the case of siting regions in a border area, this must, according to the researchers, also apply to the complementary, informal forms: the principle of equivalence produces a “ripple effect” here. Otherwise, a “gap” in information and participation could arise in a siting region in a border area: “complementarily” integrated citizens, political decision-makers and environmental associations on the German side, as well as their non-German counterparts on the other side, that do not have the same degree of information and integration. The contents of the presentation were developed as part of the research project “Herausforderungen und Erfolgsfaktoren bei grenzüberschreitender Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung im Standortauswahlverfahren – HErüber” (challenges and success factors in cross-border public participation in the site selection procedure) on behalf of the BASE.

Death by Wasting Away: The Life, Last Days, and Legacy of Lucy Byard

Lucille Spence Byard is one of the most pivotal figures in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her rejection for medical treatment due to her race at an Adventist sanitarium on the Maryland-Washington, D.C., border in 1943 was the major catalyst for the formation of regional conferences, or Black-administered governance units, within the North American administrative structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. However, almost since the day Lucy Byard was refused treatment, the major details of the event have been subject to the whim of the teller, and variant versions have become embedded in church lore. What has been particularly problematic, though, is that historians have not made the effort to explore what actually happened to Byard, which would require bypassing the entrenched legends and consulting primary sources. This article reconstructs the Byard event from primary sources, allowing the participants in the event, especially those of color, to be heard. What finally emerges is Lucy Byard the person—much more than just an icon of tragedy—whose last days sparked the most effective grassroots movement in Adventist history.

Reflect, Revisit, Reimagine: Language Assessment in ARAL

This 40th anniversary of ARAL also marks the 40-year anniversary of a significant uptick in research on language assessment, and hence there is much to reflect on and revisit within this period—and still scope for imagining the future. Pre-1980, language assessment had a long history, but Spolsky (1995) designated the late 1940s as a time of professionalization, which continued through the following decades. By the 1970s, language testers were gradually organizing into an academic community with an annual international conference, regional conferences, journals, and scholarly books. The new academic community not only developed and used language tests but also investigated the validity of their interpretations and uses. Canale's (1987) paper in ARAL provides an enduring frame of reference for reflection on the concerns of the academic community, which he introduced as the what, how, and why of language assessment.